A 
TREATISE 
UPON THE 
FORMATION
OF THE 
HUMAN SPECIES, &c. 



A 
TREATISE 
UPON THE 
FORMATION 
OF THE 
HUMAN SPECIES; 
The DISORDERS incident to PROCREA- 
TION in Men and Women; 
The Evils arising from the Abuse of the 
Genital Faculties.
WITH 
The most approved and efficacious Methods of 
Cure, illustrated with a Variety of Cases 
and Examples. 
By JAMES FLEMING, 
Hospital-Surgeon and Man-Midwife. 
LONDON: 
Printed M. Thrush, at the King’s-Arms, in 
Salisbury-Court, Fleet-Street. 
MDCCLXVII. 



CONTENTS. 
Introduction, 
Page ix. 
SECTION I. 
Of the formation of the human species;— 
specifying the structure and design of the 
genital parts in men and women;—the 
manner of conception, and the most pro- 
bable means of producing it.—1 
SECTION II. 
Of venereal excesses;—displaying the dan- 
gerous conseqences resulting from an un- 
limited gratification of amorous delights; 
—the utility and importance of the semen 
to the whole mass, illustrated from the 
best writers, ancient and modern.—13
2 SEC-

CONTENTS. 
SECTION III. 
Of the baneful effects of self-pollution in the 
male-sex;—shewing that this practice is 
much more fatal than even venereal ex- 
cesses in a natural way, supported by phy- 
sical reasons, and evident deductions, 
with many recent examples, and extraor- 
dinary cases.—Page 35 
SECTION IV. 
Of the dreadful consequences of self-pollu- 
tion, and the gratification of the Sapphic 
passion in the female-sex, containing the 
origin and progress of this passion, and its 
fatal effects, exemplified in many living 
instances;—also same very curious, uncom- 
mon, and original cases, that have lately 
fallen under the observation of the author, 
at some hospitals in this metropolis, and 
elsewhere; with Dr. Quincey's account of 
two young ladies in a convent, who were 
supposed to have changed their sex by this 
abominable practice, &c. &c.—54 
SEC-

CONTENTS. 
SECTION V. 
Of the disorders incident to the female-sex, 
and their most approved methods of cure; 
mamely, the whites; the suppression of 
the menses; the overflowing of the men- 
ses; the irregularity of the menses; the 
menses; the falling of the womb. 
Page 84
SECTION VI. 
Of the most practical and approved methods 
of cure of the disorders incident to ex- 
cessive venery, or self-pollution, from Hip- 
pocrates, Boerhaave, Hoffman, Stork, 
Capuacico, Lewis, Tissot, &c. &c. 
104
SECTION VII. 
Of impotency in men, and barrenness in wo- 
men, and the most efficacious remedies for 
their cure, containing some curious remarks 
upon these disorders, and how far the 
consequences extend in the two sexes re- 
spectively, 

CONTENTS. 
spectively, with Boerhaave's opinion 
with respect to the cure of impotency, 
and some approved receipts for the same. 
—The best manner of treating barrenness 
in women, divided under its different 
causes, &c. &c.—Page 121 
SECTION VIII 
Of the propriety of amorous pleasure, where- 
in this subject is morally and physically 
considered, shewing in what cases the in- 
dulgence of this passion is allowable, and 
how far it is pernicious or beneficial to 
health.—134. 
SECTION IX. 
Of the venereal disorder, tracing its ori- 
gin; approved recipes for its cure; and 
a preventative remedy.—145. 
INTRO-

INTRODUCTION. 
IF the editor of the following perform- 
ance thought any apology necessary 
for laying it before the public, he would 
enter upon his defence, by acknowledg- 
ing his crime; which is neither more nor 
less, than that of exploding ignorance, and 
revealing the knowledge of human nature: 
but he flatters himself, that we live in too 
liberal an age, to discountenance any at- 
tempts to communicate real instruction; 
and surely none is more important than 
that of being acquainted with our own 
formation, and the source of our animation. 
It is that which should first occupy our 
thoughts, ere we endeavoured to im- 
prove our understandings by foreign or 
remote studies; for it is almost impossible 
to arrive at any degree of excellence in 
the various branches of science, without 
having an intimate acquaintance with that
b being,


x INTRODUCTION. 
being, who is thus busied in the pursuit; 
and yet many there are, who have at- 
tempted to reach the utmost pinacle of 
learning, without having bestowed one 
thought upon the nature of their own ex- 
istence. 
If curiosity, or the allurements of 
knowledge, no way interfered in this de- 
sign, a still more cogent reason should 
urge us to the task; a reason whose ob- 
ject is the basis of all happiness, all case, 
all contentment, all tranquillity; and this 
is nothing less than our Health, with- 
out which riches, science, beauty, are 
idle, insignificant, and useless. We have 
no relish for what we cannot enjoy; and 
if bodily health is wanting, nothing in 
this sublunary state can dispense a mo- 
ment’s real satisfaction. 
To this end, then, it is necessary, that 
wc should consider the nature of our for- 
mation; by what means we came into 
this world; how far our creation might 
have injured the health of our parents; 
the

xi INTRODUCTION. 
the proper use of those generative powers 
with which we are endued, to add our 
mite to the increase of the general stock 
of individuals, and the proper methods 
of curing such disorders as are incidental 
to this pursuit, or the still more fatal 
complaints arising from the abuse of these 
faculties. 
In order to render this work of gene- 
ral utility, and to remove the disgust of 
a dry and tedious study, I have selected 
what has been said by the most elegant as 
well as learned writers of antiquity upon 
these heads; nor have I omitted aught 
that appeared to me pertinent or illustrat- 
ing offered by the modern literati; so 
that this may be considered as an epitome 
Of every thing essential that has been 
written upon these subjects, digested and 
methodized, with obervations and re- 
marks, in the compass of a pocket volume
It may, perhaps, be objected by some 
over-scrupulous critics, that the nature of 
b2 the

xii INTRODUCTION. 
the plan must necessarily create a variety 
of amorous ideas, which, for the benefit 
of the rising generation, had better be 
suppressed than illustrated. 
To this I answer, That the design of 
this work is not to excite lascivious 
thoughts, but to consider ourselves phi- 
losophically as we are; to point out the 
danger of too much indulgence even in 
natural passions, and the still more dire- 
ful consequences of addicting ourselves to 
unnatural ones. If it were necessary, I 
could, in my defence, quote the sacred 
writers, and the fathers of the church, 
who have treated upon these very subjects, 
even in living languages; and I shall en- 
deavour to suppress any indecent expres- 
sions, as far as the nature of the perform- 
ance will allow: wherefore, I hope, in- 
stead of incurring the censure, to meet the 
approbation of sensible and virtuous men. 
This work would have been incom- 
plete, had I not been somewhat particu- 
lar in displaying the filthiness and danger 
of


xiii INTRODUCTION. 
of a crime, that I am afraid the youth of 
the present age are but too guilty of; a 
crime that is pregnant with manifold evils, 
not only to the culprit, but which he 
transmits to posterity; a crime that is 
destructive of our very being, and anni- 
hilates creation. A mirror, to view these 
direful ills, could not be held in too 
strong a light; the picture cannot be too 
highly coloured, that every one whom it 
pourtrays may shudder at his own resem- 
blance. 
IT is a melancholy reflection, that even 
the softer sex, the lovely part of the crea- 
tion, are not exempt from the imputation. 
Nay, if we may credit the satyrists of an- 
tiquity, and particularly Juvenal, they 
complicated the crime: 
Lenonum ancillas posita, Laufella cerona 
Provocate, et tollit pendentis primæ coxæ, 
Ipsa Medulline frictum crisantis adorat. 
Palmam inter dominas virtue natalibus 
œquat.
Such 

xiv INTRODUCTION. 
Such are his words. How many Lau- 
fellas and Medullinas are still in being, 
the number of antiquated maids and 
misses of three-score, more evidently 
prove than any other calculation to be 
framed. 
This vice, then, cannot be too severe- 
ly combated, too publickly exposed; and 
if those who are addicted to it do not, 
after perusing the following sheets, blush, 
tremble, and repent, they are devoid of 
shame, sense, and reflection: they are ir- 
reclaimable, and unworthy of attention. 
But many, I hope, there are, who have 
been unwarily prompted to give way to 
so shameful a practice, who need only see 
it represented in a just light, to shudder 
at their guilt; and these penitents are de- 
serving of regard. For such have I point- 
ed out a proper cure for those disorders, 
which they may have brought upon them- 
selves by their former folly. But let not 
those who have long habituated them- 
selves to this vice, flatter themselves with 
a speedy, or any relief, without they pre- 
viously

xv INTRODUCTION. 
viously eradicate every thought tending 
to this unclean desire. 
The disorders solely incident to the 
female sex, form another part of this- 
work, in which the most approved and 
efficacious remedies are pointed out; 
whereby every lady may, in these cases, 
see her own situation, and, by following 
such prescriptions as are there laid down, 
be restored to her pristine health, with- 
out being obliged to reveal her complaint 
to any one of the faculty. It would be 
needless, in this place, to point out the 
many inconveniencies that have slowed 
from the sex’s ignorance of the real na- 
ture of their disorders; and we too well 
know there are numbers, who, through 
misjudged modesty, will not let a man 
approach them even in labour, when in 
the greatest danger: if so, how many 
may have been lost for want of proper 
instruction in cases though not so vio- 
lent, yet equally fatal, when neglected. 
This

xvi INTRODUCTION. 
THIS part, therefore, will, I imagine, 
sufficiently recommend itself to the fair 
sex, without my expatiating any farther 
upon its utility. 
I HAVE also set apart a section for the 
venereal disorder, in which I have traced 
its origin, nature, symptoms, and method 
of communication; with receipts for such 
stages of it, as patients may rely upon 
themselves for the cure: to which I have 
subjoined a preventative remedy, that will 
doubtless be efficacious in most common 
cases. 
UPON the whole, this work, though 
small, may be considered as an useful and 
instructive treatise upon physiology and 
medicine; and will, the editor flatters 
himself, claim a precedence before many 
voluminous productions, equally prolix 
and unentertaining. 
SEC-


[1] 
SECTION I. 
Of the formation of the human species. 
THE knowledge of ourselves is, doubt- 
less, the most essential and rational in- 
quiry of human beings, and, therefore, 
every attempt to unfold the secrets of nature in 
our formation, must meet with the approbation 
of all those who are desirous of having the veil 
of ignorance drawn aside, that providence and 
reason may appear in all their splendor, to the 
eye of every beholder. 
To compass this effectually, it will be ne- 
cessary to consult the structure of males and fe- 
males in their genital parts, and the cause of 
that proneness to copulation, which is the ori- 
ginal source of generation, and consequently 
the perpetuation of the human species. 
Man, the noblest and most rational animal 
in the creation, is formed of so delicate, so 
nice a mechanism, that any the smallest inter- 
ruption to the most minute operation of the 
corporeal system, in some degree discomposes 
the whole frame; and as perfection is no where 
to be met with in this sublunary sphere, so in 
B man

[2]
man there is constantly some, though, per- 
haps, small impediment to complete health. 
Cold or heat, moisture or drought, must alter- 
nately affect the circulation of his blood, the 
digestive powers of his stomach, &c. &c. and 
as these are more or less diverted, the body is 
impaired. The great art of the materia medica 
is to restore these, when disturbed, to the 
nearest point of perfection they can attain. 
In this treatise, I must, however, confine 
myself to the revolutions of the corporeal frame, 
so far as they are influenced by the act of copu- 
lation. To launch into a detail of all the va- 
rious affections of the human body, with their 
causes and consequences, would lead me far be- 
yond my present design, which is, as I have 
specified in the title page. To investigate the 
formation of the human species; the disorders 
incident to procreation in men and women; 
the evils arising from the abuse of the genital 
faculties, and set forth the most approved me- 
thods of cure. 
In entering upon the first part of my plan, 
which is the formation of the human species, I 
must consider the structure and design of those 
parts in each sex, which are immediately in- 
strumental in this operation. 
The principal organ of generation in man 
is placed obvious to the sight, and sensible to 
the touch; and, by reason of its pendent state, 
disposed for the act of coition, is called by the 
Latins,

[3] 
Latins, penis; the most decent translation of 
which, in English, is the yard, though it vul- 
garly bears another name. When erect, its 
shape is long, though its length is very diffe- 
rent in various men; in some it does not pro- 
ject above three inches from the belly, in others 
four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and even 
ten inches; but the latter size is very scarce. 
It is roundish, and the upper side rather flattish, 
consisting of skin, tendons, veins, arteries, and 
sinews. Its situation is over the os pubis, be- 
ing destined for two very different operations, 
namely, the conducting of the seed into the 
matrix of the woman in the act of copulation, 
and to void a superabundance of urine from 
the bladder. To this end, it internally con- 
sists of two nervous bodies, the septem, the 
urethra, the glans, the muscles, and the ves- 
sels. The two nervous bodies are so called, 
from their being surrounded with a thick, white, 
nervous membrane; yet their interior substance 
is spongy, consisting chiefly of nervous fibres, 
arteries, and veins, interspersed. The cause 
of its erection is its plenitude of spirituous agi- 
tated blood; and consequently a defect of erec- 
tion arises from a deficiency of this supply. The 
contents of the septem is white, sinewy, and ner- 
vous, being destined for the support of the ure- 
thra and side ligaments. The urethra, which 
is the common channel for the seed and urine, 
is in substance loose and soft, thick and sinewy. 
It hath three holes, the two smaller of which 
receive the seed from the vesiculœ seminales; the 
center one, and largest, is the aperture for the 
B2 urine,

[4]
urine, being seated at the neck of the bladder, 
The glans are at the extremity of the yard, 
and are susceptible of the nicest sensations, be- 
ing covered by nothing but a thin membrane. 
The prepuce, or covering, which the Jews cir- 
cumcise, in some men covers almost the whole 
nut of the yard, and in others very little of it; 
and this generally depends upom the state of the 
frænum, which in many is broke or cut. The 
muscles, which are four in number, consist of 
fleshy fibres: the use of the shortest and thickest 
of these fibres, is to extend the yard, and put 
it into a state of erection; wherefore they de- 
rive their name of erectors. The office of the 
two longer and thinner, is to stretch the lower 
part of the urethra in the time of evacuation, 
and are therefore stiled accelerators. The vessels 
consist of veins, arteries, and nerves, some vi- 
sible, and some invisible. 
The testicles, or reservoirs of seed, come 
next under consideration. They are situated 
at the bottom of the abdomen, behind the yard. 
The internal skin, which covers them, is called 
the scrotum, and the internal the membrana 
carnosa. The epididymaides are joined to 
the testicles, from whence arise the vasa defe- 
rentia, or ejaculatoria, which, upon approach- 
ing the neck of the bladder, deposit the semen 
in the seminal vessels, which resemble bunches 
of grapes; and hence is the seed thrown into the 
urethra in the act of coition. The prostate 
glans, which are situated near to them, and 
unite the neck of the bladder, are about the 
size

[5]
size of a common walnut. Hence issues a saline 
glutinous humour, which preserves the urethra 
from the bad effects of the acrimony of the 
semen, as well as that of the urine. There are 
also two vessels, which conduct the blood to the 
testes, where it is elaborated into semen; and 
these are called arteria spermaticœ; and the two 
spermatic veins carry off the superabundant 
blood from the testes. 
Having thus set forth the parts of genera- 
tion in men, those of women come next under 
our consideration. 
The lips of the orifice, seated between the 
thighs, are called the labiœ; and the adjacent 
parts, covered with hair at the age of puberty, 
are called pudenda. Such is the external ap- 
pearance; the internal consists of the nymphœ, 
which appear upon opening the labiæ, and are 
composed of soft spongy flesh, resembling, in 
form and colour, a cock’s comb, receiving, in 
the act of generation, the man’s yard between, 
having, in their center, the clitoris, which is 
the seat of bliss in women, and which I shall 
persently describe. The little buttons, in the 
shape of berries, which close the orifice of the 
neck of the bladder, and, by their swelling, in- 
crease the titillation and exquisite sense in 
the act of copulation, also serve to prevent 
any involuntary discharge of urine, which the 
nymphæ give vent to. We now come to the 
clitoris, which greatly resembles a man’s penis, 
and by its erection and friction in contact with 
B3 the


[6] 
the yard, the woman receives the highest de- 
light. This part is replete with a spongy and 
black matter within, like unto the side liga- 
ments of the yard, which it so much resembles, 
exciting lust, and communicating delight in 
the act of generation, this being the great in- 
centive to venery in females; and the amo- 
rous passion is therefore generally proportioned 
to the size of their clitoris. Its uncommon and 
extraordinary protuberance, I shall have occa- 
sion to mention in another place, and to as- 
sign the most obvious causes for this phæno- 
menon. It rises from the os pubis, having its 
head covered with a very thin membrane, 
where there is an orifice; but it is not perfo- 
rated. The urinary passage is seated over the 
neck of the womb, and under the clitoris. 
This passage is secured from cold, or any 
other violent attacks, in the act of copulation, 
by the largest and uppermost of the four fleshy 
buttons, which is seated before, and closes it. 
The lips of the womb now make their appear- 
ance. The neck or channel is seated between 
the four buttons, and the inner bone of the 
womb, which receives the yard like a sword- 
sheath. It is so constructed, that it may be 
easily and agreeably extended in the act of co- 
pulation, being of a spongy nature; and there 
being in this concavity various foliages, or cir- 
cular plaits, made by wrinkled tunicles, it re- 
sembles a blown rose, in those who have still 
their virginity; but it loses this appearance by 
frequent coition, becoming smooth, and at 
length grisly and hard. The hymen, or clu- 
strum virginale, closes the neck of the womb, 
which

[7]
which is occasionally supplied with a large 
quantity of spirits from different veins and ar- 
teries that there concenter, in order to be di- 
lated; and they retain the yard with additional 
vigour, being capable of receiving in general 
one of eight inches in length. Upon the first 
entrance of the pudendum, there are two 
small arteries, which, being pressed by the pe- 
nis in the act of coition, furnish a humour that 
communicates an additional sensation of plea- 
sure to the woman. 
These parts may be considered as so many 
instruments and channels for conveying the 
seed into the womb, which I shall now more 
particularly consider. It is situated in the lower 
parts of the hypogastrion, adjoining to its 
neck, and is seated between the bladder and the 
streight-gut, whereby it is prevented from be- 
ing displaced, though it is capable of contrac- 
tion or dilatation, as occasions require. Its form 
is circular, resembling in some measure a 
gourd, lessening and growing more acute to- 
wards the extremity, united by its own liga- 
ments, and its neck by its proper substance, 
and certain membranes that fasten it to the 
sharebone and the os sacrum. Its size is various 
in different women, and more particularly in 
those who have borne children from those who 
have not. The preparatory vessels are the 
same in number and origin with women as 
with men; their size and manner of insertion 
constituting all the difference. They are shorter 
in women than in men, the testicles of a 
B4 woman


[8]
woman being seated within the belly, and re- 
quiring a shorter passage to communicate their 
contents; but, on the other hand, have more 
intricate foliages than in man, that the liquor 
may be properly elaborated. These prepara- 
tory vessels are not united as in men, before 
they arrive at the stones; but are divided into 
two branches, the greater of which only passes 
to the stones, and the lesser to the fecundated 
egg, this being properly conception. The 
immediate use of these vessels is to convey the 
blood to the testicles, part whereof is employed 
in their nutrition, and the production of those 
little bladders in every respect resembling eggs, 
through which the vasa præparentiæ run, and 
are obliterated in them. Each testicle in a 
woman contains about twenty eggs, one 
of which being impregnated by the most 
spirituous parts of the male-seed in the act of 
copulation, descends through the oviducts into 
the womb, where it is nourished, and becomes 
a human being. The figure of these ova is not 
perfectly round, but somewhat flat on the sides, 
and their lower parts are oval; but in their up- 
per part, where they have communication 
with the blood vessels, they are covered with 
a single membrane, in order to facilitate the 
conveyance of a proper degree of heat. 
Such then are the general structures of the 
parts of generation in the two sexes. There 
are doubtless many uncommon forms in these 
organs, which may at once astonish, and in 
some degree puzzle the greatest philosophers 
to


[9] 
to account for them; but these excursions of 
nature are not so frequent in the males as in 
the females, which I shall in the sequel endea- 
vour to explain, as well as the too frequent 
cause husbands have to complain, that their 
wives do not bring with them their virginity 
to the marriage-bed, even though they never 
had before any commerce with the male sex. 
When it is considered, that a maidenhead, or 
virginity, consists in nothing more than that 
membranous substance called the hymem, resem- 
bling the bud of a rose half blown, and which 
is destroyed by the first act of copulation, or 
the insertion of any inflexible substance, we 
may easily conclude, that many females have 
got their own maidenheads long before they 
knew a man. The hymen, or clustrum vir- 
ginale, being a thin membrane interwoven 
with fleshy fibres, and having an orifice in the 
center, through which the menses flow, and 
wherein the top of a little finger may be easily 
at first inserted, which, being repeated, and 
the fore finger afterwards supplying its place, 
these practices, within a short time, destroy 
the zone of chastity, as it is emphatically cal- 
led. In some countries marriage is void, 
Unless the bride, upon her wedding-night, gives 
proper testimonials of her having been endow- 
ed with it at the time of her marriage. This 
evidence consists of the effusion of blood upon 
the rupture of the hymenean membrane. Some 
females consider the narrowness of their vagi- 
na as a sufficient proof of their maidenhead; 
but age, disposition of body, and other cir-
B5 cumstances,

[10]
cumstances, either constitute or destroy it. In 
general, it may, indeed, be allowed, that wo- 
men who have frequently indulged and grati- 
fied their amorous desires by copulation, are 
not so streight as those who have had but little 
commerce this way; but this is no positive 
proof of virginity, as artifice may impose a 
substitute for the reality, and astringent medi- 
cines supply the place of continence. 
As the original intent of copulation was, 
doubtless, more to propagate our species, than 
to gratify any carnal appetite, we should, to at- 
tain the desired end, pursue the necessary means; 
when, therefore, our design is to impregnate our 
wives, we should previously dispose them to 
receive our caresses with the most unseigned 
joy. We should invigorate them with nutri- 
tious food, and an agreeable quantity of gene- 
rous wine; and if their desires seem still more 
backward than ours, we should excite them 
by tender and amorous dalliance; for all our 
effects will prove ineffectual, unless they meet 
our embraces with equal delight, and we are 
both critically and instantaneously happy: there- 
fore when we find the parts in women cold and 
inanimate, the clitoris in a flimsy state, and 
no expressions of exquisite sensation upon our 
embrace, it were better to restrain from con- 
summation, as, in all probability, it will be 
the loss of the discharge of valuable seed, with- 
out the profit of reaping the least harvest from 
its being sown; but when delight sparkles in 
her eye, when every thrust seems to commu- 
nicate

[11]
nicate new joy, when you meet the clitoris In 
its greatest extension, and most perfect erec- 
tion, delectably throbbing with the extatic 
friction, in contact with the glans of the pe- 
nis, then you cannot too much exert yourself, 
till, by pushing onward to the goal of felicity, 
inarticulate, though expressive, ejaculations, 
plainly indicate the tumult of her soul, in the 
amazing sensations of a deluge of happiness; 
or, as the poet so finely expresses it. 
Bodies mingling, sexes blending.— 
Who shall most he lost contending. 
Then hold her off, and gaze—then with new rage 
Clasp her, till your conscious limbs presage 
Torrents of joy, which all their banks overflow. 
So lost, so blest, as you but then can know. 
The first emanations of reciprocal bliss be- 
ing ended, it requires prudence and considera- 
tion to know when it is proper to withdraw 
from the field of delight, left you should, by 
too early a retreat, lose the victory you have 
gained in favour of generation. To speak 
without a figure, by unsheathing your yard too 
soon, you make way for the air to penetrate 
the womb, and the cold, so untimely commu- 
nicated, may be of the most fatal consequence: 
therefore you should remain in the same pos- 
ture, and, as far as possible, in the same union, 
till such time as you may conclude, that the 
matrix is closed, which naturally takes place 
soon after it has received the active principle, 
B6 in

[12] 
in order to form a conception; when you may 
safely withdraw, and leave the lady to her re- 
pose. 
THESE cautions being taken, and the fe- 
male ovum having been impregnated, by the 
male semen, at the crisis of copulation, and 
then made its descent into the womb, nothing 
is now necessary, but its being gradually and 
regularly nourished, till it becomes a fœtus; 
and this is GENERATION. 
SECTION

[13]
SECTION II. 
Of venereal excesses. 
THE greatest physician of antiquity, who 
has transmitted his name to us with the 
highest renown, and who will be read and ad- 
mired whilst letters and science retain their in- 
fluence, has described the ills that are occasi- 
oned by the abuse of amorous pleasures, under 
the title of Tabes Dorsalis. Hippocrates says, 
that this disorder arises from some defect in the 
spinal marrow. Young married people, and 
those of a lascivious disposition, are particularly 
afflicted with it, They have no fever, and, 
though they eat well, they fall away, and be- 
come consumptive. They feel as if a sting or 
stitch descended from the head, along the spi- 
nal marrow. Every time they go to stool, or 
have occasion to urine, they shed a great quanti- 
ty of thin seminal liquor. They are incapable of 
procreation, and frequently dream of the act 
of coition. Walking particularly in rugged 
paths puts them out of breath, and weakens 
them, occasioning a heaviness in the head, and 
noise in the ears, which are succeeded by a vi- 
olent fever that terminates their days. Such 
are the words of Hippocrates, which corre- 
spond with what Aetius says upon the same 
subject. Young people have the air and ap- 
pearance of old age. They become pale, effe- 
minate, benumbed, lazy, stupid, and even 
imbecile: 

[14]
imbecile:their bodies are curved, and their 
legs are unable to perform their functions; 
they have an utter distaste, and, for every 
thing, are totally incapacitated; many be- 
come paralytic. The stomach is disordered, 
all the body is weakened, paleness, bodily de- 
cay, and emaciation succeed, These opinions 
are supported by Turpius, that celebrated bur- 
gomaster and physician of Amsterdam: these 
are his words: “ The spinal marrow does 
“ not only waste, but the body and mind both 
“ equally languish, and the man perishes a 
“ miserable victim. Samuel Vesputius was 
“ seized with a flux of humour extremely 
“ sharp, which immediately affected the hind 
“ part of the head, and the nape of the neck, 
“ from whence it communicated to the spinal 
“ marrow, the loins, the buttocks, and the 
“ articulation of the thigh, which made this 
“ unfortunate man suffer such excruciating 
“ pain, that his countenance was entirely dis- 
“ torted, and he was seized with a slow fever, 
“ which by degrees consumed him, but not so 
“ fast as he desired; and he was in such a si- 
“ tuation, that he frequently invoked death 
“ before he snatched him from his misery.” 
To these opinions, we shall add that of the 
celebrated Gabius, in his Pathological and Me- 
dicinal Institutes : “ An immediate emission 
“ of feed is not only prejudicial, by reason of 
“ the loss of a most useful humour, hut like- 
“ wise by a repetition of the convulsive mo- 
“ tion by which it is discharged; for the 
“ highest pleasure is followed by an universal 
4 “ resolution

[15] 
“ resolution of the natural powers, which can- 
“ not frequently take place without exerva- 
“ tion. Besides, the more the strainers of the 
“ body are drained, the more humour they 
“ draw to them from the other parts; and the 
“ juices being thus conveyed to the genitals, 
“ the other parts are impoverished. Hence it 
“ is, that from excessive venery arise lassitude, 
“ weakness, numbness, a feeble gait, head 
“ aches, convulsions of all the senses, but espe- 
“ cially of the sight, and dulness of hearing, 
“ an idiot look, a feverish circulation, exsicca- 
“ tion, leanness, a consumption of the lungs 
“ and back, and effeminacy: these evils are 
“ increased, and become incurable, by reason 
“ of a perpetual itch for pleasure, which the 
“ mind at last contracts, as well as the body; 
“ and from whence it follows, that they have 
“ obscene dreams in sleep, and that the prone 
“ parts upon every the slightest occasion have 
“ a tendency to stiffen, and the quantity of 
“ replaced semen, however small, becomes a 
“ burthen and a stimulus; which semen will 
“ be discharged from the relaxed cells, by the 
“ very slightest efforts, and even without any 
“ effort at all. Thus it is, that these excesses 
“ brings such perdition upon the flower of our 
“ youth.” 
SUCH then are the sentiments of these great 
men at different periods, upon the consequence 
of too violent seminal emissions; and to illu- 
strate what has been premised, it will be ne- 
cessary to pay some attention to the importance 
of

[16]
of this liquor, with respect to the well-being 
of the whole human machine. 
It may with truth be said, that our bodies 
are in a continual state of decay: to repair this 
waste, nature has furnished us with nutrition, 
by the assistance of aliments; but whenever 
this supply is wanting, our frame must neces- 
sarily decay much faster, and more quickly 
sink into a state of extreme debility and mortal 
weakness. Too copious evacuations are the 
most frequent causes of this defect; for our 
bodies are so constructed, that for these ali- 
ments to acquire the degree of preparation ne- 
cessary for the reparation, a certain quantity of 
humours must be ready prepared, and con- 
stantly at hand. If this condition is wanting, 
the digestion and concoction of the aliments are 
imperfect, and the more imperfect in propor- 
tion, as the deficient humour happens to be of 
a more elaborate kind, or of greater importance 
in the animal œconomy. 
The seminal liquor has so great an influx 
ence upon the corporeal powers, and upon 
perfect digestion, which repairs them, that 
physicians of all ages have been unanimously 
of opinion, that the loss of an ounce of this 
humour would weaken more than that of for- 
ty ounces of blood. An idea may be formed 
of its importance, by observing the effect it 
produces as soon as it begins to be formed; the 
voice, the physiognomy, the features of the 
face change; the beard grows, and the body 
often

[17]
often takes another appearance, because the 
muscles acquire a thickness and firmness, which 
form a sensible difference between the body of 
an adult person, and that of a youth not yet 
arrived at the age of puberty. These changes 
are prevented by destroying the organ which 
serves to secrete the liquor that produces it; and 
Boerhaave observed, that the amputation of the 
testicles, at the age of verility, made the beard 
fall, and effeminated the voice. 
There are humours, such as perspiration, 
which quit the body the moment they are se- 
parated from the circulating vessels. There 
are others, such as urine, which after this re- 
paration are retained for a certain time in the 
reservoirs destined for that purpose, and from 
whence they do not issue till they are collected 
in a sufficient quantity, to excite an irritation 
upon these reservoirs, which mechanically 
causes them to empty. There are a third sort. 
Which are secreted and retained in the manner 
of the second, in reservoirs, not with the design 
of being completely evacuated, but to acquire 
in these reservoirs a degree of perfection which 
qualifies them for fresh functions, when they 
return into the mass of humours. Such, 
amongst others, is the genital liquor. Being 
separated in the testicles, it passes from this in 
a pretty long canal into the vesiculœ seminales, 
is continually resorbed by the vessels adapted 
for that purpose, and are gradually restored to 
the mass of humours. Many evidences might 
be produced to demonstrate this fact: amongst 
others,

[18] 
others, for instance, the secretion of the semi- 
nal liquor in a healthy man, is constantly made 
in the testicles: it repairs to the reservoirs, the 
limits of which are very confined, and cannot, 
perhaps, contain all that is secreted in a day; 
there are, nevertheless, some continent men, 
who have no evacuations of this kind for ma- 
ny months: in these it must, therefore, return 
into the vessels of circulation, which is greatly 
facilitated by the structure of the organs, 
which assists in the secretion of this humour, 
in conveying it into the proper channel, and 
in preserving it. The veins are there much 
more considerable than the arteries, and in a 
proportion not to be found elsewhere. And 
supposing, according to some modern opi- 
nions, * that no other than the lymphatic 
veins absorb, the genital parts are equally suit- 
ed to a considerable absorption, as the vessels 
of this kind are there very numerous. 
Though Galen was unacquainted with the 
mechanism of the semen, he was not ignorant 
that the humours were enriched by its being 
retained ; for he says every part is full of it 
with those who refrain from any commerce 
with women; but those who frequently give 
way to this intercourse, are quite deficient of 
this humour. He then enters into a curious 
disquisition, in order to ascertain how small a 
quantity of this liquor can communicate in- 
finite strength to the body; and concludes. 
* Vide, Dr. Munro junior, De Vasis Lymphaticis. Dr. 
Hunter, the Medical Commentaries, &c.
that 

[19]
that it has excellent virtue, and may, there- 
fore, very speedily convey some of its power to 
all parts of the corporeal machine; and that as 
small causes often produce great effects, he 
thinks it is no way surprizing, that the testicles 
should furnish liquor proper to circulate fresh 
vigour over all the body, as the brain produces 
many motions and sensations, and the heart 
communicates the power of beating to the ar- 
teries. To this may be properly added what 
the great professor Haller says upon the same 
subject. His words are: “ The semen is kept 
“ in the vesiculœ seminales until the man makes 
“ use of it, or nocturnal emissions deprive him 
“ of it. During this period, the quantity that 
“ is then confined excites him to acts of ve- 
“ nery; but the greater part of this seed, 
“ which is the most volatile and odoriferous, 
“ as well as the strongest, is absorbed into the 
“ blood, and then produces upon its return 
“ very surprising changes; it makes the beard, 
“ hair, and nails grow; it changes the voice 
“ and manners; for age does not produce 
“ those changes in animals; it is the semen 
“ only that performs these operations, as we 
“ find eunuchs are not susceptible of them." 
This liquor is a stimulus or provocative, 
which irritates the parts it touches, as its pow- 
erful scent, and the manifest irritation it com- 
municates to the organs of generation, plainly 
evince. These sharp particles being then in- 
cessantly absorbed and reunited with the hu- 
mours, they create a gentle, though constant 
stimulus


[20]
stimulus in the vessels, which thereby more 
forcibly contract, and more easily act upon the 
fluids; hence circulation is quickened, nutri- 
tion performed with greater regularity, and 
every other animal function becomes more 
perfect. 
This being the case, eunuchs must ncces- 
sarily be in many respects defective in their 
animal œconomy; but if they are incapable of 
the advantages that are derived from the ab- 
sorption of this liquor, they are, on the other 
hand, not deprived of that precious part of the 
blood which is allotted for semen; and of 
course they are not liable to those changes 
which are occasioned by the prepared seminal 
liquor; nor are they exposed to those disorders 
which arise from the privation of this humour 
unprepared. When the first is not separated, 
the animal machine will be deficient in those 
succours which it derives from the prepared 
semen, without being liable to the alterations 
which depend thereupon; but this can in no 
respect weaken; if, on the one hand, it gains 
nothing, so, on the other, it loses nothing: 
the body of an eunuch may, therefore, in this 
respect be considered in a state of childhood. 
To what has been here said upon this subject, 
the observations of the celebrated professor 
Skmeider of Leipsic, will be no improper sup- 
plement. 
“ Whilst

[21]
“ Whilst I have been some times medi-
“ tating on various natural subjects, says this 
“ professor, such as the human body, the 
“ structure of it, its motion, its humours, and 
“ the like, I imagined that, amongst other 
“ things, the genital liquor well deserved to 
“ be carefully examined; and by inquiring 
“ into the nature, the constitutive parts, the 
“ vessels, receptacles, and secretion of it, I 
“ have recollected some things concerning its 
“ motion; not that which is ejaculatory, and 
“ excited in coition, or by another filthy ti- 
“ tillation; nor yet its own private and in- 
“ testine motion, which, that it must have, 
“ we are pretty sure of, from the spirituous 
“ and sulphureous particles it abounds with; 
“ but the motion I mean is a progressive one, 
“ from its receptacles back again into the mass 
“ of the blood; and several circumstances 
“ have induced me to believe and assert, that 
“ there really is such a motion, till such time 
“ as the contrary shall be plainly and evident- 
“ ly demonstrated to me. To get some light in 
“ this matter, I perused various authors, both 
“ ancient and moderen, philological as well as 
“ anatomical, but to little or no purpose; for 
“ I have been scarce able to find any thing in 
“ them concerning this progressive or circu- 
“ latory motion, except in Hippocrates, in his 
“ book de Genitura; by whole words we may 
“ conclude he was of this opinion, as he says. 
“ As soon as there is seed made, the flesh and out- 
“ ward skin become more porous, and the little 
“ veins are more opened than they were before;
“ but

[22]
“ but those who are yet in their childhood, or else 
“ eunuchs, have, for that reason, no hair either 
“ on the pubes or chin, and are all over smooth, 
“ because no pussage being yet made for the seed, 
“ the outward superficies are no where rarefied; 
“ for the passage to the seed, as I said a little 
“ before, is stopped up. 
“ From these words it is evident, that Hip- 
“ pocrates has made mention of this progress 
“ of the seed into the blood and body; whilst 
“ he asserts, that by this same seed the flesh 
“ and outward skin are rarefied, that the beard 
“ and hair on the pubes might come through, 
“ because then there is a passage made for 
“ the seed, which, before the years of pu- 
“ berty, and in eunuchs, is yet stopped up. 
“ Rolfinch just hints at it, and at the same 
“ time denies the circulation of the seed, as 
“ will appear from his words: The ostentatious 
“ name of circulation, says he, gives no rest to 
“ the curious; the semen seems neither to circulate 
“ within nor without the testicles; the vigour 
“ which the testicles add to the body ought not to 
“ be aseribed to their hulk, but to their power; 
“ yet I will not deny, but that some seminal atoms 
“ may be mixed with the blood, from the remain- 
“ der of what serves for the nutrition of the tes- 
“ ticles, and which is received back into the veins. 
“ That these words intimate a regress of the 
“ seed into the blood, is undeniable; but they 
“ are not strong enough, and a few atoms are 
“ not sufficient to procure the body mettle, 
“ and add strength and vigour to it; and it 
“ must

[23]
“ must not be a small quantity of them that 
“ would be able to have that effect Tauvry, 
“ speaking of the use of the seed, in regard to 
“ the body it is made in, and considering it 
“ on account of the visible effects it has upon 
“ the body, comes, without doubt, into the 
“ opinion of its circulatory motion. I shall 
“ transcribe the passage entire, it is worth 
“ reading, and runs thus; “ Nobody doubts, 
“ but that we owe our origin to the seed, and that 
“ whilst it regenerates us in other beings very like 
“ ourselves, it renders us as it were immortal. 
“ But it is more difficult to trace and know the 
“ uase it is of to the subject itself in which it is 
“ produced; yet we see it gives us a certain de- 
“ gree of perfections strength, and vigour; be- 
“ cause eunuchs, womens and those who, by ex- 
“ cessive venery, are enervated, are, like chil- 
“ drens dastardly and imperfect; for the same 
“ reason it produces a beards, ond makes the 
“ voice of a deeper sound; and as between eunuch 
“ and woman, there is no other difference, than 
“ what relates to the production of this liquids, 
“ it is very probabks that this same liquid, re- 
“ turning into the mass of the bloods is the cause 
“ of these remarkable effects." 
These are the words and arguments of our 
author, to which I shall add my own reasons, 
to confirm this opinion. The first and most 
cogent is the smallness of the seminal bags, and 
continual and daily afflux into them. That 
they are small, we are convinced by our eyes; 
they are not three inches in length, and 
hardly

[24]
hardly one inch in breadth and thickness, tho’ 
on one side they are commonly somewhat big- 
ger than they are on the other. Now, let 
any one well consider the smallness of these 
vessels, and the daily influx of seed into them, 
which nobody can deny, unless he denies like- 
wise, against all reason and experience, the cir- 
culation of the blood, the undoubted cause of 
secretion of all humours in the body, whether 
good or bad. Now let, I say, any one well 
consider the continual increase of seed, and 
the smallness of the seminal bags, that are no 
ways capable of receiving and containing such 
a quantity of seed as may be made in seven or 
eight weeks (I will say nothing of many years) 
and so long till a man lawfully cohabits with a 
woman. As these things then are incompa- 
tible, it is necessary that the semen should be 
carried off again to the mass of the blood or the 
body, for the reasons already alledged by 
Tauvry, and others that may be given. The 
change that is likewise observed in the tempe- 
rament of the body after castration, is a cor- 
roborating evidence of the progressive motion 
of the semen; for it is manifest, that animals, 
after their testicles are taken away, grow fat- 
ter, are more languid, and less courageous. 
It is likewise, amongst other things, to be ob- 
served, that in eunuchs the hair of the beard 
and privities does not fall off before castration; 
and that if it is not on the chin, and other 
parts, it never will appear as upon those who 
have not undergone this operation. The pri- 
vation of virility likewise changes the voice.
which

[25]
which becomes more sharp after it. It is re- 
ported of stags that are fit for copulation, that 
if immediately after the shedding of their horns, 
which fall off every year, they are deprived of 
the powers of procreation, no new horns will 
grow in future. This motion of the seed is more- 
over proved from the rank smell and taste of 
some beasts, and the flesh of others; as also 
the stated periods on which their desire of co- 
pulation returns. What becomes of all the 
seed? Where is it hid when those animals do 
not couple with their females? Therefore to 
say that no secretion of semen is made, is 
speaking against all reason and experience. Or- 
gans are set apart for that secretion, which, ac- 
cording to the laws of nature, are constantly 
employed in their office. There is the matter, 
or arterial blood, from which the seed is sepa- 
ted. We are likewise taught by experience 
the presence of the seed in animals at all times. 
Whenever an animal is diffected, the seed- 
bags will appear turgid with recent seed. I 
am, moreover, of opinion, that if the semen 
did not circulate in the body, it would be ut- 
terly impossible for unmarried men to abstain 
from fornication, by reason of the continual 
increase of seed, and the incessant irritations 
it would occasion to abominable lust; not to 
mention the various and most dangerous dis- 
orders such a superabundance of semen would 
create, if the quantity could not be any way 
diminished, except by copulation. It is true, 
that a man may disturb and spoil the motion 
the seed, by excesses in diet, and various 
C meats


[26]
meats and liquors, that either augment the 
quantity of liquor too much, or render it 
sharp, or else obstruct the vessels, and so 
cause a corruption and stagnation of the seed, 
and an acrimony contracted from thence, 
ought sometimes to be reckoned amongst the 
morbific causes of a furor uterinus, priapism, 
and satyriasis. This is evident from what 
is often observed in woman troubled with 
the furor uterinus; namely, that upon rub- 
bing the pudenda with musk or amber- 
grease, or giving them clysters of the same na- 
ture, great quantities of spermatic liquor are 
discharged, with immediate relief to the pati- 
ent. From what has been said, I think it is 
manifest, that the seed, from its vessels, re- 
turns into the blood, and from that again into 
them. But where is the passage through which 
it is conveyed? This, I confess, we know 
little of; but then our want of knowledge is 
no reason we should deny there is such a pas- 
sage. Our ignorance and diffidence cannot 
take away the truth and reality of things. Tell 
me, pray, which way is it that, from an epyema 
in the thorax, an imposthume in the abdomen, 
or an inflammation in the pleura, lungs, &c. 
the purulent matter is carried to the urinary 
passages, the guts, or the mouth? We see 
that in a pleurisy, the matter is most common- 
ly discharged at the mouth; but then at other 
times we likewise find, that it is brought away 
with the urine, or the excrements. Nay, what 
is still more surprising, several hard substances 
that had been swallowed, such as pins, &c.
3 have

[27] 
have been brought away through the urinary 
passages with the urine, as we have had several 
examples, attested by persons of worth and 
credit, Miscell. I. C. 4. II. D. 10. III. P. 
m. 4. and act. euditer, Mens. August. Anni. 
1712. Which way could these things get to 
the urinary vessels? That the blood carried 
them with it, through the arteries, veins, and 
capillary vessels, is very difficult to conceive. 
Let any one who understands anatomy weigh 
and consider the curious progress, and many 
crooked windings the chyle is forced to make 
in its passage from the stomach to the blood. 
Let him consider, moreover, the various 
windings and capillary vessels through which 
the blood circulates, and compare it to those 
hard substances, and then judge, whether they 
can easily be carried to the secretary organs of 
the urine, and with the same facility be sepa- 
rated from the blood, as the urine is, without 
wounding the vessels. The above mentioned 
Tauvry is of opinion, that the seed through 
the pores of the veins goes back into the mass 
of blood, which regress he conceives to be 
in this manner: The seed, says he, in- 
cluded within its vessels ferments, and, by 
continuing there, acquires a constitution it 
was not before endowed with; that is, it gets 
more motion, and is more subtilized; so that 
returning into the mass of blood, it there 
brings forth those alterations, which it could 
not have produced, unless it had been rectified 
and exalted in the seminal vessels. When these 
vessels are once filled, and more seminal mat- 
C2 ter


[28]
ter comes to them, that which is contained in 
them is forced by degrees to go off into the 
pores of the veins, and circulating with the 
blood, by its glutinous quality, in a manner, 
involves and with-holds the spirits, and hinders 
the dissipation of them. This is the reason that 
in the act of coition great quantities of this 
oily substance are, by repetition, exhausted, 
the spirits evaporated; and from this principle 
arises the debility of those who are destitute of 
this liquor. Mr. Boyle is of the same opinion. 
As to myself, I believe that the seed being at- 
tenuated and subtilized in the testicles and se- 
minal vessels, returns by the lymphatic vessels, 
which, together with the vasa deferentia, ascends 
into the abdomen, and then they discharge 
their lympha in the chyliferous vessels; and 
that after this manner it is carried again into 
the chyle and blood, to the great benefit of the 
whole body. I heartily wish, that the most 
skilful anatomists, and philological writers of 
the greatest penetration, would make further 
inquiry into this affair, the certain knowledge 
of which would be of great utility. 
From these observations, I think it is clear- 
ly proved, that the superabundant semen is ab- 
sorbed by the lymphatic vessels into the body, 
where it communicates fresh circulation and 
vigour, and disperses strength and power to 
every part of the body. If then this liquor 
is of such eminent importance to the pro- 
per functions of the whole machine, let us 
consider what may be the effects of too great a 
discharge

[29]
discharge of it. Aetius has handed down to
us a description of the ills that are produced 
by too great an emission of the semen: 
“ Young people, says he, have the air and 
“ appearance of old age; they become pale, 
“ effeminate, benumbed, lazy, base, stupid, 
“ and even imbecile; their bodies become 
“ bent, their legs are not able to carry them; 
“ they have an utter distaste for every thing, 
“ are totally incapacitated, and many become 
“ paralytic;” and he therefore includes amo- 
rous pleasures among the number of the six 
causes which occasion the palsy. Galen ob- 
serves, that the same causes occasion disorders 
of the brain, and of the nerves, and destroy 
the powers; and he tells us, that a patient under 
his care for a violent disorder, not being per- 
fectly recovered, died the same night that he 
Paid the conjugal tribute to his wife. And 
Pliny, the naturalist, informs us, that Corne- 
lius Gallus, the ancient prætor, and Titus 
Etherius, the Roman knight, died in the very 
act of coition. Sanctorius, who has examin- 
ed with the greatest attention all the causes 
which actuate our bodies, has observed, after 
Aetius,that this weakens the stomach, de- 
stroys digestion, obstructs that insensible per- 
spiration, the irregularity of which produces 
the most fatal consequences, occasions the li- 
ver and reins to be overheated, gives a dispo- 
sition for the stone in the kidneys, and usually 
occasions the loss of, or weakens, the sight.
Lommius, in his Commentaries upon Celsus, 
observes, that frequent emissions of the seed re- 
C3 lax,

[30]
lax, dry up, weaken, enervate, and produce 
a croud of evils, such as apoplexies, lethar-
gies, epilepsies, faintings, the loss of sight, tre- 
mors, palsy, spasm, and every species of the 
most racking gout. Schelaumer says, that too 
great a dissipation of the animal spirits weakens 
the stomach, destroys the appetite, and nutri- 
tion no longer taking place, the motion of the 
heart is weakened, all the parts languish, and 
an epilepsy succeeds. Salmuth has seen a learn- 
ed man of a splenetic cast go mad; and another 
man, whose brain was so dried up, that it was 
heard to rattle in the pericranium; and both 
these disorders were occasioned by excesses of 
the same nature. And the author of Memoirs 
of Curious Naturalists (De Cur 2. ann. 5. ap- 
pend. obs. 88. p. 56) says, that he himself 
has seen a man of 59 years of age, who, three 
weeks after his marriage with a young woman, 
fell suddenly blind, and died at the end of four 
months, which he attributed to the excessive 
libidinous disposition of the wife, and the too 
frequent gratification of the husband. The ce- 
lebrated Hoffman tells us (in his De morbis ex- 
nimia venere) that a young man of 18 years of 
age, who had frequent connections with a ser- 
vant girl, was on a sudden seized with a 
weakness, and a general tremor in all his 
limbs; his face became red, and his pulse ve- 
ry weak. He was relieved from this state in 
an hour’s time; but an incessent languor con- 
tinued upon him. The same fit frequently re- 
turned, and threw him into great agonies, 
which, at the end of eight days, occasioned a 
contractions

[31]
contraction and tumour in the right arm, with 
a pain in his right elbow, which was greatly 
encreased. The disorder continued increasing 
for a long time, notwithstanding many reme- 
dies were prescribed. At length, however, 
the doctor performed a cure upon this patient. 
Boerhaave says, that the loss of too much se- 
men occasions lassitude, debilitates, and renders 
exercise difficult; it causes convulsions, ema- 
ciation, and pains in the membrane of the 
brain; it deadens the senses, and particularly 
the sight; gives rise to a dorsal consumption, 
and various other disorders, which are connect- 
ed with these. He also says, that he had seen 
a patient, whose disorder began by lassitude, 
and a weakness in all parts of the body, parti- 
cularly towards the loins; it was attended 
with an involuntary motion of the tendons, 
periodical spasms, and bodily decay, info- 
much, as to destroy the whole corporeal 
frame; he felt a pain even in the membrane 
of the brain, a pain which patients call a dry 
burning heat, and which incessantly affected 
the most noble parts. And he says, that he 
has likewise seen a young man afflicted with a 
dorsal consumption, who, though he was fre- 
quently cautioned not to give way to amorous 
pleasures, nevertheless so far yielded to their 
impulse, that his body, before his death, was 
quite deformed, and the fleshy substance which 
appears above the spinal apophyses of the loins, 
was intirely wasted; and that even the brain 
was in some measure consumed. 
C4 Coition

[32]
Coition brings on epileptical fits, in those 
who are subject to them; and to this cause 
Van Swieten attributes the great oppression the 
patients suffer, if the fits are frequent. Doctor 
Didier knew a merchant of Montpellier, who 
never made any sacrifices to Venus, without 
having a fit of epilepsy. Galen furnishes us 
with a similar instance, as well as Henry Van 
Steers. Van Swieten knew a man, who was 
troubled with the epilepsy, who had a fit upon 
his wedding-night. Hoffman was acquainted 
with a very lascivous woman, who usually had 
a fit of epilepsy after each add of venery. Boer- 
haave observes, that in the heat of venery, all 
the nerves are affected, oftentimes even mor- 
tally; and gives an example of a woman, 
who, every time she performed the act of co- 
ition, fell into a pretty long sincope; and an- 
other of a man, who died the very first time 
he copulated with a woman, the spasm being 
so violent, that it brought on a general palsy. 
And Monsieur Savage has given us a very ex- 
traordinary instance of a man, who was seized 
with a spasm in the very middle of enjoyment, 
whereby his whole body became stiff, he lost 
all sensation and memory, and the fit continu- 
ed upon him for twelve years, A few years 
since, a handsome young woman, of a very las- 
civious disposition, bordering upon the furor 
uterinus, could not be completely gratified 
with the successive attacks of seven dragoons, 
who were quartered at Ipswich. Though each 
of the assailants had quite exhausted himself in 
her service, she would willingly have met with 
another



[33] 
another lover the same evening; but being in 
this disappointed, she went to her own bed, 
and the next morning was found almost speech- 
less, bathed in her own blood, which gushed 
from the matrix. I saw her in this condition, 
and prescribed what I thought would have 
been of some service to her; but she expired 
before the application could be made. 
THUS we find, that excessive indulgence 
in amorous pleasures does not only produce 
languishing disorders, but frequently acute and 
violent disorders; and it constantly impedes 
the cure of complaints derived from another 
source. Hoffman, after speaking of the dan- 
gerous effects of amorous pleasure, for those 
who labour under wounds, considers those 
risks which persons run, by adicting them- 
selves to it, who are afflicted with fevers. Up- 
on this occasion, he quotes an observation of Fa- 
bricius de Hilden, who says, that a man hav- 
ing copulated with a woman the tenth day of 
a pleurisy, which had terminated the seventh, 
by abundant perspiration, he was seized with a 
violent fever, and immediate trembling, and 
died on the thirteenth day. He also relates, 
that a man of a gouty disposition, much adict- 
ed to women and wine, who fancying himself 
cured of a pleurisy, was, immediately after co- 
ition, seized with a violent trembling all over 
his body, extreme flushings in his face, with 
all the symptoms of the disorder which he 
thought he had got rid of; but which returned 
with much greater violence than at first, and 
C5 he

[34]
he was in far greater danger. He also men- 
tions a man, who never yielded to venereal 
excesses, without having an intermitting fever 
for several days. Bartholus takes notice of a 
young bridegroom, who, the day after his 
nuptials, was seized with a violent fever, 
occasioned by his conjugal excesses, which 
brought on a great dejection of spirits, accom- 
panied with faintings, risings in the stomach, 
immediate drought, light-headedness, and in- 
capacity of sleeping, and much uneasiness. And 
Monsieur Chesneau tells us, he has seen a 
young married couple, who, the first week of 
their nuptials, were seized with a violent in- 
cessant fever, accompanied with flushings in 
their faces, which were greatly bloated, and 
one of them had a violent pain at the crupper; 
and they fell martyrs to lust before the end of 
the first month. 
If such fatal accidents are produced by the 
excessive indulgence of amorous passions in a 
natural and legal way, still more baneful ef- 
fects must flow from the gratification of them 
in an unnatural and illegal manner, which I
shall illustrate in the succeeding chapters. 
SEC-

[35]
SECTION III. 
Of the baneful effects of self-pollution in 
the male-sex. 
WE have already seen the concurrent testi- 
monies of the most eminent ancient 
and modern physicians, with regard to the fa- 
tal consequences of excessive indulgence in 
amorous pleasure in a natural way; the sub- 
jest of this section is the consideration of the 
still more direful effects of seminal discharges 
in an unnatural way; for, as a celebrated phi- 
lologist observes, “ The loss of too great a 
“ quantity of semen in the natural manner, is 
“ attended with very dangerous consequences; 
“ but they are still more dreadful, when the 
“ same quantity has been dissipated in an un- 
“ natural manner; for the accidents which 
“ happen to those who waste themselves in a 
“ natural way are very terrible; but those 
“ which are occasioned by self-pollution are 
“ still more shocking.” 
It would, indeed, be of little consequence, 
in a physical sense, whether this evacuation 
was occasioned by either of the methods I have 
mentioned, if they were alike pernicious; but 
the manner is in this respect equal to the sub- 
stance. Sanctorius points out to us the cause 
of the peculiar evils arising from self-pollution:
C6 “ He

[36] 
“ He says, moderate coition is useful, when 
“ nature sollicits for it: when it is sollicited 
“ by the imagination, it weakens all the fa- 
“ culties, and particularly the memory.” This 
may be very clearly explained; when we are 
in a state of health, we have no amorous de- 
sires, but when the vesiculœ seminales are re- 
plete with a quantity of liquor, which has ac- 
quired such a degree of thickness, as to render 
its return into the mass of blood difficult; and 
in these circumstances, when an evacuation 
takes place, we may be partly certain, that 
the corporeal frame will not thereby suffer any 
sensible diminution of strength. But such is the 
structure of the genital organs, that they are 
actuated, and the succeeding desires are ani- 
mated, not only by the presence of the super- 
abundant seminal humour, but also by the ima- 
gination, which having great influence upon 
these parts, may, by being occupied with las- 
civious ideas, give them such a disposition, as 
to create these desires, the gratification where- 
of is the more pernicious, in proportion as it 
is unnecessary to the welfare of the body. 
These organs, like the others, are never pro- 
perly actuated, but when nature stimulates 
them: for example, the want of food and 
drink, is indicated by hunger and thirst; and 
excesses in either respect are prejudicial, by 
enfeebling the body. The necessity of going 
to stool, and voiding urine, is signified by cer- 
tain physical conditions; but a bad habit may 
so far pervert the constitution of the organs, 
that the necessity of these evacuations may no 
longer

[37]
longer depend upon the quantity of matter to 
be evacuated. We subject ourselves to want, 
without being in want; and this is precisely 
the case of those who addict themselves to self- 
pollution. Imagination and custom, not na- 
ture and reason, prompt them to the filthy 
practice. Nature is drained of one of her most 
essential humours, and which she so visibly 
points out the application of for her own sup- 
port, and the perpetuation of the human spe- 
cies. Habit will nevertheless in time so far 
pervert nature, that, in consequence of that 
law of animal œconomy, whereby humours 
are attracted by irritation, there will be a con- 
tinual conflux of humours upon these parts: 
for, as Hippocrates observes, when a man ha- 
bituates himself to seminal emissions, the ves- 
sels that are therein employed, are unnecessa- 
rily dilated, and the semen is by that means 
more abundantly attracted. Not only the bo- 
dy, but the mind, is contaminated; for no 
sooner has this uncleanness fixed its empire in 
the heart, but from that time it pursues the 
man every where, and never relinquishes its 
dominion. Even upon the most serious and 
awful occasions, he will find himself transport- 
ed with lustful conceptions and desires, which 
incessantly pursue him, and occupy his imagi- 
nation. The self-polluter, entirely devoted 
to this filthy meditation, is liable, upon that 
account, to the same disorders, as the meta- 
physician, or the mathematician, whose at- 
tention is engrossed by a single object; and it 
is universally allowed, that nothing debilitates 
the


[38]
the faculties more than the mind being eon- 
stantly engaged upon the same subject; for 
that part of the brain which is then occupied 
makes an effort, similar to that of a mussle, 
which has been for a long time greatly extend- 
ed; this occasions such a continued motion in 
the part as cannot be stopt, or such a fixed 
attention, that the idea cannot be changed. 
Self-polluters are under the same predicament, 
or else they are completely incapacitated; so 
that when their faculties are not entirely de- 
stroyed, they are afflicted with all the disor- 
ders incident to the brain, the hypocondria, 
epilepsy, catalepsy, insensibility, imbecility, 
nervous disorders, &c. &c. 
These very disorders, when thus produ- 
ced, are an additional incentive to their cause, 
as the patient flatters himself with momentary 
relief, from the gratification of a disposition 
that perpetually engages his attention; and 
therefore he daily and hourly encreases his mi- 
sery, and saps the very effence of existence. 
If to this we add the difficulty that fre- 
quently attends the gratification of amorous 
passions in a natural way, the expence that 
necessarily attends it, and the risk with regard 
to infection, which serve as so many damps 
to the pursuit, a young man that is dependant, 
having but a small income, and his character 
to preserve, will frequently surmount his de- 
sires, be they ever so inordinate; but when 
once he habituates himself to a self-gratifica- 
tion,

[39]
tion, the means are so easy, the method so 
cheap, and the danger so latent, that every 
time he finds an impulse he creates an oppor- 
tunity, till at length the generative organs be- 
ing incessantly irritated, a perpetual stimulus 
is brought on, independant of any external 
cause; so that if there were no more danger to 
be apprehended at first from emissions of this 
kind, than those in the natural way, the train 
of evils produced by this habit, and the mind 
being debauched, must demonstrate their fa- 
tal tendency: but still more cogent reasons are 
to be given, why seminal discharges this way 
are more destructive than in copulation. 
The frequency of erection, though im- 
perfect, which this disposition excites, greatly 
diminishes the strength of self-polluters. All 
parts in a state of extention exhaust the 
powers: the spirits that are conveyed thither 
in greater quantities, and of course dissipated, 
are wanted in the performance of other func- 
tions, which is therefore only imperfectly 
done: these concurrent causes are attended 
with very dangerous effects. Self-polluters are 
also afflicted with a kind of palsy in the organs 
of generation, which brings on impotency, 
through a defect in erection, and a simple 
gonorrhæa, by reason of the relaxed parts 
suffering the real semen to escape as soon as se- 
creted, together with an afflux of that humour 
which the prostatæ separate. In short, all the 
internal membrane of the urethra acquires a 
catarrhous

[40]
catarrhous disposition, which excites a running 
similar to the fluor albus in women. 
The devotees to self-pollution act in such 
direct opposition to nature, and all the ties of 
society, that they very richly deserve the ac- 
cumulated evils incident to their shameful prac- 
tice. I might carry this observation much 
farther in a theological and moral point of 
view; but I shall confine myself in this treatise 
merely to physical causes and effects, as I do 
not attempt to write for the emoliariation of 
manners, but for the preservation and recovery 
of health. They are of such a selfish and mer- 
cenary disposition, that, unwilling to partici- 
pate their bliss with the amiable part of the 
creation, they are justly and reciprocally de- 
barred from that joy which the heart is sensible 
of, and which should be nicely distinguished 
from that voluptuousness, solely corporeal, 
which man enjoys in common with animals, 
and from which it is completely distinct. This 
joy aids digestion, animates circulation, acce- 
lerates all the functions, restores strength, and 
supports it. If this is found to unite with the 
pleasures of love, it contributes to repair, and 
even to restore, what they stole by force; and 
observation proves it. Sanctorius says upon 
this subject, “ After excessive coition with a 
“ woman that is beloved, a man is not sen- 
“ sible of the lassitude which should follow this 
“ excess, because the joy which the soul feels 
“ encreases the strength of the heart, favours 
“ the functions, and repairs what was lost." 
Beauty

[41]Beauty has charms which dilate our hearts, 
and multiply our spirits. This much is, how- 
ever, certain, that nature alots more felicity to 
those joys procured in her proper channel, than 
in those which are repugnant and destructive to 
her. 
Again, there are innumerable pores spread 
over the surface of the human body, which are 
plainly the emunctories or channels of discharge 
for vitiated redundant, or, in short, perspir- 
able matter. There also exists on the surface 
of the body a resorbent faculty. Every instant 
half the pores of the skin exhale a very subtile 
humour that is of greater consequence than all 
our other evacuations. At the same time another 
kind of pores receive part of the fluids which 
surround us, and communicate them to the 
vessels. It is demonstrable, that in some cases 
this inhalation is very important. In robust 
people, the exhalation is greater than in weak 
persons; and contrarywise, the inhalation in 
these is more considerable, and the perspiration 
of healthy people contains something nutritious 
and strengthening, which being inhaled by an- 
other invigorates him. From these observa- 
tions we may deduce, how the young female 
who lay with David increased his strength; 
how other aged men have been assistted in the 
same manner; and consequently why it 
weakens the healthy person, who loses with- 
out receiving, or rather who receives weak 
exhalations, corrupt and putrid, which are pre- 
judicial to her constitution. In the act of co- 
ition,

[42] 
ition, this perspiration is probably more ani- 
mated and spiritual than at any other time. It 
is a real loss which is sustained, and which 
takes place in whatever manner the sperm is 
emitted, as it depends upon the agitation 
which attends it. In copulation it is recipro- 
cal, and the one inhales what the other ex- 
hales. This mutual exchange is endubitably 
evinced, when proper attention is paid to these 
operations. A certain modern professor says, 
that he saw, not long since, a man, who 
was not afflicted with any kind of gonorrhæa, 
or any cutaneous venereal symptoms, commu- 
nicate the venereal disorder to a woman, wrho, 
at the same instant, gave him the itch in ex- 
change. This may serve as a corroborating 
proof of this mutual loss and gain in the act of 
coition; and though the example might, in 
ludicrous hands, be turned against the argu- 
ment, it certainly evinces, that where there 
is no infection communicated on either side, 
the nutritious absorption may counterbalance 
the loss by perspiration. 
THESE are the reasons why seminal dis- 
charges by manual friction, are more pernici- 
ous in their consequences, than in the natural 
act of coition. And if this were not sufficient- 
ly proved by the foregoing reasons, the block- 
ing spectacles of masturbation, the horrid vic- 
tims of self-pollution might be brought forth to 
display the dreadful effects peculiar to this 
filthy and abominable practice; and indeed it 
is

[43]
is a duty owing to the public, to hold up the 
minor of Onania. 
The examples I shall now give are well 
authenticated by the best writers upon the sub- 
ject; and it will therefore be needless to 
trouble the reader with references or quota- 
tion marks. 
The general evils which all practitioners, 
who have written upon this subject, agree in, 
are thus specified: the intellectual facul- 
ties are weakened; loss of memory ensues, the 
ideas are clouded, the patients sometimes fall 
into slight madness, they have an incessant 
irksome uneasiness, continual anguish, and so 
keen a remorse of conscience, that they fre- 
quently shed tears; they are subject to verti- 
goes; all their senses, and particularly sight 
and hearing, are weakened; their sleep, if 
they can obtain any, is disturbed with fright- 
ful dreams; the powers of their body decay; 
the growth of such as abandon themselves to 
those abominable practices, before it is accom- 
plished, is greatly prevented; some cannot 
sleep at all, others are in a perpetual state of 
drowsiness; they are all affected with hypocon- 
driac or hysteric complaints, and are overcome 
with the accidents that accompany those grie- 
vous disorders, melancholy, sighing, tears, 
palpitations, suffocations, and faintings; some 
emit a calcarious saliva; coughs, slow fevers, 
and consumptions, are chastisements which 
others meet with in their own crimes. The 
most

[44]
most acute pains form another object of pa- 
tients complaints; some are thus affected in 
their heads, others in their breasts, stomach, 
and intestines; others have external rheuma- 
tic pains, aching numbness in all parts of their 
body, when they are slighly pressed; pimples, 
do not only appear in the face, being one of 
the most common symptoms, but also suppu- 
rating blisters upon the nose, the breast, and 
the thighs, and painful itchings in the same 
parts. Some patients complain even of fleshy 
excrescences upon their foreheads. The or- 
gans of generation also participate of that mi- 
sery whereof they are the primary causes. Ma- 
ny patients are incapable of erection, others 
discharge the semen upon the slightest titillation, 
and the most feeble erection, or in the efforts 
they make when at stool. Many are affected 
with a constant gonorrhæa, which entirely 
destroys their powers, and the discharge re- 
sembles fœtid matter, or mucus. Others are 
tormented with painful priapisms, dysuriœ, 
stranguries, heat of urine, and a difficulty of 
rendering it, which greatly torments many pa- 
tients. Some have painful tumours upon their 
testicles, penis, bladder, and spermatic cord; so 
that either the impracticability of coition, or 
a depravation of the genital liquor, render every 
one impotent, who has given way to this 
practice for any length of time. Moreover, 
the functions of the intestines are sometimes 
very much disordered; and some patients com- 
plain very much of stubborn constipations,. 
others of the hemorrhoids, or of the running of
a fœtid


[45] 
a fœtid matter from the fundament, and some 
with diarrhæas immediately after the crime, 
&c. &c. Such are the general disorders and 
evils produced by this filthy practice; and I 
shall now illustrate them with such examples 
as I have either been an eye-witness of, or 
such as are sufficiently vouched for by men of 
veracity and judgment. 
ONE patient, who had been married some 
years, and was the father of several children, 
having, nevertheless, addicted himself to this 
filthy practice, to avoid impregnating his wife, 
who was of a very prolific disposition, and 
who had agreed with him to be mutual assist- 
ants to each other in this manual operation, 
applied to me in a very deplorable state. He 
had an incessant seminal running or gleet, vio- 
lent pains in his back and breast, was very 
faint and weak, as well by this continual 
draining, as from a total suppression of appetite, 
loathing every kind of food, and incapable of 
retaining any thing upon his stomach. This 
brought on a violent dejection of spirits, which 
terminated in a kind of hypocondria, accom- 
panied with cold sweats; and notwithstanding 
all the remedies that were prescribed for him, 
by reason of his incapacity to take them, he 
died a martyr to this abominable practice. 
ANOTHER patient, who had addicted him- 
self to masturbation frequently from his tender 
years, had a nob of flesh, resembling a wen, 
growing upon his forehead; his face was co-
vered

[46]
vered with pimples; his nose sore and full  
of eruptions; his legs and thighs fallen away, 
and scarce able to support him; he was also 
afflicted with violent pains in his head and 
back, and frequent tremors all over his body; 
his hand shook to that degree, that he was in- 
capable of carrying a glass of wine, or any 
other liquor to his mouth without spilling, 
and though he had been a very skilful penman, 
he was incapable of writing his name. This 
patient, having discontinued his abominable 
practice, has in some degree recovered his 
strength; his face is not near so frightful, and 
the tremor of his hand has so much subsided, 
that I have lately had a letter written by him 
very prettily. 
A YOUTH, who had not yet attained his 
sixteenth year, devoted himself with such rage 
to masturbation, that at length, instead of se- 
men, he brought forth nothing but blood, the 
emission of which was soon followed with ex- 
cessive pain, and an inflammation of all the or- 
gans of generation. Emollient cataplasms were 
ordered him, which produced the desired ef- 
fect; but he soon after died of the small pox; 
and there is much reason to believe, that the 
shocks which he gave to his constitution by 
the abominable practice of self-pollution, great- 
ly tended to render the disorder so fatal. 
ANOTHER young patient was afflicted with 
that total stiffness mentioned by Boerhaave; 
his neck was first seized with it, then the spine,  
which

[47]
which gradually communicated it to all the 
members. Some time before his death, he 
could bear no other posture than lying on his 
belly in bed, being incapable of moving either 
bis hands or feet, or indeed of any other kind 
of motion, and unable to take any other ali- 
ment than what was put into his mouth. He 
existed some weeks in this dreadful situation, 
and died, or rather went out, like a snuff of a 
candle, without being sensible of pain. 
A PATIENT who had the misfortune in his 
juvenile days, being but then between eight 
and ten years of age, to contract this perni- 
cious habit, soon destroyed his constitution; 
but he was lately afflicted in a most extraordi- 
nary manner; his nerves were extremely weak, 
his hands devoid of strength, incessantly trem- 
bling, and in a state of perpetual perspiration; 
be had violent qualms of the stomach, pains in 
bis arms and legs, which sometimes commu- 
nicated to his veins and breast. He was trou- 
bled with coughing, his eyes were sunk, and 
always weak; he had a violent appetite, yet 
greatly fell away, and had a very bad aspect as 
to physiognomy. This patient, nevertheless, 
having taken the remedies, and followed the 
regimen prescribed, recovered his health and 
vigour, and is now in perfect health. 
ANOTHER patient, who gave way to this 
Pernicious practice, had his nervous system 
greatly affected, which was accompanied with 
weakness, uneasiness, weariness, and anxiety; 
he

{48]
he was exhausted by an almost incessant flux 
of semen; his face had a cadaverous appear- 
ance; weakness rendered every kind of mo- 
tion difficult to him; his legs were so feeble, 
that he could scarce stand upright upon them, 
and he did not dare stir out of his bed-room; 
his digestive powers were in so bad a state, that 
he voided his food three or four hours after 
having swallowed it, in its original state, and 
as if his stomach had the instant before receiv- 
ed it; he was greatly afflicted with phlegm, 
and expectoration greatly exhausted him. His 
weakness and want of resolution to discontinue 
the shocking practice, rendered it impossible to 
perform a cure upon him. 
ANOTHER patient, in the prime of his life, 
who, in the dawn of manhood, contracted a 
detestable habit, had his head very much con- 
fused, and was greatly subject to vertigoes, 
which made him apprehensive of the apo- 
plexy, wherefore he had recourse to phlebo- 
tomy; but the physician who prescribed it 
was soon convinced of his error. His breast 
was oppressed, which occasioned a confined 
respiration: he had frequent pains in his sto- 
mach, and by turns his whole body was af- 
fected; he had interrupted and uneasy sleep at 
night, and his spirits were no way recruited by 
it; he was also troubled with frequent itch- 
ings, was very pale, and had pains in his eyes, 
which were extremely weak, his skin appear- 
ed jaundiced, and his whole body was meta- 
morphosed; he died soon after. 
A

[49]
A YOUTH about seventeen devoted him- 
self to this filthy and seducing practice, when 
he was in a perfect state of health. His rage 
was so great for self-pollution, that he would 
sometimes repeat the act three or four times 
in one day, and a slight insensibility always pre- 
ceded and succeeded the ejaculation, which 
was also attended with a convulsive motion in 
the extending muscles of the head, and a swel- 
ling of the neck. Some months after he had 
addicted himself to this practice, he was very 
feeble every time he was guilty of it; he ne- 
vertheless persisted till he was brought to 
death's door; and the evil had made so great 
a progress, that it was out of the power of 
medicine to administer him any relief. In 
this condition the organs of generation were 
so easily irritated, and were so weak, that his 
semen flowed from him involuntarily upon the 
slightest erection, By this means, being daily 
more and more weakened, he was now afflict- 
ed with an habitual spasm, which had not hi- 
therto affected him but in the very act, and 
discontinued afterwards. But this fit now 
continued upon him for twelve or fourteen 
hours, and which brought on such violent 
pains in the neck, that he could not be pre- 
vented from making the most hideous outcries. 
During these periods, he was incapable of swal- 
lowing any food; so that his weakness and 
misery daily increased; and he languished in 
this state for several months, towards the end 
of which, before he died, he resembled a 
corpse, more than a living man, calling forth 
D an 


[50]
an infectious stench, and aqueous palish blood 
issuing from his nose, slaver constantly flowing 
from his mouth, and, being troubled with a 
diarrhæa, he voided his excrements in the bed, 
without knowing it. The disorder of his mind 
was equally shocking as that of his body; his 
memory was entirely destroyed, destitute of 
ideas, and consequently of the ability of com- 
paring any the most simple; wherefore he be- 
came void of reflection, and was insensible to 
every thing but pain, and which was very vi- 
olent upon the periodial return of the spasm. 
Here we shall leave this unhappy person, as 
his condition was too horrid to be reflected on 
without terror, and as death at length, his 
only consolation, came to his relief. 
BESIDES these examples, Mr. Limmer- 
man acquaints us, that a man about twenty- 
three years of age was greatly troubled with 
an epilepsy, from having much infeebled him- 
self by self-pollution. Every time he had a se- 
minal emission, he fell into a perfect fit of 
epilepsy, and afterwards pains in the reins and 
about the coccyx: nevertheless, he could not 
refrain from this practice; for having, after 
he received some benefit from the doctor’s ad- 
vice, returned again to his former infamous 
practice, he was at length seized with the fits 
whilst walking in the streets; and he was 
found dead in his chamber, having fallen out 
of bed, bathed in his own blood. Mr. Mieg 
of Basil, in Switzerland, tells us, that the son 
of a merchant in that city, died at the age of 
fourteen,

[51] 
fourteen, after having baffled the skill of all 
the Helvetic physicians; his disorder was con- 
vulsions, and a sort of epilepsy, which derived 
its source from self-pollution. And the celebrat- 
ed Hoffman informs us of a young man, who, 
at the age of fifteen, having given way to self- 
pollution, which he continued till he was near 
twenty-three, was at that time afflicted with 
such a weakness in his eyes and head, that the 
former were often troubled with violent spasms 
at the time of ejaculation: that when he was 
willing to pay more than common attention to 
any thing, a kind of stupor, similar to intoxi- 
cation, succeeded; the pupil of the eye was 
greatly dilated, and he suffered exquisite tor- 
ture in that part; he involuntarily shed tears, 
and a large quantity of whitish matter collect- 
ed itself in the corners of his eyes, which were 
thereby rendered very painful. 
A MARRIED man applied to me, who ac- 
knowledged, that, in his youth, having much 
defiled himself by selt-pollution, he had 
brought on a running, which the cold bath, 
and many other remedies, did not remove; 
that in this situation no one suspected him of 
labouring under any bodily complaint, but his 
doctor, as he was fresh coloured, and natu- 
rally robust; and that meeting with a young 
lady, whose beauty enamoured him, he paid 
his addresses to her, and soon gained her con- 
sent. He had, however, some mortifying re- 
flections concerning his disorder; but being in 
hopes of a cure, and dreading the loss of his 
D2 mistress, 


[52]
mistress, if he had deferred the union, which 
he earnestly wished for, they were married. It 
was near four months after the ceremony that 
he applied to me, when he acknowledged, 
that he had been as yet unable to consummate 
his nuptials; for that he had a seminal dis- 
charge before a perfect erection; and that all 
endeavours, after the first attempt, only pro- 
duced a further loss of semen, without com- 
municating any strength to the penis: that he 
at first attributed this to the over-fondness he 
had for his wife, and that delicacy which 
sometimes throws a check upon a man in his 
highest vigour; and he therefore resolved to 
surmount what he then thought false modesty, 
by drinking a bottle extraordinary; but this, 
so far from remedying the evil, did but increase 
it; for he could procure no kind of erec- 
tion, and his seed came away as soon as he 
touched her nature. He was the more morti- 
fied at his disagreeable situation, as he believed 
his wife had made complaints to her mother, 
who had dropped some hints of a divorce, the 
thoughts of which tortured his soul more than 
the loss of life, fortune, and every thing else 
that was dear to him. This gentleman being 
naturally of a strong constitution, and having 
in every respect (except pollution) lived regu- 
larly and soberly, I performed a cure upon him 
in about five months; and a short time after 
he came to me with rapture, to tell me that 
his wife was pregnant.
THESE



[53]
These examples will be sufficient to evince 
the shocking effects of this baneful practice in 
the male sex; evils that are not solely confined 
to the body, but communicate their influence 
to the mind, which is hereby overwhelmed 
with anguish, melancholy, and despair, an in- 
capacity of business or even recreation, a dis- 
relish to all the comforts and solace of this life, 
and more particularly the female sex, whom 
at length they consider with horror, from a 
consciousness of having injured them in a most 
essential and irreparable manner. With these 
torturing reflections, and this incessant self- 
reproach, they appear as monuments of grief 
and misery, and lucky are those who do not 
terminate so shocking a career with even sui- 
cide, after having been the indirect destroyer 
of many others.
D3 SECTION

[54]
SECTION IV. 
Of the dreadful consequences of self-pol-
lution, and the gratification of the SAP- 
PHIC PASSION in the female sex. 
SORRY I am to be obliged to say, that 
the tender sex, the most amiable part of 
the creation, those for whom we are animated 
to glory, danger, and every enterprise which 
we think will recommend us to their regard; I
say, these desirable objects, who should meet us 
with mutual and warm embraces, and render 
our passions and our loves congenial, have 
their minds as well as bodies fequently ener- 
vated by shameful practices, which they think 
are entirely hidden from the world; but which 
are but too plainly depicted in their counte- 
nances, and by their frigid relish for genuine 
love, and their unnatural distaste to the male 
part of creation, for whom they were by Pro- 
vidence destined; for their bodies are by these 
filthy practices not only so weakened and ema- 
ciated, that they are often rendered barren, 
and thereby greatly prejudice society and po- 
sterity; but they at length contract an uncon- 
querable habit of this kind of gratification, 
which is always so ready at hand, and which 
they fancy they indulge themselves, without the 
danger of child-bearing, the loss of reputation. 
or

[55]
or the loss of health. In this they greatly 
deceive themselves; for the evil consequences 
of such practices are infinitely more dreadful 
than any of the dangers which terrify them 
from natural enjoyment. 
This ’tis true is a tender point to treat up- 
on; and it may be urged in their defence, that 
strong passions, a naturally amorous constitu- 
tion, the sight of accidental rencounters be- 
tween animals in the streets or fields, which 
may render their natural stimulations some- 
what inordinate, and scarce controulable, are 
great palliatives for what they may think an in- 
nocent amusement. Add to this their parents 
and relations, who have the care of them, do 
not consider how early these natural operations 
take place; that if they are thinking of a hus- 
band for a daughter, they are consulting rather 
the force of his pocket, than the strength of 
his constitution, and the risk a young woman 
runs in having any intercourse with a man be- 
fore marriage. It were to be wished, that pa- 
rents would consult the real happiness of their 
children, and not attempt to curb those de- 
sires that are laudable when directed in a pro- 
per channel, but rather endeavour to promote 
their gratification as far as they are reasonable. 
To this end, it would be prudent to provide a 
proper husband for a daughter as soon as she is 
marriageable, instead of letting her languish 
till she is five or six and twenty in hopes of a 
good match. Mothers should not attempt to 
persuade their daughters that they are mere 
D4 children

[56]
children, when they are as capable of being 
mothers as themselves, with no other view 
than that their real age may not be guessed at 
or discovered. Such artifices as these are con- 
stantly detected; and it would be much more 
to their credit to be young grandmothers than 
old coquettes. 
In England, and other northern climates, 
females do not attain the age of maturity so 
early as in more southern latitudes; so that in 
some parts of Asia women are almost past child 
bearing as early as some of cold constitutions 
in the northern parts of America have little 
more than attained the age of puberty. But 
in general females in England are capable of 
child-bearing about fifteen; and this is testi- 
fied by the downy marks of puberty upon their 
privities, the projection of their breasts, and 
their monthly purgations. Many have these 
signs upon them at thirteen and fourteen; and 
could therefore increase the number of our 
progeny from that time, till about the age of 
forty-five, which is the period when women 
in this part of the world usually discontinue 
having their menses, and are past child-bear- 
ing. It must therefore be very impolitic for 
a state to prevent a female being able to dis- 
pose of her person in wedlock till she become 
twenty-one, since, it is plain, she might in that 
time have produced six or seven subjects, the 
number of which constitute the most permanent 
riches, prosperity, and security of a king-
dom.
THUS


[57] 
THUS much I have said to palliate, if pos- 
sible, any errors in the conduct of the ladies, 
whose advocate I would willingly be upon 
every occasion; but let not any female imagine, 
that the most elaborate eloquence can ever ex- 
cuse their pursuing this abominable practice, 
which is the more baneful, as it may be said 
to be contagious, a single sinner, in this re- 
spect, having frequently corrupted a whole se- 
minary of, before, virtuous girls. 
THE dangers attending this practice are so 
various and dreadful, that they cannot be paint- 
ed in too lively colours; for even the instru- 
ment of gratification is sometimes as fatal as 
the future effects of repeated indulgence. To 
explain what I mean in this respect, I shall 
relate a fact of which I was an eye-witness, 
and could, if necessary, be attested by several 
other gentlemen of the faculty, as well as 
nurses, and other persons who are acquainted 
with the event. A young female, about the 
age of fourteen, who belonged to a certain 
laudable charity, a little north of St. Paul’s, 
but was not perceived to have so much of the 
woman about her as she really had (otherwise 
she would not have remained there) was 
brought into the sick ward whilst I attended, 
when she made excessive complaints of being 
in violent pain towards her back and loins, 
and which the nurse who attended her attri- 
buted to the stone in her bladder. I told her, 
I must examine her, which she seemed much, 
averse to, and it was with the utmost difficul-
D5 ty 


[58]
ty I could prevail upon her to let me make 
an inspection; but her bashfulness was at length 
conquered by her pain. Upon examining the 
pudendum, which bore the external marks of 
puberty, I found the lips much distended, and 
inflamed; and upon penetrating my finger, I 
felt something of a hard substance, which I at 
first imagined to be the clitoris in a state of 
more than common tension. I now told her, 
that I believed she had been guilty of some 
practices that had been very pernicious to her, 
and intreated her to tell me the truth. Upon 
thrusting against this opposing part, I found I 
greatly increased her pain, and I was convin- 
ced that she had forced something up the va- 
gina, from whence she could not withdraw it. 
I now begged her to tell me what it was, when 
she frankly told me, that she had been playing 
with a carrot, which had broke just at the time 
of ejaculation. She also owned, she had been 
frequently guilty of the practice, but had hi- 
therto escaped from such an accident. It was 
with great difficulty that I was able to extract 
it, and not without putting her to the most ex- 
cruciating pain. At length, however, I re- 
leased her, and brought out the thin end of a 
middle sized carrot, about five inches long. 
This fact requires no comment to show to 
what a pitch of mortifying shame, as well as 
torture, such acts as these frequently expose 
that sex, whom we are inclined to believe 
equally innocent, delicate, and chaste. 
In

[59]
In other respects, the danger to which wo- 
men expose themselves by this filthy practice, 
are very analagous to those which the men are 
liable to from this filthy practice. The hu- 
mour which is lost by females is not, it is true, 
so elaborate as the male semen, and may not 
therefore enfeeble the body so speedily; but 
when they are guilty of excesses, their nervous 
system being weaker than ours, and naturally 
more liable to spasms, the accidents arising 
therefrom are still more evident; they are also 
exposed to hysterical fits, and dreadful vapours;
to incurable jaundices; to violent cramps in 
the stomach and back; to acute pains in the 
nose; to the fluor albus, the accretion whereof 
is a continual source of the most smarting pain, 
to descents and ulcerations of the matrix, and 
to all the infirmities which these disorders bring 
on; to the furor uterinus, which at once de- 
prives them of decency and reason, and brings 
them to a level with the most lascivious brutes, 
a state in which they cannot long exist, as 
their vices and crimes, when arrived at this 
pitch, must soon terminate their days, though 
not their ignominy. 
A PRETTY woman, in the best state of 
health, who addicts herself to self-pollution, will 
find her charms presently decay, her eyes will 
become languid and dead, her complexion will 
fade, her body will fall away, and in a short 
time, if she perseveres in the practice, from 
an agreeable and  desirable object, she will 
become not only tasteless to the men, but even 
D6 disgustful

[60] 
disgustful to herself; and if it be true, as Ro- 
chefoucault says, That the last sighs of a fine 
woman are more for the loss of her beauty 
than her life, she will have the disagreeable 
task of anticipating this mortification in the 
very prime of youth. We are told by all the 
professors, who have written upon this sub- 
ject, that young people of either sex who ad- 
dict themselves to it will fall away and dimi- 
nish, instead of increase in their growth; and 
we often find young people of both sexes, but 
particularly females, who, being well made at 
the age of ten or twelve, become afterwards 
crooked, by the bending and weakness of the 
spine. 
I HAVE already mentioned the disgust that 
is created by this practice to natural pleasures, 
and it is still stronger in females than in our 
sex; for women, who have habituated them- 
selves to this practice, are always indifferent 
to the lawful duties of the conjugal bed, even 
when their inclinations and power still remain; 
and this indifference does not only induce ma- 
ny females to embrace a life of celibacy, but 
accompanies others that have been prevailed 
upon to enter upon the marriage-state; and 
we have the testimonies of many females, that 
this practice had gained so complete a domi- 
nion over their senses, that they detested the 
lawful means of assuaging the lusts of the flesh. 
A MARRIED woman made her case known, 
through the channel of her midwife, to a gen- 
tleman

[61]
tleman of the faculty, nearly as follows: When 
I was a young girl of between fifteen and six- 
teen, at the boarding-school, being enticed by 
some of my school-fellows, and particularly 
my bed-fellow, I began to penetrate those 
parts, which should never have been explor- 
ed but by a husband. This practice I stuck 
to till I was run away with by the musick-master 
at eighteen. It were needless to enumerate 
the difficulties I met with till my relations 
were reconciled to the match. Sufficient it is 
to say, I had four children by my husband in 
three years, two being twins; but they all 
died, and also my husband soon after. I was 
in state of widowhood for three years, and 
then I married with the approbation of my re- 
lations. Before this union, I found all my 
girlish inclinations come upon me, and not 
daring to risk any connection with a man, I 
repeated my boarding-school practice with 
such violence (particularly just before and after 
my monthly courses) that I made myself vio- 
lently force, and brought on such a bearing 
down of the womb, that it was with much 
difficulty I could walk. These complaints 
have increased since my last marriage; and, 
though four years have elapsed from that pe- 
riod, I have not been once pregnant. I have 
been prevailed upon by my husband to under- 
go a physician’s inspection; when he said, that 
my womb was very weak and slippery, and he 
was afraid I should never have any more children. 
He, however, prescribed the Bath water, and 
injections; but they have been of no service. 
I am


[62]
I am now really weakened by a white run- 
ning, which is very considerable, and with the 
bearing down, which frequently is very great, 
and occasions a continual pain in my womb, 
and in my back, whereby I am greatly fallen 
away; and what is remarkable, I have no 
manner of inclination for the act of procrea- 
tion, and very little or no pleasure in the act; 
which I am inclined to believe is as much the 
reason as any other of my incapacity of bear- 
ing children. I have, nevertheless, a good 
stomach, and sleep very well; and therefore 
it appears to me the more extraordinary, that 
I who used to be so amorous, and, to say the 
truth, so excessively desirous of conversing with 
my first husband in this way, should have no 
inclination in this respect to my present hus- 
band, notwithstanding I have a great regard 
for him. 
ANOTHER female, upon being much im- 
portuned by a man-midwife of eminence who 
visited her, at her husband’s request, at length- 
acknowledged, that she had commenced the 
filthy practice of self-pollution very young, and 
persevered in it till the time of her marriage, 
which took place when she was about twenty 
years of age: that she had always been very 
pale from the age of puberty, though before 
she had a fresh complexio; and that from a 
good state of health, she became very weakly, 
and never had her menses but four times till 
she was married; after which she still conti- 
nued her filthy practice, having much more 
gratification

[63] 
gratification in it than in her husband's em- 
braces, though he was a young vigorous man, 
and remarkably calculated to please the fair 
sex; that she had been equally a stranger to 
her courses and pregnancy, and was constant- 
ly ailing in other respects. Upon examining, 
her womb, she was found to have a continual 
oozing, and a great bearing down. 
A short time since, a young woman,, 
about seventeen years old, who had hitherto 
enjoyed a good state of health, was seized 
with an astonishing weakness; her powers 
daily diminished; in the day-time she was 
constantly overcome with drowsiness, and was 
at night unable to sleep; she lost her appetite, 
and a dropsical swelling spread all over her bo- 
dy. She consulted a skilful surgeon, who, af- 
ter he found that her menses were regular, sus- 
pected self-pollution. The effect of the first 
question he put to her confirmed the justness 
of his suspicion, and the patient then acknow- 
ledged it. 
A MARRIED woman, aged about forty- 
seven years, consulted a physician for barren- 
ness, from a laxness of muscular fibres of the 
vagina and uterus; but examining the case, 
and suspecting both from the character she 
bore, and from what she herself said, that it 
was not owing to any insufficiency in the hus- 
band, whom she publicly complained of, but 
to her own insatiable lust; for it plainly ap- 
peared her case was owing to friction: where-
fore,

[64]
fore, considering her age, and the little hopes 
of success upon such a patient, he refused 
meddling. 
A FEMALE patient of nineteen was of a 
sanguine complexion, and a hot and lustful 
temperament, which, overcoming the virtuous 
principles she had in her youth imbibed, was 
prompted to abuse herself by self-pollution. She 
had continued in this practice from the age of 
fourteen, not without frequent intervals of 
remorse at her unclean desires, never imagin- 
ing, however, that there was any sin or dan- 
ger in the act; but shuddered at the thoughts 
of a discovery, in case of marriage, from her 
husband, as she had not only broke away all 
the badge of virginity; but her womb was as 
much distended as if she had borne several chil- 
dren, by reason of the largeness of the instru- 
ments with which she used latterly to gratify 
her lust; and the more she followed the 
practice, the more her desires were heighten- 
ed. She was at length brought to a most 
shocking state, by nervous disorders, and par- 
ticularly those of the womb; in which state 
she applied to an eminent surgeon; but, alas!
she was so violently affected with a furor ute- 
rinus, that she would implore every man she 
met to asswage her lust, not only in obscene 
terms, but even by the most indecent actions; 
and her very surgeon, upon examining the 
parts, excited such violent sensations, that she 
could not restrain from importuning him to 
commit the act of coition ; but he not com- 
plying

[65]
plying with her request, she had recourse to 
self-pollution, which had such an effect upon 
the ovaria, that she shed some of the ova. In 
this condition she remained near four years, 
at the end of which time she died raving in 
one of those lascivious fits. Her body was af- 
terwards opened by some skilful surgeons, 
when the glans of the clitoris, or female pre- 
puce, which is the chief seat of pleasure in 
woman, was much larger than the natural 
size, and was invested with a sharp corroding 
watery humour, which they imagined must 
in that part itch to a prodigious degree, and 
create the insufferable titillation and desire: 
and they were also of opinion, that the acri- 
monious humour with which that part was af- 
fected had been attracted thither, by the fre- 
quent operations to gratify her lubidinous de- 
sires. She was naturally very handsome, and 
might have been an ornament to her sex, if 
she had not given way to this unnatural prac- 
tice; for it was this alone that brought on all 
her complaints. 
Another female patient, who had, in her 
early days, addicted herself to this abominable 
custom, was at length reduced to such a state, 
that when she leaned upon her elbows, or 
nsed any strength with her hands, they were 
quite benumbed, and her fingers would catch 
and draw up like the cramp. Her stomach 
appeared outwardly swelled, and she had vio- 
lent pains in it, which often made her feel as 
if she would choak, and made her seem as if
she

[66]
she was sore from her navel to her throat. She 
had racking pains in her back, between her 
loins, and under her shoulders. If she offer- 
ed to pull herself up, all her bones would 
snap, which might be heard standing near her. 
If at any time she turned her head on one side, 
or offered to talk much, it greatly hurt her.
The hollow of her stomach, and under her 
shoulders, seemed inwardly swelled, and fulL 
of pain. Her hands were seldom warm, and 
the bones of her insteps at night were much 
swelled, and very painful. After sleeping, 
she awoke with great numbness in her arms; 
and if she happened to be on her back, with 
a great pain in her heels. When she wanted 
to walk, she was ready to swoon with the 
numbness in her loins, pain in her back and 
stomach. Her shoulders sometimes seemed as 
if they were stuck full of pins; and it was 
with much difficulty she could move either of 
her hands to her head, which made her be- 
lieve she had strained something within her. 
Towards the evening, she had prodigious 
flushings in the face, which made her head 
beat as if full of pulses, whereby her eyes were 
greatly weakened, and her sight much im- 
paired. When she awoke in a morning, she 
was very dry, and her tongue very white, 
with great inward heat and drought, and much 
inclined to vomit, and sick fits, accompanied 
with giddiness. She was very apprehensive of 
an ulcer in her womb, or kidnies, as she had 
violent pains in these parts. This, upon ex- 
amination, appeared to be the case; and she 
soon

[67]
soon after fell a martyr to her lustful and un- 
natural indulgences. 
In the course of these examples, the reader 
must have observed, that female invention is 
more prolific than man’s, even in sin; and 
that though self-pollution in the male sex has 
scarce ever been known to be practised any 
otherwise than by manual friction, female sin- 
ners have, avowedly, made use of various fo- 
reign instruments to gratify their inordinate 
lusts: but besides these applications, it is well 
known, that there is another species of pollu- 
tion among the females, which may be call- 
ed clitorical, the origin of which may be tra- 
ced so far back as the time of the second 
Sappho, and from her derives its name of the
Sapphic passion. Some women are by nature, 
but more by vicious practices, so formed, as to 
have some resemblance to man: this has given 
rise to the erroneous opinion, which, in some 
degree, still prevails, that there are such be- 
ings as hermophrodites. The uncommon size 
of a part, which is naturally very small, and 
whereupon Monsieur Tronchin has furnished 
us a very elaborate description, is the case of 
those supposed phenomena, and the shameful 
abuse of the part, in this respect, all the evil. 
There may have been some females, who, per- 
haps, thought themselves more than women, 
and glorying in the functions of a double sex,
usurped the province of men. Others may, 
perhaps, have been prompted, by curiosity, to 
the same kind of essays; but most votaries to the 
Sapphic


[68]
Sapphic passion are those, who, by frequent 
and violent self-pollution, have forced nature 
out of her common path; and lust being ge- 
nerated by lust, their inordinate desires can- 
not be gratified, but by still more unnatural 
practices. 
I have seen a letter, written by a young 
lady of only eighteen, who had many mental 
endowments, learning, and naturally a great 
share of beauty, wherein she relates the cause 
and progress of her crimes and disorders: she 
says, “ To be ingenuous, I had been guilty of 
“ this nasty practice (meaning self-pollution) 
“ from the time I was twelve years old. A 
“ young female servant at my father’s, who 
“ was of an amorous complexion, yet dread- 
“ ing any commerce with the men, first 
“ taught it me. Frequent, and almost in- 
“ cessant repetition, at length produced such 
“ a bearing down of my womb as greatly 
“ terrified me; but Sally appeased my fears, 
“ by telling me, that she had been in the 
“ same state, and it went away again; and 
“ now, she said, we might act like man and 
“ wife, and that there would be full as much 
“ pleasure as if we were really so. But I soon 
“ became so weak, that I could not walk, 
“ and in a short time I had such violent pains 
“ in my back, my womb, and particularly 
“ the offending part, which continues still 
“ to hang out, notwithstanding what Sally 
“ said, that I am afraid I shall never be well 
“ again. But what terrifies more than all is. 
“ that

[69] 
“ that my father has taken pains to get a 
“ husband for me, imagining, I believe, my 
“ paleness and weakness are occasioned by 
“ my being kept from man; and a young 
“ gentleman of fortune is now paying his ad- 
“ dresses to me: I am frighted out of my wits 
“ at the discovery he will make the first: 
“ night; and, indeed, I would rather be 
“ with Sally than the handsomest man in 
“ England, &c. &c. &c.” 
THUS we find, that the danger of this kind 
of pollution is not less than that of the other 
sorts of masturbation: the effect are, indeed, 
equally shocking, as all these paths lead to ema- 
ciation, languor, pain, and even death: but 
this last species deserves the greater attention, 
as it is now so common, and there are many 
women who are known to love girls with as 
much fondness as ever did the most passionate 
of men, and conceive the most poignant jea- 
lousy, when they were addressed by the male 
sex, upon the subject of love or tender dalli- 
ance. 
I SHALL make no apology for transcribing 
here that part of Dr Quincy’s translation 
of Carr’s Medicinal Epistles, relative to two 
nuns, who were reported to have changed 
their sex, being so pertinent and illustrative to 
the subject under, consideration. 
“ I SHOULD blush, perhaps, from too 
“ much modesty, to concern myself in a sto- 
“ ry

[70]
“ ry that is not a very chaste one, had not a 
“ professor of divinity given it to the world 
“ in print, and a college of cardinals inquired 
“ into it. This gives me some assurance, and 
“ guards me from any imputations of indecen- 
“ cy. I shall therefore not write any thing 
“ out of wantonness, or omit any thing ma- 
“ terial upon the account of modesty. It is 
“ an unhappiness, that you have fixed upon 
“ me to account for so unnatural a phenome- 
“ non in nature. You would greatly have 
“ obliged the learned world, had you prevail- 
“ ed upon the Honourable Mr. Boyle, who 
“ is a finished philosopher, to have under- 
“ taken this work, though I am not, indeed, 
“ without hopes, that as soon as this strange 
“ story is related to him, he will think it 
“ worth his skilful inquiry; for such is his 
“ consummate learning, and which will be 
“ to his eternal honour, such are his inclina- 
“ tions to instruct others, that he will be pro- 
“ voked not to suffer such an extraordinary 
“ case, to escape the notice of the ablest phi- 
“ losopher. 
“ You acquaint me in your letter, that it 
“ is reported at Rome, that two nuns, in a 
“ monastery, were changed in such a man- 
“ ner, as to be suspected of virility. The re- 
“ port reached the pope’s ears, who, upon 
“ such an extraordinary occasion, ordered 
“ some cardinals to inquire into the truth of 
“ it. After their search, they affirmed, that 
“ the nuns were grown in such a manner, as 
“ to

[71]
“ to have changed their sex; in testimony of 
“ which you say, the cardinals commanded 
“ them to be expelled the monastery; and 
“ that, at that time, they had changed 
“ their dress, and took upon themselves the 
“ employ of men. 
“ I wonder what could induce his ho- 
“ liness to commit the inspection of that affair 
“ to his cardinals, who are no way conversant 
“ in the difference of sexes. It is true, in- 
“ deed, that the reputation of their integrity 
“ would prevent all manner of suspicion as to 
“ their report; but yet their unspotted chasti- 
“ ty, joined with shame and modesty, could 
“ never suffer them to make such a nice in- 
“ quiry, as the nature of such a thing de- 
“ manded. 
“ Persons who read this account may, 
“ perhaps, be divided into different opinions, 
“ and both of them wrong. Some who have 
“ a considence in the integrity of the cardi- 
“ nals may not, upon that account, disbe- 
“ lieve it; but, as it exceeds the wonted 
“ bounds of nature, take it for a miracle. 
“ Others may wholly disbelieve it, as it so 
“ far exceeds the reach of nature, that, as 
“ miracles are ceased, it must be impossible; 
“ and as they are under no obligation to dis- 
“ believe impossibilities, so they will not be- 
“ lieve this. 
“ I would

[72] 
“ I WOULD satisfy both these kinds of 
“ readers, and by you I doubt not, in such 
“ intricacies, it will be well taken, that I 
“ have endeavoured to do my best. The one, 
“ that the excursion of nature, which you 
“ call a change of sex, is no way to be ac- 
“ counted an impossibility, from the structure 
“ of the parts of generation: and the other, 
“ that such a wonderful phænomenon does not 
“ exceed the bounds of nature, nor is it so 
“ unfrequent as to deserve to be reckoned a 
“ miracle. He must be a stranger to the power 
“ of nature, who thinks she cannot do some- 
“ times, what she thinks not fit to do often. 
“ WHOSEVER thinks these two nuns 
“ have changed their sex, is under a mistake; 
“ all that gives any ground for such an opini- 
“ on is the uncommon increase of the cli- 
“ toris, which, as it is used to frequent irri- 
“ tations, thrusts out, and enlarges its de- 
“ mensions, not unlike to a human penis. I 
“ am unwilling to be so censorious with rela- 
“ tion to these nuns, who profess a severer 
“ way of living, and a more constant attend- 
“ ance at their devotion, as to suspect their 
“ lasciviousness should prompt them to an un- 
“ usal exercise of those parts, by which they 
“ might increase their bulk, according to Mar- 
“ tial, 
“ Mentiturque virum prodigiosa venut,
“ because there are instances of the same in 
“ infants themselves, who cannot be supposed 
“ guilty of such wanton practices. 
“ Nor

[73]
“ Nor can I be of opinion, that these per- 
“ sons were men from the first; because if 
“ they had counterfeited their habits to gratify 
“ their lust in such a place, there would have 
“ happened some discoveries of it, which there 
“ has not done; and therefore no such thing 
“ ought to be suspected. Besides, such a con- 
“ jecture cannot take place, when we con- 
“ sider their breasts are like those of other wo- 
“ men, and were so at their admistion into 
“ the convent, and continue so still. 
“ THE inquisitive Regneur de Graef, in 
“ his book upon the female organs, upon the 
“ head de clitoriæ, takes notice of the clitoris 
“ of an infant to come so near the member of 
“ virility in the other sex, as to deceive the 
“ nurse, and the more skilful gossips, who 
“ took it for a male child, and in its baptism 
“ named it accordingly; and that the mistake 
“ was not detected till after its death, upon 
“ an accurate defection of the body, of which, 
“ the same author gives an account. 
“ The clitoris, in some adult persons, is 
“ seen to hang out beyond the labiœ, or 
“ the openings of the thighs. There is a di- 
“ stemper called furor uterinus, which some- 
“ times arises from this cause, that in walk- 
“ ing, or other exercise, the clitoris is rub- 
“ bed by the cloaths, and excites such extra- 
“ vagant desires as puts them out of all shame 
“ and modesty, and stimulates them to a de- 
“ gree of madness to venereal embraces. 
E THIS 


[74]
“ This uncommon growth of the clitoris is 
“ so frequent in some eastern countries, that 
“ the more skilful surgeons have found out a 
“ method of amputating it, and to take it 
“ away from a person about to marry, left it 
“ should be a hindrance in coition; nor is 
“ the reason for such a growth very difficult 
“ to be assigned: first, Because the fury of 
“ lust wonderfully distends the nerves and ar- 
“ teries, and particularly, above any other 
“ parts, blows up those organs with spirits 
“ and heat. Upon coition, real or imagina- 
“ ry, those of a man are blown up and ex- 
“ tended by a plentiful influx of blood 
“ and animal spirits, from the titillation 
“ which attends it, as if nature was pro- 
“ digal in her care for a supply of those parts. 
“ Secondly, The cavity of the part wherein 
“ it is situated (as if it were not to be con- 
“ fined to narrow bounds, which would hin- 
“ der its increase) facilitates its growth; and 
“ as it is placed where there is room enough, 
“ it can enlarge itself on every side, whereby 
“ its vessels are prolonged, and receive nou- 
“ rishiment on all parts. 
“ Upon a comparison of the male and fe- 
“ male organs, you will not find them to dif- 
“ fer so much as you at first imagined, ex- 
“ cepting that those of a man are thrown out 
“ with a more vigorous heat; whereas those 
“ of a woman, by a defect in that respect, are 
“ only to be perceived inwardly. The cli- 
“ toris of a woman, upon turning out, would 
2 “ resemble

[75] 
“ resemble a scrotum, and the two ovaries an- 
“ nexed to the sides of its bottom, with what 
“ they include, would make up the number 
“ of the testicles. The clitoris is shaped like 
“ a penis; it has the same source of pleasure, 
“ stretches out, and relaxes in the same man- 
“ ner again; it also ends in a gland, but wants 
“ a cavity; which is no wonder, because it 
“ does not serve for the discharge of any thing, 
“ as it oozes out its contents more conveni- 
“ ently into the aperture of the neck of the 
“ bladder: but was that aperture to be closed, 
“ as it is in men, then, in an erection, it 
“ would necessarily find some other out-let 
“ towards the end of its gland; for the ves- 
“ sels of all kinds are first formed by the im- 
“ pulse of some circulating flux; where the 
“ flux is obstructed, it forms a cell, and ves- 
“ sels where it circulates. 
“ In our first formation, when the genital 
“ parts hardly exceed the point of a needle, 
“ difference of sex depends upon very 
“ nice circumstances; but when persons are 
“ grown up, it is the most difficult thing in 
“ he world, to believe there can be a thorough 
“ change from one sex to the other, as the 
“ poets relate of Teresia: but there is more 
“ reason to think, that the largeness of the
“ clitoris, by its likeness to a human pe- 
“ nis might deceive the inquirers into this 
“ matter; or that they were men from the 
“ first formation; but that the genital parts, 
“ by some defect in the first rudiments, not 
E2 “ obtain

[76]
“ obtaining a due protrusion, upon the in- 
“ crease of strength and venereal titillation, 
“ broke forth, and seemed to grow afresh. 
“ We have frequent instances of nature's 
“ excursions in those parts. There is a very 
“ remarkable story of a child born some time 
“ since, in a village near the mountain called 
“ Grandvaux, in France, in all other respects 
“ like other children, who bad those parts 
“ which distinguish its sex perfectly like a 
“ man; the pubes were grown over with 
“ thick hair, and he frequently had all the 
“ motions of lasciviousness, with an erection 
“ for coition, especially when waking from 
“ sleep, and, before he was two years old, his 
“ parents were advised not to suffer him to 
“ be with his sisters or maids, left that should 
“ happen at two years of age, which Hi- 
“ eronymus wondered at in twelve or thir- 
“ teen. 
“ NATURE refuses to be circumscribed in
“ her operations, but she has never been known 
“ to make such excursions as this must have
“ been; we ought therefore to stand in won- 
“ der at her great regularity, because of our 
“ inability in following her through all her 
“ works. 
FROM hence It may plainly be adduced,
that these religious young ladies had some avo- 
cations from their prayers of a more sensual 
nature; and I think there can no doubt re-
main 


[77]
main of their frequent gratisications of the 
Sapphic passion. It is true, that some wo- 
men have naturally a greater protusion of the 
clitoris than others; but scarce any were ever 
known to have the projection and erection of 
this part so far resemble a penis, as not only 
to be capable of the act of coition, but even 
to be pronounced of the male sex. The an- 
tients called these women fricatrices and subi- 
gatrices; and modern times have produced 
instances in Romish countries, of punishments 
having been inflicted for this abuse of na- 
ture. The Arabians have still more refined 
notion upon this head; and in Creophagi 
they actually circumcise the women thus 
afflicted, by cutting away a certain apophosis 
of musculous skin, that descends from the su- 
perior parts of the matrix, and is subject to 
erection in the act of coition. We are told 
by Lusitanus, that a very pious virgin had 
a very propended clitoris, which so pro- 
voked her to venery, by its only unavoidable 
friction against her linen and thighs as she 
moved, that gave her great trouble and af- 
fliction; insomuch, that, with the consent 
of her parents, this physician was applied to, 
in order to make an amputation of it, which, 
he adds, was accordingly performed. 
ACCORDING to some ancient histories of 
France, there was people who inhabited near 
Languedoc, the females of which had most 
amazing clitorises, insomuch, that they could 
perform either the man or the woman’s part 
E3 in

[78] 
in the act of coition, and communicated near- 
ly as much pleasure to the female, who was in 
this respect the patient, as a male agent; in 
consequence of which laws were framed to 
leave them to their choice, in which capacity 
they would act; but having once chosen, 
they were liable to severe punishments if they 
introduced any variety in their copulative ope- 
rations. Modern writers tell us, that upon 
the confines of the mouth of the river Missis- 
sippi, whose source is in the gulph of Mexico, 
there is a people similar to these females. I 
cannot, however, assent to these phenomena, 
till such time as I have further conviction of 
their reality, or better authority than the re- 
ports of these writers to credit their exist- 
ence. 
But upon the principles already set forth, 
the propension of this part may be accounted 
for; so that when Plauterius, a physician, tells 
us, that he had seen a woman have a clitoris 
hang out as long as a goose neck; or when 
Plempius relates, that one Helena lay with se- 
veral women, and actually gained the virgini- 
ty of many maids; these relations are not so 
incredible. The following story is also very 
well attested by several French physicians: 
“ A certain young lady at Toulose had a re- 
“ laxation of the vagina, resembling a man's 
“ penis, and some asserted that she used it in 
“ that way, it being six inches in length, and 
“ four in circumference in the middle, where 
“ it was very hard. It gradually increased 
“ from


[79]
“ from her childhood. She was examined 
“ by the physicians of that city, who were 
“ unanimously of opinion, that it was a real 
“ penis; whereupon the town magistrates 
“ ordered her to wear the dress of a man. In 
“ this habit she came to Paris, but thought 
“ proper to throw off the male dress, in order 
“ to gain admission into a nunnery, where she 
“ spent the remainder of her days. 
I shall make no comment upon the pro- 
priety of admitting a person of her form and 
disposition into a seminary of this nature, or 
the danger of her inspiring many (before) vir- 
tuous nuns with the most lascivious desires. 
Had the account of the two holy sisters, who 
Were supposed to have changed their sex, not 
been wrote long before this affair happened, I 
should have been inclined to believe that this 
young lady was one of them ; however, it 
seems, that a soft chin, and a female dress, 
will find admission into these religious socie- 
ties; if so, and such ladies as this, are receiv- 
ed, I cannot imagine there would be any great 
difficulty for a young men with but little 
beard to gain admission, as he might, probab- 
ly, if necessary, more easily conceal the part 
that might preclude him, than this young lady 
could its resemblance. 
Mr. COWPER, the surgeon, furnishes us 
with the following case of a woman, whose 
husband could never make any penetration, 
when he endeavoured to cohabit with her, but 
E4 into

[80]
into the urinary passage, vagina being so 
uncommonly closed, that he could not, with 
the most vigorous erection, gain admission 
with his penis. 
“ I was called upon to a married woman 
“ about twenty years of age, whose lower 
“ belly was distended as if with child. Upon 
“ examining the pudendum, I found the 
“ hymen altogether impervious, and driven 
“ out beyond the labia pudendi, in such a 
“ manner, that, at first sight, it appeared not 
“ unlike a prolapsus uteri. In the upper part, 
“ towards the clitoris, we found the orifice 
“ of the meatus urinarius, or urinary passage, 
“ very open, and its sides extended not un- 
“ like the anus, or cloaca of a cock, that, 
“ without any difficulty, I could put up my 
“ finger into the bladder of urine. On divid- 
“ ing the hymen, at least a gallon of grumous 
“ blood, of divers colours and consistencies, 
“ came from her, which was the retained 
“ menstrua. The next day, no less quantity 
“ of the same matter flowed upon taking out 
“ the pessary, which I had put in the day be- 
“ fore. After three or four days, she was 
“ easy, and soon after recovered, and with- 
“ in a year after was delivered of a healthy 
“ child. Her husband told us, that, tho’ 
“ lying with her at first (before this opera- 
“ tion) was painful to himself as well as to 
“ her, yet at last he had a more easy admis- 
“ sion, which could be no other way than in 
“ the meatus urinarius. It seems something 
“ uncommon,

[81]
“ uncommon, that her urinary passage should 
“ so dilate itself, as to let in the erected pe- 
“ nis, by no more than the force of an erec- 
“ tion could afford. This history evinces, 
“ that this woman’s hymen was not only a 
“ strong membrane, and could make resist- 
“ ance to that force which overcame the mea- 
“ tus urinarius, and sphincter of the bladder, 
“ which is considerably strong, but by ad- 
“ mitting of so great a dilatation, as to hang, 
“ out extra pudendum, shews, that the struc- 
“ ture of it is fibrous, and consequently ca- 
“ pable of great distentions. There was an- 
“ other young woman, who laboured under 
“ the same misfortune of having an obsti- 
“ nate hymen, insomuch, that her husband, 
“ though a healthful strong young man, could 
“ make no penetration; but she chose rather 
“ to have her marriage disanulled than in- 
“ dure the operation, being deterred by the 
“ shame of exposing her body, and the dis- 
“ courses that may be raised upon it; for that 
“ a lady’s being reviewed by the judge’s or- 
“ der at Paris, by the most noted physician 
“ and there, upon a contest about her 
“ virginity, gave occasion for their fans and 
“ snuff-boxes being painted afterwards with 
“ indecent postures.
These observations of Mr. Cowper are 
no way unnatural, but are supported by fre- 
quent experience; but I cannot give credit 
to Montius, when he tells us, that a wo- 
man, who had an uncommon large clitoris,
E5 but


[82]
but who, nevertheless, had brought forth seve- 
ral children, often ravished her own maid- 
servants, and more than once got them with 
child. This is somewhat similar to the ac- 
count we meet with in the Scottish trials of a 
young woman, who got her master’s daugh- 
ter with child, of which she was convicted, 
condemned, and executed. But we need not 
be surprized at such credulity and injustice, 
when we reflect how very lately innocent wo- 
men have been accused, convicted, and put 
to death for witchcraft. Our enlightened age 
should equally explode both these impositions, 
which might be well suited to the barbarous 
times of ignorance and superstition. 
From what has been said, let every fe- 
male consider the imminent danger to which 
they expose themselves, and the dreadful ac- 
cidents that arise from these unnatural and 
filthy practices, as besides all the horrors and 
diseases to which the male sex are exposed by 
self-pollution (and which they are required 
to peruse for their own advantage, as it would 
be unnecessary to repeat them here) they un- 
avoidably break down the barrier of virginity, 
which must be detected by their husband when- 
ever they marry; and indeed frequently oc- 
casion such extraordinary bearings down of 
the clitoris, as render them incapable of coition 
with them. It were, therefore, to be wished, 
that every woman, who is so viciously disposed 
as to defile herself, or let herself be defil- 
ed

[83]
ed by another, might meet with as obstinate 
a hymen as Mr. Cowper’s patient, a hymen 
inflexible to every unnatural instrument that 
might promise her the gratification of her 
lust.
E6 SEC- 

[84]
SECTION V. 
Of the disorders incident to the female sex, 
and the most approved methods of cure. 
AFTER what has been said concerning 
the filthy, shameful, and destructive prac- 
tices of the women, by themselves, or amongst 
each other, which occasion such a variety of 
evils and disorders, it were but justice to the 
sex to own, that, from their natural forma- 
tion and disposition, and the incidental casual- 
ties attending pregnancy and child-bearing, 
they are subject to many afflictions in various 
respects, analogous to those mentioned in the 
former section, and from which the men are 
entirely exempted; and therefore I think it 
necessary to explain myself upon these heads in 
this section. 
The whites are a soul excretion from the 
womb, commonly attendant upon weak wo- 
men, oftentimes after hard labour, sometimes 
during pregnancy, and frequently in a virgin 
state. This disorder is a distillation of a variety 
of corrupt humours through the womb, flow- 
ing from different parts of the body. This 
oozing is of many colours, sometimes black- 
ish, yellowish, geenish, reddish, and bluish. 
Having no periodical flux, as the regular men- 
sis, its returns are disorderly and uncertain. 
PHYSICIANS

[85]
PHYSCIANS attribute the cause of this dis- 
order sometimes to a general weakness or ca- 
cochymia; and sometimes to a partial debili- 
ty, as in the liver, which by the inability of 
the sanguinificative faculty, occasions a ge- 
neration of corrupt blood. In this case the 
matter is reddish, when the gall is remiss in its 
office, not drawing away the choleric super- 
fluities which are engendered in the liver. 
When the spleen does not sufficiently perform 
its office in cleansing the blood of the dregs 
and excrementitious parts, it then is blackish. 
Sometimes it is occasioned by catarrhs in the 
head, or from any other member that is in a 
disordered state. When the flowing is whit- 
ish, the cause resides in the reins or the sto- 
mach: if in the reins, it is occasioned by their 
being overheated, which causes the sperma- 
tic matter, by reason of its tenuity, to flow 
involuntarily: but when the stomach is the 
seat of the complaint, it is occasioned by crude 
and vitiated matter remaining there undi- 
gested, by reason of melancholy, or some 
stomachic complaint; and this vitiated matter 
is communicated to the womb by the liver, or 
instead of being appropriated to chyle. 
If this disorder be occasioned by the distil- 
lation of the brain, let the patient take syrup 
of betony, stæchas, and marjoram, and purge 
with pillococh. Take the juice of sage, hy- 
sop, betony, nexelle, with one drop of oil 
of cloves, and a little silk cotton, with which 
make napalia. Take elect, dianth, aromat. ro- 
sar,


[86]
sar. diambre diamoci dulcis, of each one 
dram; of nutmeg, half a dram; with 
sugar and betony water, make lozenges, 
which are to be taken night and morning. 
Half a dram of auriæ Alexandrinæ going to 
bed, will also be useful. 
In case the oozing is of a reddish colour, 
phlebotomy in the arm is proper; otherwise 
apply ligatures to the arms and shoulders. 
Galen prescribes a friction of honey to the 
upper parts. 
If the disorder proceed from crudities in 
the stomach, or from a cold disordered liver, 
take every morning a decoction of lignum sac- 
tum; and a purgation of pill, de agarico, de 
hermodact. de hiera diacolocynthid, fœdita 
agragrative. Take of elect. aromat. ros. two 
drams, citron pills dried, nutmeg, long- 
pepper, of each one scruple, diagalinga one 
dram, santali alba, ligni aloes, of each 
half a scruple, sugar six ounces, and with 
mint-water make lozenges of them, which 
are to be taken after meals. When the dis- 
order arises from the liver, and there is at the 
same time a repression of the stomach, eme- 
tics are eligible, and they may be composed 
of three drams of the elect of diaaru. Some 
physicians also prescribe the dieurical method, 
with phosolinum, opium., &c. 
When the oozing arises from melancho- 
lious, prepare with syrup of maidenhair, 
epithimum,


[87] 
epithimum, polipody, burrage, begloss, fu- 
metory, hart’s-tongue, and syrup bystanti- 
num, which must be prepared without vine- 
gar, otherwise it will rather increase the dis- 
order, than assist nature in its removal. The 
proper pills for purgation, are pilulæ eumariæ, 
pilulæ indæ, pilulæ de lap. lazuli, dasena, and 
confectio hameigh. Of stampt prunes take 
two ounces, senna one dram, epithimum, 
polipody, fumetory, of each one dram and 
an half, four dates one ounce, with endive 
water, make a decoction, take of it four 
ounces, to which add confectioni hamich 
three drams manna three drams, orelsi, pil. 
indat. phil. fætidarum, agarici trochiscati, 
one scruple each, lap. lazuli, five grains, with 
syrup of erithimum, make pills, one of which 
is to be taken hebdomedally. 
When the cause of the flux is choleric, 
prepare with syrup of endive, violets, succory, 
roses, and purge with mirabolans, manna, 
rhubarb, and cassia. Of rhubarb take two drams, 
anniseed one dram; cinnamon one scruple; 
infuse them in six ounces of prune broth; 
add to the straining of manna an ounce, to be 
taken secundem artem. Take of spiciecum
diatrion santalon, diatragacant. frig. diarrhod. 
abbatis, diaconit, of each one dram, sugar 
four ounces, and with plantain water make 
lozenges. 
But particularly let the womb be cleansed 
from corrupt matter, and be strengthened; 
for

[88]
for the cleansing whereof make injections of 
the decoction of betony, fetherfew, mug- 
wort, spikenard, bistort, mercury, sage, ad- 
ding thereto sugar, oil of sweet almonds, of 
each an ounce. The womb should be strength- 
ened with trochisks made in the following 
manner: take of myrrh, fetherfew, mug- 
wort, nutmegs, mace, amber, ligni aloes, 
storax, red roses, of each one ounce, with mu- 
cilage of tragacanth. The trochisks being thus 
prepared, cast them on the coals, and smother 
the womb therewith. Likewise fermentations 
for the womb may be used, made of red wine, 
after mastich, fine bole, balustia, and red roses 
have been decocted therein. The best is a 
dry regimen, this distemper being occasioned 
by phlegmatic and crude humours. Too 
much sleep is also pernicious; and, on the 
other hand, moderate exercise is eligible. 
I have been the more circumstantial in 
prescribing for the cure of this disorder, as it 
is more general than may be thought, and 
is, indeed, concomitant with a weak or over 
delicate constitution: therefore ladies of this 
complexion should pay the greatest attention 
to removing the complaint before it makes 
too great a progress. To this end, I would 
have every female who finds herself subject to 
this affliction examine strictly, whether or 
not her suspicions are well founded, and to 
keep the parts particularly clean, by washing 
with luke-warm water, at least every other 
day. Besides the satisfaction it must afford 
3 every

[89]
every female to know the real situation of her 
own body, and, if disordered, timely to re- 
medy it, there is nothing which is more 
productive of health in this respect; and, as a 
proof of it, an additional gratification will 
arise therefrom in the act of copulation, and 
it will greatly tend to the improvement of their 
complexion. The disorders relative to the 
monthly courses are so very analogous to the 
former, that many have called the whites the 
false courses, though, in fact, they arise from 
a different source. Nature has made provision 
for the nourishment of children during their 
recess in the womb of their mother, by that 
redundancy of blood which is natural to all 
women, and which flowing out at certain pe- 
riods of time, when they are not pregnant, 
are from thence called terms, and menses, 
from their monthly flux of excrementitious 
and unprofitable blood. As to this flux being 
excrementitious, is to be understood only with 
regard to the redundancy and overplus of it, 
as it is in no other way an excrement than 
with respect to quantity, being, in point of 
quality, as pure and incorrupt as any blood in 
the veins; and this appears by its final destina- 
tion, the propagation and conservation of 
mankind; as also by its generation, being the 
superfluity of the last aliment of the fleshy parts. 
These monthly purgations usually commence 
about the fourteenth year, and continue to the 
forty-fifth, but not without frequent intervening 
suppressions, which are sometimes natural, and 
sometimes morbific. They are natural in preg- 
nant women, and those who give suck; but 
when

[90] 
when morbific, they are occasioned by an in- 
terruption of that accustomary evacuation of 
blood which should monthly flow from the 
matrix, and which proceed from the matter 
being vitiated. The cause is, in this case, 
either internal or external: the internal cause 
either instrumental or material, in the blood, 
or in the womb. The blood may be faulty 
two ways, in quantity, or in quality: in 
quantity, when it is so consumed, that there is 
not an overplus left, as in viragoes, and all 
other virile women, who, through their heat 
and strength of nature, digest and consume all 
their best nourishment. The blood may also 
be consumed, and the terms suppressed by too 
much bleeding at the nose; likewise by a flux 
of the hemorrhoids, by a dysenteria, evacua- 
tions, chronical and continual disorders. And 
the matter may also be vicious in quality, as 
when sanguineous, phlegmatical, bilious, or 
melancholious; each of these, if they offend 
in grossness, will cause an obstruction in the 
veins. The defect may likewise, for various 
reasons, reside in the womb, as, by the nar- 
rowness of the veins and passages, by a post- 
humes, tumours, ulcers, and by over much 
cold and heat, the one vitiating the action, 
the other confirming the matter; also by an 
evil composition of the matter; likewise by an 
evil composition of the uterine parts, by the 
neck of the womb being turned aside, and 
sometimes, though but rarely, by a membrane 
or excrescence of flesh growing about the 
Womb. The external cause may be heat or 
dryness


[91}
dryness of the air, immoderate walking, great 
labour, violent motion, whereby the matter 
is so consumed, and the body is so exhausted, 
that there is no redundant blood remaining to 
be expelled; whence it is recorded of the Ama- 
zons, that being active, and always in mo- 
tion, they had little or no monthly fluxes. It 
may also be caused by cold, and most frequent- 
ly is so, the blood being thereby rendered vi- 
tious and gross, condensing and binding up the 
passages, that it cannot flow forth. If the 
suppression be natural, and caused by concep- 
tion, it may be known by drinking of honey 
and water after supper, going to bed; for if, 
after taking it, the woman feel a bearing pain 
about the navel, and the lower parts of the 
belly, it is a sign she hath conceived, and that 
the suppression is natural. If she does not find 
this effect from drinking of the honey and wa- 
ter, she may conclude it to be vitious, and 
should immediately endeavour to promote the 
return of the menses, in the manner hereafter 
prescribed; otherwise the efFects may be very 
dangerous, as this suppression may occasion 
swimmings, faintings, intermission of pulse, 
obstructions, chachexies, jaundice, dropsies, 
hardness of the spleen, epilepsies, apoplexies, 
phrensy, melancholy, &c. Evacuations are 
in this case proper; and therefore in the 
middle of the menstrual period, it will be pro- 
per to open the liver vein; and for the rever- 
sion of the humour two days after the usual 
evacuation, open the saphena vein of both 
feet; and if the repletion be not great, apply 
cupping

[92]
cupping glasses to the legs and thighs. After 
phlebotomy, the humours must be prepared, 
and made flexible with syrup of stœchas, hare- 
hound, hyssop, betony, maidenhair, mug- 
wort, and sumitory; then let a bath be made 
of rue, fetherfew, marjoram, savin, bay leaves, 
pennyroyal, camomile, and juniper berries. 
After which take of the leaves of nep, betony, 
succory, maidenhair, of each one handful, 
make a decoction, of which take three ounces; 
syrup of mugwort, succory, maidenhair, mix 
of each half an ounce; and when the patient 
comes out of the bath, let her drink it all; 
then purge with the following pill, de agaric, 
elephang. coch. fœtid. Galen, in this case, 
commends pilula de hiera cum colycintida, as 
being proper to purge the offending humour; 
they are calculated to open the passages of the 
womb. If the patient’s stomach be overcharg- 
ed, let her take a vomit; but let it be prepar- 
ed in such a manner, as to operate also as a 
cathartic, left the humours should be too much 
turned back, by working only upwards; 
wherefore take of trochisk of agaric two 
drams, infuse them in three ounces of oxi- 
mel, in which dissolve benedict. laxat. half an 
ounce, and of the electuary of diasarum one 
scruple, which is to be taken as a purgative. 
When the humour hath in this manner been 
purged, more efficacious and forcible reme- 
dies may be applied, such as the extract of 
mugwort one scruple and a half, musk ten 
grains, trochisks of myrrh one dram and an 
half, rinds of cassia, parsley-seed, castor, of 
each

[93] 
each one scruple, to be taken with the juice of 
smallage, or going to bed. The lower parts 
should also be administered to by fumigation, 
pessaries, unctions, injections, and insessions; 
make suffumigations of amber, galbanum, 
melhantum, bay-berries, mugwort, cinnamon, 
nutmegs, cloves, &c. make pessaries of figs, 
and the leaves of mercury, bruised, and rolled 
up with lint; make injections of the decocti- 
ons of mercury, betony, origin, mugwort, and 
figs, and inject it into the womb with a spunge. 
For unction, take ladant, oil of myrrh, of 
each two drams, oil of lillies, almonds, 
capers, camomile, of each half an ounce, and 
with wax make an unguent to anoint the 
place. The patient should also remain in a 
dry warm air; should not deep much; but, 
on the other hand, she should use moderate 
exercise, especially before meals, which should 
consist of attenuating food. 
The overflowing of the menses is a dis- 
order directly opposite to that which I have just 
been speaking of. This complaint is a sangui- 
neous excrement, consisting only of blood, 
and proceeding from the womb, and exceed- 
ing in time and quality. The cause of this 
overflowing is either external or internal. 
The external cause may be the heat of the 
air, the lifting or carrying heavy burthens, 
unnatural child-births, falls, &c. The in- 
ternal cause may be threefold; in the matter, 
instrument, or faculty. The matter, which is 
the blood, may be vitious two ways; first, in
quantity,

[94]
quantity, being so much, that the veins are 
not able to contain it. Secondly, in quality, 
being adust, sharp, or unconcocted. The 
instruments, that is to say, the veins, are 
faulty, by the dilatation of the orifice, which 
may be caused two ways, by the heat of the 
constitution, climate, or season, heating the 
blood, whereby the passages are dilated, and 
the faculty so much weakened, that it cannot 
retain the blood. Secondly, by falls, blows, 
violent motions, breaking of veins, &c. If 
it comes by the breaking of a vein, the body is 
sometimes cold, the blood flows forth on 
heaps, and that suddenly, accompanied with 
great pain. If it be occasioned by heat, the 
orifice of the veins being dilated, there is little 
or no pain attending it, yet the blood flows 
faster than it doth in an erosion, and not so fast 
as in a rupture. If it arise from an erosion, 
or sharpness of blood, she feels a great scald- 
ing in the passage; and in this case it differs 
from the other two, in its flowing not so 
suddenly nor so copiously as in those. If it be 
occasioned by the weakness of the womb, she 
has an aversion to copulation even in the very 
act. If it proceed from the blood, drop some 
of it on a cloth, and when it is dry, the qua- 
lity may be judged from the colour. When 
choleric, it will be yellowish; if melancholy, 
blackish; if phlegmatic, waterish and whitish. 
The cure of this complaint consists in three 
things; first, the repelling and carrying back 
the blood; secondly, the correcting and tak- 
ing away the fluxibility of the matter; and,
thirdly, 


[95]
thirdly, the corroborating the veins or facul- 
ties. In the first case, to promote a regression 
of the blood, phlebotomy in the arm will be 
useful, and such a quantity of blood may be 
taken away as the strength of the patient will 
permit, which, however, should not be done 
at once, but at different periods, the spirits 
being thereby less weakened, and the retrac- 
tion so much the greater. The cupping glass 
should be applied to the liver, that the rever- 
sion may be in the fountain, moderated with 
cathartics. Astrictorics are also necessary to 
correct the fluxibility of the matter. When it 
is occasioned by the acrimony of the blood, 
it should be considered whether the erosion be 
by salt phlegm, or adust colour: if by the 
first, prepare wormwood, rosin, citron peel, 
and succory, with syrup of violets; and the 
following purgative should also be taken; mi- 
rabolans, cherbul, half an ounce, trochics of 
agaric one dram, with which make a de- 
coction in plantain water, adding thereto sy- 
rup rosat. lax. three ounces to make a potion. 
When by adust colour, prepare the body 
with syrup of roses, myrtles, sorrel, and pur- 
slain, mixt with plantain water, knot-grass, 
and endive; and then the following purgative 
potion should be taken; rinds of myrabolans, 
and rhubarb, one dram each, cinnamon fif- 
teen grains, infused in endive water, with the 
straining pulp of tamarinds and cassia, half an 
ounce each, and the syrup of roses one ounce. 
If the blood be waterish and unconcocted, as it 
is in dropsical cases, and flow, by reason of its 
tenuity,


[96] 
tenuity, it will be necessary to draw off the 
water; and to which end it will be proper to 
purge with agaric, elaterium, and coloquinti- 
da. Sweating is also very proper in this case, 
as the offending matter is thereby taken away, 
and the motion of the blood is carried to the 
outward parts. For this purpose cardimom 
water, with mithridate, or the decoction of 
guaiacum, sassafras, and sarsaparilla, are very 
fit. The gum of guaicum is also a great su- 
dorific. If the blood flows from the breaking 
of a vein, without any evil quality of itself, 
strengtheners only should in this case be ap- 
plied; for which purpose a scruple of bole ar- 
moniac, a dram of treacle, half an ounce of 
conserve of roses, with syrup of myrtle, make 
an excellent electuary. In case the flux is of 
long continuance, two drams of mastich, a 
dram of olibani, and one tyoch de careble, 
with one scruple of balaustium, made into 
powder, and with the syrup of quinces formed 
into pills, will be salutary. 
THERE is another disorder attending the 
menses, which is their irregularity. When 
they come before their time, there is a de- 
praved excretion, which often supplies their 
place at the expected periods; and in this 
case they return twice a month. The cause 
in this case resides in the blood, which stirs up 
the expulsive faculty in the womb, and some- 
times in the whole body, and is frequently oc- 
casioned by the patient’s diet, which increasing 
the blood too much, renders it too sharp or too 
hot;

[97]
hot; and in case the retentive faculty of  
the womb be weak, and the expulsive faculty 
strong, and of a quick sense, they are brought 
forth the sooner by means of a fall, a blow, or 
some violent passion, which the person afflict- 
ed can account for. If it be occasioned by 
heat, thin and sharp humours, the whole bo- 
dy is disordered. The looseness of the vessels, 
and the weakness of the retentive faculty, is 
known from a moist and relaxed habit of body. 
It is, in this case, more troublesome than dan- 
gerous; but is pernicious to conception; and 
the cure is therefore necessary to all, but par- 
ticularly those who are desirous of propagating 
their species, the satisfaction resulting from 
which, few women are, indeed, willing to 
forego. If, therefore, they come too soon 
from the faculty, provoked by too great a 
plethory, phlebotomy, and a spare diet, should 
be used, with much exercise. If it arise from 
the sharpness of the blood, good diet and me- 
dicines are necessary, with bathing in iron- 
water. When it is occasioned by the reten- 
tive faculty, and the looseness of the vessels, 
gentle astringents are the properest. The 
courses may slow after their usual time, by 
reason of the thickness of the blood, the small- 
ness of the quantity, the streightness of the 
passage, or weakness of the expulsive faculties. 
If these causes should all concur, too much 
care cannot be taken to remove them speedily. 
If the blood does not abound in such a quan- 
tity as to excite nature to expel it, its purg- 
ing must necessarily be deferred till there be 
F enough;

[98]
enough; and if the blood be thick, the passage 
stopt, and the expulsive faculty weak, the 
menses must needs be out of order, and the 
purging of them retarded. To remove these 
complaints, then, if the quantity of blood be 
but small, she should live well as to diet, and 
take but little exercise. If the blood be thick 
and foul, it should be thinned, and the hu-
mours mixed therewith be evacuated: where- 
fore, it is proper to take purgatives after the 
courses, and to use calamints. Fumes, pessa- 
ries, and the application of cupping-glasses, 
without scarification, to the inside of the thighs, 
are also necessary. The legs should likewise 
be rubbed, the ancles scarified, and the feet 
held in warm water, four or five days before 
the courses come down. Proper applications 
are also necessary to be made to the pudendum, 
In order to provoke the flowing of the menses, 
some time before they are expected. A marri- 
ed woman cannot do better, in this case, than 
to excite her husband to perform pretty fre- 
quently conjugal duty. 
The last disorder which I shall mention, 
peculiar to the women, is the falling of the 
womb, which is not only extremely trouble- 
some, but is also a hindrance to conception. 
The womb will sometimes descend as low as 
the knees. This is occasioned by the liga- 
ments, which unite it to the other parts, being 
out of order. There are four ligaments, two 
above, broad and membranous, which come 
from the peritonæum, and two below, which 
are

[99]
are nervous, round, and hollow. The womb 
is aleo bound to the great vessels by veins and 
arteries, and to the back by nerves. The 
womb changes its place, when it is drawn an- 
other way; and when the ligaments are loose, 
its own weight bears it down. It is drawn 
on one side when the menstrui are hindered 
from flowing, and the veins and arteries, 
which go to the womb, are full. If there be 
a mole * on one side, the liver and spleen will 
cause it; the liver veins on the right side, and 
the spleen on the left, being more or less re- 
plenished. Some physicians are of opinion, 
that this disorder arises from the solution of the 
connection of the fibrous neck, and the parts 
adjacent. Be this as it may, with women in 
the dropsy, the falling of the womb is occasi- 
oned by the saltness of the water. When there 
is a little tumour, like the skin stretched 
* A mole, is a false conception, or lump of flesh, burthen- 
ing in the womb. Some are of opinion, that it is produced 
by the woman’s seed going into the womb without the 
man’s; but this can only mean, if any thing, that some of 
the ova have gained admittance into the womb, by mastur- 
bation, or some such filthy practice. Other physicians are 
of opinion, that it is engendered of the menstruous blood; 
but in this case it would follow, that maids, by having their 
courses stopt, would be subjest to this accident; but this has 
never yet been proved. The real cause of this carnous con-
ception proceeds from both the man and the woman; from 
corrupt and barren seed in the man, and from the menstruous 
blood in the woman, both mingled together in the cavity of 
the womb; and nature finding herself weak, yet endeavouring 
to maintain the perpetuity of her species, labours to bring
forth such a vicious conception rather than none; and, 
being incapable to produce a living creature, generates a 
lump of flesh. 
F2 within

[100]
within or without the pudendum, or a weight 
felt about the privities, these are symptoms of 
the falling of the womb. When there is a 
tumour like a goose’s egg, and a hole at the 
bottom, great pain is at first felt in the parts 
to which the womb is fastened; such as the 
loins, the bottom of the belly, and the os sa- 
crum, which is occasioned by the breaking or 
stretching of the ligaments; but the pain some 
time after abates, and an impediment in walk- 
ing succeeds. Blood will sometimes issue from 
the breach of the vessels, and the urine and ex- 
crements are no longer voided, in which a fe- 
ver and convulsion will ensue, which frequently 
prove of the most fatal tendency, more espe- 
cially if the patient be pregnant. This dis- 
order should be treated as follows; First, put 
up the womb, before the air alter it, or it be 
swollen or inflamed; for which purpose a cly- 
ster is necessary to remove the excrements. 
The patient should then be laid upon her back, 
with her legs asunder, her thighs raised up, 
and her head down, when the tumour should 
be thrust in, but without violence. In case 
it be swollen by alteration or cold, foment it 
with the decoction of mallows, althea, line, 
fenugreek, camomile-flowers, bay-berries, 
and anoint it with oil of lillies and hens 
grease. If there be an inflammation, it must 
not be thrust up, but frighted in, by placing 
a red hot iron before it, having first sprinkled 
upon it the powder of mastic and frankincense. 
When it is replaced, the patient should lie 
with her legs stretched one upon the other for 
eight

[101]
eight or ten days. A pessary of cork or spunge;
in the shape of a pear, dipped in sharp urine, or 
the juice of acacia, with powder of sanguis, 
galbanum, and bdellium, should be put into 
the womb. A cupping-glass, with a great steam, 
should be applied to the navel or paps, or to 
both kidneys; and the following plaister should 
be laid to the back: opoponix, two ounces, 
liquid storax, half an ounce, mastic, frankin- 
cense, pitch, and bole, two drams each, form- 
ed into a plaister with wax. Fomentations 
and astringents of bramble leaves, plantain, 
horse-tails, thistles, of each two handfuls; 
worm-seed, two pugils, and half an ounce of 
pomegranate flowers boiled in water; and an 
injection should also be used made as follows: 
comfrey-roots, an ounce, rupture-wort, two 
drams, yarrow, mugwort, of each half an 
ounce, boiled in red wine. The womb should 
be strengthened with hart’s-horn, bays, one 
dram of each, and myrrh half a dram, made 
into powder for two doses, which are to be 
given in sharp wines. Rollers and ligatures, 
as for a rupture, are proper to keep it in its 
place; and pessaries should be put into the 
bottom of the womb, in order to force it to 
remain in its replaced state. There are some 
physicians, it is true, who are of opinion, that 
they are prejudicial to conception; but the ma- 
jority recommend them, justly imagining, that 
they neither prevent conception, or occasion 
any injury whatever to the genital parts of the 
female; but, on the contrary, that they not 
only cure the disorder, but promote genera-
F3 tion 

[102] 
tion by their retentive influence. The pa- 
tient’s diet should be drying, astringent, and 
glutinous; such as quinces, pears, green- 
cheese, rice; and consequently red wine is 
the properest, avoiding all summer fruits. 
I FIND, in madam Fouquet’s collection of 
charitable remedies, the following receipt, 
which is stiled, a sovereign plaister for the dis- 
orders of the matrix, &c. 
Cerus, half a pound, minium, one 
pound, Genoa soap, ten ounces, oil of olives, 
two pounds. Put the minium and the cerus 
in a pan upon the fire; continue stirring the 
same, till they are well incorporated and united 
together; then cut the soap in small bits, and 
put it in piece by piece, keeping the contents 
of the pan continually stirring; let it do over 
a middling fire, till such time as it be- 
come grey, or a chesnut colour; take care 
that nothing boils over, whilst it is boiling, 
as these ingredients swell a good deal; and 
continue constantly stirring till it be boiled 
enough; when it is of a good consistence, 
take it off the fire, and stir it still it be cold, 
when rolls are to be made of it; and care 
should be taken, not to handle them with 
wet hands. 
When there is occasion to use this plaister, 
it must be spread upon linnen, or leather; but, 
if upon leather, care must be taken that it has 
no scent.
If

[103]
If the ligaments of the womb are relaxed, 
and a bearing down ensues, it should be ap- 
plied to the navel, the patient remaining in 
bed two days, and keeping it on, till such 
time as she be cured: it should, however, be 
taken off at the end of a fortnight, the place 
wiped, and another plaister put on, remaining 
without any bandage. 
If a woman, when brought to bed, has 
any difficulty of having the after-birth brought 
away, this plaister will be greatly efficacious 
in performing it, by being put upon the navel, 
and leaving it in the manner above prescribed. 
To which is added, there is a very illustrious 
example of a cure performed by the applica- 
tion of this plaister. 
If a lying-in woman, or any other, or a 
maid, has too great a flux of the menses, this 
is a sovereign remedy, by applying it to the 
navel, as above. 
If a woman, or a young girl, has not a 
sufficient flux of her monthly courses, or there 
is an entire suppression of them, this plaister 
should be used; and, in this case, it should be 
placed beneath the navel. 
F4 SEC-

[104]
SECTION VI. 
Of the most practical and approved me- 
thods of cure for the disorders incident 
to excessive venery, or self-pollution. 
HIPPOCRATES says, that when a 
patient has exhausted himself by too 
much indulgence, either of amorous pleasure, 
or even masturbation, and when he has those 
symptoms already described, we should apply 
fomentations all over his body; then give him 
an emetic; repeat it, in order to purge his 
head; then a purgative. “ The cure should 
“ be begun in spring. After the purgative, 
“ give him scummed, or ass’s milk; the cow 
“ milk for forty days. Whilst he drinks the 
“ milk, he should eat no meat; and at night 
“ he should take water gruel. After leaving 
“ off milk, he should eat the most tender 
“ meats, beginning with a small quantity on- 
“ ly. By this means he will recover his flesh. 
“ For a whole twelvemonth he should avoid 
“ every kind of debauchery, all venereal prac- 
“ tices, and every other immoderate exercise; 
“ and in his walks, he should equally avoid 
“ cold, and being in the sun.” 
Boerhaave says, that these disorders are 
always extremely difficult to cure, as they sel- 
dom make their appearance till such time as 
the

[105] 
the body is weakened, and remedies can be 
no longer efficacious. However, the follow- 
ing, he continues, are the most likely to suc- 
ceed. A dry regimen, consisting of birds, 
beef, mutton, veal, kid, roasted rather than 
boiled; a small quantity of good beer; a little 
wine of the strengthening sort. Then much 
exercise, gradually increased, should be used;
till the patient is fatigued; and this exercise 
should be taken fasting; afterwards frictions, 
with perfumed flannels, should take place, up- 
on the reins, the abdomen, the buttocks, and 
scrotum, regularly night and morning. And, 
lastly, half a dram of the following opiate 
should be taken every two hours in the day. 
℞. Terrœ japon. dr. 4. opopanac dr. 5. 
cort. peruv. dr. 6. cons. rosar. rubr. unc. 1. 
obiban dr. 11. succ acac. unc. ss. syrup. kerm. q. 
s. f. l.a. cond. with half an ounce of medical 
wine.
℞. Rad. cariophyll. ment. pœn. mar. aa. 
unc 1. cort. rad. cappar. tamarise. aa. unc 1. 
ss. lign. agalloch. veri unc 1. vin. gall. alb. 
lib. 6. f. l. a. vin. med. 
These prescriptions being regularly fol- 
lowed, the patient may, probably, be cured in 
about two months. 
HOFFMAN writes upon this subject,
“ That all remedies should be avoided that 
“ are not fit for weak persons, and which 
F5 “ may

[106]
“ may weaken a body already enervated; 
“ such are all astringents, those that are too 
“ cooling, saturnine, nitrous, and acid, and 
“ particularly narcotics; they are all prejudi- 
“ cial in cases of this nature, notwithstanding 
“ which they are very frequently used. The 
“ object in view, continues he, is to restore 
“ strength, and to give the fibres that tone 
“ which they have lost; therefore, warm vo- 
“ latile medicines, aromatics, such as have a 
“ strong and agreeable smell, are improper in 
“ this case; but mild aliments that tend to 
“ repair that nutritive gelatinous substance, 
“ which immoderate evacuations have de- 
“ stroyed, as beef, veal, and chicken broth, 
“ with a little wine, common spice, salt, 
“ nutmeg, and cloves. And it should be in 
“ general observed, that all remedies which 
“ promote perspiration, and animate the lan- 
“ guid tone of the fibres, will be of further 
“ assistance.” 
The following decoction and injection have 
been successfully used.
DECOCTION. 
Rx. Flor. succat. lamii. alb. mpl. 6. radic. 
usper et galang. aa. unc 2. rad. bistort. unc 1. 
rad. osmund. regal. unc 2. flor. ros. rubr. mpl. 
4. ichthyocoll. unc 2. 
Scissa. tus. mixt. cum aquœ quart. 8. ad 
quartœ part. evaporat. quoquant. A quart 
whereof to be taken daily. 
INJEC-

[107]
INJECTION. 
Rx. Saccari saturni, vitriol alb. alum, rup. 
aa dr. 1. aq. chalyb. fabror. pint1 1. ss. per 
dies decem igne arena digerantur. add spir. vin. 
camphr. cochl. 3. 
M. Stork is of opinion, that patients, in 
this situation, should be treated in the follow-
ing manner; “ First, they should be fed with 
“ nutritious broths; water gruel, rice, or 
“ barley, boiled in broth or milk, are also. 
“ very essential, care being taken not to load 
“ the stomach with them, but their use to be 
“ frequent. If the stomach should be so 
“ weak, as it sometimes happens, when the 
“ disorder has made great progress, that it 
“ cannot retain this sort of food, without be- 
“ ing greatly oppressed, the patient should
“ have a wet-nurse, and suck her breast. 
“ This has sometimes been attended with 
“ success in the most dangerous cases. The 
“ relaxed fibres are, in some measure, restor- 
“ ed to their tone, by the use of wine im- 
“ pregnated with steel, bark, and cinnamon. 
“ As soon as the patient has got strength 
“ enough to walk, it is very beneficial for him
“ to go into the open air, in a hilly coun-
“ try” 
The best meats are those that are roasted the like
by a slow fire, or gently boiled in their juice. 
They may consist of veal, young mutton, 
young beef, fowls, pidgeons, partridges, and 
F6 the

[108]
the like: and the best kind of aliment is 
milk. Such liquors should be refrained from 
as tend to increase weakness and relaxation, 
diminish the small digestive powers that re- 
main, and communicate acrimony to the hu- 
mours; warm water, coffee, and tea, should 
therefore be avoided. Spirituous liquors are 
also pernicious. The most salutary liquor is 
pure spring water, mixt with wine, and the 
best wines are those that are the most stoma- 
chic. Beer is not good; but mum may, in 
some degree, serve instead of wine, where the 
proper sort is wanting ; and chocolate is par- 
ticularly eligible, especially for breakfast. 
INHALATION, communicated from one 
person to another, may have its use, when 
the patient is particularly feeble. Capuaccio, 
the celebrated Italian professor, prescribed two 
nurses to a patient, between whom he was to 
lie, as well as suck their breasts; and he re- 
covered his strength and powers so wonder- 
fully, that, after some months, he impreg- 
nated them both, and thereby enabled them 
to continue administering his milk diet. His 
pupil, Forestus, was so well convinced of the 
utility of his master’s practice, that he con- 
stantly prescribed a healthy blooming nurse as 
a bed fellow, to every patient troubled with 
the tabis dorsalis. But the danger in this case 
is, that the patient should fancy himself 
more vigorous than he really is, and endea- 
vour too early to testify to his nurse the proofs 
of his recovery. A woman of prudence and 
experience


[109]
experience is, at least, therefore requisite;
and she should be entirely divested of any of 
those passions which might prove fatal to the 
patient, even after his recovery; for this last 
reason, a red haired, or very black, woman 
should never be chosen upon these occasions. 
The most approved remedies in this dis- 
order, are the cold bath, and the bark or 
quinquina used together. Their virtues are 
the same, and, being united, frequently pro- 
duce the most happy effects, even when every 
other application has failed. They invigo- 
rate, diminish the feverish and nervous heat; 
they calm the irregular motions produced by 
the spasmodic disposition of the nervous sys- 
tem; they fortify a weak stomach, and dissi-
pate its attendant complaints; they also restore 
lost appetite, promote digestion, and increase 
nutrition; they facilitate the operation of all 
the functions, and particularly perspiration, 
which renders them so efficacious in all catarr- 
hous and cutaneous disorders. They should, 
however, not be used, if the patient is afflict- 
ed with internal ulcerous abscesses, inflamma- 
tions, or obstructions. To these two reme- 
dies may be added steel, which is useful in all 
cases of weakness, and may be given either in 
substance or by infusion. For the same rea- 
son Spa water, as a strengthener, is much to 
be commended in this case. Bitters, gums, 
myrrh, and gentle aromatics, are proper; but 
the choice of these different remedies must de- 
pend upon circumstances, I have known the 
following

[110]
following pills and decoction to be taken  
with great success. 
PILLS. 
Rx. Myrrh. elect. unc ss. gum. galhan. extr. 
trisol. fibr. terr. japan. aa dr. 2. sir. cort.
aur. q. s. f. pil. gra. 3. 
DECOCTION. 
Rx. Cort. peruv. unc 2. cort, rad. capp. 
unc 1. cinnam. acut. dr. 2. limat. mart. in no-
doul. lax. unc ss. cum. oq. font. lib. 2. ss. l. a. f. 
decoct. 
The pills should be taken with broth, after  
breakfast, dinner, or supper, about seven 
at a time. 
If quinquina is taken, it is not necessary 
that the patient should confine himself to a 
milk diet, and when the wine is impregnated 
with bark, it does not prompt them to vomit 
when taken in the morning fasting; this is 
the proper time for it, and night for the taking 
of the milk. If the mineral waters are taken, 
it is necessary that some bottles of pure water 
should be taken before the milk is mixed with 
it. If the disorder be inveterate, it common- 
ly degenerates into a cacochymy, which it is 
necessary to remove, before the patient’s 
strength is endeavoured to be restored. Eva- 
cuants are, in this case, absolutely necessary, 
and are frequently very successful. If the pa- 
tient’s life is in danger, recourse must be had 
to

[111] 
to real cordials, such as Spanish wine, fresh 
eggs, succulent broths, and the like; and flan- 
nels, heated with treacle, are very efficacious 
when applied to the breast. In case of a fever, 
the patient should not be blooded, till such 
time as there is an indication, by the fulness 
and hardness of the pulse and it were better 
to he blooded twice, losing small quantities 
each time, than to part with much blood at 
one time. 
In a word, those medicines which are most 
immediately necessary are those which are 
ranged under the heads of balsamics and astrin- 
gents. By balsamic medicines, are meant 
those which comfort the nerves, strengthen 
the constitution, and thereby animate the pa- 
tient. Among these are flor. tilliœ lavendul.
rorismarin. pœoniœ. herb. thym. menth. vul- 
gar majoran culaminth. cort cinnamon canell 
alb. aurantior. siccati, fruct. nuc. moschat. of the 
animal class musk. The simple waters of cin- 
namon, orange peel, and common mint; the 
aq. aelexater. simple. the spirit of rosemary, the 
compound spirit of lavendar, sp. volat. aroma- 
tic. julep-e-moscho. The tincture of cinnamon,
and the essential oils of marjoram, spearmint, 
rosemary, lavendar, and cinnamon fyr. e cort. 
aurantior. coryophillor rubr. from whence 
many useful remedies may be formed, and
suited to various constitution and stages of 
affliction. 
AMONGST the class of astringents we may 
include, rad. bistort. formentille, &c. but what, 
as


[112]
as I have said before, deserves the preference 
to every other internal medicine, is the quin- 
quinilla, or Peruvian bark. 
OF the officinial compositions, may be 
reckoned conserv. prunellor. sylvestr. elixir. vi- 
triol. acid. the extract and simple tincture of 
the cort Peruv. tinct saturnia, syrup of quin- 
ces, lemons, &c. and amongst the grateful, 
cooling, and salutary fruits, may be reckoned 
oranges, cherries, rasberries, strawberries, 
grapes, currants, &c. but these are to be 
used with moderation, and not with a milk 
diet.
The external remedies must also be astrin- 
gent, such as the emplastr, roborant, which 
is to be applied to the loins. The testicles 
should also be suspended in a bag, or truss, 
when they hang too loose, which is common- 
ly the case in this situation; and the perinæ- 
um, the testicles, and the pubes, should be 
embrocated, upon going to bed, with vinegar, 
or cloths that have been steeped in verjuice, or 
vinegar should be laid on them all night. 
PREVIOUS to the administering of these 
remedies, and making of these applications, it 
is necessary that the stomach and bowels 
should be cleansed; and therefore an emetic 
and a dose are proper to be taken. There is 
seldom occasion for more than one emetic, as
the rest of the cure depends entirely on bra- 
cing medicines, and nervous ones interspersed 
with

[113]
with nourishing diet; therefore the whites of
eggs mixed, and afterwards the yokes, will ge- 
nerally be found salutary. Tea, as I have said 
before, is very pernicious; but to those who 
have accustomed themselves to drink in a morn- 
ing, or afternoon, it will be difficult immedi- 
ately to leave it off; therefore as a substitute 
may be requisite, and in this case nothing can 
be better than baum and mint, in every dish 
of which should be infused a tea spoonful of the 
balsamic mixture, ex cremor luct. vitell. ov. 
with a few drops of oil of cinnamon; and 
the stomach will thereby be greatly assisted in 
its functions. 
The following julep may be taken at any 
time on an empty stomach; and in case of 
costiveness, the chewing of a little rhubarb 
will remove it. 
JULEP. 
Rx. Ex. aq. alexiter. simp. aq. cinnamon. 
simp. menth, &c. with some drops of spir. la- 
vend. c. and tinct. saturnia. à p. e. of elex. vi- 
triol acid. vel. tinct. cort. peruviam. 
But as the cure of this disorder depends as 
much upon knowing what to avoid, as what 
to do, therefore, without a nice regularity of 
the non-naturals, medicines will have little or 
no effect; it is therefore necessary to consider 
the importance of the salubrity of the air; the 
diet, which should be analeptic and cooling; 
sleep 

[114]
sleep exercise; the secretions of the body; 
and the necessity of chearful company, and 
amusements. I shall, therefore, in this place 
set down what Dr. Lewis says upon these 
heads, being at once the most concise and per- 
tinent observations I have met with upon the 
subject 
“ No disease, says he, requires a greater 
“ regard to the non-naturals than the tabes 
“ dorsalis; its attacks are early, its progress 
“ slow, but sure; and it seems almost to be 
“ interwoven in the constitution before the 
“ patient discovers his danger; for the appe- 
“ tite is generally good [bene comedunt, says 
“ Hippocrates.) As the air is that element 
“ by which we live, move, and have our be- 
“ ing, the good and bad qualities of it ever 
“ stand foremost in a medical view. A clear 
“ and temperate air is universally known to 
“ be the best for continuing health; but cold 
“ rather than a hot air seems to contribute 
“ more to the recovering a thin hectical con- 
“ stitution; and a patient should habituate 
“ himself to be often in it. 
“ As to diet, every thing salted, spiced, 
“ or otherwise seasoned, and all spirituous 
“ and fermented liquors, of whatever kind,
“ ought to be religiously avoided. They ac- 
“ celerate the motion of the blood, and in- 
“ flame the body. Water (only Bristol wa- 
“ ter) mixed with a little old Rhenish wine, 
“ in the summer season; in the winter, red 
“ port should be made the common drink; 

[115]
“ and plain roasting or boiling is the best 
“ cookery for the animal diet of the patient. 
“ But among all the materials of food, there 
“ is not any thing more beneficial than milk *. 
“ I have known a pint, and with some two 
“ pints of milk, drunk in two draughts at 
“ half an hour’s distance, warm from the 
“ cow in the morning, and repeated in the 
“ afternoon, become a wonderful restorative. 
“ All the warmer months, it ought to be so 
“ used, and to be made as much as possible 
“ an ingredient in the other daily sustenance. 
“ Thus, chocolate made with milk, in such 
“ quantity as to pass easily off the stomach, is 
“ an excellent breakfast for a tabid consti- 
“ tion, I knew a child, twelve years old, 
“ in the last stage of a consumption, when 
“ given over by a physician, recovered by the 
“ mother's giving her chocolate only, in 
“ small quantities often repeated. Indeed it 
“ is an aliment that, for weak constitutions, 
“ cannot be too much recommended; and it 
“ may at any time be made to fit easy on the 
“ stomach, by diluting it with water. Be- 
“ sides chocolate, viper broth, broths prepar- 
“ ed with milk, rice, milk, and a variety of 
“ other combinations, known to every fami- 
“ ly, may be contrived to humour the palate 
“ of the patient. 
“ I have not known a single instance, 
“ where animal diet for dinner has done any 
* Purgato sursum et dorsum corpore, lac bubulum per 
quadraginta dies bibendum exhibeto, Burneti Hippocra- 
tes, p. 15. 
“ harm;

[116]
“ harm; yet it will be prudent to recom- 
“ mend such as is of easy digestion. Lamb, 
“ veal, young mutton, fowls, &c. well roast- 
“ ed or boiled, unattended with poignant 
“ sauces, and swallowed with equal quanti- 
“ ties of bread and roots together (more or 
“ less occasionally) cannot fail of producing 
“ laudable chyle and good nutriment, if well 
“ digested (the criterion whereby the quantity 
“ and quality of the meal are determined) 
“ and will do more service in recruiting lan- 
“ guid nature than medicine can. 
“ But with regard to supper, the patient 
“ is to be particularly cautioned. Nothing 
“ but milk, warmed before the fire, and a 
“ slice of thin toasted bread, can be allowed 
“ without detriment; and this ought to be 
“ taken two hours before bed-time; for sleep 
“ is a time of application, not for the pre- 
“ paration of the aliment. That nutrition 
“ may be carried on naturally, it is necessary 
“ that deep should be found and uninterrupt- 
“ ed; but nothing even in a state of health 
“ is a greater impediment to repose than a 
“ late or an animal supper, as the voluptuous 
“ can tell. If this be the case in general, 
“ to a person labouring under a tabes dorsalis, 
“ the avoiding such becomes indispensably 
“ necessary. Seminal emissions in the night 
“ draw after them all the other symptoms. 
“ Whether these are owing to venereal dreams 
“ or not, they certainly will not happen so 
“ often, if the mind, and its powers, are 
“ composed,

[117] 
“ composed, i.e. unconcerned in any animal 
“ actions; for the disturbance of the imagi- 
“ nation is thereby in a great measure cut off. 
“ This is a truth incontestable; for I have 
“ always found the patient to sleep more 
“ soundly, and to escape this evacuation 
“ more constantly, when he takes no supper 
“ at all. 
“ Sleep little, and in due season. If the 
“ dictates of nature be followed (and a phy- 
“ sician is nature’s minister) we should go ear- 
“ ly to bed, and rise early. In the night- 
“ season, the inclemency of the atomsphere is 
“ greatest, and our bodies, after the vigilance 
“ and labour of the day, then lead able to 
“ resist the impression. Perspiration, the 
“ most important of all the bodily discharges, 
“ goes on best in bed *. But it is absolutely 
“ necessary to forbid a patient, afflicted with 
“ the disease I am prescribing, to an indul- 
“ gence in bed in the morning. The more 
“ moderate the quantity of his sleep is, the 
“ sweeter and more invigorating will it be. 
“ Thus, if he lies down at ten o’clock (which 
“ hour he should never exceed) he ought to 
“ rise in the summer time at four or five, in 
“ the winter time at six or seven, otherwise 
“ he may observe as a general rule, to rise 
“ immediately upon awaking; for a second 
“ repose in the morning, however inclined 
* —diuturna enim parcior longe nocturne perspiratio,
sanctor. aphorism. explanat. auctore P. Nogues, f. 1. p. 35.
“ he


[118]
“ he may be to it, is almost always attended 
“ with dreams; and though this practice may 
“ be irksome at first, custom will make it fa- 
“ miliar and agreeable. 
“ MODERATE exercise must be used, espe- 
“ cially riding on horse back. That the air 
“ may be enjoyed to the best advantage, and 
“ that the diet of the patient may be thorough- 
“ ly digested, which will pave the way to a 
“ natural sleep, he ought to use as much ex- 
“ ercise as his strength will permit. Gentle 
“ walking, in the morning in the fields, if 
“ the season be favourable, otherwise at home, 
“ or playing at shuttle-cock, may serve for 
“ part; but the best kind of exercise is that 
“ of riding on horse-back. It is exercise 
“ without labour; and since the mind in the 
“ tabes dorsalis is to be relieved, as well as 
“ the body, the taking a long journey, by 
“ such daily portions as to avoid extraordi- 
“ nary weariness, whereby new objects will 
“ continually present, is surprisingly effica- 
“ cious; and, if the circumstances of the pa- 
“ tient will permit, ought ever to be recom- 
“ mended by his physician. 
“ THE secretions of the body are to be re- 
“ gulated, if out of order. Thus, smoaking 
“ tobacco is to be forbidden. The saliva was 
“ not by nature designed to be thus lavishly 
“ expended; and though some constitations 
“ may bear this evacuation, it cannot be al- 
“ lowed in the present case, since the solids
“ in

[119]
“ in general, being weak, the glans have 
“ patent orifices, and the fluids are thereby 
“ rendered liable to run off too fast. As to 
“ the rest of the secretions, the non-naturals 
“ being rightly observed, there is seldom any 
“ disorder in them. 
“ The patient should be entertained with 
“ chearful company. The last point we have 
“ to speak to on this head, is the passions. 
“ Physicians well know how important the 
“ regulation of them is; for between the 
“ mind and the body there is such a connec- 
“ tion, that the vital and animal actions ne- 
“ ver fail to affect one another. In the tabes 
“ dorsalis, the patient discovers exceeding 
“ grief and melancholy. Now, it is not 
“ enough that they are mitigated by remedy- 
“ ing the vice of these corporeal organs upon 
“ which they depend; every possible means 
“ of relief is to be sought after; and some as- 
“ sistance may be had by exciting the opposite 
“ passions. Thus mirthful company, and en- 
“ gaging diversions, &c. are known to take 
“ off the mind from gloomy thoughts and im- 
“ mense melancholy. Here the elegant vi- 
“ vacious harangues of the physician will do 
“ great service. But it must be observed here, 
“ that as the company of females is apt to ex- 
“ cite libidinous ideas, it ought, by all means, 
“ to be avoided. Study also is highly preju- 
“ dicial. The patient should never be left to 
“ himself; never suffered to read, nor have 
“ any time to reflect on his severe fortune; 
“ for

[120]
“ for all these oppress the nerves, sink the 
“ spirits, and obstruct the cure.”  
So far Dr. Lewis; and I shall conclude 
this section in the words of the celebrated Dr. 
Tissot, in his Treatise upon Masturbation. “ It 
“ would be useless to extend this piece any 
“ farther. I have endeavoured to omit no- 
“ thing that might open the eyes of young 
“ people to all the horrors of that abyss which 
“ they prepare for themselves. I have point- 
“ out the most proper means of removing 
“ those ills which they have drawn upon 
“ themselves; and I conclude by assuring, 
“ that some happy cures should not delude 
“ them. Those who are the best cured with 
“ difficulty recover their primitive vigour, 
“ and preserve tolerable health only by dint 
“ of managing it. Those who remain in a 
“ languid state, are ten-fold the number of 
“ those who are cured; and some examples 
“ of persons who are but little ailing, or of a 
“ vigorous constitution, which promoted their 
“ recovery, should not be considered as a ge- 
“ neral rule.”  
SEC-

[121]
SECTION VII. 
Of impotency in men, and barrenness in 
women; and the most efficacious remedies 
for their cure. 
THERE cannot, assuredly, be a more 
dreadful curse inflicted upon a man of a 
warm constitution, than the inability of pro- 
pagating his species. If he resides in a capital 
city, his senses must be incessantly importun- 
ed to make some unsuccessful effort to abate 
that desire, so naturally implanted in him, and 
which he is incapable of gratifying. If his 
constant residence be in the country, every 
bird and animal that salutes his mate recals 
to his mind the misery of his situation; and 
every blooming fair too frequently convinces 
him of his being a real, not a fabulous, Tan- 
talus. 
It is true, the fair sex do not labour under 
such immediate cruel grievances upon this ac- 
count, as being only the patient in the amo- 
rous constict. Barrenness does not prevent their 
receiving those balsamic tributes, which the 
potent part of the male creation are capable of 
paying them. It must, nevertheless, be a 
mortifying reflection for every married wo- 
man, in this state, to consider herself incapa- 
citated from propagating her species, and giv- 
G ing

[122]
ing that assistance in the nuptial association, 
which was its ultimate and great design. Be- 
sides, she must fall far short of those raptures 
which a fruitful woman is susceptible of, and 
can at most enjoy but a small portion of pro- 
creative bliss. 
Women, in some countries, are examined 
by matrons, before they are admitted to the 
nuptial bed; and those only that are pronoun- 
ced to be fruitful, are allowed to enter into 
the marriage-state; and I must own, that I 
see no reason, without custom be allowed one, 
where the ladies are made so free with, why 
the men should not undergo as strict an in- 
spection, especially if we consider, that when 
the defect is on the woman’s side, she may still 
be made use of, and give her husband at least 
momentary pleasure, if she be not impene- 
trable; whereas, if the defect be on the man’s 
side, she can find no relief, except it be in 
adultery, as it is impossible for him to com- 
municate any satisfaction to her, or expert to 
convey the seed into the womb, if his yard is 
incapable of erection; and this is the most 
certain symptom of impotency in man. 
BARRENNESS is, however, more common 
in women than in men, by reason of the ma- 
ny additional bodily infirmities to which their 
sex is liable, and which I have already enu- 
merated: to these may be added those causes 
that most frequently occasion it in men, 
namely

[123]
namely, too early and great an indulgence 
in venery or masturbation. 
It also sometimes happens, that impotency 
is occasioned in men by a deficiency and want 
of seed; and I think I cannot do better, than 
transcribe the great Boerhaave’s words upon 
this subject, in his treatise de Viribus Medi- 
camentorum. 
“ THIS chapter, says he, consists of such 
“ medicines as increase seed, and promote its 
“ secretion; but we are ignorant how the 
“ animalcules in the seed are generated. 
“ Leeuwenhoeck tells us, they are not to be 
“ found in any part of the body; but in the 
“ male sperm of all animals, which is sepa- 
“ rated in the testicles, and are like so many 
“ tadpoles, of a prodigious number, swimming 
“ every way in the seed, with incredible 
“ briskness and activity; that they are not to 
“ be found in the liquid of the prostatæ is 
“ evident from castrated animals. Now, 
“ there are four things which augment the 
“ seed: first, all such things as augment chyle, 
“ milk, and blood. Milk taken in large 
“ quantities is a great breeder of seed, and 
“ renders persons more salacious than wine or 
“ spices. Hence those who eat much of ve- 
“ getables, eggs, or milk, are much addicted 
“ to venery. Secondly, all medicines which 
“ convey a more abundant quantity of chy- 
“ lous blood towards those parts, where the 
“ genital liquid is prepared. To this purpose,
G2 “ fomen-


[124]
“ fomentations, bathings, frications, em- 
“ plastics, balsams, made of spices, are very 
“ conducive; as also, oil of rue, and eu- 
“ phorbium, plaisters of melilot; these will 
“ increase sufficiently the spermatic juice. 
“ The following things are much commend- 
“ ed by Italians as specifics, who are much 
“ admirers of such delicacies, viz. all bal- 
“ sams, emplastics, composed from sea 
“ southernwood, buffwort, calamint, sweet- 
“ sconted dittany of Crete, leveage, which 
“ are commended as salacious herbs; parsley, 
“ savine, savory, especially that of Crete;
“ thyme, wild thyme, nepenthe, wild mar- 
“ joram, as that of Crete, where animals are 
“ most salacious; pepper, eringo roots, hedge 
“ mustard, are great provocatives to venery; 
“ as are also all compounds from these herbs, 
“ made up in decoctions, potions, cataplasms, 
“ and ointments. Thirdly, such things as 
“ cause a vehement stimulation in the liquids; 
“ as all aromatics stimulate the nervous 
“ juices. Thus, onions, garlick, and leeks, 
“ are great incentives to lust, which is evi- 
“ dent from those persons who eat them fre- 
“ quently, as the Persians and Egyptians do, 
“ who are much given to venery, and are 
“ scarce satisfied with one woman. Hither be- 
“ long all aromatic gums. Thus we see hy- 
“ pocondriac people, to whom we have given 
“ them for resolving obstructions, by taking 
“ them often, become very salacious; as myrrh, 
“ aloes, galbanum, opponax, sagaperium,
“ tachamahae, bdellium, &c, also balsams,
“ as

[125]
“ as capavy, &c. if these be used too much, 
“ they will cause a priapism, and excite an 
“ abundant secretion of seed. Hither also be- 
“ long all natural salts, except nitre, all vo- 
“ latile salts, especially those that are oily, 
“ and oily spints, as of wine, which operate 
“ chiefly by stimulation, soaps, all diuretics, 
“ chiefly by water excepted, castoriam di- 
“ stilled, aromatic oils, which operate two 
“ ways, either by increasing motion, or by 
“ irritation. Fourthly, there are specific pro- 
“ vocatives to venery, which act upon bo- 
“ dies not fitly disposed, as feeds of dill, 
“ vetches, satyrion, concerning which see 
“ Diascorides, the brains of sparrows, and the 
“ stones of salacious animals, as of cocks, 
“ lambs, &c. are very much commended; as 
“ likewise, the glandules of animals, which 
“ are of a similar nature to the testicles, as 
“ those which grow in the asperia arteria of 
“ calves, all which are so beneficial, as they 
“ generate good chyle; ultiocinus, a small 
“ sea-fish, which, if eaten, is said to cause such 
“ an incitement to venery, as to induce a sa- 
“ tyriasis, or continual erection of the penis: 
“ but I am of opinion, that the effect doth 
“ not so much depend upon the fish, as upon 
“ those things which are taken with it; for 
“ it is generally eaten with pepper, salt, ga- 
“ langal, &c. A milk diet may be proper, 
“ because the generation of seed depends upon 
“ good chyle.”
G3 Besides


[126] 
BESIDES what is recommended in the 
above chapter from Boerhaave, the following 
prescription will be found very efficacious in 
all impotent cases: Take of the best palm 
sack six ounces, of jelly of hartshorn three 
ounces, essence of ambergrease ten drops, 
chocolate all nut half an ounce, black pepper, 
powdered, one scruple, essence of satyrion 
twenty drops, confection of alkermes one 
dram, essence of cantharides twelve drops, vo- 
latile salt of vipers ten grains, white sugar 
candy three drams; the chocolate and sugar 
candy must be dissolved in the sack over the 
fire, but it should not boil; and when it is 
cold, the other things are to be added, with 
the yokes of two eggs. They should be mix- 
ed very well together, and drank at one or 
more draughts, every morning at breakfast. 
The testicles should at the same time be anoint- 
ed with the following salutary balsam: take oil 
of mace, by expression, two drains, Peruvian 
balsam one dram, oil of nutmegs, oil of cloves, 
of each six drops, musk eight grains, civet 
ten grains, essence of cantharides, and essence 
of ambergrease, of each six drops; mix them 
well without the use of fire, and anoint the 
genitals therewith night and morning. The 
cold bath may also be used at the same time 
with great success. 
HAVING given this advice to the men, 
it is time we should attend the ladies. 
In

[127]
In the cure of barrenness, attention must 
be particularly paid to the cause; as this 
must be first removed, and then the womb 
strengthened, and the spirits of the seed en- 
livened by corroborating applications. 
If barrenness proceed from over much heat, 
let the patient use inwardly succory, endive, 
violets, water lillies, sorrel, and lettuce, with 
syrups and conserves made of the same; to 
which end, take conserves of borrage, violets, 
water lillies, of each one ounce; half an ounce 
of conserve of roses, diamargariton rigid, 
diatrion, santalon, of each half a dram, and 
with syrup of violets, or juice of citron, make 
an electuary. She should also take of endive, 
water lillies, borrage flowers, of each a hand- 
ful, rhubarb, mirobolans, of each three drams, 
and, with water, make a decoction; add to 
the straining the syrup laxative of violets, one 
ounce, syrup of cassia half an ounce, manna 
three drams; all which make into a potion; 
take of the syrup of mugwort one once, syrup 
of maidenhair two ounces, pulv. elect. trio- 
sant, and make all up into a julep; apply to 
the reins and privities fomentations of the juice 
of lettuce, violets, roses, mallows, vine leaves, 
and nightshade. She should also anoint her 
privities with the cooling ointment of galls. 
Baths are also good for her to fit in. The air 
she perspires should be clear; her garments 
thin; her food lettuce, endive, succory, and 
barley; but she should eat no hot meals, nor 
drink any strong wines. Repose, as well cor- 
G4 poreal

[128]
poreal as mental, is necessary for her; and she 
should use but little copulation. 
When barrenness is occasioned by the pre- 
dominancy of blood extinguishing the power 
of the seed, which may be known by her de- 
siring venery, and receiving no pleasure in the 
act of copulation, even at the critical instant 
of the man’s emission; by her courses being 
phlegmatic, thick, and slimy, and not flow- 
ing regularly; in this case she should take 
syrup of calamint, mugwort, betony, of each 
one ounce, water of pennyroyal, feverfew, hy- 
sop, sage, of each an ounce, made into a julep. 
She should also take every morning two spoon- 
fuls of cinnamon water, with one spoonful of 
mithridate. She should likewise take of oil of 
anniseed one scruple and a half, jasmini, diaca- 
lam, both diamosci, diagalang, of each one 
dram, sugar four ounces, made with water of 
cinnamon into lozenges, a dram and an half 
of which should be taken twice a day, two 
hours before meals. Cupping glasses should 
be fastened to her hips and belly, and she 
should take storax, calamint one ounce, mas- 
tick, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, lignum 
aloes, frankincese, of each half an ounce, 
musk ten grains, ambergrease half a scruple, 
and with those make them into a confection, 
to be divided into four parts, one whereof is 
to be formed into a pomum doratum to smell 
to, if she be not inclined to hysterics; the 
second should be made into a mass of pills, 
three of which should be taken every night; 
the third into a pessary, and put into the 


[129] 
womb; and the fourth into a fumigation for 
the matrix. 
WHEN barrenness is occasioned by the 
faculties of the womb being weakened, and 
the life of the seed suffocated by too much tu- 
midity flowing in those parts, she should, in, 
this case, take of betony, marjoram, mug- 
wort, pennyroyal, balm, of each one handful, 
root of asarum, fennel, elacampanes, of each 
two drams, anniseed, cumminseed, of each a 
dram, with a sufficient quantity of sugar and 
water, to form them into a syrup, three ounces 
of which are to be taken every morning. The 
following purgative pills are to be taken; of 
pill extid. two scruples, diagridion two grains, 
spec. de costore one scruple, which are to be 
made up into nine pills, with syrup of mug- 
wort. Take likewise spec. diagemmæ, diamo- 
sci, diambre, of each one dram, cinnamon one 
dram and a half, mace, cloves, nutmegs, of 
each half a dram, sugar six ounces, and with 
water of feverfew make them into lozenges, 
which are to be taken every morning. She 
should also take of the decoction of sarsaparilla, 
and virga anred, with a good quantity of sage, 
which is an herb of so much virtue, that Cor- 
nelius Agrippa honoured it with the title of 
sacra herba, or the holy herb; and Dodenæus, 
in his history of Plants, relates, that after a 
great plague had happened in Egypt, which 
had nearly depopulated the country, the sur- 
viving women were commanded to drink the 
juice of sage, that they might multiply the 
G5 faster.


[30]
faster. She should also anoint her genital 
parts with oil of anniseed and spikenard. Tro- 
chisks are also very beneficial in smothering the 
womb, which should be made as follows: she 
should take mace, nutmeg, cinnamon, storax, 
amber, of each one dram, cloves, labdani, of 
each half a dram, turpentine, a sufficient quan- 
tity; after which she should use an infusion to 
fit upon after her courses are gone, made in this 
manner; take the roots of valerian and ele- 
campane, of each one pound, of galingal 
three ounces, origans, lavendar, marjoram, 
betony, mugwort, bay leaves, calamint, of 
each three handfuls, prepared with water. 
In case barrenness arises from the dryness of 
the womb, consuming the matter of the seed, 
the patient should take every day almonds and 
goats milk, extracted with honey; she should 
eat frequently of the root satyrion, condited, 
and of the electuary of diasatyrion; she should 
likewise take three sheeps heads, and boil them 
till the flesh is Separated from the bone, then 
take of melilot, violets, camomile, of each a 
handful, and of fenugreek, linseed, and vale- 
rian root, of each a pound, and being de- 
cocted in the aforesaid broth, she should conti- 
nue fitting in it up to her navel, till it become 
cool; she should also take of deer’s suet half 
an ounce, cow’s marrow, styracis, liquidæ, of 
each a dram, oil of sweet almonds two ounces, 
and with silk or cotton make the same into a 
pessary, and inject oil of Sweet almonds and 
melted butter 
BARRENNESS

[131]
BARRENNESS may likewise be occasioned 
by remissness in the act of coition; for though 
there be no impediment on either side, yet if 
both sexes meet not in that act with equal vi- 
gour and desire, no conception can be the con- 
fequence of it. It frequently happens, that 
the man is too quick for the woman, or the 
woman too slow for the man; and therefore 
not being prepared to receive the seed with 
that delight which she ought, when it is emit- 
ted by the man, she discharges no ova, and the 
womb is no way benefited by the operation. 
In this case she should, before the act of co- 
ition, foment the pudendum with a decoction 
of betony, fage, hyson, and calamint, and 
also anoint the mouth and neck of the womb 
with musk and civet. The following appli- 
cation will also be very efficacious to strengthen 
the womb, as it is in this situation required: 
take of bay-berries, mastic, nutmeg, frankin- 
cense, cypress nuts, labdani, galbani, of each 
one drop, styracis, liquidæ, two scruples, cloves 
half a scruple, ambergrease two grains, musk
five grains, with which a bit of spikenard, a 
pessary should be made. Take also of red 
roses, frankincese, lapidis hematitis, of each 
half an ounce, sanguis draconis, fine bole, ma- 
stic, of each two drains, nutmeg and cloves, 
of each a dram, spikenard half a scruple, and 
with oil of wormwood make a plaister for the 
lower parts of the belly. She should also eat 
of the eringo roots condited, and take an in- 
jection of the juice of the roots of satyrion. 
She must use copulation soon after the menses 
are

[132]
are ceased, conception being then most apt to 
take place, as the womb is thirsty and dry,
and most inclinable to attract the seed, as well 
as retain it, by the roughness of its interior 
coat.
If these remedies and precautions are pro- 
perly attended to, it is not to be doubted but 
many families, who might soon be extinct for 
want of heirs, may be enabled to extend their 
lineage to the latest posterity. But every per- 
son (whether male or female) who proposes 
deriving any advantage from these rules, should 
cautiousty attend to one thing, which is, that 
they should not attempt to stimulate nature, 
when she is drained; for even if success were 
so far to crown their endeavours in this respect, 
their heirs must, being begot under these cir- 
cumstances, prove only a puny issue. A man 
who has laboured under any complaints of an 
impotent kind should remember, even after he 
has in some degree recovered his pristine vi- 
gour, that he cannot reasonably expect to get 
above one child a week; and therefore, I 
would recommend him to confine his em- 
braces to an hebdornedal indulgence; and his 
wife need not complain at this, as she will 
then receive them with much more gratifica- 
tion. Another point to be attended to, is the 
reciprocality of enjoyment; and a husband 
who is desirous of being the father of children, 
should be particularly curious in this respect, 
and not let any false modesty on his wife’s 
part conceal the real produce of his endea- 
vous;


[133]
vours; and as he may thereby keep an exact 
account, so he should never exceed, on his 
part, the number of times his wife has actually 
enjoyed coition. When there is a deficiency 
on her side, the fomentation prescribed above 
should be used with greater frequency, and in 
larger quantities, till such time as she has had 
her complete portion of bliss. 
SEC-

[134]
SECTION VIII. 
Of the propriety of AMOROUS PLEASURE. 
IF it were necessary to prove the utility of a 
natural intercourse between the sexes, our 
own very existence, and that of posterity, 
would be incontrovertible reasons. Neither 
found philosophy, or even holy writ itself, any 
way discountenances it; but, on the contra- 
ry, we are particularly commanded to increase 
and multiply. And if, indeed, these conside- 
rations, which are so cogent, were set aside, 
the happy union which it promotes and rivets,
the friendship it cements, and the inexpressible 
joy which it diffuses, would surely be suffici- 
ent argument to refute any impotent unnatu- 
ral attacks upon amorous pleasure, and we must, 
as long as we are susceptible of the power of 
beauty, agree with the poet, when he says, 
Love's the most tender passion of the mind, 
The softest refuge, innocence can find, 
The safe director of unguarded youth, 
Fraught with kind wishes, and secured hy truth. 
Heaven in our cup this drop hath thrown, 
To make the nauseous draught of life go down, 
With regard to our health, it is most certain- 
ly necessary to many constitutions; and tho’
I

[135]
I would chuse to give all the force to Mr
Skmeider’s reasoning it deserves, and allow that 
a great part of the semen is absorbed, and re- 
turns into the mass of blood; yet it is plain 
there would still remain too great a redundan- 
cy in strong robust men, if it were not carried 
off by some discharge, which is frequently in- 
voluntary: but surely these nocturnal emissi- 
ons are contrary to the design of nature, 
which plainly points out their proper destinat- 
ion, the support of the universal chain of ex- 
istence, a chain that is doubtless destroyed by 
this diversion of the course of inheritance; and 
all the sophistry in the world will never be able 
to evince, that the toleration of these evacua- 
tions is not equally destructive of the human 
species as self-pollution, since constitution and 
custom will instruct every man when these 
discharges will come about ; and therefore by 
not anticipating them, and directing them in- 
to their proper channel, he is instrumental in 
destroying the human species in the same pro- 
portion as he might have become a father, by 
marking the just application. 
The prejudice that is occasioned to the 
human frame, from an undue retention of 
the semen, is frequently of very dangerous 
consequence, as a plethora and cacochymy 
may ensue, occasioning pains in the head, pal- 
pitations of the heart, apoplexy, lethargy, 
spermatic fevers, according to the different 
temperaments and constitutions of the persons, 
who by such undue continence are the cause 
of

[136]
of so much harm to themselves, and rather 
than obey the dictates of unerring nature, 
chuse by a rigorous ascetic apathy to resist her 
motions, thereby counteracting that great 
command of the Creator, of which the mind 
is made conscious for the propagation of the 
human species; and, thus obstructing the ani- 
mal œconomy, justly incur the natural con- 
sequences of such premeditated violence offered 
to her laws. 
When man is arrived at the age which 
confers the faculty of procreating, the tender 
organs destined for its source become turgid 
by their fulness, and, by the pressure of their 
contained fluid, ad upon the nervous fibres 
with such inexplicable energy, as to promote 
the expression of their contents, by the grati- 
fication of the universal appetite; and when 
once the confined semen hath been ejected, it 
so far dilates the excretory ducts of the vesiculæ 
seminales, which confined it, as to render them 
unable at any time afterwards to restrain it, 
with sufficient restriction, to resist their pleni- 
tude, when the semen is collected in such 
measure as to impress the nervous fibrillæ of 
those parts, with such sensations as excite in 
the imagination a desire to venery; which in- 
tention naturally arises in the minds of all 
persons, even the most rigid Platonist, and 
presents them with phantasms too powerful 
for the frailty of their nature to chase away, 
or resolution sufficient to prevent gratifica- 
tion. Nor would it be proper, that these de- 
sires


[137]
desires should be entirely suppressed; for  
if every one could so far surmount his amorous 
passions, as to live in a perfect state of celi- 
bacy, and stand in no need of seminal evacua- 
tions, or have no reason to fear any disorders 
from its undue retention, creation would be 
at an end, and all the links of society which 
are cemented by the ties of consanguinity 
would be dissolved. 
MARRIAGE, as it is honourable in all 
countries, so it has been held in great esteem 
from the beginning of the world among all 
sorts and sects of people. The Romans, and 
especially the wife emperor Augustus, did 
what they could to encourage it. The Jews 
did the same. The Lacedemonians, at their 
festivals, would not admit of any single man; 
and if those who were unmarried ventured to 
come amongst them, they were, as soon as 
discovered, ordered to be whipped by the wo- 
men, as unprofitable members of the republic; 
nor were any but married men suffered to bear 
any office; so that throughout the world as 
an encouragement to matrimony, the married 
men were highly preferred, excused from go- 
ing to the wars for the first year after mar- 
riage, and in every thing had the advantage of 
those that were single. 
The virtues of celibacy, it is true, have 
been frequently cried up, as if there were 
something very extraordinary contained in 
them: and many persons have, doubtless, be- 
lieved,

[138]
lieved, that they have acted pursuant to the 
principles of religion, and the dictates of con- 
science, when they have supported this ridi- 
culous, irrational, and unnatural doctrine: 
but if we proceed to examine their reasons 
and arguments, we shall find them to be al- 
together fallacious, and contrary to the intent 
of Providence, law, justice, and religion; and 
I venture to lay it down as an infallible posi- 
tion, that whoever compels, or injoins the 
same in others, is not only guilty of a breach 
of the sixth commandment, which says, Thou 
shalt do no murder, but is likewise guilty as an 
accessory to the breach of divers other com- 
mandments, and a promoter of innumerable 
sins.
HENCE it plainly appears, that it is not the 
use, but the abuse, of coition that is criminal 
and dangerous; and for this reason, our law 
has wisely prescribed, that no man shall have 
more than one wife, though some men of ve- 
ry salacious complexions might plead in op- 
position, that the community and posterity are 
great sufferers by this regulation, as they are 
very capable of propagating their species 
more frequently than their wives are capable 
of being impregnated, and might particularly 
instance the time of their having their courses, 
and during their child-bearing; and to give 
this reasoning some colour, they might in- 
stance the Turks, and other heathenish na- 
tions, who are allowed as many wives as they 
can support, and who are very seldom known 
to

[139]
to be barren. But this would be opening a 
door for anarchy and confusion, would destroy 
all legitimacy and inheritance, and would be 
an inlet to vice and immorality. 
The great object most worthy of inquiry in 
this respect, is to know how far nature and 
inclination should be gratified, and how far  
restrained. Constitution, complexion, the cor- 
poreal and mental state and variations, are so 
many considerations to be taken in; and, after
all, it will be scarce practicable theore- 
tically to draw the line. Some men are trou- 
bled with priapisms and satyriasis’s; some 
women with the furor uterinus: to these it 
would be in vain to talk of reason, nature, 
health, or decency. They should be first 
treated as patients, before they are advised as 
men or women. Their disorders must be cured 
before they are pointed out the happy me- 
dium of gratification, the just calls of nature. 
Others there are of both sexes, whose weakly 
constitutions, from various causes, but none 
more than those I have already had occasion 
to mention, to whom coition would be as 
fatal as arsenic; and these should neither argue 
upon, nor think of, the subject. Women 
past forty-five, and men who have no longer 
those testimonies of virility, which clearly no- 
tify the propriety of amorous gratification, 
reed give themselves any concern upon the 
subject. But those batchelors and virgins still 
in the vigour of life, who, by abstinence, 
have brought on many disorders, the cause of 
which


[140]
which they are entirely ignorant of, cannot 
too soon lay aside their celibacy, and fly into 
each other’s arms, to their mutual benefit and 
delight. The first will find their lethargic, 
supine, and inert disposition, changed to gai- 
ly, cheerfulness, and activity. The females 
will no longer eat chalk, whiting, and such 
like things, but recover their complexion, their 
vivacity, and their good temper; for the green- 
sickness is nothing more than the want of a 
due circulation of the blood and juices, and a 
regular return of the menses. 
A CERTAIN physical writer says, “ The 
“ blood, by the superfetation of the seminal 
“ humour, unduly accumulated for want of 
“ sufficient room to circulate freely through 
“ the vessels, distends the size of the same be- 
“ yond their proper diameters, which conse- 
“ quently impairing their tonic motion, oc- 
“ casions an increase in the size of its moli- 
“ culæ, and of course a remora in the circu- 
“ lation, by reason of which the blood and 
“ humours become glewy and tenacious, and 
“ the whole habit bloated and cacochymic.”  
So that there is no reason to be surprized, 
that those who are abstemiously continent, 
should be affected with such disorders as natu- 
rally flow from these causes. 
On the other hand, though provident na- 
ture, for the continuation of mankind, has 
accompanied the business of generation with 
a sense the most exquisitely delightful, and 
therefore at the time of puberty, the passion 
of


[141]
of love begins to exert itself in consequence of 
a copious secretion of the semen, which, 
prompts to be discharged; yet if we attend to 
the consequences of venereal commerce at 
this time of life, we shall discover, that na- 
ture has not intended the seminal juice for that 
purpose only, since the act of coition, being 
too often repeated at that age, restrains the 
growth of the individual, and unnerves the 
man. That there is besides a benefit ac- 
cruing from it to the constitution, may be 
collected from an observation of those appear- 
ances that arises thereon at the time of puber- 
ty. Then it is that the hairs begin to shoot 
at the pubes, the beard grows, the voice al- 
ters to a graver tone, muscular strength is 
augmented, and a more sprightly comport- 
ment accompanies them, and that the cause of 
these appearances is the saccus genitalis absorb- 
ed by the lymphatic vessels, and reconveyed 
into the blood, there is no reason to doubt, 
after perusing what has been already said upon 
this subject. Even in more advanced life, too 
unlimited a gratification of venereal desires 
will enervate the most robust constitution. I 
have met with frequent examples of men, 
who, by condescending to their wives exces- 
sive letchery, have been, from strong athletic 
men, reduced to mere skeletons. A patient of 
mine, who was brought to death’s door, and 
whom I suspected of having been guilty of 
masturbation, acknowledged, that it was all 
occasioned by his wife, who was, when in 
bed, incessantly tickling and teasing him, to 
prompt him to indulge her insatiable appetite; 
2 and


[142]
and that she carried her obstinacy in this re- 
spect to so great a pitch, that when he was un- 
able or unwilling to repeat the task, she has, 
contrary to decency, become the agent, in- 
stead of the patient, and subverted all order and 
disposition. Another patient in nearly the 
same situation, but with a much greater and 
more constant gleet, informed me, that his 
wife, to whom he had been married several 
years; but being in the situation of Dr. Coop- 
er’s patient, that is, having an obstinate hy- 
men, and whom he could never penetrate with 
the stiffest erection, pretended so much fond- 
ness for him, and was so jealous left he should 
shed his seed upon any other object, that she 
constantly committed masturbation upon him 
every night; and even invented many devices 
to excite his lust, insomuch, that she at 
length brought him to so emaciated a state, 
that she could be no longer under any appre- 
bensions of his paying his devotions at any 
other altar to the Cyprian goddess; neverthe- 
less, habit had so gained upon her, that she 
persisted in her manual operations, and would 
certainly have put an end to his existence, if 
I had not immediately ordered him to quit her 
bed, if he valued life. 
THAT women should have very extrava- 
gant passions as well as men, is not to be won- 
dered at; but that any man should be so far 
hood-winked, as to let himself be thus im- 
posed upon, is somewhat extraordinary; yet 
the sequel of this narrative is still more sur-
prising. Upon my cautioning him against 
future


[143]
future insults of this sort, and advising him  
to prevail upon his wife to undergo a chirurgical 
operation, he undertook the task, and she sub- 
mitted: he recovered his health; she was soon 
after pregnant; and from the time that she 
tasted the grateful effects of his virility, she 
never afterwards misapplied it; but she was 
rather an œconomist in love, left she should 
be too easily deprived of the extatic sensations 
it communicated. 
The operation this lady underwent, doubt- 
less, gave him free access into her vagina, and 
thereby brought her clitoris and the glans of 
his penis into contact, as this is the seat of de- 
light in women. Hence it is called by Co- 
lumbus, amoris dulcedo, the sweetness of love; 
and by Boerhaave, estrum veneris, the sting of 
love, as the necessary and unavoidable friction 
of the penis against the clitoris, in the act of 
coition, causes those excessive ticklings and 
transporting itchings to each sex, that are not 
to be described so well as felt, and still greater 
on the woman’s side, when the discharge of the 
serous matter the woman sheds is more co- 
pious in the act, and at the summit of enjoy- 
ment; for as the penis in men, and especially 
the glans of it, fills, and is instated with spi- 
rits upon a vigorous erection, and still more so 
in the act of emission, so does the clitoris at 
the same time in the woman, and which, 
jointly together, reciprocally produce each to 
the other that inexpressible satisfaction that 
is diffused through all the animal functions; 
and which, if nature had not rendered so ex- 
tremely


[144]
tremely pleasing, what man, that divine ani- 
mal, born for the contemplation of heavenly 
things, would concern himself in so filthy a 
thing, as is the act of coition; and what wo- 
man, indued with modesty, would submit her- 
self to be exposed to man, and readily undergo 
the toil and danger of child-bearing, besides 
the anxiety and care of educating her children? 
But neither the filthiness of the act will deter 
men, nor the severe inconveniencies which 
great bellies often cause to women, nor the 
frequent extreme hazard of their lives when 
in labour, nor loss of beauty and shape, the 
most precious gifts they have, and which ren- 
der them amiable, and admired by all, as well 
as beloved by those who possess them, can or 
will either affright or deter them therefrom;
nor will any of them make that reflection, till 
after the act, or consider any thing before it, 
but the mutual pleasure they expect; and all 
who enjoy allow, that they receive inexpres- 
sible satisfaction by it. 
FROM what has been said, I think it is 
clearly proved, that amorous pleasure does not 
only dispense the highest pitch of sublunary 
bliss; that it is absolutely necessary for the 
propagation and continuation of the human 
species; but that it is indispensibly requisite 
for the preservation of health, in every male 
and female of a vigorous constitution. 
SEC-

[145]
SECTION IX. 
Upon the VENEREAL DISORDER.
TO the many maladies which arise from 
copulation, we must add that which fre- 
quently occurs by promiscuous coition, and 
which is generally known by the name of the 
French disorder. The French, however, ex- 
culpate themselves from being the original com- 
municators of this disease; and in France it is 
called the Neapolitan disease. Every country 
seems ashamed of having introduced this disor- 
der into Europe, where it was unknown before 
the discovery of America: so that Columbus, 
by finding out a new world, brought us home 
a distemper, which by many is thought to be 
more pernicious to our constitutions, than both 
the Americas are advantageous to our trade and 
navigation. 
The error which has prevailed with many, 
and even with some physical people, that the 
leprosy and the venereal disorder are of the same 
nature, and therefore conclude that it is of 
more ancient date in Europe, than is universally 
believed, may easily be refuted. I shall to this 
end quote the words of Andreas Laurentius 
upon the venereal disorder. He says, “ the 
“ leprosy is always attended with a roughness 
“ of the skin; the venereal disease with a 
“ smoothness. The leprosy never begins at 
“ the pudenda, the venereal disease always. 
“ In the leprosy the patient is not afflicted 
“ with any pains, whereas in the venereal 
H “ disease 

[146]
“ disease he is severely tortured with them. 
“ The skin of lepers becomes hard, black, and 
“ callous, which appearances in venereal pa- 
“ tients by no means occur. Leprous persons 
“ are salaceous, and subject to priapisms; while 
“ the others, on the contrary, have an aversion 
“ to women, as long as they are ill. In the 
“ leprosy, the hairs of the arm-pits and groins 
“ fall off with those of the head, which does 
“ not at all happen in the venereal disease. 
“ In short, the leprosy is incurable in its na- 
“ ture; but the other is not, even when it has 
“ been suffered to run on a long time.” To 
which may be subjoined, that the symptoms of 
the leprosy are heightened and increased by the 
use of guaiacum or mercurials; whereas the 
venereal disorder is infallibly cured by them, 
when properly administered. 
The physical writers of antiquity have una- 
nimously agreed that the leprosy was usually 
contracted by unwholesome diet, and not by 
copulative infection; and, on the contrary, the 
venereal disease is never contracted by any er- 
ror in diet, but generally by coition. Hence 
we may reasonably conclude, that these two 
disorders are quite different in cause, nature, 
and symptoms. 
The venereal disease was certainly never 
known in Europe till the year 1494, at the 
time when Charles VIII. of France laid siege to 
Naples. Columbus returned this year from 
Hispaniola to Spain, and imported it into 
Europe on board one of his ships, as many 
historical

[147] 
historical testimonies can vouch. Neverthe- 
less, there are plausible reasons for asserting 
that this disorder was generally known in 
Europe many years prior to this æra; and to 
give these arguments their full force, I shall 
quote the statutes of Jane, queen of the two 
Sicilies, and countess of Provence, for the re- 
gulation of the public stews established at 
Avignon in 1347. 
“ 1. ON the eighth of August, in the year 
“ 1347, our good queen Jane gave leave that 
“ a public brothel should be set up at Avig- 
“ non; and ordered that the wenches, who 
“ plyed there, should not walk the streets, but 
“ keep themselves confined within the bro- 
“ thel; and, by way of distinction, wear a 
“ red knot upon their left shoulders. 
“ 2. ITEM, If any girl has thus offended, 
“ and persists in her offence, that the Clavi- 
“ ger, or chief of the beadles, shall lead her 
“ through the city by beat of drum, a red 
“ knot hanging at her shoulder, back to the 
“ brothel, and shall prohibit her from walking 
“ abroad any more under penalty of being 
“ lashed privately for the first offence; and 
“ being whipped publickly, and turned out of 
“ the house, for the second. 
“ 3. OUR good queen orders that this brothel 
“ shall be erected in Broken-Bridge-Street, 
“ near the convent of the Augustine-Friars, 
“ as far as to Peter’s-gate; and that the en- 
“ trance shall be towards the street; and the 
H2 “ door


[148]
“ door locked, that no youth may have ad- 
“ mittance to the wenches, without leave from 
“ the abbess or governess, who is to be chosen 
“ every year by the directors. The abbess is 
“ to keep the key, and advice the young 
“ men she admits to make no disturbances, 
“ nor frighten the wenches; and to let them 
“ know that in case of misdemeanor they will 
“ not be suffered to go off securely, but be 
“ laid under confinement by the beadles. 
“ 4. The queen commands, that on every 
“ Saturday the women in the house be singly 
“ examined by the abbess and a surgeon ap- 
“ pointed by the directors; and if any of them 
“ has contracted any illness by their whoring, 
“ that they be separated from the rest, and 
“ not suffered to prostitute themselves, for 
“ fear the youth who have to do with them 
“ should contract their distemper. 
“ 5. If any of the wenches in the brothel 
“ prove with child, let the abbess take care to 
“ prevent a miscarriage, and give notice to the 
“ directors to make provision for the child. 
“ 6. Let the abbess diligently take care not 
“ to give admittance to any person into the 
“ brothel on the Friday and Saturday in pas- 
“ sion week, nor on the holiday of Easter, 
“ under the penalty of being dismissed and 
“ whipped. 
“ 7. The queen orders that the wenches ad- 
“ mitted into the brothel abstain from strife and 
“ envying,


[149] 
“ envying, from brawling and thieving, and 
“ that they live lovingly together like sisters; 
“ and in case any difference arise among them, 
“ that they refer it to the abbess, and abide 
“ by her judgment. 
“ 8. If any theft be committed, let the ab- 
“ bess amicably procure restitution to be made 
“ of such things as are stolen. And if the 
“ guilty person should refuse to do it, let her 
“ be lashed by the beadle in private; and if 
“ she fall a second time into the same fault, 
“ let her be whipped through the city by the 
“ common hangman. 
“ 9. Let the abbess admit no Jews into 
“ the brothel; and, if any one should find 
“ means through stealth to gain admittance, 
“ whipped publickly through the streets of the 
“ city.” 
There were also at this time public stews 
allowed in the principal cities of Italy, and 
even at Rome itself, under the walls of the 
pope’s palace: France also was furnished with 
them, particularly in Aquitaine: that at Thou- 
louse was endowed with several privileges by 
Charles VI. and VII. and in the reign of queen 
Elizabeth we find rules and ordinances were 
issued, bearing date in the year 1430, for the 
regulation of stews in London and the borough 
of Southwark, one of the articles whereof runs 
thus: Of those who keep women having a wicked 
infirmity, ordering under a severe penalty, that 
H3 no

[150] 
no stew-holder keep women wythin his hous that 
hath any sickness of brenning (burning). 
But justice must be done to queen Jane of 
Sicily, in owning that her statute seems to have 
been the best calculated for promoting the order 
and tranquillity of brothels: indeed historians 
insinuate that fire was naturally of a very lasci- 
vious disposition, and by turning her mind this 
way, she was mistress of the subject, and there- 
fore capable of displaying her genius upon it. 
As soon as the venereal disorder began to make 
such ravages as it did, when, first introduced 
into Europe, these brothels also began to de- 
cline, as the expence attending the cure of the 
whores, infected with this disease, frequently 
exceeded the profits arising from their prosti- 
tution : so that the lady abbesses at length 
and become virtuous ma-
trons by necessity. 
THIS alone should be a sufficient proof that 
the venereal disorder was unknown in Europe 
before the period I have mentioned; but the 
celebrated Astruc’s observations upon queen 
Jane’s statutes will set this matter in a still 
clearer light. 
He says that those who are of opinion that 
this disorder then existed “ should prove that 
“ there were then no other disorders, besides 
“ what are now called venereal, that could 
“ possibly be contracted by harlots from their 
“ prostitution, or by them be communicated 
“ to such persons as had to do with them.
“ For 

[151]
“ For otherwise it is more rational to inter- 
“ pret this article of such diseases as were 
“ then commonly to be met with, than to 
“ argue from thence against the express testi- 
“ mony of all authors, that the venereal 
“ disease was at that time as well known, as 
“ it is at present. 
“ The argument, therefore, they draw 
“ from hence is inconclusive, unless they can 
“ first prove, that this fourth article cannot be 
“ understood of any other diseases, than such 
“ as are now called venereal (which I am sure 
“ is not to be done,) and must fall to the 
“ ground, if it once can be proved that there 
“ were other diseases, besides the present ve- 
“ nereal disorders, which were then abso- 
“ lutely unknown, arising from a promiscu- 
“ ous and immoderate use of venery, and be- 
“ ing once contracted, were capable of being 
“ communicated to such as conversed with 
“ them, of which consequently this article 
“ ought to be understood. 
“ For, 1st. from the frequency of coition, 
“ women are subject to fissures of the puden- 
“ dum, and superficial exulcerations of the 
“ vagina; nor in a promiscuous and immode- 
“ rate use of venery can the female organs 
“ avoid being considerably hurt by the vehe- 
“ ment and repeated action of the male, espe- 
“ cially in such women, as from their youth, 
“ and the delicacy of their frame, have their 
“ solid parts of weaker and more lax contex- 
“ ture; or such as have not the womb firmly 
H4 “ fixed

[152]
“ fixed in its proper seat, but naturally disposed 
“ to bear down into the vagina; or have to 
“ do with very large men, or whose semen is 
“ acrid; or such as are not careful to cleanse 
“ and wash away the seed of different persons 
“ collected, but suffer it to lie and corrupt, 
“ &c. And as common wenches are most 
“ exposed to these dangers, it is plain they 
“ must formerly have most frequently con- 
“ tracted these disorders; and these when 
“ once contracted must have grown worse 
“ and worse, either from the repetition of the 
“ same cause, or the negligence natural to 
“ whores; and at length have been com- 
“ municated to such as had to do with them, 
“ in like manner as the itch, herpes, &c, are 
“ propagated by infection; whence arose in 
“ men inflammations of the penis, miliary 
“ eruptions, pustules, ulcers upon the surface 
“ of the glans, and round the prepuce. And, 
“ 2dly. Lewd women, if frequently lain 
“ with, in case of any native imbecility in 
“ the womb, are liable to a copious flux of a 
“ soul, sharp, fœtid matter, to ulcers in the 
“ womb; and sometimes (which is still worse) 
“ to a cancer. For, from too frequent coi- 
“ tion, there must arise irregular stagnations 
“ both of the blood and lymph; by which 
“ means either the uterine glands being too 
“ much relaxed, the fluor albus follows; or 
“ the fibres being lacerated, an ulcer is formed; 
“ or the lymph being obstructed, a scirrhus is 
“ produced, which often degenerates into a 
“ cancer. To these disorders, therefore
“ common

[153]
“ common women must ever have been ex- 
“ posed; and from hence through the acri- 
“ mony of the corrupt humour oozing from 
“ the womb, they must have given divers 
“ distempers to such persons as lay with them; 
“ and in particular have caused inflammations 
“ of the glands, prepuce, and yard, miliary 
“ eruptions, pustules, ulcers, &c. such as 
“ have been described by the authors, who 
“ lived before the first breaking out of the 
“ venereal disease. 
“ 3dly. It appears that such women as had 
“ to do with lepers were for the most part 
“ affected with an erysipelatous inflammation 
“ of the vagina and urethra, with a violent 
“ troublesome dysuria, then called by the 
“ name of burning; and that the men who 
“ lay with persons thus infected, or even with 
“ found women, who had not washed them- 
“ selves since they had lain with a leper, for 
“ the most part suffered the same disorder, 
“ contracted as it were by infection. There 
“ was, therefore, a distemper so long as the 
“ leprosy subsisted, which might be con- 
“ tracted by whores from coition, and be 
“ communicated by them to such as had ve- 
“ nereal intercourse with them; which for- 
“ merly, indeed, could not but frequently 
“ occur; but upon the disappearing of the 
“ leprosy, likewise disappeared, as it was in no 
“ respect the same as the venereal gonorrhæa.” 
HAVING thus settled the origin of this dis- 
order, and its first appearance in Europe, I 
“ shall

[154]shall now consider the manner in which it is con- 
tracted, its nature, symptoms, and cure. 
This disorder is communicated either by 
generation, or infection: by generation, when 
transmitted by the parents to the child, whilst 
the body of the embrio is formed; by infec- 
tion in the act of coition between an injured 
and a found person. The fœtus may also be 
infected after being formed, if the mother con- 
tract the disease during her pregnancy. But 
this disorder is never communicated by con- 
tagious air; and though some physicians have 
imagined it may be caught by interventive 
subjects, this opinion is now exploded. It 
is thought, however, that the venereal disease 
may be contracted by a found man lying with 
a found woman, in case she has lately per- 
formed the act of coition with a man infected, 
and has not washed the inside of her parts, 
since this first connexion; as the remains of 
the putrid semen adhering to the vagina, may 
infect the glans of the penis. 
It may be communicated by the breasts of 
a distempered nurse to a found child; as the 
infected milk must soon corrupt the ten- 
der body of the child; and, on the contrary, 
a diseased child sucking the breast of a found 
nurse, may communicate by the saliva this 
disorder to the nurse. 
It may be communicated by lascivious kissing 
the mouth, when either party is affected with 
any venereal ulcers on the inside of the mouth. 
Lying


[155]
LYING in the same bed with an infected 
person, without coition, may communicate 
it, when either party hath any cutaneous dis- 
order arising from the venereal disease; upon 
the principal of exhalation and inhalation. 
It may also be contracted by handling 
the infected parts; as by examining vene- 
real ulcers with a finger, or performing the 
midwife’s office towards an infected woman, 
especially if the surgeon’s finger, or the mid- 
wife’s hands, have any wound or fissure, by 
which the poison may be more easily imbibed. 
The two first:of these ways of receiving 
the contagion, are so well confirmed, by many 
and positive experiments, that they cannot 
be doubted; but the three latter, though 
highly probably, and supported by authori- 
ties, may, perhaps, still be questioned. 
The venereal poison consists of certain 
seeds of morbisic matter, which being in- 
troduced into a found body, in the smallest 
quantity, and by sensible passages, and gra- 
dually increasing in size, form, and force, 
at length corrupt the whole mass of humours. 
This poison creates an inflammation upon the 
parts which it affects. In a gonorrhæa the 
urethra, the prostatæ, and the visiculæ semi- 
nales, in men, are inflamed; and in women, 
the vagina, the pudendum, the prostatæ, and 
the glandulæ Cowperianæ. Chancres in men 
are occasioned by an inflammation of the glans, 
the frænum, and the præpuce; and in women 
in

[156] 
in the pterygia, the carunculæ myrtiformes, 
and other parts of the pudendum. In the 
case of a bubo, the inguinal glands are in- 
flamed, and in that of a node the periosteum. 
In a word, whatever part of the body is seized 
with the virus becomes inflamed; this poison 
being so disposed, that it condenses and crisps 
the membranous stamina of the parts it pene- 
trates, whereby the extremities of the vessels 
interspersed are constringed, and the blood is 
forced from its usual course into the conti- 
guous lymphatic vessels, and causes an inflam- 
mation. When this poison is not timely ex- 
tirpated, it by degrees corrodes, exulcerates, 
and preys upon the parts it has inflamed; and 
thence arise indurations, schirrhous, and cal- 
lous humours. 
The symptoms of a gonorrhæa, (or clap)
which is the most customary stage of the ve- 
nereal disorder, contracted by coition, gene- 
rally appear, in four, eight, or twelve days, 
after the infection is caught; when a small 
quantity of an oily, lymphatic, viscid serum 
oozes through the urethra, producing a plea- 
sant sensation, and gluing up the orifice of 
the passage. The extremity of the urethra 
becomes red and hot, and opens wider than 
common. At first the parts of generation 
have an uncommon titulation, at the time of 
making water more particularly, which daily 
approaches nearer to pain. As the disorder in- 
creases, a tension, rigidity, and induration of 
the penis takes place, with a greater discharge 
of a seminal humour, the difficulty of urine 
in-

[157]
increasmg, with great sharpness like the  
pricking of pins.—The penis sometimes becomes 
distorted and bent, especially in the time of 
erection, which is called a chordee, and the 
humour flowing is of different colours, but ge- 
nerally a yellow, tinged with green, and some- 
times purulent: in others it is ash-coloured, 
resembling matter streaked with blood. 
In females, a few days after having received 
the infection, their parts are unusually moist, 
and an itching heat every day comes nearer to 
pain: when their complaints are arrived at 
their height, the insertion of the penis is scarely 
to be supported. They have also a difficulty 
and scalding in making water; but not so 
much as the men: but the oozing matter is 
very near the same in both. 
RECEIPTS for a Gonorrhæa. 
ꝶ. Lignorum guaiaci & sassafras ana ℥ij. 
Radic. chinœ & sarsaparilla ana ℥jβ.
Antimonii crudi crassiusculè triti & nodulo in- 
clusi ℥iβ. 
Ligna & radices incidantur, & infunduntur om- 
nia tepide per noctem in aquœ fontana ℔viii. 
deinde bulliant moderate ignœ ad tertiœ partis 
consumptionem, addenda finem coctionis. 
Follicul. Jennœ ℥β. 
Radicis liquoritiæ rosæ ℥i. 
Colatura servetur ad usum ter in die usurpanda 
ad ℥viii. mane jejune ventriculo, harâ quintâ vel 
sexta pomeridiana, & ante decubitum.
ANOTHER

[158]
Another, which, it is said, will cure a go- 
norrhæa, in three days, taken as an injection. 
Rx. Aquœ plantagin ℥viii, quibus dissolve 
draconis mitigati, hoc est mercurii sublimati,
dulcis, in alkool redacti ℥ij.
Argitentur simul, & liquoris illius turbidi & 
tepidi ℥i, syphore eburneo, in urethram injicia-
tur ter in die. 
The first, I should, however, rather re- 
commend, as these speedy cures are seldom 
effectual. 
A BUBO is a swelling or tumour in the 
groin, which may be either brought to a 
head or dispersed. In the first case a chirur- 
gical operation must be performed; in the 
latter the patient must be confined to his 
chamber during the whole time of his cure, to 
avoid the danger of being exposed to the air. 
CHANCRES are ulcers arising from impure 
venery, and are generally situated in men upon 
the internal surface of the prepuce, or the back 
or sides of the glands; most frequently upon 
the corona or frænum of the glands; some- 
times too upon the extremity of the duct of 
the urethra. In women frequently upon the 
internal surface of the labia pudendi; often 
upon the clitoris, the root of the clitoris, or 
on the prepuce, with which the clitoris is co- 
vered, upon the nymphæ, carunculæ myrti- 
formes, and vagina; and sometimes upon the 
extremity of the urethra. 
3 WHEN

[159] 
WHEN the prepuce is swelled, it some- 
times so strictly embraces the glans, that it 
can by no means be drawn back; in this 
state it is called by the Greek name phimo- 
sis, that is to say a ligature; but sometimes 
it is so corrugated, and tightened behind the 
corona glands, that it cannot by any art be 
brought forwards; and this state of it, which 
is contrary to the former, is called paraphimo- 
sis; that is to say, a ligature tied round. This 
state of the penis is generally accompanied 
with watery bladders upon the margin of the 
surface, which are called crystallines. 
THESE are the most customary symptoms 
of the first stages of the venereal disorder. I 
have, however, ventured to give receipts only 
for a gonorrhæa, unaccompanied with any of 
these latter symptoms, as where a surgeon's 
assistance is absolutely necessary; or where the 
intricacy of the case may baffle the most skil- 
fu! of the faculty, it would be ridiculous to 
point out such theoretical cures, as may not 
entirely suit one patient in ten. For the 
same reason, I have no occasion to enter 
upon the confirmed pox, as it is most usually 
preceded by some or all of these symptoms. 
A PREVENTATIVE remedy would be of 
more real service to the world, and especially 
the rising generation, than volumes written 
upon the subject: after the disorder is imbibed. 
To this end I shall communicate an easy por- 
table application, which has never been known 
to fail; and which it is to be hoped will annihi- 
late


[160]
late the use of those filthy bladders, commonly 
called machines. 
BEFORE coition rub the nut of the penis, 
glans, and inside of the prepuce with common 
mercurial unguent; remain no longer in the 
act of enjoyment than you have absolute occa- 
sion for; but upon retiring, wash your penis 
well with warm water, or your own, if you 
can conveniently make it, and apply the mer- 
curial unguent as before. 
This recipe was used last war in Germany 
by a skilful surgeon, who recommended it to 
the company he had the care of; and during 
the whole campaign, not one of the men re- 
ceived any infection, notwithstanding their 
corps were very famous for the number of wo- 
men belonging to them. 
In common gonorrhæas, it may with cer- 
tainty be depended upon; in confirmed or 
worse cases it is not recommended. What has 
been said upon the nature, and manner of 
communicating this disorder, should also be 
considered; as it appears that it may be im- 
bibed without copulation. 
FINIS. 


























A 
TREATISE 
UPON THE 
FORMATION
OF THE 
HUMAN SPECIES, &c. 



A 
TREATISE 
UPON THE 
FORMATION 
OF THE 
HUMAN SPECIES; 
The DISORDERS incident to PROCREA- 
TION in Men and Women; 
The Evils arising from the Abuse of the 
Genital Faculties.
WITH 
The most approved and efficacious Methods of 
Cure, illustrated with a Variety of Cases 
and Examples. 
By JAMES FLEMING, 
Hospital-Surgeon and Man-Midwife. 
LONDON: 
Printed M. Thrush, at the King’s-Arms, in 
Salisbury-Court, Fleet-Street. 
MDCCLXVII. 



CONTENTS. 
Introduction, 
Page ix. 
SECTION I. 
Of the formation of the human species;— 
specifying the structure and design of the 
genital parts in men and women;—the 
manner of conception, and the most pro- 
bable means of producing it.—1 
SECTION II. 
Of venereal excesses;—displaying the dan- 
gerous conseqences resulting from an un- 
limited gratification of amorous delights; 
—the utility and importance of the semen 
to the whole mass, illustrated from the 
best writers, ancient and modern.—13
2 SEC-

CONTENTS. 
SECTION III. 
Of the baneful effects of self-pollution in the 
male-sex;—shewing that this practice is 
much more fatal than even venereal ex- 
cesses in a natural way, supported by phy- 
sical reasons, and evident deductions, 
with many recent examples, and extraor- 
dinary cases.—Page 35 
SECTION IV. 
Of the dreadful consequences of self-pollu- 
tion, and the gratification of the Sapphic 
passion in the female-sex, containing the 
origin and progress of this passion, and its 
fatal effects, exemplified in many living 
instances;—also same very curious, uncom- 
mon, and original cases, that have lately 
fallen under the observation of the author, 
at some hospitals in this metropolis, and 
elsewhere; with Dr. Quincey's account of 
two young ladies in a convent, who were 
supposed to have changed their sex by this 
abominable practice, &c. &c.—54 
SEC-

CONTENTS. 
SECTION V. 
Of the disorders incident to the female-sex, 
and their most approved methods of cure; 
mamely, the whites; the suppression of 
the menses; the overflowing of the men- 
ses; the irregularity of the menses; the 
menses; the falling of the womb. 
Page 84
SECTION VI. 
Of the most practical and approved methods 
of cure of the disorders incident to ex- 
cessive venery, or self-pollution, from Hip- 
pocrates, Boerhaave, Hoffman, Stork, 
Capuacico, Lewis, Tissot, &c. &c. 
104
SECTION VII. 
Of impotency in men, and barrenness in wo- 
men, and the most efficacious remedies for 
their cure, containing some curious remarks 
upon these disorders, and how far the 
consequences extend in the two sexes re- 
spectively, 

CONTENTS. 
spectively, with Boerhaave's opinion 
with respect to the cure of impotency, 
and some approved receipts for the same. 
—The best manner of treating barrenness 
in women, divided under its different 
causes, &c. &c.—Page 121 
SECTION VIII 
Of the propriety of amorous pleasure, where- 
in this subject is morally and physically 
considered, shewing in what cases the in- 
dulgence of this passion is allowable, and 
how far it is pernicious or beneficial to 
health.—134. 
SECTION IX. 
Of the venereal disorder, tracing its ori- 
gin; approved recipes for its cure; and 
a preventative remedy.—145. 
INTRO-

INTRODUCTION. 
IF the editor of the following perform- 
ance thought any apology necessary 
for laying it before the public, he would 
enter upon his defence, by acknowledg- 
ing his crime; which is neither more nor 
less, than that of exploding ignorance, and 
revealing the knowledge of human nature: 
but he flatters himself, that we live in too 
liberal an age, to discountenance any at- 
tempts to communicate real instruction; 
and surely none is more important than 
that of being acquainted with our own 
formation, and the source of our animation. 
It is that which should first occupy our 
thoughts, ere we endeavoured to im- 
prove our understandings by foreign or 
remote studies; for it is almost impossible 
to arrive at any degree of excellence in 
the various branches of science, without 
having an intimate acquaintance with that
b being,


x INTRODUCTION. 
being, who is thus busied in the pursuit; 
and yet many there are, who have at- 
tempted to reach the utmost pinacle of 
learning, without having bestowed one 
thought upon the nature of their own ex- 
istence. 
If curiosity, or the allurements of 
knowledge, no way interfered in this de- 
sign, a still more cogent reason should 
urge us to the task; a reason whose ob- 
ject is the basis of all happiness, all case, 
all contentment, all tranquillity; and this 
is nothing less than our Health, with- 
out which riches, science, beauty, are 
idle, insignificant, and useless. We have 
no relish for what we cannot enjoy; and 
if bodily health is wanting, nothing in 
this sublunary state can dispense a mo- 
ment’s real satisfaction. 
To this end, then, it is necessary, that 
wc should consider the nature of our for- 
mation; by what means we came into 
this world; how far our creation might 
have injured the health of our parents; 
the

xi INTRODUCTION. 
the proper use of those generative powers 
with which we are endued, to add our 
mite to the increase of the general stock 
of individuals, and the proper methods 
of curing such disorders as are incidental 
to this pursuit, or the still more fatal 
complaints arising from the abuse of these 
faculties. 
In order to render this work of gene- 
ral utility, and to remove the disgust of 
a dry and tedious study, I have selected 
what has been said by the most elegant as 
well as learned writers of antiquity upon 
these heads; nor have I omitted aught 
that appeared to me pertinent or illustrat- 
ing offered by the modern literati; so 
that this may be considered as an epitome 
Of every thing essential that has been 
written upon these subjects, digested and 
methodized, with obervations and re- 
marks, in the compass of a pocket volume
It may, perhaps, be objected by some 
over-scrupulous critics, that the nature of 
b2 the

xii INTRODUCTION. 
the plan must necessarily create a variety 
of amorous ideas, which, for the benefit 
of the rising generation, had better be 
suppressed than illustrated. 
To this I answer, That the design of 
this work is not to excite lascivious 
thoughts, but to consider ourselves phi- 
losophically as we are; to point out the 
danger of too much indulgence even in 
natural passions, and the still more dire- 
ful consequences of addicting ourselves to 
unnatural ones. If it were necessary, I 
could, in my defence, quote the sacred 
writers, and the fathers of the church, 
who have treated upon these very subjects, 
even in living languages; and I shall en- 
deavour to suppress any indecent expres- 
sions, as far as the nature of the perform- 
ance will allow: wherefore, I hope, in- 
stead of incurring the censure, to meet the 
approbation of sensible and virtuous men. 
This work would have been incom- 
plete, had I not been somewhat particu- 
lar in displaying the filthiness and danger 
of


xiii INTRODUCTION. 
of a crime, that I am afraid the youth of 
the present age are but too guilty of; a 
crime that is pregnant with manifold evils, 
not only to the culprit, but which he 
transmits to posterity; a crime that is 
destructive of our very being, and anni- 
hilates creation. A mirror, to view these 
direful ills, could not be held in too 
strong a light; the picture cannot be too 
highly coloured, that every one whom it 
pourtrays may shudder at his own resem- 
blance. 
IT is a melancholy reflection, that even 
the softer sex, the lovely part of the crea- 
tion, are not exempt from the imputation. 
Nay, if we may credit the satyrists of an- 
tiquity, and particularly Juvenal, they 
complicated the crime: 
Lenonum ancillas posita, Laufella cerona 
Provocate, et tollit pendentis primæ coxæ, 
Ipsa Medulline frictum crisantis adorat. 
Palmam inter dominas virtue natalibus 
œquat.
Such 

xiv INTRODUCTION. 
Such are his words. How many Lau- 
fellas and Medullinas are still in being, 
the number of antiquated maids and 
misses of three-score, more evidently 
prove than any other calculation to be 
framed. 
This vice, then, cannot be too severe- 
ly combated, too publickly exposed; and 
if those who are addicted to it do not, 
after perusing the following sheets, blush, 
tremble, and repent, they are devoid of 
shame, sense, and reflection: they are ir- 
reclaimable, and unworthy of attention. 
But many, I hope, there are, who have 
been unwarily prompted to give way to 
so shameful a practice, who need only see 
it represented in a just light, to shudder 
at their guilt; and these penitents are de- 
serving of regard. For such have I point- 
ed out a proper cure for those disorders, 
which they may have brought upon them- 
selves by their former folly. But let not 
those who have long habituated them- 
selves to this vice, flatter themselves with 
a speedy, or any relief, without they pre- 
viously

xv INTRODUCTION. 
viously eradicate every thought tending 
to this unclean desire. 
The disorders solely incident to the 
female sex, form another part of this- 
work, in which the most approved and 
efficacious remedies are pointed out; 
whereby every lady may, in these cases, 
see her own situation, and, by following 
such prescriptions as are there laid down, 
be restored to her pristine health, with- 
out being obliged to reveal her complaint 
to any one of the faculty. It would be 
needless, in this place, to point out the 
many inconveniencies that have slowed 
from the sex’s ignorance of the real na- 
ture of their disorders; and we too well 
know there are numbers, who, through 
misjudged modesty, will not let a man 
approach them even in labour, when in 
the greatest danger: if so, how many 
may have been lost for want of proper 
instruction in cases though not so vio- 
lent, yet equally fatal, when neglected. 
This

xvi INTRODUCTION. 
THIS part, therefore, will, I imagine, 
sufficiently recommend itself to the fair 
sex, without my expatiating any farther 
upon its utility. 
I HAVE also set apart a section for the 
venereal disorder, in which I have traced 
its origin, nature, symptoms, and method 
of communication; with receipts for such 
stages of it, as patients may rely upon 
themselves for the cure: to which I have 
subjoined a preventative remedy, that will 
doubtless be efficacious in most common 
cases. 
UPON the whole, this work, though 
small, may be considered as an useful and 
instructive treatise upon physiology and 
medicine; and will, the editor flatters 
himself, claim a precedence before many 
voluminous productions, equally prolix 
and unentertaining. 
SEC-


[1] 
SECTION I. 
Of the formation of the human species. 
THE knowledge of ourselves is, doubt- 
less, the most essential and rational in- 
quiry of human beings, and, therefore, 
every attempt to unfold the secrets of nature in 
our formation, must meet with the approbation 
of all those who are desirous of having the veil 
of ignorance drawn aside, that providence and 
reason may appear in all their splendor, to the 
eye of every beholder. 
To compass this effectually, it will be ne- 
cessary to consult the structure of males and fe- 
males in their genital parts, and the cause of 
that proneness to copulation, which is the ori- 
ginal source of generation, and consequently 
the perpetuation of the human species. 
Man, the noblest and most rational animal 
in the creation, is formed of so delicate, so 
nice a mechanism, that any the smallest inter- 
ruption to the most minute operation of the 
corporeal system, in some degree discomposes 
the whole frame; and as perfection is no where 
to be met with in this sublunary sphere, so in 
B man

[2]
man there is constantly some, though, per- 
haps, small impediment to complete health. 
Cold or heat, moisture or drought, must alter- 
nately affect the circulation of his blood, the 
digestive powers of his stomach, &c. &c. and 
as these are more or less diverted, the body is 
impaired. The great art of the materia medica 
is to restore these, when disturbed, to the 
nearest point of perfection they can attain. 
In this treatise, I must, however, confine 
myself to the revolutions of the corporeal frame, 
so far as they are influenced by the act of copu- 
lation. To launch into a detail of all the va- 
rious affections of the human body, with their 
causes and consequences, would lead me far be- 
yond my present design, which is, as I have 
specified in the title page. To investigate the 
formation of the human species; the disorders 
incident to procreation in men and women; 
the evils arising from the abuse of the genital 
faculties, and set forth the most approved me- 
thods of cure. 
In entering upon the first part of my plan, 
which is the formation of the human species, I 
must consider the structure and design of those 
parts in each sex, which are immediately in- 
strumental in this operation. 
The principal organ of generation in man 
is placed obvious to the sight, and sensible to 
the touch; and, by reason of its pendent state, 
disposed for the act of coition, is called by the 
Latins,

[3] 
Latins, penis; the most decent translation of 
which, in English, is the yard, though it vul- 
garly bears another name. When erect, its 
shape is long, though its length is very diffe- 
rent in various men; in some it does not pro- 
ject above three inches from the belly, in others 
four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and even 
ten inches; but the latter size is very scarce. 
It is roundish, and the upper side rather flattish, 
consisting of skin, tendons, veins, arteries, and 
sinews. Its situation is over the os pubis, be- 
ing destined for two very different operations, 
namely, the conducting of the seed into the 
matrix of the woman in the act of copulation, 
and to void a superabundance of urine from 
the bladder. To this end, it internally con- 
sists of two nervous bodies, the septem, the 
urethra, the glans, the muscles, and the ves- 
sels. The two nervous bodies are so called, 
from their being surrounded with a thick, white, 
nervous membrane; yet their interior substance 
is spongy, consisting chiefly of nervous fibres, 
arteries, and veins, interspersed. The cause 
of its erection is its plenitude of spirituous agi- 
tated blood; and consequently a defect of erec- 
tion arises from a deficiency of this supply. The 
contents of the septem is white, sinewy, and ner- 
vous, being destined for the support of the ure- 
thra and side ligaments. The urethra, which 
is the common channel for the seed and urine, 
is in substance loose and soft, thick and sinewy. 
It hath three holes, the two smaller of which 
receive the seed from the vesiculœ seminales; the 
center one, and largest, is the aperture for the 
B2 urine,

[4]
urine, being seated at the neck of the bladder, 
The glans are at the extremity of the yard, 
and are susceptible of the nicest sensations, be- 
ing covered by nothing but a thin membrane. 
The prepuce, or covering, which the Jews cir- 
cumcise, in some men covers almost the whole 
nut of the yard, and in others very little of it; 
and this generally depends upom the state of the 
frænum, which in many is broke or cut. The 
muscles, which are four in number, consist of 
fleshy fibres: the use of the shortest and thickest 
of these fibres, is to extend the yard, and put 
it into a state of erection; wherefore they de- 
rive their name of erectors. The office of the 
two longer and thinner, is to stretch the lower 
part of the urethra in the time of evacuation, 
and are therefore stiled accelerators. The vessels 
consist of veins, arteries, and nerves, some vi- 
sible, and some invisible. 
The testicles, or reservoirs of seed, come 
next under consideration. They are situated 
at the bottom of the abdomen, behind the yard. 
The internal skin, which covers them, is called 
the scrotum, and the internal the membrana 
carnosa. The epididymaides are joined to 
the testicles, from whence arise the vasa defe- 
rentia, or ejaculatoria, which, upon approach- 
ing the neck of the bladder, deposit the semen 
in the seminal vessels, which resemble bunches 
of grapes; and hence is the seed thrown into the 
urethra in the act of coition. The prostate 
glans, which are situated near to them, and 
unite the neck of the bladder, are about the 
size

[5]
size of a common walnut. Hence issues a saline 
glutinous humour, which preserves the urethra 
from the bad effects of the acrimony of the 
semen, as well as that of the urine. There are 
also two vessels, which conduct the blood to the 
testes, where it is elaborated into semen; and 
these are called arteria spermaticœ; and the two 
spermatic veins carry off the superabundant 
blood from the testes. 
Having thus set forth the parts of genera- 
tion in men, those of women come next under 
our consideration. 
The lips of the orifice, seated between the 
thighs, are called the labiœ; and the adjacent 
parts, covered with hair at the age of puberty, 
are called pudenda. Such is the external ap- 
pearance; the internal consists of the nymphœ, 
which appear upon opening the labiæ, and are 
composed of soft spongy flesh, resembling, in 
form and colour, a cock’s comb, receiving, in 
the act of generation, the man’s yard between, 
having, in their center, the clitoris, which is 
the seat of bliss in women, and which I shall 
persently describe. The little buttons, in the 
shape of berries, which close the orifice of the 
neck of the bladder, and, by their swelling, in- 
crease the titillation and exquisite sense in 
the act of copulation, also serve to prevent 
any involuntary discharge of urine, which the 
nymphæ give vent to. We now come to the 
clitoris, which greatly resembles a man’s penis, 
and by its erection and friction in contact with 
B3 the


[6] 
the yard, the woman receives the highest de- 
light. This part is replete with a spongy and 
black matter within, like unto the side liga- 
ments of the yard, which it so much resembles, 
exciting lust, and communicating delight in 
the act of generation, this being the great in- 
centive to venery in females; and the amo- 
rous passion is therefore generally proportioned 
to the size of their clitoris. Its uncommon and 
extraordinary protuberance, I shall have occa- 
sion to mention in another place, and to as- 
sign the most obvious causes for this phæno- 
menon. It rises from the os pubis, having its 
head covered with a very thin membrane, 
where there is an orifice; but it is not perfo- 
rated. The urinary passage is seated over the 
neck of the womb, and under the clitoris. 
This passage is secured from cold, or any 
other violent attacks, in the act of copulation, 
by the largest and uppermost of the four fleshy 
buttons, which is seated before, and closes it. 
The lips of the womb now make their appear- 
ance. The neck or channel is seated between 
the four buttons, and the inner bone of the 
womb, which receives the yard like a sword- 
sheath. It is so constructed, that it may be 
easily and agreeably extended in the act of co- 
pulation, being of a spongy nature; and there 
being in this concavity various foliages, or cir- 
cular plaits, made by wrinkled tunicles, it re- 
sembles a blown rose, in those who have still 
their virginity; but it loses this appearance by 
frequent coition, becoming smooth, and at 
length grisly and hard. The hymen, or clu- 
strum virginale, closes the neck of the womb, 
which

[7]
which is occasionally supplied with a large 
quantity of spirits from different veins and ar- 
teries that there concenter, in order to be di- 
lated; and they retain the yard with additional 
vigour, being capable of receiving in general 
one of eight inches in length. Upon the first 
entrance of the pudendum, there are two 
small arteries, which, being pressed by the pe- 
nis in the act of coition, furnish a humour that 
communicates an additional sensation of plea- 
sure to the woman. 
These parts may be considered as so many 
instruments and channels for conveying the 
seed into the womb, which I shall now more 
particularly consider. It is situated in the lower 
parts of the hypogastrion, adjoining to its 
neck, and is seated between the bladder and the 
streight-gut, whereby it is prevented from be- 
ing displaced, though it is capable of contrac- 
tion or dilatation, as occasions require. Its form 
is circular, resembling in some measure a 
gourd, lessening and growing more acute to- 
wards the extremity, united by its own liga- 
ments, and its neck by its proper substance, 
and certain membranes that fasten it to the 
sharebone and the os sacrum. Its size is various 
in different women, and more particularly in 
those who have borne children from those who 
have not. The preparatory vessels are the 
same in number and origin with women as 
with men; their size and manner of insertion 
constituting all the difference. They are shorter 
in women than in men, the testicles of a 
B4 woman


[8]
woman being seated within the belly, and re- 
quiring a shorter passage to communicate their 
contents; but, on the other hand, have more 
intricate foliages than in man, that the liquor 
may be properly elaborated. These prepara- 
tory vessels are not united as in men, before 
they arrive at the stones; but are divided into 
two branches, the greater of which only passes 
to the stones, and the lesser to the fecundated 
egg, this being properly conception. The 
immediate use of these vessels is to convey the 
blood to the testicles, part whereof is employed 
in their nutrition, and the production of those 
little bladders in every respect resembling eggs, 
through which the vasa præparentiæ run, and 
are obliterated in them. Each testicle in a 
woman contains about twenty eggs, one 
of which being impregnated by the most 
spirituous parts of the male-seed in the act of 
copulation, descends through the oviducts into 
the womb, where it is nourished, and becomes 
a human being. The figure of these ova is not 
perfectly round, but somewhat flat on the sides, 
and their lower parts are oval; but in their up- 
per part, where they have communication 
with the blood vessels, they are covered with 
a single membrane, in order to facilitate the 
conveyance of a proper degree of heat. 
Such then are the general structures of the 
parts of generation in the two sexes. There 
are doubtless many uncommon forms in these 
organs, which may at once astonish, and in 
some degree puzzle the greatest philosophers 
to


[9] 
to account for them; but these excursions of 
nature are not so frequent in the males as in 
the females, which I shall in the sequel endea- 
vour to explain, as well as the too frequent 
cause husbands have to complain, that their 
wives do not bring with them their virginity 
to the marriage-bed, even though they never 
had before any commerce with the male sex. 
When it is considered, that a maidenhead, or 
virginity, consists in nothing more than that 
membranous substance called the hymem, resem- 
bling the bud of a rose half blown, and which 
is destroyed by the first act of copulation, or 
the insertion of any inflexible substance, we 
may easily conclude, that many females have 
got their own maidenheads long before they 
knew a man. The hymen, or clustrum vir- 
ginale, being a thin membrane interwoven 
with fleshy fibres, and having an orifice in the 
center, through which the menses flow, and 
wherein the top of a little finger may be easily 
at first inserted, which, being repeated, and 
the fore finger afterwards supplying its place, 
these practices, within a short time, destroy 
the zone of chastity, as it is emphatically cal- 
led. In some countries marriage is void, 
Unless the bride, upon her wedding-night, gives 
proper testimonials of her having been endow- 
ed with it at the time of her marriage. This 
evidence consists of the effusion of blood upon 
the rupture of the hymenean membrane. Some 
females consider the narrowness of their vagi- 
na as a sufficient proof of their maidenhead; 
but age, disposition of body, and other cir-
B5 cumstances,

[10]
cumstances, either constitute or destroy it. In 
general, it may, indeed, be allowed, that wo- 
men who have frequently indulged and grati- 
fied their amorous desires by copulation, are 
not so streight as those who have had but little 
commerce this way; but this is no positive 
proof of virginity, as artifice may impose a 
substitute for the reality, and astringent medi- 
cines supply the place of continence. 
As the original intent of copulation was, 
doubtless, more to propagate our species, than 
to gratify any carnal appetite, we should, to at- 
tain the desired end, pursue the necessary means; 
when, therefore, our design is to impregnate our 
wives, we should previously dispose them to 
receive our caresses with the most unseigned 
joy. We should invigorate them with nutri- 
tious food, and an agreeable quantity of gene- 
rous wine; and if their desires seem still more 
backward than ours, we should excite them 
by tender and amorous dalliance; for all our 
effects will prove ineffectual, unless they meet 
our embraces with equal delight, and we are 
both critically and instantaneously happy: there- 
fore when we find the parts in women cold and 
inanimate, the clitoris in a flimsy state, and 
no expressions of exquisite sensation upon our 
embrace, it were better to restrain from con- 
summation, as, in all probability, it will be 
the loss of the discharge of valuable seed, with- 
out the profit of reaping the least harvest from 
its being sown; but when delight sparkles in 
her eye, when every thrust seems to commu- 
nicate

[11]
nicate new joy, when you meet the clitoris In 
its greatest extension, and most perfect erec- 
tion, delectably throbbing with the extatic 
friction, in contact with the glans of the pe- 
nis, then you cannot too much exert yourself, 
till, by pushing onward to the goal of felicity, 
inarticulate, though expressive, ejaculations, 
plainly indicate the tumult of her soul, in the 
amazing sensations of a deluge of happiness; 
or, as the poet so finely expresses it. 
Bodies mingling, sexes blending.— 
Who shall most he lost contending. 
Then hold her off, and gaze—then with new rage 
Clasp her, till your conscious limbs presage 
Torrents of joy, which all their banks overflow. 
So lost, so blest, as you but then can know. 
The first emanations of reciprocal bliss be- 
ing ended, it requires prudence and considera- 
tion to know when it is proper to withdraw 
from the field of delight, left you should, by 
too early a retreat, lose the victory you have 
gained in favour of generation. To speak 
without a figure, by unsheathing your yard too 
soon, you make way for the air to penetrate 
the womb, and the cold, so untimely commu- 
nicated, may be of the most fatal consequence: 
therefore you should remain in the same pos- 
ture, and, as far as possible, in the same union, 
till such time as you may conclude, that the 
matrix is closed, which naturally takes place 
soon after it has received the active principle, 
B6 in

[12] 
in order to form a conception; when you may 
safely withdraw, and leave the lady to her re- 
pose. 
THESE cautions being taken, and the fe- 
male ovum having been impregnated, by the 
male semen, at the crisis of copulation, and 
then made its descent into the womb, nothing 
is now necessary, but its being gradually and 
regularly nourished, till it becomes a fœtus; 
and this is GENERATION. 
SECTION

[13]
SECTION II. 
Of venereal excesses. 
THE greatest physician of antiquity, who 
has transmitted his name to us with the 
highest renown, and who will be read and ad- 
mired whilst letters and science retain their in- 
fluence, has described the ills that are occasi- 
oned by the abuse of amorous pleasures, under 
the title of Tabes Dorsalis. Hippocrates says, 
that this disorder arises from some defect in the 
spinal marrow. Young married people, and 
those of a lascivious disposition, are particularly 
afflicted with it, They have no fever, and, 
though they eat well, they fall away, and be- 
come consumptive. They feel as if a sting or 
stitch descended from the head, along the spi- 
nal marrow. Every time they go to stool, or 
have occasion to urine, they shed a great quanti- 
ty of thin seminal liquor. They are incapable of 
procreation, and frequently dream of the act 
of coition. Walking particularly in rugged 
paths puts them out of breath, and weakens 
them, occasioning a heaviness in the head, and 
noise in the ears, which are succeeded by a vi- 
olent fever that terminates their days. Such 
are the words of Hippocrates, which corre- 
spond with what Aetius says upon the same 
subject. Young people have the air and ap- 
pearance of old age. They become pale, effe- 
minate, benumbed, lazy, stupid, and even 
imbecile: 

[14]
imbecile:their bodies are curved, and their 
legs are unable to perform their functions; 
they have an utter distaste, and, for every 
thing, are totally incapacitated; many be- 
come paralytic. The stomach is disordered, 
all the body is weakened, paleness, bodily de- 
cay, and emaciation succeed, These opinions 
are supported by Turpius, that celebrated bur- 
gomaster and physician of Amsterdam: these 
are his words: “ The spinal marrow does 
“ not only waste, but the body and mind both 
“ equally languish, and the man perishes a 
“ miserable victim. Samuel Vesputius was 
“ seized with a flux of humour extremely 
“ sharp, which immediately affected the hind 
“ part of the head, and the nape of the neck, 
“ from whence it communicated to the spinal 
“ marrow, the loins, the buttocks, and the 
“ articulation of the thigh, which made this 
“ unfortunate man suffer such excruciating 
“ pain, that his countenance was entirely dis- 
“ torted, and he was seized with a slow fever, 
“ which by degrees consumed him, but not so 
“ fast as he desired; and he was in such a si- 
“ tuation, that he frequently invoked death 
“ before he snatched him from his misery.” 
To these opinions, we shall add that of the 
celebrated Gabius, in his Pathological and Me- 
dicinal Institutes : “ An immediate emission 
“ of feed is not only prejudicial, by reason of 
“ the loss of a most useful humour, hut like- 
“ wise by a repetition of the convulsive mo- 
“ tion by which it is discharged; for the 
“ highest pleasure is followed by an universal 
4 “ resolution

[15] 
“ resolution of the natural powers, which can- 
“ not frequently take place without exerva- 
“ tion. Besides, the more the strainers of the 
“ body are drained, the more humour they 
“ draw to them from the other parts; and the 
“ juices being thus conveyed to the genitals, 
“ the other parts are impoverished. Hence it 
“ is, that from excessive venery arise lassitude, 
“ weakness, numbness, a feeble gait, head 
“ aches, convulsions of all the senses, but espe- 
“ cially of the sight, and dulness of hearing, 
“ an idiot look, a feverish circulation, exsicca- 
“ tion, leanness, a consumption of the lungs 
“ and back, and effeminacy: these evils are 
“ increased, and become incurable, by reason 
“ of a perpetual itch for pleasure, which the 
“ mind at last contracts, as well as the body; 
“ and from whence it follows, that they have 
“ obscene dreams in sleep, and that the prone 
“ parts upon every the slightest occasion have 
“ a tendency to stiffen, and the quantity of 
“ replaced semen, however small, becomes a 
“ burthen and a stimulus; which semen will 
“ be discharged from the relaxed cells, by the 
“ very slightest efforts, and even without any 
“ effort at all. Thus it is, that these excesses 
“ brings such perdition upon the flower of our 
“ youth.” 
SUCH then are the sentiments of these great 
men at different periods, upon the consequence 
of too violent seminal emissions; and to illu- 
strate what has been premised, it will be ne- 
cessary to pay some attention to the importance 
of

[16]
of this liquor, with respect to the well-being 
of the whole human machine. 
It may with truth be said, that our bodies 
are in a continual state of decay: to repair this 
waste, nature has furnished us with nutrition, 
by the assistance of aliments; but whenever 
this supply is wanting, our frame must neces- 
sarily decay much faster, and more quickly 
sink into a state of extreme debility and mortal 
weakness. Too copious evacuations are the 
most frequent causes of this defect; for our 
bodies are so constructed, that for these ali- 
ments to acquire the degree of preparation ne- 
cessary for the reparation, a certain quantity of 
humours must be ready prepared, and con- 
stantly at hand. If this condition is wanting, 
the digestion and concoction of the aliments are 
imperfect, and the more imperfect in propor- 
tion, as the deficient humour happens to be of 
a more elaborate kind, or of greater importance 
in the animal œconomy. 
The seminal liquor has so great an influx 
ence upon the corporeal powers, and upon 
perfect digestion, which repairs them, that 
physicians of all ages have been unanimously 
of opinion, that the loss of an ounce of this 
humour would weaken more than that of for- 
ty ounces of blood. An idea may be formed 
of its importance, by observing the effect it 
produces as soon as it begins to be formed; the 
voice, the physiognomy, the features of the 
face change; the beard grows, and the body 
often

[17]
often takes another appearance, because the 
muscles acquire a thickness and firmness, which 
form a sensible difference between the body of 
an adult person, and that of a youth not yet 
arrived at the age of puberty. These changes 
are prevented by destroying the organ which 
serves to secrete the liquor that produces it; and 
Boerhaave observed, that the amputation of the 
testicles, at the age of verility, made the beard 
fall, and effeminated the voice. 
There are humours, such as perspiration, 
which quit the body the moment they are se- 
parated from the circulating vessels. There 
are others, such as urine, which after this re- 
paration are retained for a certain time in the 
reservoirs destined for that purpose, and from 
whence they do not issue till they are collected 
in a sufficient quantity, to excite an irritation 
upon these reservoirs, which mechanically 
causes them to empty. There are a third sort. 
Which are secreted and retained in the manner 
of the second, in reservoirs, not with the design 
of being completely evacuated, but to acquire 
in these reservoirs a degree of perfection which 
qualifies them for fresh functions, when they 
return into the mass of humours. Such, 
amongst others, is the genital liquor. Being 
separated in the testicles, it passes from this in 
a pretty long canal into the vesiculœ seminales, 
is continually resorbed by the vessels adapted 
for that purpose, and are gradually restored to 
the mass of humours. Many evidences might 
be produced to demonstrate this fact: amongst 
others,

[18] 
others, for instance, the secretion of the semi- 
nal liquor in a healthy man, is constantly made 
in the testicles: it repairs to the reservoirs, the 
limits of which are very confined, and cannot, 
perhaps, contain all that is secreted in a day; 
there are, nevertheless, some continent men, 
who have no evacuations of this kind for ma- 
ny months: in these it must, therefore, return 
into the vessels of circulation, which is greatly 
facilitated by the structure of the organs, 
which assists in the secretion of this humour, 
in conveying it into the proper channel, and 
in preserving it. The veins are there much 
more considerable than the arteries, and in a 
proportion not to be found elsewhere. And 
supposing, according to some modern opi- 
nions, * that no other than the lymphatic 
veins absorb, the genital parts are equally suit- 
ed to a considerable absorption, as the vessels 
of this kind are there very numerous. 
Though Galen was unacquainted with the 
mechanism of the semen, he was not ignorant 
that the humours were enriched by its being 
retained ; for he says every part is full of it 
with those who refrain from any commerce 
with women; but those who frequently give 
way to this intercourse, are quite deficient of 
this humour. He then enters into a curious 
disquisition, in order to ascertain how small a 
quantity of this liquor can communicate in- 
finite strength to the body; and concludes. 
* Vide, Dr. Munro junior, De Vasis Lymphaticis. Dr. 
Hunter, the Medical Commentaries, &c.
that 

[19]
that it has excellent virtue, and may, there- 
fore, very speedily convey some of its power to 
all parts of the corporeal machine; and that as 
small causes often produce great effects, he 
thinks it is no way surprizing, that the testicles 
should furnish liquor proper to circulate fresh 
vigour over all the body, as the brain produces 
many motions and sensations, and the heart 
communicates the power of beating to the ar- 
teries. To this may be properly added what 
the great professor Haller says upon the same 
subject. His words are: “ The semen is kept 
“ in the vesiculœ seminales until the man makes 
“ use of it, or nocturnal emissions deprive him 
“ of it. During this period, the quantity that 
“ is then confined excites him to acts of ve- 
“ nery; but the greater part of this seed, 
“ which is the most volatile and odoriferous, 
“ as well as the strongest, is absorbed into the 
“ blood, and then produces upon its return 
“ very surprising changes; it makes the beard, 
“ hair, and nails grow; it changes the voice 
“ and manners; for age does not produce 
“ those changes in animals; it is the semen 
“ only that performs these operations, as we 
“ find eunuchs are not susceptible of them." 
This liquor is a stimulus or provocative, 
which irritates the parts it touches, as its pow- 
erful scent, and the manifest irritation it com- 
municates to the organs of generation, plainly 
evince. These sharp particles being then in- 
cessantly absorbed and reunited with the hu- 
mours, they create a gentle, though constant 
stimulus


[20]
stimulus in the vessels, which thereby more 
forcibly contract, and more easily act upon the 
fluids; hence circulation is quickened, nutri- 
tion performed with greater regularity, and 
every other animal function becomes more 
perfect. 
This being the case, eunuchs must ncces- 
sarily be in many respects defective in their 
animal œconomy; but if they are incapable of 
the advantages that are derived from the ab- 
sorption of this liquor, they are, on the other 
hand, not deprived of that precious part of the 
blood which is allotted for semen; and of 
course they are not liable to those changes 
which are occasioned by the prepared seminal 
liquor; nor are they exposed to those disorders 
which arise from the privation of this humour 
unprepared. When the first is not separated, 
the animal machine will be deficient in those 
succours which it derives from the prepared 
semen, without being liable to the alterations 
which depend thereupon; but this can in no 
respect weaken; if, on the one hand, it gains 
nothing, so, on the other, it loses nothing: 
the body of an eunuch may, therefore, in this 
respect be considered in a state of childhood. 
To what has been here said upon this subject, 
the observations of the celebrated professor 
Skmeider of Leipsic, will be no improper sup- 
plement. 
“ Whilst

[21]
“ Whilst I have been some times medi-
“ tating on various natural subjects, says this 
“ professor, such as the human body, the 
“ structure of it, its motion, its humours, and 
“ the like, I imagined that, amongst other 
“ things, the genital liquor well deserved to 
“ be carefully examined; and by inquiring 
“ into the nature, the constitutive parts, the 
“ vessels, receptacles, and secretion of it, I 
“ have recollected some things concerning its 
“ motion; not that which is ejaculatory, and 
“ excited in coition, or by another filthy ti- 
“ tillation; nor yet its own private and in- 
“ testine motion, which, that it must have, 
“ we are pretty sure of, from the spirituous 
“ and sulphureous particles it abounds with; 
“ but the motion I mean is a progressive one, 
“ from its receptacles back again into the mass 
“ of the blood; and several circumstances 
“ have induced me to believe and assert, that 
“ there really is such a motion, till such time 
“ as the contrary shall be plainly and evident- 
“ ly demonstrated to me. To get some light in 
“ this matter, I perused various authors, both 
“ ancient and moderen, philological as well as 
“ anatomical, but to little or no purpose; for 
“ I have been scarce able to find any thing in 
“ them concerning this progressive or circu- 
“ latory motion, except in Hippocrates, in his 
“ book de Genitura; by whole words we may 
“ conclude he was of this opinion, as he says. 
“ As soon as there is seed made, the flesh and out- 
“ ward skin become more porous, and the little 
“ veins are more opened than they were before;
“ but

[22]
“ but those who are yet in their childhood, or else 
“ eunuchs, have, for that reason, no hair either 
“ on the pubes or chin, and are all over smooth, 
“ because no pussage being yet made for the seed, 
“ the outward superficies are no where rarefied; 
“ for the passage to the seed, as I said a little 
“ before, is stopped up. 
“ From these words it is evident, that Hip- 
“ pocrates has made mention of this progress 
“ of the seed into the blood and body; whilst 
“ he asserts, that by this same seed the flesh 
“ and outward skin are rarefied, that the beard 
“ and hair on the pubes might come through, 
“ because then there is a passage made for 
“ the seed, which, before the years of pu- 
“ berty, and in eunuchs, is yet stopped up. 
“ Rolfinch just hints at it, and at the same 
“ time denies the circulation of the seed, as 
“ will appear from his words: The ostentatious 
“ name of circulation, says he, gives no rest to 
“ the curious; the semen seems neither to circulate 
“ within nor without the testicles; the vigour 
“ which the testicles add to the body ought not to 
“ be aseribed to their hulk, but to their power; 
“ yet I will not deny, but that some seminal atoms 
“ may be mixed with the blood, from the remain- 
“ der of what serves for the nutrition of the tes- 
“ ticles, and which is received back into the veins. 
“ That these words intimate a regress of the 
“ seed into the blood, is undeniable; but they 
“ are not strong enough, and a few atoms are 
“ not sufficient to procure the body mettle, 
“ and add strength and vigour to it; and it 
“ must

[23]
“ must not be a small quantity of them that 
“ would be able to have that effect Tauvry, 
“ speaking of the use of the seed, in regard to 
“ the body it is made in, and considering it 
“ on account of the visible effects it has upon 
“ the body, comes, without doubt, into the 
“ opinion of its circulatory motion. I shall 
“ transcribe the passage entire, it is worth 
“ reading, and runs thus; “ Nobody doubts, 
“ but that we owe our origin to the seed, and that 
“ whilst it regenerates us in other beings very like 
“ ourselves, it renders us as it were immortal. 
“ But it is more difficult to trace and know the 
“ uase it is of to the subject itself in which it is 
“ produced; yet we see it gives us a certain de- 
“ gree of perfections strength, and vigour; be- 
“ cause eunuchs, womens and those who, by ex- 
“ cessive venery, are enervated, are, like chil- 
“ drens dastardly and imperfect; for the same 
“ reason it produces a beards, ond makes the 
“ voice of a deeper sound; and as between eunuch 
“ and woman, there is no other difference, than 
“ what relates to the production of this liquids, 
“ it is very probabks that this same liquid, re- 
“ turning into the mass of the bloods is the cause 
“ of these remarkable effects." 
These are the words and arguments of our 
author, to which I shall add my own reasons, 
to confirm this opinion. The first and most 
cogent is the smallness of the seminal bags, and 
continual and daily afflux into them. That 
they are small, we are convinced by our eyes; 
they are not three inches in length, and 
hardly

[24]
hardly one inch in breadth and thickness, tho’ 
on one side they are commonly somewhat big- 
ger than they are on the other. Now, let 
any one well consider the smallness of these 
vessels, and the daily influx of seed into them, 
which nobody can deny, unless he denies like- 
wise, against all reason and experience, the cir- 
culation of the blood, the undoubted cause of 
secretion of all humours in the body, whether 
good or bad. Now let, I say, any one well 
consider the continual increase of seed, and 
the smallness of the seminal bags, that are no 
ways capable of receiving and containing such 
a quantity of seed as may be made in seven or 
eight weeks (I will say nothing of many years) 
and so long till a man lawfully cohabits with a 
woman. As these things then are incompa- 
tible, it is necessary that the semen should be 
carried off again to the mass of the blood or the 
body, for the reasons already alledged by 
Tauvry, and others that may be given. The 
change that is likewise observed in the tempe- 
rament of the body after castration, is a cor- 
roborating evidence of the progressive motion 
of the semen; for it is manifest, that animals, 
after their testicles are taken away, grow fat- 
ter, are more languid, and less courageous. 
It is likewise, amongst other things, to be ob- 
served, that in eunuchs the hair of the beard 
and privities does not fall off before castration; 
and that if it is not on the chin, and other 
parts, it never will appear as upon those who 
have not undergone this operation. The pri- 
vation of virility likewise changes the voice.
which

[25]
which becomes more sharp after it. It is re- 
ported of stags that are fit for copulation, that 
if immediately after the shedding of their horns, 
which fall off every year, they are deprived of 
the powers of procreation, no new horns will 
grow in future. This motion of the seed is more- 
over proved from the rank smell and taste of 
some beasts, and the flesh of others; as also 
the stated periods on which their desire of co- 
pulation returns. What becomes of all the 
seed? Where is it hid when those animals do 
not couple with their females? Therefore to 
say that no secretion of semen is made, is 
speaking against all reason and experience. Or- 
gans are set apart for that secretion, which, ac- 
cording to the laws of nature, are constantly 
employed in their office. There is the matter, 
or arterial blood, from which the seed is sepa- 
ted. We are likewise taught by experience 
the presence of the seed in animals at all times. 
Whenever an animal is diffected, the seed- 
bags will appear turgid with recent seed. I 
am, moreover, of opinion, that if the semen 
did not circulate in the body, it would be ut- 
terly impossible for unmarried men to abstain 
from fornication, by reason of the continual 
increase of seed, and the incessant irritations 
it would occasion to abominable lust; not to 
mention the various and most dangerous dis- 
orders such a superabundance of semen would 
create, if the quantity could not be any way 
diminished, except by copulation. It is true, 
that a man may disturb and spoil the motion 
the seed, by excesses in diet, and various 
C meats


[26]
meats and liquors, that either augment the 
quantity of liquor too much, or render it 
sharp, or else obstruct the vessels, and so 
cause a corruption and stagnation of the seed, 
and an acrimony contracted from thence, 
ought sometimes to be reckoned amongst the 
morbific causes of a furor uterinus, priapism, 
and satyriasis. This is evident from what 
is often observed in woman troubled with 
the furor uterinus; namely, that upon rub- 
bing the pudenda with musk or amber- 
grease, or giving them clysters of the same na- 
ture, great quantities of spermatic liquor are 
discharged, with immediate relief to the pati- 
ent. From what has been said, I think it is 
manifest, that the seed, from its vessels, re- 
turns into the blood, and from that again into 
them. But where is the passage through which 
it is conveyed? This, I confess, we know 
little of; but then our want of knowledge is 
no reason we should deny there is such a pas- 
sage. Our ignorance and diffidence cannot 
take away the truth and reality of things. Tell 
me, pray, which way is it that, from an epyema 
in the thorax, an imposthume in the abdomen, 
or an inflammation in the pleura, lungs, &c. 
the purulent matter is carried to the urinary 
passages, the guts, or the mouth? We see 
that in a pleurisy, the matter is most common- 
ly discharged at the mouth; but then at other 
times we likewise find, that it is brought away 
with the urine, or the excrements. Nay, what 
is still more surprising, several hard substances 
that had been swallowed, such as pins, &c.
3 have

[27] 
have been brought away through the urinary 
passages with the urine, as we have had several 
examples, attested by persons of worth and 
credit, Miscell. I. C. 4. II. D. 10. III. P. 
m. 4. and act. euditer, Mens. August. Anni. 
1712. Which way could these things get to 
the urinary vessels? That the blood carried 
them with it, through the arteries, veins, and 
capillary vessels, is very difficult to conceive. 
Let any one who understands anatomy weigh 
and consider the curious progress, and many 
crooked windings the chyle is forced to make 
in its passage from the stomach to the blood. 
Let him consider, moreover, the various 
windings and capillary vessels through which 
the blood circulates, and compare it to those 
hard substances, and then judge, whether they 
can easily be carried to the secretary organs of 
the urine, and with the same facility be sepa- 
rated from the blood, as the urine is, without 
wounding the vessels. The above mentioned 
Tauvry is of opinion, that the seed through 
the pores of the veins goes back into the mass 
of blood, which regress he conceives to be 
in this manner: The seed, says he, in- 
cluded within its vessels ferments, and, by 
continuing there, acquires a constitution it 
was not before endowed with; that is, it gets 
more motion, and is more subtilized; so that 
returning into the mass of blood, it there 
brings forth those alterations, which it could 
not have produced, unless it had been rectified 
and exalted in the seminal vessels. When these 
vessels are once filled, and more seminal mat- 
C2 ter


[28]
ter comes to them, that which is contained in 
them is forced by degrees to go off into the 
pores of the veins, and circulating with the 
blood, by its glutinous quality, in a manner, 
involves and with-holds the spirits, and hinders 
the dissipation of them. This is the reason that 
in the act of coition great quantities of this 
oily substance are, by repetition, exhausted, 
the spirits evaporated; and from this principle 
arises the debility of those who are destitute of 
this liquor. Mr. Boyle is of the same opinion. 
As to myself, I believe that the seed being at- 
tenuated and subtilized in the testicles and se- 
minal vessels, returns by the lymphatic vessels, 
which, together with the vasa deferentia, ascends 
into the abdomen, and then they discharge 
their lympha in the chyliferous vessels; and 
that after this manner it is carried again into 
the chyle and blood, to the great benefit of the 
whole body. I heartily wish, that the most 
skilful anatomists, and philological writers of 
the greatest penetration, would make further 
inquiry into this affair, the certain knowledge 
of which would be of great utility. 
From these observations, I think it is clear- 
ly proved, that the superabundant semen is ab- 
sorbed by the lymphatic vessels into the body, 
where it communicates fresh circulation and 
vigour, and disperses strength and power to 
every part of the body. If then this liquor 
is of such eminent importance to the pro- 
per functions of the whole machine, let us 
consider what may be the effects of too great a 
discharge

[29]
discharge of it. Aetius has handed down to
us a description of the ills that are produced 
by too great an emission of the semen: 
“ Young people, says he, have the air and 
“ appearance of old age; they become pale, 
“ effeminate, benumbed, lazy, base, stupid, 
“ and even imbecile; their bodies become 
“ bent, their legs are not able to carry them; 
“ they have an utter distaste for every thing, 
“ are totally incapacitated, and many become 
“ paralytic;” and he therefore includes amo- 
rous pleasures among the number of the six 
causes which occasion the palsy. Galen ob- 
serves, that the same causes occasion disorders 
of the brain, and of the nerves, and destroy 
the powers; and he tells us, that a patient under 
his care for a violent disorder, not being per- 
fectly recovered, died the same night that he 
Paid the conjugal tribute to his wife. And 
Pliny, the naturalist, informs us, that Corne- 
lius Gallus, the ancient prætor, and Titus 
Etherius, the Roman knight, died in the very 
act of coition. Sanctorius, who has examin- 
ed with the greatest attention all the causes 
which actuate our bodies, has observed, after 
Aetius,that this weakens the stomach, de- 
stroys digestion, obstructs that insensible per- 
spiration, the irregularity of which produces 
the most fatal consequences, occasions the li- 
ver and reins to be overheated, gives a dispo- 
sition for the stone in the kidneys, and usually 
occasions the loss of, or weakens, the sight.
Lommius, in his Commentaries upon Celsus, 
observes, that frequent emissions of the seed re- 
C3 lax,

[30]
lax, dry up, weaken, enervate, and produce 
a croud of evils, such as apoplexies, lethar-
gies, epilepsies, faintings, the loss of sight, tre- 
mors, palsy, spasm, and every species of the 
most racking gout. Schelaumer says, that too 
great a dissipation of the animal spirits weakens 
the stomach, destroys the appetite, and nutri- 
tion no longer taking place, the motion of the 
heart is weakened, all the parts languish, and 
an epilepsy succeeds. Salmuth has seen a learn- 
ed man of a splenetic cast go mad; and another 
man, whose brain was so dried up, that it was 
heard to rattle in the pericranium; and both 
these disorders were occasioned by excesses of 
the same nature. And the author of Memoirs 
of Curious Naturalists (De Cur 2. ann. 5. ap- 
pend. obs. 88. p. 56) says, that he himself 
has seen a man of 59 years of age, who, three 
weeks after his marriage with a young woman, 
fell suddenly blind, and died at the end of four 
months, which he attributed to the excessive 
libidinous disposition of the wife, and the too 
frequent gratification of the husband. The ce- 
lebrated Hoffman tells us (in his De morbis ex- 
nimia venere) that a young man of 18 years of 
age, who had frequent connections with a ser- 
vant girl, was on a sudden seized with a 
weakness, and a general tremor in all his 
limbs; his face became red, and his pulse ve- 
ry weak. He was relieved from this state in 
an hour’s time; but an incessent languor con- 
tinued upon him. The same fit frequently re- 
turned, and threw him into great agonies, 
which, at the end of eight days, occasioned a 
contractions

[31]
contraction and tumour in the right arm, with 
a pain in his right elbow, which was greatly 
encreased. The disorder continued increasing 
for a long time, notwithstanding many reme- 
dies were prescribed. At length, however, 
the doctor performed a cure upon this patient. 
Boerhaave says, that the loss of too much se- 
men occasions lassitude, debilitates, and renders 
exercise difficult; it causes convulsions, ema- 
ciation, and pains in the membrane of the 
brain; it deadens the senses, and particularly 
the sight; gives rise to a dorsal consumption, 
and various other disorders, which are connect- 
ed with these. He also says, that he had seen 
a patient, whose disorder began by lassitude, 
and a weakness in all parts of the body, parti- 
cularly towards the loins; it was attended 
with an involuntary motion of the tendons, 
periodical spasms, and bodily decay, info- 
much, as to destroy the whole corporeal 
frame; he felt a pain even in the membrane 
of the brain, a pain which patients call a dry 
burning heat, and which incessantly affected 
the most noble parts. And he says, that he 
has likewise seen a young man afflicted with a 
dorsal consumption, who, though he was fre- 
quently cautioned not to give way to amorous 
pleasures, nevertheless so far yielded to their 
impulse, that his body, before his death, was 
quite deformed, and the fleshy substance which 
appears above the spinal apophyses of the loins, 
was intirely wasted; and that even the brain 
was in some measure consumed. 
C4 Coition

[32]
Coition brings on epileptical fits, in those 
who are subject to them; and to this cause 
Van Swieten attributes the great oppression the 
patients suffer, if the fits are frequent. Doctor 
Didier knew a merchant of Montpellier, who 
never made any sacrifices to Venus, without 
having a fit of epilepsy. Galen furnishes us 
with a similar instance, as well as Henry Van 
Steers. Van Swieten knew a man, who was 
troubled with the epilepsy, who had a fit upon 
his wedding-night. Hoffman was acquainted 
with a very lascivous woman, who usually had 
a fit of epilepsy after each add of venery. Boer- 
haave observes, that in the heat of venery, all 
the nerves are affected, oftentimes even mor- 
tally; and gives an example of a woman, 
who, every time she performed the act of co- 
ition, fell into a pretty long sincope; and an- 
other of a man, who died the very first time 
he copulated with a woman, the spasm being 
so violent, that it brought on a general palsy. 
And Monsieur Savage has given us a very ex- 
traordinary instance of a man, who was seized 
with a spasm in the very middle of enjoyment, 
whereby his whole body became stiff, he lost 
all sensation and memory, and the fit continu- 
ed upon him for twelve years, A few years 
since, a handsome young woman, of a very las- 
civious disposition, bordering upon the furor 
uterinus, could not be completely gratified 
with the successive attacks of seven dragoons, 
who were quartered at Ipswich. Though each 
of the assailants had quite exhausted himself in 
her service, she would willingly have met with 
another



[33] 
another lover the same evening; but being in 
this disappointed, she went to her own bed, 
and the next morning was found almost speech- 
less, bathed in her own blood, which gushed 
from the matrix. I saw her in this condition, 
and prescribed what I thought would have 
been of some service to her; but she expired 
before the application could be made. 
THUS we find, that excessive indulgence 
in amorous pleasures does not only produce 
languishing disorders, but frequently acute and 
violent disorders; and it constantly impedes 
the cure of complaints derived from another 
source. Hoffman, after speaking of the dan- 
gerous effects of amorous pleasure, for those 
who labour under wounds, considers those 
risks which persons run, by adicting them- 
selves to it, who are afflicted with fevers. Up- 
on this occasion, he quotes an observation of Fa- 
bricius de Hilden, who says, that a man hav- 
ing copulated with a woman the tenth day of 
a pleurisy, which had terminated the seventh, 
by abundant perspiration, he was seized with a 
violent fever, and immediate trembling, and 
died on the thirteenth day. He also relates, 
that a man of a gouty disposition, much adict- 
ed to women and wine, who fancying himself 
cured of a pleurisy, was, immediately after co- 
ition, seized with a violent trembling all over 
his body, extreme flushings in his face, with 
all the symptoms of the disorder which he 
thought he had got rid of; but which returned 
with much greater violence than at first, and 
C5 he

[34]
he was in far greater danger. He also men- 
tions a man, who never yielded to venereal 
excesses, without having an intermitting fever 
for several days. Bartholus takes notice of a 
young bridegroom, who, the day after his 
nuptials, was seized with a violent fever, 
occasioned by his conjugal excesses, which 
brought on a great dejection of spirits, accom- 
panied with faintings, risings in the stomach, 
immediate drought, light-headedness, and in- 
capacity of sleeping, and much uneasiness. And 
Monsieur Chesneau tells us, he has seen a 
young married couple, who, the first week of 
their nuptials, were seized with a violent in- 
cessant fever, accompanied with flushings in 
their faces, which were greatly bloated, and 
one of them had a violent pain at the crupper; 
and they fell martyrs to lust before the end of 
the first month. 
If such fatal accidents are produced by the 
excessive indulgence of amorous passions in a 
natural and legal way, still more baneful ef- 
fects must flow from the gratification of them 
in an unnatural and illegal manner, which I
shall illustrate in the succeeding chapters. 
SEC-

[35]
SECTION III. 
Of the baneful effects of self-pollution in 
the male-sex. 
WE have already seen the concurrent testi- 
monies of the most eminent ancient 
and modern physicians, with regard to the fa- 
tal consequences of excessive indulgence in 
amorous pleasure in a natural way; the sub- 
jest of this section is the consideration of the 
still more direful effects of seminal discharges 
in an unnatural way; for, as a celebrated phi- 
lologist observes, “ The loss of too great a 
“ quantity of semen in the natural manner, is 
“ attended with very dangerous consequences; 
“ but they are still more dreadful, when the 
“ same quantity has been dissipated in an un- 
“ natural manner; for the accidents which 
“ happen to those who waste themselves in a 
“ natural way are very terrible; but those 
“ which are occasioned by self-pollution are 
“ still more shocking.” 
It would, indeed, be of little consequence, 
in a physical sense, whether this evacuation 
was occasioned by either of the methods I have 
mentioned, if they were alike pernicious; but 
the manner is in this respect equal to the sub- 
stance. Sanctorius points out to us the cause 
of the peculiar evils arising from self-pollution:
C6 “ He

[36] 
“ He says, moderate coition is useful, when 
“ nature sollicits for it: when it is sollicited 
“ by the imagination, it weakens all the fa- 
“ culties, and particularly the memory.” This 
may be very clearly explained; when we are 
in a state of health, we have no amorous de- 
sires, but when the vesiculœ seminales are re- 
plete with a quantity of liquor, which has ac- 
quired such a degree of thickness, as to render 
its return into the mass of blood difficult; and 
in these circumstances, when an evacuation 
takes place, we may be partly certain, that 
the corporeal frame will not thereby suffer any 
sensible diminution of strength. But such is the 
structure of the genital organs, that they are 
actuated, and the succeeding desires are ani- 
mated, not only by the presence of the super- 
abundant seminal humour, but also by the ima- 
gination, which having great influence upon 
these parts, may, by being occupied with las- 
civious ideas, give them such a disposition, as 
to create these desires, the gratification where- 
of is the more pernicious, in proportion as it 
is unnecessary to the welfare of the body. 
These organs, like the others, are never pro- 
perly actuated, but when nature stimulates 
them: for example, the want of food and 
drink, is indicated by hunger and thirst; and 
excesses in either respect are prejudicial, by 
enfeebling the body. The necessity of going 
to stool, and voiding urine, is signified by cer- 
tain physical conditions; but a bad habit may 
so far pervert the constitution of the organs, 
that the necessity of these evacuations may no 
longer

[37]
longer depend upon the quantity of matter to 
be evacuated. We subject ourselves to want, 
without being in want; and this is precisely 
the case of those who addict themselves to self- 
pollution. Imagination and custom, not na- 
ture and reason, prompt them to the filthy 
practice. Nature is drained of one of her most 
essential humours, and which she so visibly 
points out the application of for her own sup- 
port, and the perpetuation of the human spe- 
cies. Habit will nevertheless in time so far 
pervert nature, that, in consequence of that 
law of animal œconomy, whereby humours 
are attracted by irritation, there will be a con- 
tinual conflux of humours upon these parts: 
for, as Hippocrates observes, when a man ha- 
bituates himself to seminal emissions, the ves- 
sels that are therein employed, are unnecessa- 
rily dilated, and the semen is by that means 
more abundantly attracted. Not only the bo- 
dy, but the mind, is contaminated; for no 
sooner has this uncleanness fixed its empire in 
the heart, but from that time it pursues the 
man every where, and never relinquishes its 
dominion. Even upon the most serious and 
awful occasions, he will find himself transport- 
ed with lustful conceptions and desires, which 
incessantly pursue him, and occupy his imagi- 
nation. The self-polluter, entirely devoted 
to this filthy meditation, is liable, upon that 
account, to the same disorders, as the meta- 
physician, or the mathematician, whose at- 
tention is engrossed by a single object; and it 
is universally allowed, that nothing debilitates 
the


[38]
the faculties more than the mind being eon- 
stantly engaged upon the same subject; for 
that part of the brain which is then occupied 
makes an effort, similar to that of a mussle, 
which has been for a long time greatly extend- 
ed; this occasions such a continued motion in 
the part as cannot be stopt, or such a fixed 
attention, that the idea cannot be changed. 
Self-polluters are under the same predicament, 
or else they are completely incapacitated; so 
that when their faculties are not entirely de- 
stroyed, they are afflicted with all the disor- 
ders incident to the brain, the hypocondria, 
epilepsy, catalepsy, insensibility, imbecility, 
nervous disorders, &c. &c. 
These very disorders, when thus produ- 
ced, are an additional incentive to their cause, 
as the patient flatters himself with momentary 
relief, from the gratification of a disposition 
that perpetually engages his attention; and 
therefore he daily and hourly encreases his mi- 
sery, and saps the very effence of existence. 
If to this we add the difficulty that fre- 
quently attends the gratification of amorous 
passions in a natural way, the expence that 
necessarily attends it, and the risk with regard 
to infection, which serve as so many damps 
to the pursuit, a young man that is dependant, 
having but a small income, and his character 
to preserve, will frequently surmount his de- 
sires, be they ever so inordinate; but when 
once he habituates himself to a self-gratifica- 
tion,

[39]
tion, the means are so easy, the method so 
cheap, and the danger so latent, that every 
time he finds an impulse he creates an oppor- 
tunity, till at length the generative organs be- 
ing incessantly irritated, a perpetual stimulus 
is brought on, independant of any external 
cause; so that if there were no more danger to 
be apprehended at first from emissions of this 
kind, than those in the natural way, the train 
of evils produced by this habit, and the mind 
being debauched, must demonstrate their fa- 
tal tendency: but still more cogent reasons are 
to be given, why seminal discharges this way 
are more destructive than in copulation. 
The frequency of erection, though im- 
perfect, which this disposition excites, greatly 
diminishes the strength of self-polluters. All 
parts in a state of extention exhaust the 
powers: the spirits that are conveyed thither 
in greater quantities, and of course dissipated, 
are wanted in the performance of other func- 
tions, which is therefore only imperfectly 
done: these concurrent causes are attended 
with very dangerous effects. Self-polluters are 
also afflicted with a kind of palsy in the organs 
of generation, which brings on impotency, 
through a defect in erection, and a simple 
gonorrhæa, by reason of the relaxed parts 
suffering the real semen to escape as soon as se- 
creted, together with an afflux of that humour 
which the prostatæ separate. In short, all the 
internal membrane of the urethra acquires a 
catarrhous

[40]
catarrhous disposition, which excites a running 
similar to the fluor albus in women. 
The devotees to self-pollution act in such 
direct opposition to nature, and all the ties of 
society, that they very richly deserve the ac- 
cumulated evils incident to their shameful prac- 
tice. I might carry this observation much 
farther in a theological and moral point of 
view; but I shall confine myself in this treatise 
merely to physical causes and effects, as I do 
not attempt to write for the emoliariation of 
manners, but for the preservation and recovery 
of health. They are of such a selfish and mer- 
cenary disposition, that, unwilling to partici- 
pate their bliss with the amiable part of the 
creation, they are justly and reciprocally de- 
barred from that joy which the heart is sensible 
of, and which should be nicely distinguished 
from that voluptuousness, solely corporeal, 
which man enjoys in common with animals, 
and from which it is completely distinct. This 
joy aids digestion, animates circulation, acce- 
lerates all the functions, restores strength, and 
supports it. If this is found to unite with the 
pleasures of love, it contributes to repair, and 
even to restore, what they stole by force; and 
observation proves it. Sanctorius says upon 
this subject, “ After excessive coition with a 
“ woman that is beloved, a man is not sen- 
“ sible of the lassitude which should follow this 
“ excess, because the joy which the soul feels 
“ encreases the strength of the heart, favours 
“ the functions, and repairs what was lost." 
Beauty

[41]Beauty has charms which dilate our hearts, 
and multiply our spirits. This much is, how- 
ever, certain, that nature alots more felicity to 
those joys procured in her proper channel, than 
in those which are repugnant and destructive to 
her. 
Again, there are innumerable pores spread 
over the surface of the human body, which are 
plainly the emunctories or channels of discharge 
for vitiated redundant, or, in short, perspir- 
able matter. There also exists on the surface 
of the body a resorbent faculty. Every instant 
half the pores of the skin exhale a very subtile 
humour that is of greater consequence than all 
our other evacuations. At the same time another 
kind of pores receive part of the fluids which 
surround us, and communicate them to the 
vessels. It is demonstrable, that in some cases 
this inhalation is very important. In robust 
people, the exhalation is greater than in weak 
persons; and contrarywise, the inhalation in 
these is more considerable, and the perspiration 
of healthy people contains something nutritious 
and strengthening, which being inhaled by an- 
other invigorates him. From these observa- 
tions we may deduce, how the young female 
who lay with David increased his strength; 
how other aged men have been assistted in the 
same manner; and consequently why it 
weakens the healthy person, who loses with- 
out receiving, or rather who receives weak 
exhalations, corrupt and putrid, which are pre- 
judicial to her constitution. In the act of co- 
ition,

[42] 
ition, this perspiration is probably more ani- 
mated and spiritual than at any other time. It 
is a real loss which is sustained, and which 
takes place in whatever manner the sperm is 
emitted, as it depends upon the agitation 
which attends it. In copulation it is recipro- 
cal, and the one inhales what the other ex- 
hales. This mutual exchange is endubitably 
evinced, when proper attention is paid to these 
operations. A certain modern professor says, 
that he saw, not long since, a man, who 
was not afflicted with any kind of gonorrhæa, 
or any cutaneous venereal symptoms, commu- 
nicate the venereal disorder to a woman, wrho, 
at the same instant, gave him the itch in ex- 
change. This may serve as a corroborating 
proof of this mutual loss and gain in the act of 
coition; and though the example might, in 
ludicrous hands, be turned against the argu- 
ment, it certainly evinces, that where there 
is no infection communicated on either side, 
the nutritious absorption may counterbalance 
the loss by perspiration. 
THESE are the reasons why seminal dis- 
charges by manual friction, are more pernici- 
ous in their consequences, than in the natural 
act of coition. And if this were not sufficient- 
ly proved by the foregoing reasons, the block- 
ing spectacles of masturbation, the horrid vic- 
tims of self-pollution might be brought forth to 
display the dreadful effects peculiar to this 
filthy and abominable practice; and indeed it 
is

[43]
is a duty owing to the public, to hold up the 
minor of Onania. 
The examples I shall now give are well 
authenticated by the best writers upon the sub- 
ject; and it will therefore be needless to 
trouble the reader with references or quota- 
tion marks. 
The general evils which all practitioners, 
who have written upon this subject, agree in, 
are thus specified: the intellectual facul- 
ties are weakened; loss of memory ensues, the 
ideas are clouded, the patients sometimes fall 
into slight madness, they have an incessant 
irksome uneasiness, continual anguish, and so 
keen a remorse of conscience, that they fre- 
quently shed tears; they are subject to verti- 
goes; all their senses, and particularly sight 
and hearing, are weakened; their sleep, if 
they can obtain any, is disturbed with fright- 
ful dreams; the powers of their body decay; 
the growth of such as abandon themselves to 
those abominable practices, before it is accom- 
plished, is greatly prevented; some cannot 
sleep at all, others are in a perpetual state of 
drowsiness; they are all affected with hypocon- 
driac or hysteric complaints, and are overcome 
with the accidents that accompany those grie- 
vous disorders, melancholy, sighing, tears, 
palpitations, suffocations, and faintings; some 
emit a calcarious saliva; coughs, slow fevers, 
and consumptions, are chastisements which 
others meet with in their own crimes. The 
most

[44]
most acute pains form another object of pa- 
tients complaints; some are thus affected in 
their heads, others in their breasts, stomach, 
and intestines; others have external rheuma- 
tic pains, aching numbness in all parts of their 
body, when they are slighly pressed; pimples, 
do not only appear in the face, being one of 
the most common symptoms, but also suppu- 
rating blisters upon the nose, the breast, and 
the thighs, and painful itchings in the same 
parts. Some patients complain even of fleshy 
excrescences upon their foreheads. The or- 
gans of generation also participate of that mi- 
sery whereof they are the primary causes. Ma- 
ny patients are incapable of erection, others 
discharge the semen upon the slightest titillation, 
and the most feeble erection, or in the efforts 
they make when at stool. Many are affected 
with a constant gonorrhæa, which entirely 
destroys their powers, and the discharge re- 
sembles fœtid matter, or mucus. Others are 
tormented with painful priapisms, dysuriœ, 
stranguries, heat of urine, and a difficulty of 
rendering it, which greatly torments many pa- 
tients. Some have painful tumours upon their 
testicles, penis, bladder, and spermatic cord; so 
that either the impracticability of coition, or 
a depravation of the genital liquor, render every 
one impotent, who has given way to this 
practice for any length of time. Moreover, 
the functions of the intestines are sometimes 
very much disordered; and some patients com- 
plain very much of stubborn constipations,. 
others of the hemorrhoids, or of the running of
a fœtid


[45] 
a fœtid matter from the fundament, and some 
with diarrhæas immediately after the crime, 
&c. &c. Such are the general disorders and 
evils produced by this filthy practice; and I 
shall now illustrate them with such examples 
as I have either been an eye-witness of, or 
such as are sufficiently vouched for by men of 
veracity and judgment. 
ONE patient, who had been married some 
years, and was the father of several children, 
having, nevertheless, addicted himself to this 
filthy practice, to avoid impregnating his wife, 
who was of a very prolific disposition, and 
who had agreed with him to be mutual assist- 
ants to each other in this manual operation, 
applied to me in a very deplorable state. He 
had an incessant seminal running or gleet, vio- 
lent pains in his back and breast, was very 
faint and weak, as well by this continual 
draining, as from a total suppression of appetite, 
loathing every kind of food, and incapable of 
retaining any thing upon his stomach. This 
brought on a violent dejection of spirits, which 
terminated in a kind of hypocondria, accom- 
panied with cold sweats; and notwithstanding 
all the remedies that were prescribed for him, 
by reason of his incapacity to take them, he 
died a martyr to this abominable practice. 
ANOTHER patient, who had addicted him- 
self to masturbation frequently from his tender 
years, had a nob of flesh, resembling a wen, 
growing upon his forehead; his face was co-
vered

[46]
vered with pimples; his nose sore and full  
of eruptions; his legs and thighs fallen away, 
and scarce able to support him; he was also 
afflicted with violent pains in his head and 
back, and frequent tremors all over his body; 
his hand shook to that degree, that he was in- 
capable of carrying a glass of wine, or any 
other liquor to his mouth without spilling, 
and though he had been a very skilful penman, 
he was incapable of writing his name. This 
patient, having discontinued his abominable 
practice, has in some degree recovered his 
strength; his face is not near so frightful, and 
the tremor of his hand has so much subsided, 
that I have lately had a letter written by him 
very prettily. 
A YOUTH, who had not yet attained his 
sixteenth year, devoted himself with such rage 
to masturbation, that at length, instead of se- 
men, he brought forth nothing but blood, the 
emission of which was soon followed with ex- 
cessive pain, and an inflammation of all the or- 
gans of generation. Emollient cataplasms were 
ordered him, which produced the desired ef- 
fect; but he soon after died of the small pox; 
and there is much reason to believe, that the 
shocks which he gave to his constitution by 
the abominable practice of self-pollution, great- 
ly tended to render the disorder so fatal. 
ANOTHER young patient was afflicted with 
that total stiffness mentioned by Boerhaave; 
his neck was first seized with it, then the spine,  
which

[47]
which gradually communicated it to all the 
members. Some time before his death, he 
could bear no other posture than lying on his 
belly in bed, being incapable of moving either 
bis hands or feet, or indeed of any other kind 
of motion, and unable to take any other ali- 
ment than what was put into his mouth. He 
existed some weeks in this dreadful situation, 
and died, or rather went out, like a snuff of a 
candle, without being sensible of pain. 
A PATIENT who had the misfortune in his 
juvenile days, being but then between eight 
and ten years of age, to contract this perni- 
cious habit, soon destroyed his constitution; 
but he was lately afflicted in a most extraordi- 
nary manner; his nerves were extremely weak, 
his hands devoid of strength, incessantly trem- 
bling, and in a state of perpetual perspiration; 
be had violent qualms of the stomach, pains in 
bis arms and legs, which sometimes commu- 
nicated to his veins and breast. He was trou- 
bled with coughing, his eyes were sunk, and 
always weak; he had a violent appetite, yet 
greatly fell away, and had a very bad aspect as 
to physiognomy. This patient, nevertheless, 
having taken the remedies, and followed the 
regimen prescribed, recovered his health and 
vigour, and is now in perfect health. 
ANOTHER patient, who gave way to this 
Pernicious practice, had his nervous system 
greatly affected, which was accompanied with 
weakness, uneasiness, weariness, and anxiety; 
he

{48]
he was exhausted by an almost incessant flux 
of semen; his face had a cadaverous appear- 
ance; weakness rendered every kind of mo- 
tion difficult to him; his legs were so feeble, 
that he could scarce stand upright upon them, 
and he did not dare stir out of his bed-room; 
his digestive powers were in so bad a state, that 
he voided his food three or four hours after 
having swallowed it, in its original state, and 
as if his stomach had the instant before receiv- 
ed it; he was greatly afflicted with phlegm, 
and expectoration greatly exhausted him. His 
weakness and want of resolution to discontinue 
the shocking practice, rendered it impossible to 
perform a cure upon him. 
ANOTHER patient, in the prime of his life, 
who, in the dawn of manhood, contracted a 
detestable habit, had his head very much con- 
fused, and was greatly subject to vertigoes, 
which made him apprehensive of the apo- 
plexy, wherefore he had recourse to phlebo- 
tomy; but the physician who prescribed it 
was soon convinced of his error. His breast 
was oppressed, which occasioned a confined 
respiration: he had frequent pains in his sto- 
mach, and by turns his whole body was af- 
fected; he had interrupted and uneasy sleep at 
night, and his spirits were no way recruited by 
it; he was also troubled with frequent itch- 
ings, was very pale, and had pains in his eyes, 
which were extremely weak, his skin appear- 
ed jaundiced, and his whole body was meta- 
morphosed; he died soon after. 
A

[49]
A YOUTH about seventeen devoted him- 
self to this filthy and seducing practice, when 
he was in a perfect state of health. His rage 
was so great for self-pollution, that he would 
sometimes repeat the act three or four times 
in one day, and a slight insensibility always pre- 
ceded and succeeded the ejaculation, which 
was also attended with a convulsive motion in 
the extending muscles of the head, and a swel- 
ling of the neck. Some months after he had 
addicted himself to this practice, he was very 
feeble every time he was guilty of it; he ne- 
vertheless persisted till he was brought to 
death's door; and the evil had made so great 
a progress, that it was out of the power of 
medicine to administer him any relief. In 
this condition the organs of generation were 
so easily irritated, and were so weak, that his 
semen flowed from him involuntarily upon the 
slightest erection, By this means, being daily 
more and more weakened, he was now afflict- 
ed with an habitual spasm, which had not hi- 
therto affected him but in the very act, and 
discontinued afterwards. But this fit now 
continued upon him for twelve or fourteen 
hours, and which brought on such violent 
pains in the neck, that he could not be pre- 
vented from making the most hideous outcries. 
During these periods, he was incapable of swal- 
lowing any food; so that his weakness and 
misery daily increased; and he languished in 
this state for several months, towards the end 
of which, before he died, he resembled a 
corpse, more than a living man, calling forth 
D an 


[50]
an infectious stench, and aqueous palish blood 
issuing from his nose, slaver constantly flowing 
from his mouth, and, being troubled with a 
diarrhæa, he voided his excrements in the bed, 
without knowing it. The disorder of his mind 
was equally shocking as that of his body; his 
memory was entirely destroyed, destitute of 
ideas, and consequently of the ability of com- 
paring any the most simple; wherefore he be- 
came void of reflection, and was insensible to 
every thing but pain, and which was very vi- 
olent upon the periodial return of the spasm. 
Here we shall leave this unhappy person, as 
his condition was too horrid to be reflected on 
without terror, and as death at length, his 
only consolation, came to his relief. 
BESIDES these examples, Mr. Limmer- 
man acquaints us, that a man about twenty- 
three years of age was greatly troubled with 
an epilepsy, from having much infeebled him- 
self by self-pollution. Every time he had a se- 
minal emission, he fell into a perfect fit of 
epilepsy, and afterwards pains in the reins and 
about the coccyx: nevertheless, he could not 
refrain from this practice; for having, after 
he received some benefit from the doctor’s ad- 
vice, returned again to his former infamous 
practice, he was at length seized with the fits 
whilst walking in the streets; and he was 
found dead in his chamber, having fallen out 
of bed, bathed in his own blood. Mr. Mieg 
of Basil, in Switzerland, tells us, that the son 
of a merchant in that city, died at the age of 
fourteen,

[51] 
fourteen, after having baffled the skill of all 
the Helvetic physicians; his disorder was con- 
vulsions, and a sort of epilepsy, which derived 
its source from self-pollution. And the celebrat- 
ed Hoffman informs us of a young man, who, 
at the age of fifteen, having given way to self- 
pollution, which he continued till he was near 
twenty-three, was at that time afflicted with 
such a weakness in his eyes and head, that the 
former were often troubled with violent spasms 
at the time of ejaculation: that when he was 
willing to pay more than common attention to 
any thing, a kind of stupor, similar to intoxi- 
cation, succeeded; the pupil of the eye was 
greatly dilated, and he suffered exquisite tor- 
ture in that part; he involuntarily shed tears, 
and a large quantity of whitish matter collect- 
ed itself in the corners of his eyes, which were 
thereby rendered very painful. 
A MARRIED man applied to me, who ac- 
knowledged, that, in his youth, having much 
defiled himself by selt-pollution, he had 
brought on a running, which the cold bath, 
and many other remedies, did not remove; 
that in this situation no one suspected him of 
labouring under any bodily complaint, but his 
doctor, as he was fresh coloured, and natu- 
rally robust; and that meeting with a young 
lady, whose beauty enamoured him, he paid 
his addresses to her, and soon gained her con- 
sent. He had, however, some mortifying re- 
flections concerning his disorder; but being in 
hopes of a cure, and dreading the loss of his 
D2 mistress, 


[52]
mistress, if he had deferred the union, which 
he earnestly wished for, they were married. It 
was near four months after the ceremony that 
he applied to me, when he acknowledged, 
that he had been as yet unable to consummate 
his nuptials; for that he had a seminal dis- 
charge before a perfect erection; and that all 
endeavours, after the first attempt, only pro- 
duced a further loss of semen, without com- 
municating any strength to the penis: that he 
at first attributed this to the over-fondness he 
had for his wife, and that delicacy which 
sometimes throws a check upon a man in his 
highest vigour; and he therefore resolved to 
surmount what he then thought false modesty, 
by drinking a bottle extraordinary; but this, 
so far from remedying the evil, did but increase 
it; for he could procure no kind of erec- 
tion, and his seed came away as soon as he 
touched her nature. He was the more morti- 
fied at his disagreeable situation, as he believed 
his wife had made complaints to her mother, 
who had dropped some hints of a divorce, the 
thoughts of which tortured his soul more than 
the loss of life, fortune, and every thing else 
that was dear to him. This gentleman being 
naturally of a strong constitution, and having 
in every respect (except pollution) lived regu- 
larly and soberly, I performed a cure upon him 
in about five months; and a short time after 
he came to me with rapture, to tell me that 
his wife was pregnant.
THESE



[53]
These examples will be sufficient to evince 
the shocking effects of this baneful practice in 
the male sex; evils that are not solely confined 
to the body, but communicate their influence 
to the mind, which is hereby overwhelmed 
with anguish, melancholy, and despair, an in- 
capacity of business or even recreation, a dis- 
relish to all the comforts and solace of this life, 
and more particularly the female sex, whom 
at length they consider with horror, from a 
consciousness of having injured them in a most 
essential and irreparable manner. With these 
torturing reflections, and this incessant self- 
reproach, they appear as monuments of grief 
and misery, and lucky are those who do not 
terminate so shocking a career with even sui- 
cide, after having been the indirect destroyer 
of many others.
D3 SECTION

[54]
SECTION IV. 
Of the dreadful consequences of self-pol-
lution, and the gratification of the SAP- 
PHIC PASSION in the female sex. 
SORRY I am to be obliged to say, that 
the tender sex, the most amiable part of 
the creation, those for whom we are animated 
to glory, danger, and every enterprise which 
we think will recommend us to their regard; I
say, these desirable objects, who should meet us 
with mutual and warm embraces, and render 
our passions and our loves congenial, have 
their minds as well as bodies fequently ener- 
vated by shameful practices, which they think 
are entirely hidden from the world; but which 
are but too plainly depicted in their counte- 
nances, and by their frigid relish for genuine 
love, and their unnatural distaste to the male 
part of creation, for whom they were by Pro- 
vidence destined; for their bodies are by these 
filthy practices not only so weakened and ema- 
ciated, that they are often rendered barren, 
and thereby greatly prejudice society and po- 
sterity; but they at length contract an uncon- 
querable habit of this kind of gratification, 
which is always so ready at hand, and which 
they fancy they indulge themselves, without the 
danger of child-bearing, the loss of reputation. 
or

[55]
or the loss of health. In this they greatly 
deceive themselves; for the evil consequences 
of such practices are infinitely more dreadful 
than any of the dangers which terrify them 
from natural enjoyment. 
This ’tis true is a tender point to treat up- 
on; and it may be urged in their defence, that 
strong passions, a naturally amorous constitu- 
tion, the sight of accidental rencounters be- 
tween animals in the streets or fields, which 
may render their natural stimulations some- 
what inordinate, and scarce controulable, are 
great palliatives for what they may think an in- 
nocent amusement. Add to this their parents 
and relations, who have the care of them, do 
not consider how early these natural operations 
take place; that if they are thinking of a hus- 
band for a daughter, they are consulting rather 
the force of his pocket, than the strength of 
his constitution, and the risk a young woman 
runs in having any intercourse with a man be- 
fore marriage. It were to be wished, that pa- 
rents would consult the real happiness of their 
children, and not attempt to curb those de- 
sires that are laudable when directed in a pro- 
per channel, but rather endeavour to promote 
their gratification as far as they are reasonable. 
To this end, it would be prudent to provide a 
proper husband for a daughter as soon as she is 
marriageable, instead of letting her languish 
till she is five or six and twenty in hopes of a 
good match. Mothers should not attempt to 
persuade their daughters that they are mere 
D4 children

[56]
children, when they are as capable of being 
mothers as themselves, with no other view 
than that their real age may not be guessed at 
or discovered. Such artifices as these are con- 
stantly detected; and it would be much more 
to their credit to be young grandmothers than 
old coquettes. 
In England, and other northern climates, 
females do not attain the age of maturity so 
early as in more southern latitudes; so that in 
some parts of Asia women are almost past child 
bearing as early as some of cold constitutions 
in the northern parts of America have little 
more than attained the age of puberty. But 
in general females in England are capable of 
child-bearing about fifteen; and this is testi- 
fied by the downy marks of puberty upon their 
privities, the projection of their breasts, and 
their monthly purgations. Many have these 
signs upon them at thirteen and fourteen; and 
could therefore increase the number of our 
progeny from that time, till about the age of 
forty-five, which is the period when women 
in this part of the world usually discontinue 
having their menses, and are past child-bear- 
ing. It must therefore be very impolitic for 
a state to prevent a female being able to dis- 
pose of her person in wedlock till she become 
twenty-one, since, it is plain, she might in that 
time have produced six or seven subjects, the 
number of which constitute the most permanent 
riches, prosperity, and security of a king-
dom.
THUS


[57] 
THUS much I have said to palliate, if pos- 
sible, any errors in the conduct of the ladies, 
whose advocate I would willingly be upon 
every occasion; but let not any female imagine, 
that the most elaborate eloquence can ever ex- 
cuse their pursuing this abominable practice, 
which is the more baneful, as it may be said 
to be contagious, a single sinner, in this re- 
spect, having frequently corrupted a whole se- 
minary of, before, virtuous girls. 
THE dangers attending this practice are so 
various and dreadful, that they cannot be paint- 
ed in too lively colours; for even the instru- 
ment of gratification is sometimes as fatal as 
the future effects of repeated indulgence. To 
explain what I mean in this respect, I shall 
relate a fact of which I was an eye-witness, 
and could, if necessary, be attested by several 
other gentlemen of the faculty, as well as 
nurses, and other persons who are acquainted 
with the event. A young female, about the 
age of fourteen, who belonged to a certain 
laudable charity, a little north of St. Paul’s, 
but was not perceived to have so much of the 
woman about her as she really had (otherwise 
she would not have remained there) was 
brought into the sick ward whilst I attended, 
when she made excessive complaints of being 
in violent pain towards her back and loins, 
and which the nurse who attended her attri- 
buted to the stone in her bladder. I told her, 
I must examine her, which she seemed much, 
averse to, and it was with the utmost difficul-
D5 ty 


[58]
ty I could prevail upon her to let me make 
an inspection; but her bashfulness was at length 
conquered by her pain. Upon examining the 
pudendum, which bore the external marks of 
puberty, I found the lips much distended, and 
inflamed; and upon penetrating my finger, I 
felt something of a hard substance, which I at 
first imagined to be the clitoris in a state of 
more than common tension. I now told her, 
that I believed she had been guilty of some 
practices that had been very pernicious to her, 
and intreated her to tell me the truth. Upon 
thrusting against this opposing part, I found I 
greatly increased her pain, and I was convin- 
ced that she had forced something up the va- 
gina, from whence she could not withdraw it. 
I now begged her to tell me what it was, when 
she frankly told me, that she had been playing 
with a carrot, which had broke just at the time 
of ejaculation. She also owned, she had been 
frequently guilty of the practice, but had hi- 
therto escaped from such an accident. It was 
with great difficulty that I was able to extract 
it, and not without putting her to the most ex- 
cruciating pain. At length, however, I re- 
leased her, and brought out the thin end of a 
middle sized carrot, about five inches long. 
This fact requires no comment to show to 
what a pitch of mortifying shame, as well as 
torture, such acts as these frequently expose 
that sex, whom we are inclined to believe 
equally innocent, delicate, and chaste. 
In

[59]
In other respects, the danger to which wo- 
men expose themselves by this filthy practice, 
are very analagous to those which the men are 
liable to from this filthy practice. The hu- 
mour which is lost by females is not, it is true, 
so elaborate as the male semen, and may not 
therefore enfeeble the body so speedily; but 
when they are guilty of excesses, their nervous 
system being weaker than ours, and naturally 
more liable to spasms, the accidents arising 
therefrom are still more evident; they are also 
exposed to hysterical fits, and dreadful vapours;
to incurable jaundices; to violent cramps in 
the stomach and back; to acute pains in the 
nose; to the fluor albus, the accretion whereof 
is a continual source of the most smarting pain, 
to descents and ulcerations of the matrix, and 
to all the infirmities which these disorders bring 
on; to the furor uterinus, which at once de- 
prives them of decency and reason, and brings 
them to a level with the most lascivious brutes, 
a state in which they cannot long exist, as 
their vices and crimes, when arrived at this 
pitch, must soon terminate their days, though 
not their ignominy. 
A PRETTY woman, in the best state of 
health, who addicts herself to self-pollution, will 
find her charms presently decay, her eyes will 
become languid and dead, her complexion will 
fade, her body will fall away, and in a short 
time, if she perseveres in the practice, from 
an agreeable and  desirable object, she will 
become not only tasteless to the men, but even 
D6 disgustful

[60] 
disgustful to herself; and if it be true, as Ro- 
chefoucault says, That the last sighs of a fine 
woman are more for the loss of her beauty 
than her life, she will have the disagreeable 
task of anticipating this mortification in the 
very prime of youth. We are told by all the 
professors, who have written upon this sub- 
ject, that young people of either sex who ad- 
dict themselves to it will fall away and dimi- 
nish, instead of increase in their growth; and 
we often find young people of both sexes, but 
particularly females, who, being well made at 
the age of ten or twelve, become afterwards 
crooked, by the bending and weakness of the 
spine. 
I HAVE already mentioned the disgust that 
is created by this practice to natural pleasures, 
and it is still stronger in females than in our 
sex; for women, who have habituated them- 
selves to this practice, are always indifferent 
to the lawful duties of the conjugal bed, even 
when their inclinations and power still remain; 
and this indifference does not only induce ma- 
ny females to embrace a life of celibacy, but 
accompanies others that have been prevailed 
upon to enter upon the marriage-state; and 
we have the testimonies of many females, that 
this practice had gained so complete a domi- 
nion over their senses, that they detested the 
lawful means of assuaging the lusts of the flesh. 
A MARRIED woman made her case known, 
through the channel of her midwife, to a gen- 
tleman

[61]
tleman of the faculty, nearly as follows: When 
I was a young girl of between fifteen and six- 
teen, at the boarding-school, being enticed by 
some of my school-fellows, and particularly 
my bed-fellow, I began to penetrate those 
parts, which should never have been explor- 
ed but by a husband. This practice I stuck 
to till I was run away with by the musick-master 
at eighteen. It were needless to enumerate 
the difficulties I met with till my relations 
were reconciled to the match. Sufficient it is 
to say, I had four children by my husband in 
three years, two being twins; but they all 
died, and also my husband soon after. I was 
in state of widowhood for three years, and 
then I married with the approbation of my re- 
lations. Before this union, I found all my 
girlish inclinations come upon me, and not 
daring to risk any connection with a man, I 
repeated my boarding-school practice with 
such violence (particularly just before and after 
my monthly courses) that I made myself vio- 
lently force, and brought on such a bearing 
down of the womb, that it was with much 
difficulty I could walk. These complaints 
have increased since my last marriage; and, 
though four years have elapsed from that pe- 
riod, I have not been once pregnant. I have 
been prevailed upon by my husband to under- 
go a physician’s inspection; when he said, that 
my womb was very weak and slippery, and he 
was afraid I should never have any more children. 
He, however, prescribed the Bath water, and 
injections; but they have been of no service. 
I am


[62]
I am now really weakened by a white run- 
ning, which is very considerable, and with the 
bearing down, which frequently is very great, 
and occasions a continual pain in my womb, 
and in my back, whereby I am greatly fallen 
away; and what is remarkable, I have no 
manner of inclination for the act of procrea- 
tion, and very little or no pleasure in the act; 
which I am inclined to believe is as much the 
reason as any other of my incapacity of bear- 
ing children. I have, nevertheless, a good 
stomach, and sleep very well; and therefore 
it appears to me the more extraordinary, that 
I who used to be so amorous, and, to say the 
truth, so excessively desirous of conversing with 
my first husband in this way, should have no 
inclination in this respect to my present hus- 
band, notwithstanding I have a great regard 
for him. 
ANOTHER female, upon being much im- 
portuned by a man-midwife of eminence who 
visited her, at her husband’s request, at length- 
acknowledged, that she had commenced the 
filthy practice of self-pollution very young, and 
persevered in it till the time of her marriage, 
which took place when she was about twenty 
years of age: that she had always been very 
pale from the age of puberty, though before 
she had a fresh complexio; and that from a 
good state of health, she became very weakly, 
and never had her menses but four times till 
she was married; after which she still conti- 
nued her filthy practice, having much more 
gratification

[63] 
gratification in it than in her husband's em- 
braces, though he was a young vigorous man, 
and remarkably calculated to please the fair 
sex; that she had been equally a stranger to 
her courses and pregnancy, and was constant- 
ly ailing in other respects. Upon examining, 
her womb, she was found to have a continual 
oozing, and a great bearing down. 
A short time since, a young woman,, 
about seventeen years old, who had hitherto 
enjoyed a good state of health, was seized 
with an astonishing weakness; her powers 
daily diminished; in the day-time she was 
constantly overcome with drowsiness, and was 
at night unable to sleep; she lost her appetite, 
and a dropsical swelling spread all over her bo- 
dy. She consulted a skilful surgeon, who, af- 
ter he found that her menses were regular, sus- 
pected self-pollution. The effect of the first 
question he put to her confirmed the justness 
of his suspicion, and the patient then acknow- 
ledged it. 
A MARRIED woman, aged about forty- 
seven years, consulted a physician for barren- 
ness, from a laxness of muscular fibres of the 
vagina and uterus; but examining the case, 
and suspecting both from the character she 
bore, and from what she herself said, that it 
was not owing to any insufficiency in the hus- 
band, whom she publicly complained of, but 
to her own insatiable lust; for it plainly ap- 
peared her case was owing to friction: where-
fore,

[64]
fore, considering her age, and the little hopes 
of success upon such a patient, he refused 
meddling. 
A FEMALE patient of nineteen was of a 
sanguine complexion, and a hot and lustful 
temperament, which, overcoming the virtuous 
principles she had in her youth imbibed, was 
prompted to abuse herself by self-pollution. She 
had continued in this practice from the age of 
fourteen, not without frequent intervals of 
remorse at her unclean desires, never imagin- 
ing, however, that there was any sin or dan- 
ger in the act; but shuddered at the thoughts 
of a discovery, in case of marriage, from her 
husband, as she had not only broke away all 
the badge of virginity; but her womb was as 
much distended as if she had borne several chil- 
dren, by reason of the largeness of the instru- 
ments with which she used latterly to gratify 
her lust; and the more she followed the 
practice, the more her desires were heighten- 
ed. She was at length brought to a most 
shocking state, by nervous disorders, and par- 
ticularly those of the womb; in which state 
she applied to an eminent surgeon; but, alas!
she was so violently affected with a furor ute- 
rinus, that she would implore every man she 
met to asswage her lust, not only in obscene 
terms, but even by the most indecent actions; 
and her very surgeon, upon examining the 
parts, excited such violent sensations, that she 
could not restrain from importuning him to 
commit the act of coition ; but he not com- 
plying

[65]
plying with her request, she had recourse to 
self-pollution, which had such an effect upon 
the ovaria, that she shed some of the ova. In 
this condition she remained near four years, 
at the end of which time she died raving in 
one of those lascivious fits. Her body was af- 
terwards opened by some skilful surgeons, 
when the glans of the clitoris, or female pre- 
puce, which is the chief seat of pleasure in 
woman, was much larger than the natural 
size, and was invested with a sharp corroding 
watery humour, which they imagined must 
in that part itch to a prodigious degree, and 
create the insufferable titillation and desire: 
and they were also of opinion, that the acri- 
monious humour with which that part was af- 
fected had been attracted thither, by the fre- 
quent operations to gratify her lubidinous de- 
sires. She was naturally very handsome, and 
might have been an ornament to her sex, if 
she had not given way to this unnatural prac- 
tice; for it was this alone that brought on all 
her complaints. 
Another female patient, who had, in her 
early days, addicted herself to this abominable 
custom, was at length reduced to such a state, 
that when she leaned upon her elbows, or 
nsed any strength with her hands, they were 
quite benumbed, and her fingers would catch 
and draw up like the cramp. Her stomach 
appeared outwardly swelled, and she had vio- 
lent pains in it, which often made her feel as 
if she would choak, and made her seem as if
she

[66]
she was sore from her navel to her throat. She 
had racking pains in her back, between her 
loins, and under her shoulders. If she offer- 
ed to pull herself up, all her bones would 
snap, which might be heard standing near her. 
If at any time she turned her head on one side, 
or offered to talk much, it greatly hurt her.
The hollow of her stomach, and under her 
shoulders, seemed inwardly swelled, and fulL 
of pain. Her hands were seldom warm, and 
the bones of her insteps at night were much 
swelled, and very painful. After sleeping, 
she awoke with great numbness in her arms; 
and if she happened to be on her back, with 
a great pain in her heels. When she wanted 
to walk, she was ready to swoon with the 
numbness in her loins, pain in her back and 
stomach. Her shoulders sometimes seemed as 
if they were stuck full of pins; and it was 
with much difficulty she could move either of 
her hands to her head, which made her be- 
lieve she had strained something within her. 
Towards the evening, she had prodigious 
flushings in the face, which made her head 
beat as if full of pulses, whereby her eyes were 
greatly weakened, and her sight much im- 
paired. When she awoke in a morning, she 
was very dry, and her tongue very white, 
with great inward heat and drought, and much 
inclined to vomit, and sick fits, accompanied 
with giddiness. She was very apprehensive of 
an ulcer in her womb, or kidnies, as she had 
violent pains in these parts. This, upon ex- 
amination, appeared to be the case; and she 
soon

[67]
soon after fell a martyr to her lustful and un- 
natural indulgences. 
In the course of these examples, the reader 
must have observed, that female invention is 
more prolific than man’s, even in sin; and 
that though self-pollution in the male sex has 
scarce ever been known to be practised any 
otherwise than by manual friction, female sin- 
ners have, avowedly, made use of various fo- 
reign instruments to gratify their inordinate 
lusts: but besides these applications, it is well 
known, that there is another species of pollu- 
tion among the females, which may be call- 
ed clitorical, the origin of which may be tra- 
ced so far back as the time of the second 
Sappho, and from her derives its name of the
Sapphic passion. Some women are by nature, 
but more by vicious practices, so formed, as to 
have some resemblance to man: this has given 
rise to the erroneous opinion, which, in some 
degree, still prevails, that there are such be- 
ings as hermophrodites. The uncommon size 
of a part, which is naturally very small, and 
whereupon Monsieur Tronchin has furnished 
us a very elaborate description, is the case of 
those supposed phenomena, and the shameful 
abuse of the part, in this respect, all the evil. 
There may have been some females, who, per- 
haps, thought themselves more than women, 
and glorying in the functions of a double sex,
usurped the province of men. Others may, 
perhaps, have been prompted, by curiosity, to 
the same kind of essays; but most votaries to the 
Sapphic


[68]
Sapphic passion are those, who, by frequent 
and violent self-pollution, have forced nature 
out of her common path; and lust being ge- 
nerated by lust, their inordinate desires can- 
not be gratified, but by still more unnatural 
practices. 
I have seen a letter, written by a young 
lady of only eighteen, who had many mental 
endowments, learning, and naturally a great 
share of beauty, wherein she relates the cause 
and progress of her crimes and disorders: she 
says, “ To be ingenuous, I had been guilty of 
“ this nasty practice (meaning self-pollution) 
“ from the time I was twelve years old. A 
“ young female servant at my father’s, who 
“ was of an amorous complexion, yet dread- 
“ ing any commerce with the men, first 
“ taught it me. Frequent, and almost in- 
“ cessant repetition, at length produced such 
“ a bearing down of my womb as greatly 
“ terrified me; but Sally appeased my fears, 
“ by telling me, that she had been in the 
“ same state, and it went away again; and 
“ now, she said, we might act like man and 
“ wife, and that there would be full as much 
“ pleasure as if we were really so. But I soon 
“ became so weak, that I could not walk, 
“ and in a short time I had such violent pains 
“ in my back, my womb, and particularly 
“ the offending part, which continues still 
“ to hang out, notwithstanding what Sally 
“ said, that I am afraid I shall never be well 
“ again. But what terrifies more than all is. 
“ that

[69] 
“ that my father has taken pains to get a 
“ husband for me, imagining, I believe, my 
“ paleness and weakness are occasioned by 
“ my being kept from man; and a young 
“ gentleman of fortune is now paying his ad- 
“ dresses to me: I am frighted out of my wits 
“ at the discovery he will make the first: 
“ night; and, indeed, I would rather be 
“ with Sally than the handsomest man in 
“ England, &c. &c. &c.” 
THUS we find, that the danger of this kind 
of pollution is not less than that of the other 
sorts of masturbation: the effect are, indeed, 
equally shocking, as all these paths lead to ema- 
ciation, languor, pain, and even death: but 
this last species deserves the greater attention, 
as it is now so common, and there are many 
women who are known to love girls with as 
much fondness as ever did the most passionate 
of men, and conceive the most poignant jea- 
lousy, when they were addressed by the male 
sex, upon the subject of love or tender dalli- 
ance. 
I SHALL make no apology for transcribing 
here that part of Dr Quincy’s translation 
of Carr’s Medicinal Epistles, relative to two 
nuns, who were reported to have changed 
their sex, being so pertinent and illustrative to 
the subject under, consideration. 
“ I SHOULD blush, perhaps, from too 
“ much modesty, to concern myself in a sto- 
“ ry

[70]
“ ry that is not a very chaste one, had not a 
“ professor of divinity given it to the world 
“ in print, and a college of cardinals inquired 
“ into it. This gives me some assurance, and 
“ guards me from any imputations of indecen- 
“ cy. I shall therefore not write any thing 
“ out of wantonness, or omit any thing ma- 
“ terial upon the account of modesty. It is 
“ an unhappiness, that you have fixed upon 
“ me to account for so unnatural a phenome- 
“ non in nature. You would greatly have 
“ obliged the learned world, had you prevail- 
“ ed upon the Honourable Mr. Boyle, who 
“ is a finished philosopher, to have under- 
“ taken this work, though I am not, indeed, 
“ without hopes, that as soon as this strange 
“ story is related to him, he will think it 
“ worth his skilful inquiry; for such is his 
“ consummate learning, and which will be 
“ to his eternal honour, such are his inclina- 
“ tions to instruct others, that he will be pro- 
“ voked not to suffer such an extraordinary 
“ case, to escape the notice of the ablest phi- 
“ losopher. 
“ You acquaint me in your letter, that it 
“ is reported at Rome, that two nuns, in a 
“ monastery, were changed in such a man- 
“ ner, as to be suspected of virility. The re- 
“ port reached the pope’s ears, who, upon 
“ such an extraordinary occasion, ordered 
“ some cardinals to inquire into the truth of 
“ it. After their search, they affirmed, that 
“ the nuns were grown in such a manner, as 
“ to

[71]
“ to have changed their sex; in testimony of 
“ which you say, the cardinals commanded 
“ them to be expelled the monastery; and 
“ that, at that time, they had changed 
“ their dress, and took upon themselves the 
“ employ of men. 
“ I wonder what could induce his ho- 
“ liness to commit the inspection of that affair 
“ to his cardinals, who are no way conversant 
“ in the difference of sexes. It is true, in- 
“ deed, that the reputation of their integrity 
“ would prevent all manner of suspicion as to 
“ their report; but yet their unspotted chasti- 
“ ty, joined with shame and modesty, could 
“ never suffer them to make such a nice in- 
“ quiry, as the nature of such a thing de- 
“ manded. 
“ Persons who read this account may, 
“ perhaps, be divided into different opinions, 
“ and both of them wrong. Some who have 
“ a considence in the integrity of the cardi- 
“ nals may not, upon that account, disbe- 
“ lieve it; but, as it exceeds the wonted 
“ bounds of nature, take it for a miracle. 
“ Others may wholly disbelieve it, as it so 
“ far exceeds the reach of nature, that, as 
“ miracles are ceased, it must be impossible; 
“ and as they are under no obligation to dis- 
“ believe impossibilities, so they will not be- 
“ lieve this. 
“ I would

[72] 
“ I WOULD satisfy both these kinds of 
“ readers, and by you I doubt not, in such 
“ intricacies, it will be well taken, that I 
“ have endeavoured to do my best. The one, 
“ that the excursion of nature, which you 
“ call a change of sex, is no way to be ac- 
“ counted an impossibility, from the structure 
“ of the parts of generation: and the other, 
“ that such a wonderful phænomenon does not 
“ exceed the bounds of nature, nor is it so 
“ unfrequent as to deserve to be reckoned a 
“ miracle. He must be a stranger to the power 
“ of nature, who thinks she cannot do some- 
“ times, what she thinks not fit to do often. 
“ WHOSEVER thinks these two nuns 
“ have changed their sex, is under a mistake; 
“ all that gives any ground for such an opini- 
“ on is the uncommon increase of the cli- 
“ toris, which, as it is used to frequent irri- 
“ tations, thrusts out, and enlarges its de- 
“ mensions, not unlike to a human penis. I 
“ am unwilling to be so censorious with rela- 
“ tion to these nuns, who profess a severer 
“ way of living, and a more constant attend- 
“ ance at their devotion, as to suspect their 
“ lasciviousness should prompt them to an un- 
“ usal exercise of those parts, by which they 
“ might increase their bulk, according to Mar- 
“ tial, 
“ Mentiturque virum prodigiosa venut,
“ because there are instances of the same in 
“ infants themselves, who cannot be supposed 
“ guilty of such wanton practices. 
“ Nor

[73]
“ Nor can I be of opinion, that these per- 
“ sons were men from the first; because if 
“ they had counterfeited their habits to gratify 
“ their lust in such a place, there would have 
“ happened some discoveries of it, which there 
“ has not done; and therefore no such thing 
“ ought to be suspected. Besides, such a con- 
“ jecture cannot take place, when we con- 
“ sider their breasts are like those of other wo- 
“ men, and were so at their admistion into 
“ the convent, and continue so still. 
“ THE inquisitive Regneur de Graef, in 
“ his book upon the female organs, upon the 
“ head de clitoriæ, takes notice of the clitoris 
“ of an infant to come so near the member of 
“ virility in the other sex, as to deceive the 
“ nurse, and the more skilful gossips, who 
“ took it for a male child, and in its baptism 
“ named it accordingly; and that the mistake 
“ was not detected till after its death, upon 
“ an accurate defection of the body, of which, 
“ the same author gives an account. 
“ The clitoris, in some adult persons, is 
“ seen to hang out beyond the labiœ, or 
“ the openings of the thighs. There is a di- 
“ stemper called furor uterinus, which some- 
“ times arises from this cause, that in walk- 
“ ing, or other exercise, the clitoris is rub- 
“ bed by the cloaths, and excites such extra- 
“ vagant desires as puts them out of all shame 
“ and modesty, and stimulates them to a de- 
“ gree of madness to venereal embraces. 
E THIS 


[74]
“ This uncommon growth of the clitoris is 
“ so frequent in some eastern countries, that 
“ the more skilful surgeons have found out a 
“ method of amputating it, and to take it 
“ away from a person about to marry, left it 
“ should be a hindrance in coition; nor is 
“ the reason for such a growth very difficult 
“ to be assigned: first, Because the fury of 
“ lust wonderfully distends the nerves and ar- 
“ teries, and particularly, above any other 
“ parts, blows up those organs with spirits 
“ and heat. Upon coition, real or imagina- 
“ ry, those of a man are blown up and ex- 
“ tended by a plentiful influx of blood 
“ and animal spirits, from the titillation 
“ which attends it, as if nature was pro- 
“ digal in her care for a supply of those parts. 
“ Secondly, The cavity of the part wherein 
“ it is situated (as if it were not to be con- 
“ fined to narrow bounds, which would hin- 
“ der its increase) facilitates its growth; and 
“ as it is placed where there is room enough, 
“ it can enlarge itself on every side, whereby 
“ its vessels are prolonged, and receive nou- 
“ rishiment on all parts. 
“ Upon a comparison of the male and fe- 
“ male organs, you will not find them to dif- 
“ fer so much as you at first imagined, ex- 
“ cepting that those of a man are thrown out 
“ with a more vigorous heat; whereas those 
“ of a woman, by a defect in that respect, are 
“ only to be perceived inwardly. The cli- 
“ toris of a woman, upon turning out, would 
2 “ resemble

[75] 
“ resemble a scrotum, and the two ovaries an- 
“ nexed to the sides of its bottom, with what 
“ they include, would make up the number 
“ of the testicles. The clitoris is shaped like 
“ a penis; it has the same source of pleasure, 
“ stretches out, and relaxes in the same man- 
“ ner again; it also ends in a gland, but wants 
“ a cavity; which is no wonder, because it 
“ does not serve for the discharge of any thing, 
“ as it oozes out its contents more conveni- 
“ ently into the aperture of the neck of the 
“ bladder: but was that aperture to be closed, 
“ as it is in men, then, in an erection, it 
“ would necessarily find some other out-let 
“ towards the end of its gland; for the ves- 
“ sels of all kinds are first formed by the im- 
“ pulse of some circulating flux; where the 
“ flux is obstructed, it forms a cell, and ves- 
“ sels where it circulates. 
“ In our first formation, when the genital 
“ parts hardly exceed the point of a needle, 
“ difference of sex depends upon very 
“ nice circumstances; but when persons are 
“ grown up, it is the most difficult thing in 
“ he world, to believe there can be a thorough 
“ change from one sex to the other, as the 
“ poets relate of Teresia: but there is more 
“ reason to think, that the largeness of the
“ clitoris, by its likeness to a human pe- 
“ nis might deceive the inquirers into this 
“ matter; or that they were men from the 
“ first formation; but that the genital parts, 
“ by some defect in the first rudiments, not 
E2 “ obtain

[76]
“ obtaining a due protrusion, upon the in- 
“ crease of strength and venereal titillation, 
“ broke forth, and seemed to grow afresh. 
“ We have frequent instances of nature's 
“ excursions in those parts. There is a very 
“ remarkable story of a child born some time 
“ since, in a village near the mountain called 
“ Grandvaux, in France, in all other respects 
“ like other children, who bad those parts 
“ which distinguish its sex perfectly like a 
“ man; the pubes were grown over with 
“ thick hair, and he frequently had all the 
“ motions of lasciviousness, with an erection 
“ for coition, especially when waking from 
“ sleep, and, before he was two years old, his 
“ parents were advised not to suffer him to 
“ be with his sisters or maids, left that should 
“ happen at two years of age, which Hi- 
“ eronymus wondered at in twelve or thir- 
“ teen. 
“ NATURE refuses to be circumscribed in
“ her operations, but she has never been known 
“ to make such excursions as this must have
“ been; we ought therefore to stand in won- 
“ der at her great regularity, because of our 
“ inability in following her through all her 
“ works. 
FROM hence It may plainly be adduced,
that these religious young ladies had some avo- 
cations from their prayers of a more sensual 
nature; and I think there can no doubt re-
main 


[77]
main of their frequent gratisications of the 
Sapphic passion. It is true, that some wo- 
men have naturally a greater protusion of the 
clitoris than others; but scarce any were ever 
known to have the projection and erection of 
this part so far resemble a penis, as not only 
to be capable of the act of coition, but even 
to be pronounced of the male sex. The an- 
tients called these women fricatrices and subi- 
gatrices; and modern times have produced 
instances in Romish countries, of punishments 
having been inflicted for this abuse of na- 
ture. The Arabians have still more refined 
notion upon this head; and in Creophagi 
they actually circumcise the women thus 
afflicted, by cutting away a certain apophosis 
of musculous skin, that descends from the su- 
perior parts of the matrix, and is subject to 
erection in the act of coition. We are told 
by Lusitanus, that a very pious virgin had 
a very propended clitoris, which so pro- 
voked her to venery, by its only unavoidable 
friction against her linen and thighs as she 
moved, that gave her great trouble and af- 
fliction; insomuch, that, with the consent 
of her parents, this physician was applied to, 
in order to make an amputation of it, which, 
he adds, was accordingly performed. 
ACCORDING to some ancient histories of 
France, there was people who inhabited near 
Languedoc, the females of which had most 
amazing clitorises, insomuch, that they could 
perform either the man or the woman’s part 
E3 in

[78] 
in the act of coition, and communicated near- 
ly as much pleasure to the female, who was in 
this respect the patient, as a male agent; in 
consequence of which laws were framed to 
leave them to their choice, in which capacity 
they would act; but having once chosen, 
they were liable to severe punishments if they 
introduced any variety in their copulative ope- 
rations. Modern writers tell us, that upon 
the confines of the mouth of the river Missis- 
sippi, whose source is in the gulph of Mexico, 
there is a people similar to these females. I 
cannot, however, assent to these phenomena, 
till such time as I have further conviction of 
their reality, or better authority than the re- 
ports of these writers to credit their exist- 
ence. 
But upon the principles already set forth, 
the propension of this part may be accounted 
for; so that when Plauterius, a physician, tells 
us, that he had seen a woman have a clitoris 
hang out as long as a goose neck; or when 
Plempius relates, that one Helena lay with se- 
veral women, and actually gained the virgini- 
ty of many maids; these relations are not so 
incredible. The following story is also very 
well attested by several French physicians: 
“ A certain young lady at Toulose had a re- 
“ laxation of the vagina, resembling a man's 
“ penis, and some asserted that she used it in 
“ that way, it being six inches in length, and 
“ four in circumference in the middle, where 
“ it was very hard. It gradually increased 
“ from


[79]
“ from her childhood. She was examined 
“ by the physicians of that city, who were 
“ unanimously of opinion, that it was a real 
“ penis; whereupon the town magistrates 
“ ordered her to wear the dress of a man. In 
“ this habit she came to Paris, but thought 
“ proper to throw off the male dress, in order 
“ to gain admission into a nunnery, where she 
“ spent the remainder of her days. 
I shall make no comment upon the pro- 
priety of admitting a person of her form and 
disposition into a seminary of this nature, or 
the danger of her inspiring many (before) vir- 
tuous nuns with the most lascivious desires. 
Had the account of the two holy sisters, who 
Were supposed to have changed their sex, not 
been wrote long before this affair happened, I 
should have been inclined to believe that this 
young lady was one of them ; however, it 
seems, that a soft chin, and a female dress, 
will find admission into these religious socie- 
ties; if so, and such ladies as this, are receiv- 
ed, I cannot imagine there would be any great 
difficulty for a young men with but little 
beard to gain admission, as he might, probab- 
ly, if necessary, more easily conceal the part 
that might preclude him, than this young lady 
could its resemblance. 
Mr. COWPER, the surgeon, furnishes us 
with the following case of a woman, whose 
husband could never make any penetration, 
when he endeavoured to cohabit with her, but 
E4 into

[80]
into the urinary passage, vagina being so 
uncommonly closed, that he could not, with 
the most vigorous erection, gain admission 
with his penis. 
“ I was called upon to a married woman 
“ about twenty years of age, whose lower 
“ belly was distended as if with child. Upon 
“ examining the pudendum, I found the 
“ hymen altogether impervious, and driven 
“ out beyond the labia pudendi, in such a 
“ manner, that, at first sight, it appeared not 
“ unlike a prolapsus uteri. In the upper part, 
“ towards the clitoris, we found the orifice 
“ of the meatus urinarius, or urinary passage, 
“ very open, and its sides extended not un- 
“ like the anus, or cloaca of a cock, that, 
“ without any difficulty, I could put up my 
“ finger into the bladder of urine. On divid- 
“ ing the hymen, at least a gallon of grumous 
“ blood, of divers colours and consistencies, 
“ came from her, which was the retained 
“ menstrua. The next day, no less quantity 
“ of the same matter flowed upon taking out 
“ the pessary, which I had put in the day be- 
“ fore. After three or four days, she was 
“ easy, and soon after recovered, and with- 
“ in a year after was delivered of a healthy 
“ child. Her husband told us, that, tho’ 
“ lying with her at first (before this opera- 
“ tion) was painful to himself as well as to 
“ her, yet at last he had a more easy admis- 
“ sion, which could be no other way than in 
“ the meatus urinarius. It seems something 
“ uncommon,

[81]
“ uncommon, that her urinary passage should 
“ so dilate itself, as to let in the erected pe- 
“ nis, by no more than the force of an erec- 
“ tion could afford. This history evinces, 
“ that this woman’s hymen was not only a 
“ strong membrane, and could make resist- 
“ ance to that force which overcame the mea- 
“ tus urinarius, and sphincter of the bladder, 
“ which is considerably strong, but by ad- 
“ mitting of so great a dilatation, as to hang, 
“ out extra pudendum, shews, that the struc- 
“ ture of it is fibrous, and consequently ca- 
“ pable of great distentions. There was an- 
“ other young woman, who laboured under 
“ the same misfortune of having an obsti- 
“ nate hymen, insomuch, that her husband, 
“ though a healthful strong young man, could 
“ make no penetration; but she chose rather 
“ to have her marriage disanulled than in- 
“ dure the operation, being deterred by the 
“ shame of exposing her body, and the dis- 
“ courses that may be raised upon it; for that 
“ a lady’s being reviewed by the judge’s or- 
“ der at Paris, by the most noted physician 
“ and there, upon a contest about her 
“ virginity, gave occasion for their fans and 
“ snuff-boxes being painted afterwards with 
“ indecent postures.
These observations of Mr. Cowper are 
no way unnatural, but are supported by fre- 
quent experience; but I cannot give credit 
to Montius, when he tells us, that a wo- 
man, who had an uncommon large clitoris,
E5 but


[82]
but who, nevertheless, had brought forth seve- 
ral children, often ravished her own maid- 
servants, and more than once got them with 
child. This is somewhat similar to the ac- 
count we meet with in the Scottish trials of a 
young woman, who got her master’s daugh- 
ter with child, of which she was convicted, 
condemned, and executed. But we need not 
be surprized at such credulity and injustice, 
when we reflect how very lately innocent wo- 
men have been accused, convicted, and put 
to death for witchcraft. Our enlightened age 
should equally explode both these impositions, 
which might be well suited to the barbarous 
times of ignorance and superstition. 
From what has been said, let every fe- 
male consider the imminent danger to which 
they expose themselves, and the dreadful ac- 
cidents that arise from these unnatural and 
filthy practices, as besides all the horrors and 
diseases to which the male sex are exposed by 
self-pollution (and which they are required 
to peruse for their own advantage, as it would 
be unnecessary to repeat them here) they un- 
avoidably break down the barrier of virginity, 
which must be detected by their husband when- 
ever they marry; and indeed frequently oc- 
casion such extraordinary bearings down of 
the clitoris, as render them incapable of coition 
with them. It were, therefore, to be wished, 
that every woman, who is so viciously disposed 
as to defile herself, or let herself be defil- 
ed

[83]
ed by another, might meet with as obstinate 
a hymen as Mr. Cowper’s patient, a hymen 
inflexible to every unnatural instrument that 
might promise her the gratification of her 
lust.
E6 SEC- 

[84]
SECTION V. 
Of the disorders incident to the female sex, 
and the most approved methods of cure. 
AFTER what has been said concerning 
the filthy, shameful, and destructive prac- 
tices of the women, by themselves, or amongst 
each other, which occasion such a variety of 
evils and disorders, it were but justice to the 
sex to own, that, from their natural forma- 
tion and disposition, and the incidental casual- 
ties attending pregnancy and child-bearing, 
they are subject to many afflictions in various 
respects, analogous to those mentioned in the 
former section, and from which the men are 
entirely exempted; and therefore I think it 
necessary to explain myself upon these heads in 
this section. 
The whites are a soul excretion from the 
womb, commonly attendant upon weak wo- 
men, oftentimes after hard labour, sometimes 
during pregnancy, and frequently in a virgin 
state. This disorder is a distillation of a variety 
of corrupt humours through the womb, flow- 
ing from different parts of the body. This 
oozing is of many colours, sometimes black- 
ish, yellowish, geenish, reddish, and bluish. 
Having no periodical flux, as the regular men- 
sis, its returns are disorderly and uncertain. 
PHYSICIANS

[85]
PHYSCIANS attribute the cause of this dis- 
order sometimes to a general weakness or ca- 
cochymia; and sometimes to a partial debili- 
ty, as in the liver, which by the inability of 
the sanguinificative faculty, occasions a ge- 
neration of corrupt blood. In this case the 
matter is reddish, when the gall is remiss in its 
office, not drawing away the choleric super- 
fluities which are engendered in the liver. 
When the spleen does not sufficiently perform 
its office in cleansing the blood of the dregs 
and excrementitious parts, it then is blackish. 
Sometimes it is occasioned by catarrhs in the 
head, or from any other member that is in a 
disordered state. When the flowing is whit- 
ish, the cause resides in the reins or the sto- 
mach: if in the reins, it is occasioned by their 
being overheated, which causes the sperma- 
tic matter, by reason of its tenuity, to flow 
involuntarily: but when the stomach is the 
seat of the complaint, it is occasioned by crude 
and vitiated matter remaining there undi- 
gested, by reason of melancholy, or some 
stomachic complaint; and this vitiated matter 
is communicated to the womb by the liver, or 
instead of being appropriated to chyle. 
If this disorder be occasioned by the distil- 
lation of the brain, let the patient take syrup 
of betony, stæchas, and marjoram, and purge 
with pillococh. Take the juice of sage, hy- 
sop, betony, nexelle, with one drop of oil 
of cloves, and a little silk cotton, with which 
make napalia. Take elect, dianth, aromat. ro- 
sar,


[86]
sar. diambre diamoci dulcis, of each one 
dram; of nutmeg, half a dram; with 
sugar and betony water, make lozenges, 
which are to be taken night and morning. 
Half a dram of auriæ Alexandrinæ going to 
bed, will also be useful. 
In case the oozing is of a reddish colour, 
phlebotomy in the arm is proper; otherwise 
apply ligatures to the arms and shoulders. 
Galen prescribes a friction of honey to the 
upper parts. 
If the disorder proceed from crudities in 
the stomach, or from a cold disordered liver, 
take every morning a decoction of lignum sac- 
tum; and a purgation of pill, de agarico, de 
hermodact. de hiera diacolocynthid, fœdita 
agragrative. Take of elect. aromat. ros. two 
drams, citron pills dried, nutmeg, long- 
pepper, of each one scruple, diagalinga one 
dram, santali alba, ligni aloes, of each 
half a scruple, sugar six ounces, and with 
mint-water make lozenges of them, which 
are to be taken after meals. When the dis- 
order arises from the liver, and there is at the 
same time a repression of the stomach, eme- 
tics are eligible, and they may be composed 
of three drams of the elect of diaaru. Some 
physicians also prescribe the dieurical method, 
with phosolinum, opium., &c. 
When the oozing arises from melancho- 
lious, prepare with syrup of maidenhair, 
epithimum,


[87] 
epithimum, polipody, burrage, begloss, fu- 
metory, hart’s-tongue, and syrup bystanti- 
num, which must be prepared without vine- 
gar, otherwise it will rather increase the dis- 
order, than assist nature in its removal. The 
proper pills for purgation, are pilulæ eumariæ, 
pilulæ indæ, pilulæ de lap. lazuli, dasena, and 
confectio hameigh. Of stampt prunes take 
two ounces, senna one dram, epithimum, 
polipody, fumetory, of each one dram and 
an half, four dates one ounce, with endive 
water, make a decoction, take of it four 
ounces, to which add confectioni hamich 
three drams manna three drams, orelsi, pil. 
indat. phil. fætidarum, agarici trochiscati, 
one scruple each, lap. lazuli, five grains, with 
syrup of erithimum, make pills, one of which 
is to be taken hebdomedally. 
When the cause of the flux is choleric, 
prepare with syrup of endive, violets, succory, 
roses, and purge with mirabolans, manna, 
rhubarb, and cassia. Of rhubarb take two drams, 
anniseed one dram; cinnamon one scruple; 
infuse them in six ounces of prune broth; 
add to the straining of manna an ounce, to be 
taken secundem artem. Take of spiciecum
diatrion santalon, diatragacant. frig. diarrhod. 
abbatis, diaconit, of each one dram, sugar 
four ounces, and with plantain water make 
lozenges. 
But particularly let the womb be cleansed 
from corrupt matter, and be strengthened; 
for

[88]
for the cleansing whereof make injections of 
the decoction of betony, fetherfew, mug- 
wort, spikenard, bistort, mercury, sage, ad- 
ding thereto sugar, oil of sweet almonds, of 
each an ounce. The womb should be strength- 
ened with trochisks made in the following 
manner: take of myrrh, fetherfew, mug- 
wort, nutmegs, mace, amber, ligni aloes, 
storax, red roses, of each one ounce, with mu- 
cilage of tragacanth. The trochisks being thus 
prepared, cast them on the coals, and smother 
the womb therewith. Likewise fermentations 
for the womb may be used, made of red wine, 
after mastich, fine bole, balustia, and red roses 
have been decocted therein. The best is a 
dry regimen, this distemper being occasioned 
by phlegmatic and crude humours. Too 
much sleep is also pernicious; and, on the 
other hand, moderate exercise is eligible. 
I have been the more circumstantial in 
prescribing for the cure of this disorder, as it 
is more general than may be thought, and 
is, indeed, concomitant with a weak or over 
delicate constitution: therefore ladies of this 
complexion should pay the greatest attention 
to removing the complaint before it makes 
too great a progress. To this end, I would 
have every female who finds herself subject to 
this affliction examine strictly, whether or 
not her suspicions are well founded, and to 
keep the parts particularly clean, by washing 
with luke-warm water, at least every other 
day. Besides the satisfaction it must afford 
3 every

[89]
every female to know the real situation of her 
own body, and, if disordered, timely to re- 
medy it, there is nothing which is more 
productive of health in this respect; and, as a 
proof of it, an additional gratification will 
arise therefrom in the act of copulation, and 
it will greatly tend to the improvement of their 
complexion. The disorders relative to the 
monthly courses are so very analogous to the 
former, that many have called the whites the 
false courses, though, in fact, they arise from 
a different source. Nature has made provision 
for the nourishment of children during their 
recess in the womb of their mother, by that 
redundancy of blood which is natural to all 
women, and which flowing out at certain pe- 
riods of time, when they are not pregnant, 
are from thence called terms, and menses, 
from their monthly flux of excrementitious 
and unprofitable blood. As to this flux being 
excrementitious, is to be understood only with 
regard to the redundancy and overplus of it, 
as it is in no other way an excrement than 
with respect to quantity, being, in point of 
quality, as pure and incorrupt as any blood in 
the veins; and this appears by its final destina- 
tion, the propagation and conservation of 
mankind; as also by its generation, being the 
superfluity of the last aliment of the fleshy parts. 
These monthly purgations usually commence 
about the fourteenth year, and continue to the 
forty-fifth, but not without frequent intervening 
suppressions, which are sometimes natural, and 
sometimes morbific. They are natural in preg- 
nant women, and those who give suck; but 
when

[90] 
when morbific, they are occasioned by an in- 
terruption of that accustomary evacuation of 
blood which should monthly flow from the 
matrix, and which proceed from the matter 
being vitiated. The cause is, in this case, 
either internal or external: the internal cause 
either instrumental or material, in the blood, 
or in the womb. The blood may be faulty 
two ways, in quantity, or in quality: in 
quantity, when it is so consumed, that there is 
not an overplus left, as in viragoes, and all 
other virile women, who, through their heat 
and strength of nature, digest and consume all 
their best nourishment. The blood may also 
be consumed, and the terms suppressed by too 
much bleeding at the nose; likewise by a flux 
of the hemorrhoids, by a dysenteria, evacua- 
tions, chronical and continual disorders. And 
the matter may also be vicious in quality, as 
when sanguineous, phlegmatical, bilious, or 
melancholious; each of these, if they offend 
in grossness, will cause an obstruction in the 
veins. The defect may likewise, for various 
reasons, reside in the womb, as, by the nar- 
rowness of the veins and passages, by a post- 
humes, tumours, ulcers, and by over much 
cold and heat, the one vitiating the action, 
the other confirming the matter; also by an 
evil composition of the matter; likewise by an 
evil composition of the uterine parts, by the 
neck of the womb being turned aside, and 
sometimes, though but rarely, by a membrane 
or excrescence of flesh growing about the 
Womb. The external cause may be heat or 
dryness


[91}
dryness of the air, immoderate walking, great 
labour, violent motion, whereby the matter 
is so consumed, and the body is so exhausted, 
that there is no redundant blood remaining to 
be expelled; whence it is recorded of the Ama- 
zons, that being active, and always in mo- 
tion, they had little or no monthly fluxes. It 
may also be caused by cold, and most frequent- 
ly is so, the blood being thereby rendered vi- 
tious and gross, condensing and binding up the 
passages, that it cannot flow forth. If the 
suppression be natural, and caused by concep- 
tion, it may be known by drinking of honey 
and water after supper, going to bed; for if, 
after taking it, the woman feel a bearing pain 
about the navel, and the lower parts of the 
belly, it is a sign she hath conceived, and that 
the suppression is natural. If she does not find 
this effect from drinking of the honey and wa- 
ter, she may conclude it to be vitious, and 
should immediately endeavour to promote the 
return of the menses, in the manner hereafter 
prescribed; otherwise the efFects may be very 
dangerous, as this suppression may occasion 
swimmings, faintings, intermission of pulse, 
obstructions, chachexies, jaundice, dropsies, 
hardness of the spleen, epilepsies, apoplexies, 
phrensy, melancholy, &c. Evacuations are 
in this case proper; and therefore in the 
middle of the menstrual period, it will be pro- 
per to open the liver vein; and for the rever- 
sion of the humour two days after the usual 
evacuation, open the saphena vein of both 
feet; and if the repletion be not great, apply 
cupping

[92]
cupping glasses to the legs and thighs. After 
phlebotomy, the humours must be prepared, 
and made flexible with syrup of stœchas, hare- 
hound, hyssop, betony, maidenhair, mug- 
wort, and sumitory; then let a bath be made 
of rue, fetherfew, marjoram, savin, bay leaves, 
pennyroyal, camomile, and juniper berries. 
After which take of the leaves of nep, betony, 
succory, maidenhair, of each one handful, 
make a decoction, of which take three ounces; 
syrup of mugwort, succory, maidenhair, mix 
of each half an ounce; and when the patient 
comes out of the bath, let her drink it all; 
then purge with the following pill, de agaric, 
elephang. coch. fœtid. Galen, in this case, 
commends pilula de hiera cum colycintida, as 
being proper to purge the offending humour; 
they are calculated to open the passages of the 
womb. If the patient’s stomach be overcharg- 
ed, let her take a vomit; but let it be prepar- 
ed in such a manner, as to operate also as a 
cathartic, left the humours should be too much 
turned back, by working only upwards; 
wherefore take of trochisk of agaric two 
drams, infuse them in three ounces of oxi- 
mel, in which dissolve benedict. laxat. half an 
ounce, and of the electuary of diasarum one 
scruple, which is to be taken as a purgative. 
When the humour hath in this manner been 
purged, more efficacious and forcible reme- 
dies may be applied, such as the extract of 
mugwort one scruple and a half, musk ten 
grains, trochisks of myrrh one dram and an 
half, rinds of cassia, parsley-seed, castor, of 
each

[93] 
each one scruple, to be taken with the juice of 
smallage, or going to bed. The lower parts 
should also be administered to by fumigation, 
pessaries, unctions, injections, and insessions; 
make suffumigations of amber, galbanum, 
melhantum, bay-berries, mugwort, cinnamon, 
nutmegs, cloves, &c. make pessaries of figs, 
and the leaves of mercury, bruised, and rolled 
up with lint; make injections of the decocti- 
ons of mercury, betony, origin, mugwort, and 
figs, and inject it into the womb with a spunge. 
For unction, take ladant, oil of myrrh, of 
each two drams, oil of lillies, almonds, 
capers, camomile, of each half an ounce, and 
with wax make an unguent to anoint the 
place. The patient should also remain in a 
dry warm air; should not deep much; but, 
on the other hand, she should use moderate 
exercise, especially before meals, which should 
consist of attenuating food. 
The overflowing of the menses is a dis- 
order directly opposite to that which I have just 
been speaking of. This complaint is a sangui- 
neous excrement, consisting only of blood, 
and proceeding from the womb, and exceed- 
ing in time and quality. The cause of this 
overflowing is either external or internal. 
The external cause may be the heat of the 
air, the lifting or carrying heavy burthens, 
unnatural child-births, falls, &c. The in- 
ternal cause may be threefold; in the matter, 
instrument, or faculty. The matter, which is 
the blood, may be vitious two ways; first, in
quantity,

[94]
quantity, being so much, that the veins are 
not able to contain it. Secondly, in quality, 
being adust, sharp, or unconcocted. The 
instruments, that is to say, the veins, are 
faulty, by the dilatation of the orifice, which 
may be caused two ways, by the heat of the 
constitution, climate, or season, heating the 
blood, whereby the passages are dilated, and 
the faculty so much weakened, that it cannot 
retain the blood. Secondly, by falls, blows, 
violent motions, breaking of veins, &c. If 
it comes by the breaking of a vein, the body is 
sometimes cold, the blood flows forth on 
heaps, and that suddenly, accompanied with 
great pain. If it be occasioned by heat, the 
orifice of the veins being dilated, there is little 
or no pain attending it, yet the blood flows 
faster than it doth in an erosion, and not so fast 
as in a rupture. If it arise from an erosion, 
or sharpness of blood, she feels a great scald- 
ing in the passage; and in this case it differs 
from the other two, in its flowing not so 
suddenly nor so copiously as in those. If it be 
occasioned by the weakness of the womb, she 
has an aversion to copulation even in the very 
act. If it proceed from the blood, drop some 
of it on a cloth, and when it is dry, the qua- 
lity may be judged from the colour. When 
choleric, it will be yellowish; if melancholy, 
blackish; if phlegmatic, waterish and whitish. 
The cure of this complaint consists in three 
things; first, the repelling and carrying back 
the blood; secondly, the correcting and tak- 
ing away the fluxibility of the matter; and,
thirdly, 


[95]
thirdly, the corroborating the veins or facul- 
ties. In the first case, to promote a regression 
of the blood, phlebotomy in the arm will be 
useful, and such a quantity of blood may be 
taken away as the strength of the patient will 
permit, which, however, should not be done 
at once, but at different periods, the spirits 
being thereby less weakened, and the retrac- 
tion so much the greater. The cupping glass 
should be applied to the liver, that the rever- 
sion may be in the fountain, moderated with 
cathartics. Astrictorics are also necessary to 
correct the fluxibility of the matter. When it 
is occasioned by the acrimony of the blood, 
it should be considered whether the erosion be 
by salt phlegm, or adust colour: if by the 
first, prepare wormwood, rosin, citron peel, 
and succory, with syrup of violets; and the 
following purgative should also be taken; mi- 
rabolans, cherbul, half an ounce, trochics of 
agaric one dram, with which make a de- 
coction in plantain water, adding thereto sy- 
rup rosat. lax. three ounces to make a potion. 
When by adust colour, prepare the body 
with syrup of roses, myrtles, sorrel, and pur- 
slain, mixt with plantain water, knot-grass, 
and endive; and then the following purgative 
potion should be taken; rinds of myrabolans, 
and rhubarb, one dram each, cinnamon fif- 
teen grains, infused in endive water, with the 
straining pulp of tamarinds and cassia, half an 
ounce each, and the syrup of roses one ounce. 
If the blood be waterish and unconcocted, as it 
is in dropsical cases, and flow, by reason of its 
tenuity,


[96] 
tenuity, it will be necessary to draw off the 
water; and to which end it will be proper to 
purge with agaric, elaterium, and coloquinti- 
da. Sweating is also very proper in this case, 
as the offending matter is thereby taken away, 
and the motion of the blood is carried to the 
outward parts. For this purpose cardimom 
water, with mithridate, or the decoction of 
guaiacum, sassafras, and sarsaparilla, are very 
fit. The gum of guaicum is also a great su- 
dorific. If the blood flows from the breaking 
of a vein, without any evil quality of itself, 
strengtheners only should in this case be ap- 
plied; for which purpose a scruple of bole ar- 
moniac, a dram of treacle, half an ounce of 
conserve of roses, with syrup of myrtle, make 
an excellent electuary. In case the flux is of 
long continuance, two drams of mastich, a 
dram of olibani, and one tyoch de careble, 
with one scruple of balaustium, made into 
powder, and with the syrup of quinces formed 
into pills, will be salutary. 
THERE is another disorder attending the 
menses, which is their irregularity. When 
they come before their time, there is a de- 
praved excretion, which often supplies their 
place at the expected periods; and in this 
case they return twice a month. The cause 
in this case resides in the blood, which stirs up 
the expulsive faculty in the womb, and some- 
times in the whole body, and is frequently oc- 
casioned by the patient’s diet, which increasing 
the blood too much, renders it too sharp or too 
hot;

[97]
hot; and in case the retentive faculty of  
the womb be weak, and the expulsive faculty 
strong, and of a quick sense, they are brought 
forth the sooner by means of a fall, a blow, or 
some violent passion, which the person afflict- 
ed can account for. If it be occasioned by 
heat, thin and sharp humours, the whole bo- 
dy is disordered. The looseness of the vessels, 
and the weakness of the retentive faculty, is 
known from a moist and relaxed habit of body. 
It is, in this case, more troublesome than dan- 
gerous; but is pernicious to conception; and 
the cure is therefore necessary to all, but par- 
ticularly those who are desirous of propagating 
their species, the satisfaction resulting from 
which, few women are, indeed, willing to 
forego. If, therefore, they come too soon 
from the faculty, provoked by too great a 
plethory, phlebotomy, and a spare diet, should 
be used, with much exercise. If it arise from 
the sharpness of the blood, good diet and me- 
dicines are necessary, with bathing in iron- 
water. When it is occasioned by the reten- 
tive faculty, and the looseness of the vessels, 
gentle astringents are the properest. The 
courses may slow after their usual time, by 
reason of the thickness of the blood, the small- 
ness of the quantity, the streightness of the 
passage, or weakness of the expulsive faculties. 
If these causes should all concur, too much 
care cannot be taken to remove them speedily. 
If the blood does not abound in such a quan- 
tity as to excite nature to expel it, its purg- 
ing must necessarily be deferred till there be 
F enough;

[98]
enough; and if the blood be thick, the passage 
stopt, and the expulsive faculty weak, the 
menses must needs be out of order, and the 
purging of them retarded. To remove these 
complaints, then, if the quantity of blood be 
but small, she should live well as to diet, and 
take but little exercise. If the blood be thick 
and foul, it should be thinned, and the hu-
mours mixed therewith be evacuated: where- 
fore, it is proper to take purgatives after the 
courses, and to use calamints. Fumes, pessa- 
ries, and the application of cupping-glasses, 
without scarification, to the inside of the thighs, 
are also necessary. The legs should likewise 
be rubbed, the ancles scarified, and the feet 
held in warm water, four or five days before 
the courses come down. Proper applications 
are also necessary to be made to the pudendum, 
In order to provoke the flowing of the menses, 
some time before they are expected. A marri- 
ed woman cannot do better, in this case, than 
to excite her husband to perform pretty fre- 
quently conjugal duty. 
The last disorder which I shall mention, 
peculiar to the women, is the falling of the 
womb, which is not only extremely trouble- 
some, but is also a hindrance to conception. 
The womb will sometimes descend as low as 
the knees. This is occasioned by the liga- 
ments, which unite it to the other parts, being 
out of order. There are four ligaments, two 
above, broad and membranous, which come 
from the peritonæum, and two below, which 
are

[99]
are nervous, round, and hollow. The womb 
is aleo bound to the great vessels by veins and 
arteries, and to the back by nerves. The 
womb changes its place, when it is drawn an- 
other way; and when the ligaments are loose, 
its own weight bears it down. It is drawn 
on one side when the menstrui are hindered 
from flowing, and the veins and arteries, 
which go to the womb, are full. If there be 
a mole * on one side, the liver and spleen will 
cause it; the liver veins on the right side, and 
the spleen on the left, being more or less re- 
plenished. Some physicians are of opinion, 
that this disorder arises from the solution of the 
connection of the fibrous neck, and the parts 
adjacent. Be this as it may, with women in 
the dropsy, the falling of the womb is occasi- 
oned by the saltness of the water. When there 
is a little tumour, like the skin stretched 
* A mole, is a false conception, or lump of flesh, burthen- 
ing in the womb. Some are of opinion, that it is produced 
by the woman’s seed going into the womb without the 
man’s; but this can only mean, if any thing, that some of 
the ova have gained admittance into the womb, by mastur- 
bation, or some such filthy practice. Other physicians are 
of opinion, that it is engendered of the menstruous blood; 
but in this case it would follow, that maids, by having their 
courses stopt, would be subjest to this accident; but this has 
never yet been proved. The real cause of this carnous con-
ception proceeds from both the man and the woman; from 
corrupt and barren seed in the man, and from the menstruous 
blood in the woman, both mingled together in the cavity of 
the womb; and nature finding herself weak, yet endeavouring 
to maintain the perpetuity of her species, labours to bring
forth such a vicious conception rather than none; and, 
being incapable to produce a living creature, generates a 
lump of flesh. 
F2 within

[100]
within or without the pudendum, or a weight 
felt about the privities, these are symptoms of 
the falling of the womb. When there is a 
tumour like a goose’s egg, and a hole at the 
bottom, great pain is at first felt in the parts 
to which the womb is fastened; such as the 
loins, the bottom of the belly, and the os sa- 
crum, which is occasioned by the breaking or 
stretching of the ligaments; but the pain some 
time after abates, and an impediment in walk- 
ing succeeds. Blood will sometimes issue from 
the breach of the vessels, and the urine and ex- 
crements are no longer voided, in which a fe- 
ver and convulsion will ensue, which frequently 
prove of the most fatal tendency, more espe- 
cially if the patient be pregnant. This dis- 
order should be treated as follows; First, put 
up the womb, before the air alter it, or it be 
swollen or inflamed; for which purpose a cly- 
ster is necessary to remove the excrements. 
The patient should then be laid upon her back, 
with her legs asunder, her thighs raised up, 
and her head down, when the tumour should 
be thrust in, but without violence. In case 
it be swollen by alteration or cold, foment it 
with the decoction of mallows, althea, line, 
fenugreek, camomile-flowers, bay-berries, 
and anoint it with oil of lillies and hens 
grease. If there be an inflammation, it must 
not be thrust up, but frighted in, by placing 
a red hot iron before it, having first sprinkled 
upon it the powder of mastic and frankincense. 
When it is replaced, the patient should lie 
with her legs stretched one upon the other for 
eight

[101]
eight or ten days. A pessary of cork or spunge;
in the shape of a pear, dipped in sharp urine, or 
the juice of acacia, with powder of sanguis, 
galbanum, and bdellium, should be put into 
the womb. A cupping-glass, with a great steam, 
should be applied to the navel or paps, or to 
both kidneys; and the following plaister should 
be laid to the back: opoponix, two ounces, 
liquid storax, half an ounce, mastic, frankin- 
cense, pitch, and bole, two drams each, form- 
ed into a plaister with wax. Fomentations 
and astringents of bramble leaves, plantain, 
horse-tails, thistles, of each two handfuls; 
worm-seed, two pugils, and half an ounce of 
pomegranate flowers boiled in water; and an 
injection should also be used made as follows: 
comfrey-roots, an ounce, rupture-wort, two 
drams, yarrow, mugwort, of each half an 
ounce, boiled in red wine. The womb should 
be strengthened with hart’s-horn, bays, one 
dram of each, and myrrh half a dram, made 
into powder for two doses, which are to be 
given in sharp wines. Rollers and ligatures, 
as for a rupture, are proper to keep it in its 
place; and pessaries should be put into the 
bottom of the womb, in order to force it to 
remain in its replaced state. There are some 
physicians, it is true, who are of opinion, that 
they are prejudicial to conception; but the ma- 
jority recommend them, justly imagining, that 
they neither prevent conception, or occasion 
any injury whatever to the genital parts of the 
female; but, on the contrary, that they not 
only cure the disorder, but promote genera-
F3 tion 

[102] 
tion by their retentive influence. The pa- 
tient’s diet should be drying, astringent, and 
glutinous; such as quinces, pears, green- 
cheese, rice; and consequently red wine is 
the properest, avoiding all summer fruits. 
I FIND, in madam Fouquet’s collection of 
charitable remedies, the following receipt, 
which is stiled, a sovereign plaister for the dis- 
orders of the matrix, &c. 
Cerus, half a pound, minium, one 
pound, Genoa soap, ten ounces, oil of olives, 
two pounds. Put the minium and the cerus 
in a pan upon the fire; continue stirring the 
same, till they are well incorporated and united 
together; then cut the soap in small bits, and 
put it in piece by piece, keeping the contents 
of the pan continually stirring; let it do over 
a middling fire, till such time as it be- 
come grey, or a chesnut colour; take care 
that nothing boils over, whilst it is boiling, 
as these ingredients swell a good deal; and 
continue constantly stirring till it be boiled 
enough; when it is of a good consistence, 
take it off the fire, and stir it still it be cold, 
when rolls are to be made of it; and care 
should be taken, not to handle them with 
wet hands. 
When there is occasion to use this plaister, 
it must be spread upon linnen, or leather; but, 
if upon leather, care must be taken that it has 
no scent.
If

[103]
If the ligaments of the womb are relaxed, 
and a bearing down ensues, it should be ap- 
plied to the navel, the patient remaining in 
bed two days, and keeping it on, till such 
time as she be cured: it should, however, be 
taken off at the end of a fortnight, the place 
wiped, and another plaister put on, remaining 
without any bandage. 
If a woman, when brought to bed, has 
any difficulty of having the after-birth brought 
away, this plaister will be greatly efficacious 
in performing it, by being put upon the navel, 
and leaving it in the manner above prescribed. 
To which is added, there is a very illustrious 
example of a cure performed by the applica- 
tion of this plaister. 
If a lying-in woman, or any other, or a 
maid, has too great a flux of the menses, this 
is a sovereign remedy, by applying it to the 
navel, as above. 
If a woman, or a young girl, has not a 
sufficient flux of her monthly courses, or there 
is an entire suppression of them, this plaister 
should be used; and, in this case, it should be 
placed beneath the navel. 
F4 SEC-

[104]
SECTION VI. 
Of the most practical and approved me- 
thods of cure for the disorders incident 
to excessive venery, or self-pollution. 
HIPPOCRATES says, that when a 
patient has exhausted himself by too 
much indulgence, either of amorous pleasure, 
or even masturbation, and when he has those 
symptoms already described, we should apply 
fomentations all over his body; then give him 
an emetic; repeat it, in order to purge his 
head; then a purgative. “ The cure should 
“ be begun in spring. After the purgative, 
“ give him scummed, or ass’s milk; the cow 
“ milk for forty days. Whilst he drinks the 
“ milk, he should eat no meat; and at night 
“ he should take water gruel. After leaving 
“ off milk, he should eat the most tender 
“ meats, beginning with a small quantity on- 
“ ly. By this means he will recover his flesh. 
“ For a whole twelvemonth he should avoid 
“ every kind of debauchery, all venereal prac- 
“ tices, and every other immoderate exercise; 
“ and in his walks, he should equally avoid 
“ cold, and being in the sun.” 
Boerhaave says, that these disorders are 
always extremely difficult to cure, as they sel- 
dom make their appearance till such time as 
the

[105] 
the body is weakened, and remedies can be 
no longer efficacious. However, the follow- 
ing, he continues, are the most likely to suc- 
ceed. A dry regimen, consisting of birds, 
beef, mutton, veal, kid, roasted rather than 
boiled; a small quantity of good beer; a little 
wine of the strengthening sort. Then much 
exercise, gradually increased, should be used;
till the patient is fatigued; and this exercise 
should be taken fasting; afterwards frictions, 
with perfumed flannels, should take place, up- 
on the reins, the abdomen, the buttocks, and 
scrotum, regularly night and morning. And, 
lastly, half a dram of the following opiate 
should be taken every two hours in the day. 
℞. Terrœ japon. dr. 4. opopanac dr. 5. 
cort. peruv. dr. 6. cons. rosar. rubr. unc. 1. 
obiban dr. 11. succ acac. unc. ss. syrup. kerm. q. 
s. f. l.a. cond. with half an ounce of medical 
wine.
℞. Rad. cariophyll. ment. pœn. mar. aa. 
unc 1. cort. rad. cappar. tamarise. aa. unc 1. 
ss. lign. agalloch. veri unc 1. vin. gall. alb. 
lib. 6. f. l. a. vin. med. 
These prescriptions being regularly fol- 
lowed, the patient may, probably, be cured in 
about two months. 
HOFFMAN writes upon this subject,
“ That all remedies should be avoided that 
“ are not fit for weak persons, and which 
F5 “ may

[106]
“ may weaken a body already enervated; 
“ such are all astringents, those that are too 
“ cooling, saturnine, nitrous, and acid, and 
“ particularly narcotics; they are all prejudi- 
“ cial in cases of this nature, notwithstanding 
“ which they are very frequently used. The 
“ object in view, continues he, is to restore 
“ strength, and to give the fibres that tone 
“ which they have lost; therefore, warm vo- 
“ latile medicines, aromatics, such as have a 
“ strong and agreeable smell, are improper in 
“ this case; but mild aliments that tend to 
“ repair that nutritive gelatinous substance, 
“ which immoderate evacuations have de- 
“ stroyed, as beef, veal, and chicken broth, 
“ with a little wine, common spice, salt, 
“ nutmeg, and cloves. And it should be in 
“ general observed, that all remedies which 
“ promote perspiration, and animate the lan- 
“ guid tone of the fibres, will be of further 
“ assistance.” 
The following decoction and injection have 
been successfully used.
DECOCTION. 
Rx. Flor. succat. lamii. alb. mpl. 6. radic. 
usper et galang. aa. unc 2. rad. bistort. unc 1. 
rad. osmund. regal. unc 2. flor. ros. rubr. mpl. 
4. ichthyocoll. unc 2. 
Scissa. tus. mixt. cum aquœ quart. 8. ad 
quartœ part. evaporat. quoquant. A quart 
whereof to be taken daily. 
INJEC-

[107]
INJECTION. 
Rx. Saccari saturni, vitriol alb. alum, rup. 
aa dr. 1. aq. chalyb. fabror. pint1 1. ss. per 
dies decem igne arena digerantur. add spir. vin. 
camphr. cochl. 3. 
M. Stork is of opinion, that patients, in 
this situation, should be treated in the follow-
ing manner; “ First, they should be fed with 
“ nutritious broths; water gruel, rice, or 
“ barley, boiled in broth or milk, are also. 
“ very essential, care being taken not to load 
“ the stomach with them, but their use to be 
“ frequent. If the stomach should be so 
“ weak, as it sometimes happens, when the 
“ disorder has made great progress, that it 
“ cannot retain this sort of food, without be- 
“ ing greatly oppressed, the patient should
“ have a wet-nurse, and suck her breast. 
“ This has sometimes been attended with 
“ success in the most dangerous cases. The 
“ relaxed fibres are, in some measure, restor- 
“ ed to their tone, by the use of wine im- 
“ pregnated with steel, bark, and cinnamon. 
“ As soon as the patient has got strength 
“ enough to walk, it is very beneficial for him
“ to go into the open air, in a hilly coun-
“ try” 
The best meats are those that are roasted the like
by a slow fire, or gently boiled in their juice. 
They may consist of veal, young mutton, 
young beef, fowls, pidgeons, partridges, and 
F6 the

[108]
the like: and the best kind of aliment is 
milk. Such liquors should be refrained from 
as tend to increase weakness and relaxation, 
diminish the small digestive powers that re- 
main, and communicate acrimony to the hu- 
mours; warm water, coffee, and tea, should 
therefore be avoided. Spirituous liquors are 
also pernicious. The most salutary liquor is 
pure spring water, mixt with wine, and the 
best wines are those that are the most stoma- 
chic. Beer is not good; but mum may, in 
some degree, serve instead of wine, where the 
proper sort is wanting ; and chocolate is par- 
ticularly eligible, especially for breakfast. 
INHALATION, communicated from one 
person to another, may have its use, when 
the patient is particularly feeble. Capuaccio, 
the celebrated Italian professor, prescribed two 
nurses to a patient, between whom he was to 
lie, as well as suck their breasts; and he re- 
covered his strength and powers so wonder- 
fully, that, after some months, he impreg- 
nated them both, and thereby enabled them 
to continue administering his milk diet. His 
pupil, Forestus, was so well convinced of the 
utility of his master’s practice, that he con- 
stantly prescribed a healthy blooming nurse as 
a bed fellow, to every patient troubled with 
the tabis dorsalis. But the danger in this case 
is, that the patient should fancy himself 
more vigorous than he really is, and endea- 
vour too early to testify to his nurse the proofs 
of his recovery. A woman of prudence and 
experience


[109]
experience is, at least, therefore requisite;
and she should be entirely divested of any of 
those passions which might prove fatal to the 
patient, even after his recovery; for this last 
reason, a red haired, or very black, woman 
should never be chosen upon these occasions. 
The most approved remedies in this dis- 
order, are the cold bath, and the bark or 
quinquina used together. Their virtues are 
the same, and, being united, frequently pro- 
duce the most happy effects, even when every 
other application has failed. They invigo- 
rate, diminish the feverish and nervous heat; 
they calm the irregular motions produced by 
the spasmodic disposition of the nervous sys- 
tem; they fortify a weak stomach, and dissi-
pate its attendant complaints; they also restore 
lost appetite, promote digestion, and increase 
nutrition; they facilitate the operation of all 
the functions, and particularly perspiration, 
which renders them so efficacious in all catarr- 
hous and cutaneous disorders. They should, 
however, not be used, if the patient is afflict- 
ed with internal ulcerous abscesses, inflamma- 
tions, or obstructions. To these two reme- 
dies may be added steel, which is useful in all 
cases of weakness, and may be given either in 
substance or by infusion. For the same rea- 
son Spa water, as a strengthener, is much to 
be commended in this case. Bitters, gums, 
myrrh, and gentle aromatics, are proper; but 
the choice of these different remedies must de- 
pend upon circumstances, I have known the 
following

[110]
following pills and decoction to be taken  
with great success. 
PILLS. 
Rx. Myrrh. elect. unc ss. gum. galhan. extr. 
trisol. fibr. terr. japan. aa dr. 2. sir. cort.
aur. q. s. f. pil. gra. 3. 
DECOCTION. 
Rx. Cort. peruv. unc 2. cort, rad. capp. 
unc 1. cinnam. acut. dr. 2. limat. mart. in no-
doul. lax. unc ss. cum. oq. font. lib. 2. ss. l. a. f. 
decoct. 
The pills should be taken with broth, after  
breakfast, dinner, or supper, about seven 
at a time. 
If quinquina is taken, it is not necessary 
that the patient should confine himself to a 
milk diet, and when the wine is impregnated 
with bark, it does not prompt them to vomit 
when taken in the morning fasting; this is 
the proper time for it, and night for the taking 
of the milk. If the mineral waters are taken, 
it is necessary that some bottles of pure water 
should be taken before the milk is mixed with 
it. If the disorder be inveterate, it common- 
ly degenerates into a cacochymy, which it is 
necessary to remove, before the patient’s 
strength is endeavoured to be restored. Eva- 
cuants are, in this case, absolutely necessary, 
and are frequently very successful. If the pa- 
tient’s life is in danger, recourse must be had 
to

[111] 
to real cordials, such as Spanish wine, fresh 
eggs, succulent broths, and the like; and flan- 
nels, heated with treacle, are very efficacious 
when applied to the breast. In case of a fever, 
the patient should not be blooded, till such 
time as there is an indication, by the fulness 
and hardness of the pulse and it were better 
to he blooded twice, losing small quantities 
each time, than to part with much blood at 
one time. 
In a word, those medicines which are most 
immediately necessary are those which are 
ranged under the heads of balsamics and astrin- 
gents. By balsamic medicines, are meant 
those which comfort the nerves, strengthen 
the constitution, and thereby animate the pa- 
tient. Among these are flor. tilliœ lavendul.
rorismarin. pœoniœ. herb. thym. menth. vul- 
gar majoran culaminth. cort cinnamon canell 
alb. aurantior. siccati, fruct. nuc. moschat. of the 
animal class musk. The simple waters of cin- 
namon, orange peel, and common mint; the 
aq. aelexater. simple. the spirit of rosemary, the 
compound spirit of lavendar, sp. volat. aroma- 
tic. julep-e-moscho. The tincture of cinnamon,
and the essential oils of marjoram, spearmint, 
rosemary, lavendar, and cinnamon fyr. e cort. 
aurantior. coryophillor rubr. from whence 
many useful remedies may be formed, and
suited to various constitution and stages of 
affliction. 
AMONGST the class of astringents we may 
include, rad. bistort. formentille, &c. but what, 
as


[112]
as I have said before, deserves the preference 
to every other internal medicine, is the quin- 
quinilla, or Peruvian bark. 
OF the officinial compositions, may be 
reckoned conserv. prunellor. sylvestr. elixir. vi- 
triol. acid. the extract and simple tincture of 
the cort Peruv. tinct saturnia, syrup of quin- 
ces, lemons, &c. and amongst the grateful, 
cooling, and salutary fruits, may be reckoned 
oranges, cherries, rasberries, strawberries, 
grapes, currants, &c. but these are to be 
used with moderation, and not with a milk 
diet.
The external remedies must also be astrin- 
gent, such as the emplastr, roborant, which 
is to be applied to the loins. The testicles 
should also be suspended in a bag, or truss, 
when they hang too loose, which is common- 
ly the case in this situation; and the perinæ- 
um, the testicles, and the pubes, should be 
embrocated, upon going to bed, with vinegar, 
or cloths that have been steeped in verjuice, or 
vinegar should be laid on them all night. 
PREVIOUS to the administering of these 
remedies, and making of these applications, it 
is necessary that the stomach and bowels 
should be cleansed; and therefore an emetic 
and a dose are proper to be taken. There is 
seldom occasion for more than one emetic, as
the rest of the cure depends entirely on bra- 
cing medicines, and nervous ones interspersed 
with

[113]
with nourishing diet; therefore the whites of
eggs mixed, and afterwards the yokes, will ge- 
nerally be found salutary. Tea, as I have said 
before, is very pernicious; but to those who 
have accustomed themselves to drink in a morn- 
ing, or afternoon, it will be difficult immedi- 
ately to leave it off; therefore as a substitute 
may be requisite, and in this case nothing can 
be better than baum and mint, in every dish 
of which should be infused a tea spoonful of the 
balsamic mixture, ex cremor luct. vitell. ov. 
with a few drops of oil of cinnamon; and 
the stomach will thereby be greatly assisted in 
its functions. 
The following julep may be taken at any 
time on an empty stomach; and in case of 
costiveness, the chewing of a little rhubarb 
will remove it. 
JULEP. 
Rx. Ex. aq. alexiter. simp. aq. cinnamon. 
simp. menth, &c. with some drops of spir. la- 
vend. c. and tinct. saturnia. à p. e. of elex. vi- 
triol acid. vel. tinct. cort. peruviam. 
But as the cure of this disorder depends as 
much upon knowing what to avoid, as what 
to do, therefore, without a nice regularity of 
the non-naturals, medicines will have little or 
no effect; it is therefore necessary to consider 
the importance of the salubrity of the air; the 
diet, which should be analeptic and cooling; 
sleep 

[114]
sleep exercise; the secretions of the body; 
and the necessity of chearful company, and 
amusements. I shall, therefore, in this place 
set down what Dr. Lewis says upon these 
heads, being at once the most concise and per- 
tinent observations I have met with upon the 
subject 
“ No disease, says he, requires a greater 
“ regard to the non-naturals than the tabes 
“ dorsalis; its attacks are early, its progress 
“ slow, but sure; and it seems almost to be 
“ interwoven in the constitution before the 
“ patient discovers his danger; for the appe- 
“ tite is generally good [bene comedunt, says 
“ Hippocrates.) As the air is that element 
“ by which we live, move, and have our be- 
“ ing, the good and bad qualities of it ever 
“ stand foremost in a medical view. A clear 
“ and temperate air is universally known to 
“ be the best for continuing health; but cold 
“ rather than a hot air seems to contribute 
“ more to the recovering a thin hectical con- 
“ stitution; and a patient should habituate 
“ himself to be often in it. 
“ As to diet, every thing salted, spiced, 
“ or otherwise seasoned, and all spirituous 
“ and fermented liquors, of whatever kind,
“ ought to be religiously avoided. They ac- 
“ celerate the motion of the blood, and in- 
“ flame the body. Water (only Bristol wa- 
“ ter) mixed with a little old Rhenish wine, 
“ in the summer season; in the winter, red 
“ port should be made the common drink; 

[115]
“ and plain roasting or boiling is the best 
“ cookery for the animal diet of the patient. 
“ But among all the materials of food, there 
“ is not any thing more beneficial than milk *. 
“ I have known a pint, and with some two 
“ pints of milk, drunk in two draughts at 
“ half an hour’s distance, warm from the 
“ cow in the morning, and repeated in the 
“ afternoon, become a wonderful restorative. 
“ All the warmer months, it ought to be so 
“ used, and to be made as much as possible 
“ an ingredient in the other daily sustenance. 
“ Thus, chocolate made with milk, in such 
“ quantity as to pass easily off the stomach, is 
“ an excellent breakfast for a tabid consti- 
“ tion, I knew a child, twelve years old, 
“ in the last stage of a consumption, when 
“ given over by a physician, recovered by the 
“ mother's giving her chocolate only, in 
“ small quantities often repeated. Indeed it 
“ is an aliment that, for weak constitutions, 
“ cannot be too much recommended; and it 
“ may at any time be made to fit easy on the 
“ stomach, by diluting it with water. Be- 
“ sides chocolate, viper broth, broths prepar- 
“ ed with milk, rice, milk, and a variety of 
“ other combinations, known to every fami- 
“ ly, may be contrived to humour the palate 
“ of the patient. 
“ I have not known a single instance, 
“ where animal diet for dinner has done any 
* Purgato sursum et dorsum corpore, lac bubulum per 
quadraginta dies bibendum exhibeto, Burneti Hippocra- 
tes, p. 15. 
“ harm;

[116]
“ harm; yet it will be prudent to recom- 
“ mend such as is of easy digestion. Lamb, 
“ veal, young mutton, fowls, &c. well roast- 
“ ed or boiled, unattended with poignant 
“ sauces, and swallowed with equal quanti- 
“ ties of bread and roots together (more or 
“ less occasionally) cannot fail of producing 
“ laudable chyle and good nutriment, if well 
“ digested (the criterion whereby the quantity 
“ and quality of the meal are determined) 
“ and will do more service in recruiting lan- 
“ guid nature than medicine can. 
“ But with regard to supper, the patient 
“ is to be particularly cautioned. Nothing 
“ but milk, warmed before the fire, and a 
“ slice of thin toasted bread, can be allowed 
“ without detriment; and this ought to be 
“ taken two hours before bed-time; for sleep 
“ is a time of application, not for the pre- 
“ paration of the aliment. That nutrition 
“ may be carried on naturally, it is necessary 
“ that deep should be found and uninterrupt- 
“ ed; but nothing even in a state of health 
“ is a greater impediment to repose than a 
“ late or an animal supper, as the voluptuous 
“ can tell. If this be the case in general, 
“ to a person labouring under a tabes dorsalis, 
“ the avoiding such becomes indispensably 
“ necessary. Seminal emissions in the night 
“ draw after them all the other symptoms. 
“ Whether these are owing to venereal dreams 
“ or not, they certainly will not happen so 
“ often, if the mind, and its powers, are 
“ composed,

[117] 
“ composed, i.e. unconcerned in any animal 
“ actions; for the disturbance of the imagi- 
“ nation is thereby in a great measure cut off. 
“ This is a truth incontestable; for I have 
“ always found the patient to sleep more 
“ soundly, and to escape this evacuation 
“ more constantly, when he takes no supper 
“ at all. 
“ Sleep little, and in due season. If the 
“ dictates of nature be followed (and a phy- 
“ sician is nature’s minister) we should go ear- 
“ ly to bed, and rise early. In the night- 
“ season, the inclemency of the atomsphere is 
“ greatest, and our bodies, after the vigilance 
“ and labour of the day, then lead able to 
“ resist the impression. Perspiration, the 
“ most important of all the bodily discharges, 
“ goes on best in bed *. But it is absolutely 
“ necessary to forbid a patient, afflicted with 
“ the disease I am prescribing, to an indul- 
“ gence in bed in the morning. The more 
“ moderate the quantity of his sleep is, the 
“ sweeter and more invigorating will it be. 
“ Thus, if he lies down at ten o’clock (which 
“ hour he should never exceed) he ought to 
“ rise in the summer time at four or five, in 
“ the winter time at six or seven, otherwise 
“ he may observe as a general rule, to rise 
“ immediately upon awaking; for a second 
“ repose in the morning, however inclined 
* —diuturna enim parcior longe nocturne perspiratio,
sanctor. aphorism. explanat. auctore P. Nogues, f. 1. p. 35.
“ he


[118]
“ he may be to it, is almost always attended 
“ with dreams; and though this practice may 
“ be irksome at first, custom will make it fa- 
“ miliar and agreeable. 
“ MODERATE exercise must be used, espe- 
“ cially riding on horse back. That the air 
“ may be enjoyed to the best advantage, and 
“ that the diet of the patient may be thorough- 
“ ly digested, which will pave the way to a 
“ natural sleep, he ought to use as much ex- 
“ ercise as his strength will permit. Gentle 
“ walking, in the morning in the fields, if 
“ the season be favourable, otherwise at home, 
“ or playing at shuttle-cock, may serve for 
“ part; but the best kind of exercise is that 
“ of riding on horse-back. It is exercise 
“ without labour; and since the mind in the 
“ tabes dorsalis is to be relieved, as well as 
“ the body, the taking a long journey, by 
“ such daily portions as to avoid extraordi- 
“ nary weariness, whereby new objects will 
“ continually present, is surprisingly effica- 
“ cious; and, if the circumstances of the pa- 
“ tient will permit, ought ever to be recom- 
“ mended by his physician. 
“ THE secretions of the body are to be re- 
“ gulated, if out of order. Thus, smoaking 
“ tobacco is to be forbidden. The saliva was 
“ not by nature designed to be thus lavishly 
“ expended; and though some constitations 
“ may bear this evacuation, it cannot be al- 
“ lowed in the present case, since the solids
“ in

[119]
“ in general, being weak, the glans have 
“ patent orifices, and the fluids are thereby 
“ rendered liable to run off too fast. As to 
“ the rest of the secretions, the non-naturals 
“ being rightly observed, there is seldom any 
“ disorder in them. 
“ The patient should be entertained with 
“ chearful company. The last point we have 
“ to speak to on this head, is the passions. 
“ Physicians well know how important the 
“ regulation of them is; for between the 
“ mind and the body there is such a connec- 
“ tion, that the vital and animal actions ne- 
“ ver fail to affect one another. In the tabes 
“ dorsalis, the patient discovers exceeding 
“ grief and melancholy. Now, it is not 
“ enough that they are mitigated by remedy- 
“ ing the vice of these corporeal organs upon 
“ which they depend; every possible means 
“ of relief is to be sought after; and some as- 
“ sistance may be had by exciting the opposite 
“ passions. Thus mirthful company, and en- 
“ gaging diversions, &c. are known to take 
“ off the mind from gloomy thoughts and im- 
“ mense melancholy. Here the elegant vi- 
“ vacious harangues of the physician will do 
“ great service. But it must be observed here, 
“ that as the company of females is apt to ex- 
“ cite libidinous ideas, it ought, by all means, 
“ to be avoided. Study also is highly preju- 
“ dicial. The patient should never be left to 
“ himself; never suffered to read, nor have 
“ any time to reflect on his severe fortune; 
“ for

[120]
“ for all these oppress the nerves, sink the 
“ spirits, and obstruct the cure.”  
So far Dr. Lewis; and I shall conclude 
this section in the words of the celebrated Dr. 
Tissot, in his Treatise upon Masturbation. “ It 
“ would be useless to extend this piece any 
“ farther. I have endeavoured to omit no- 
“ thing that might open the eyes of young 
“ people to all the horrors of that abyss which 
“ they prepare for themselves. I have point- 
“ out the most proper means of removing 
“ those ills which they have drawn upon 
“ themselves; and I conclude by assuring, 
“ that some happy cures should not delude 
“ them. Those who are the best cured with 
“ difficulty recover their primitive vigour, 
“ and preserve tolerable health only by dint 
“ of managing it. Those who remain in a 
“ languid state, are ten-fold the number of 
“ those who are cured; and some examples 
“ of persons who are but little ailing, or of a 
“ vigorous constitution, which promoted their 
“ recovery, should not be considered as a ge- 
“ neral rule.”  
SEC-

[121]
SECTION VII. 
Of impotency in men, and barrenness in 
women; and the most efficacious remedies 
for their cure. 
THERE cannot, assuredly, be a more 
dreadful curse inflicted upon a man of a 
warm constitution, than the inability of pro- 
pagating his species. If he resides in a capital 
city, his senses must be incessantly importun- 
ed to make some unsuccessful effort to abate 
that desire, so naturally implanted in him, and 
which he is incapable of gratifying. If his 
constant residence be in the country, every 
bird and animal that salutes his mate recals 
to his mind the misery of his situation; and 
every blooming fair too frequently convinces 
him of his being a real, not a fabulous, Tan- 
talus. 
It is true, the fair sex do not labour under 
such immediate cruel grievances upon this ac- 
count, as being only the patient in the amo- 
rous constict. Barrenness does not prevent their 
receiving those balsamic tributes, which the 
potent part of the male creation are capable of 
paying them. It must, nevertheless, be a 
mortifying reflection for every married wo- 
man, in this state, to consider herself incapa- 
citated from propagating her species, and giv- 
G ing

[122]
ing that assistance in the nuptial association, 
which was its ultimate and great design. Be- 
sides, she must fall far short of those raptures 
which a fruitful woman is susceptible of, and 
can at most enjoy but a small portion of pro- 
creative bliss. 
Women, in some countries, are examined 
by matrons, before they are admitted to the 
nuptial bed; and those only that are pronoun- 
ced to be fruitful, are allowed to enter into 
the marriage-state; and I must own, that I 
see no reason, without custom be allowed one, 
where the ladies are made so free with, why 
the men should not undergo as strict an in- 
spection, especially if we consider, that when 
the defect is on the woman’s side, she may still 
be made use of, and give her husband at least 
momentary pleasure, if she be not impene- 
trable; whereas, if the defect be on the man’s 
side, she can find no relief, except it be in 
adultery, as it is impossible for him to com- 
municate any satisfaction to her, or expert to 
convey the seed into the womb, if his yard is 
incapable of erection; and this is the most 
certain symptom of impotency in man. 
BARRENNESS is, however, more common 
in women than in men, by reason of the ma- 
ny additional bodily infirmities to which their 
sex is liable, and which I have already enu- 
merated: to these may be added those causes 
that most frequently occasion it in men, 
namely

[123]
namely, too early and great an indulgence 
in venery or masturbation. 
It also sometimes happens, that impotency 
is occasioned in men by a deficiency and want 
of seed; and I think I cannot do better, than 
transcribe the great Boerhaave’s words upon 
this subject, in his treatise de Viribus Medi- 
camentorum. 
“ THIS chapter, says he, consists of such 
“ medicines as increase seed, and promote its 
“ secretion; but we are ignorant how the 
“ animalcules in the seed are generated. 
“ Leeuwenhoeck tells us, they are not to be 
“ found in any part of the body; but in the 
“ male sperm of all animals, which is sepa- 
“ rated in the testicles, and are like so many 
“ tadpoles, of a prodigious number, swimming 
“ every way in the seed, with incredible 
“ briskness and activity; that they are not to 
“ be found in the liquid of the prostatæ is 
“ evident from castrated animals. Now, 
“ there are four things which augment the 
“ seed: first, all such things as augment chyle, 
“ milk, and blood. Milk taken in large 
“ quantities is a great breeder of seed, and 
“ renders persons more salacious than wine or 
“ spices. Hence those who eat much of ve- 
“ getables, eggs, or milk, are much addicted 
“ to venery. Secondly, all medicines which 
“ convey a more abundant quantity of chy- 
“ lous blood towards those parts, where the 
“ genital liquid is prepared. To this purpose,
G2 “ fomen-


[124]
“ fomentations, bathings, frications, em- 
“ plastics, balsams, made of spices, are very 
“ conducive; as also, oil of rue, and eu- 
“ phorbium, plaisters of melilot; these will 
“ increase sufficiently the spermatic juice. 
“ The following things are much commend- 
“ ed by Italians as specifics, who are much 
“ admirers of such delicacies, viz. all bal- 
“ sams, emplastics, composed from sea 
“ southernwood, buffwort, calamint, sweet- 
“ sconted dittany of Crete, leveage, which 
“ are commended as salacious herbs; parsley, 
“ savine, savory, especially that of Crete;
“ thyme, wild thyme, nepenthe, wild mar- 
“ joram, as that of Crete, where animals are 
“ most salacious; pepper, eringo roots, hedge 
“ mustard, are great provocatives to venery; 
“ as are also all compounds from these herbs, 
“ made up in decoctions, potions, cataplasms, 
“ and ointments. Thirdly, such things as 
“ cause a vehement stimulation in the liquids; 
“ as all aromatics stimulate the nervous 
“ juices. Thus, onions, garlick, and leeks, 
“ are great incentives to lust, which is evi- 
“ dent from those persons who eat them fre- 
“ quently, as the Persians and Egyptians do, 
“ who are much given to venery, and are 
“ scarce satisfied with one woman. Hither be- 
“ long all aromatic gums. Thus we see hy- 
“ pocondriac people, to whom we have given 
“ them for resolving obstructions, by taking 
“ them often, become very salacious; as myrrh, 
“ aloes, galbanum, opponax, sagaperium,
“ tachamahae, bdellium, &c, also balsams,
“ as

[125]
“ as capavy, &c. if these be used too much, 
“ they will cause a priapism, and excite an 
“ abundant secretion of seed. Hither also be- 
“ long all natural salts, except nitre, all vo- 
“ latile salts, especially those that are oily, 
“ and oily spints, as of wine, which operate 
“ chiefly by stimulation, soaps, all diuretics, 
“ chiefly by water excepted, castoriam di- 
“ stilled, aromatic oils, which operate two 
“ ways, either by increasing motion, or by 
“ irritation. Fourthly, there are specific pro- 
“ vocatives to venery, which act upon bo- 
“ dies not fitly disposed, as feeds of dill, 
“ vetches, satyrion, concerning which see 
“ Diascorides, the brains of sparrows, and the 
“ stones of salacious animals, as of cocks, 
“ lambs, &c. are very much commended; as 
“ likewise, the glandules of animals, which 
“ are of a similar nature to the testicles, as 
“ those which grow in the asperia arteria of 
“ calves, all which are so beneficial, as they 
“ generate good chyle; ultiocinus, a small 
“ sea-fish, which, if eaten, is said to cause such 
“ an incitement to venery, as to induce a sa- 
“ tyriasis, or continual erection of the penis: 
“ but I am of opinion, that the effect doth 
“ not so much depend upon the fish, as upon 
“ those things which are taken with it; for 
“ it is generally eaten with pepper, salt, ga- 
“ langal, &c. A milk diet may be proper, 
“ because the generation of seed depends upon 
“ good chyle.”
G3 Besides


[126] 
BESIDES what is recommended in the 
above chapter from Boerhaave, the following 
prescription will be found very efficacious in 
all impotent cases: Take of the best palm 
sack six ounces, of jelly of hartshorn three 
ounces, essence of ambergrease ten drops, 
chocolate all nut half an ounce, black pepper, 
powdered, one scruple, essence of satyrion 
twenty drops, confection of alkermes one 
dram, essence of cantharides twelve drops, vo- 
latile salt of vipers ten grains, white sugar 
candy three drams; the chocolate and sugar 
candy must be dissolved in the sack over the 
fire, but it should not boil; and when it is 
cold, the other things are to be added, with 
the yokes of two eggs. They should be mix- 
ed very well together, and drank at one or 
more draughts, every morning at breakfast. 
The testicles should at the same time be anoint- 
ed with the following salutary balsam: take oil 
of mace, by expression, two drains, Peruvian 
balsam one dram, oil of nutmegs, oil of cloves, 
of each six drops, musk eight grains, civet 
ten grains, essence of cantharides, and essence 
of ambergrease, of each six drops; mix them 
well without the use of fire, and anoint the 
genitals therewith night and morning. The 
cold bath may also be used at the same time 
with great success. 
HAVING given this advice to the men, 
it is time we should attend the ladies. 
In

[127]
In the cure of barrenness, attention must 
be particularly paid to the cause; as this 
must be first removed, and then the womb 
strengthened, and the spirits of the seed en- 
livened by corroborating applications. 
If barrenness proceed from over much heat, 
let the patient use inwardly succory, endive, 
violets, water lillies, sorrel, and lettuce, with 
syrups and conserves made of the same; to 
which end, take conserves of borrage, violets, 
water lillies, of each one ounce; half an ounce 
of conserve of roses, diamargariton rigid, 
diatrion, santalon, of each half a dram, and 
with syrup of violets, or juice of citron, make 
an electuary. She should also take of endive, 
water lillies, borrage flowers, of each a hand- 
ful, rhubarb, mirobolans, of each three drams, 
and, with water, make a decoction; add to 
the straining the syrup laxative of violets, one 
ounce, syrup of cassia half an ounce, manna 
three drams; all which make into a potion; 
take of the syrup of mugwort one once, syrup 
of maidenhair two ounces, pulv. elect. trio- 
sant, and make all up into a julep; apply to 
the reins and privities fomentations of the juice 
of lettuce, violets, roses, mallows, vine leaves, 
and nightshade. She should also anoint her 
privities with the cooling ointment of galls. 
Baths are also good for her to fit in. The air 
she perspires should be clear; her garments 
thin; her food lettuce, endive, succory, and 
barley; but she should eat no hot meals, nor 
drink any strong wines. Repose, as well cor- 
G4 poreal

[128]
poreal as mental, is necessary for her; and she 
should use but little copulation. 
When barrenness is occasioned by the pre- 
dominancy of blood extinguishing the power 
of the seed, which may be known by her de- 
siring venery, and receiving no pleasure in the 
act of copulation, even at the critical instant 
of the man’s emission; by her courses being 
phlegmatic, thick, and slimy, and not flow- 
ing regularly; in this case she should take 
syrup of calamint, mugwort, betony, of each 
one ounce, water of pennyroyal, feverfew, hy- 
sop, sage, of each an ounce, made into a julep. 
She should also take every morning two spoon- 
fuls of cinnamon water, with one spoonful of 
mithridate. She should likewise take of oil of 
anniseed one scruple and a half, jasmini, diaca- 
lam, both diamosci, diagalang, of each one 
dram, sugar four ounces, made with water of 
cinnamon into lozenges, a dram and an half 
of which should be taken twice a day, two 
hours before meals. Cupping glasses should 
be fastened to her hips and belly, and she 
should take storax, calamint one ounce, mas- 
tick, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, lignum 
aloes, frankincese, of each half an ounce, 
musk ten grains, ambergrease half a scruple, 
and with those make them into a confection, 
to be divided into four parts, one whereof is 
to be formed into a pomum doratum to smell 
to, if she be not inclined to hysterics; the 
second should be made into a mass of pills, 
three of which should be taken every night; 
the third into a pessary, and put into the 


[129] 
womb; and the fourth into a fumigation for 
the matrix. 
WHEN barrenness is occasioned by the 
faculties of the womb being weakened, and 
the life of the seed suffocated by too much tu- 
midity flowing in those parts, she should, in, 
this case, take of betony, marjoram, mug- 
wort, pennyroyal, balm, of each one handful, 
root of asarum, fennel, elacampanes, of each 
two drams, anniseed, cumminseed, of each a 
dram, with a sufficient quantity of sugar and 
water, to form them into a syrup, three ounces 
of which are to be taken every morning. The 
following purgative pills are to be taken; of 
pill extid. two scruples, diagridion two grains, 
spec. de costore one scruple, which are to be 
made up into nine pills, with syrup of mug- 
wort. Take likewise spec. diagemmæ, diamo- 
sci, diambre, of each one dram, cinnamon one 
dram and a half, mace, cloves, nutmegs, of 
each half a dram, sugar six ounces, and with 
water of feverfew make them into lozenges, 
which are to be taken every morning. She 
should also take of the decoction of sarsaparilla, 
and virga anred, with a good quantity of sage, 
which is an herb of so much virtue, that Cor- 
nelius Agrippa honoured it with the title of 
sacra herba, or the holy herb; and Dodenæus, 
in his history of Plants, relates, that after a 
great plague had happened in Egypt, which 
had nearly depopulated the country, the sur- 
viving women were commanded to drink the 
juice of sage, that they might multiply the 
G5 faster.


[30]
faster. She should also anoint her genital 
parts with oil of anniseed and spikenard. Tro- 
chisks are also very beneficial in smothering the 
womb, which should be made as follows: she 
should take mace, nutmeg, cinnamon, storax, 
amber, of each one dram, cloves, labdani, of 
each half a dram, turpentine, a sufficient quan- 
tity; after which she should use an infusion to 
fit upon after her courses are gone, made in this 
manner; take the roots of valerian and ele- 
campane, of each one pound, of galingal 
three ounces, origans, lavendar, marjoram, 
betony, mugwort, bay leaves, calamint, of 
each three handfuls, prepared with water. 
In case barrenness arises from the dryness of 
the womb, consuming the matter of the seed, 
the patient should take every day almonds and 
goats milk, extracted with honey; she should 
eat frequently of the root satyrion, condited, 
and of the electuary of diasatyrion; she should 
likewise take three sheeps heads, and boil them 
till the flesh is Separated from the bone, then 
take of melilot, violets, camomile, of each a 
handful, and of fenugreek, linseed, and vale- 
rian root, of each a pound, and being de- 
cocted in the aforesaid broth, she should conti- 
nue fitting in it up to her navel, till it become 
cool; she should also take of deer’s suet half 
an ounce, cow’s marrow, styracis, liquidæ, of 
each a dram, oil of sweet almonds two ounces, 
and with silk or cotton make the same into a 
pessary, and inject oil of Sweet almonds and 
melted butter 
BARRENNESS

[131]
BARRENNESS may likewise be occasioned 
by remissness in the act of coition; for though 
there be no impediment on either side, yet if 
both sexes meet not in that act with equal vi- 
gour and desire, no conception can be the con- 
fequence of it. It frequently happens, that 
the man is too quick for the woman, or the 
woman too slow for the man; and therefore 
not being prepared to receive the seed with 
that delight which she ought, when it is emit- 
ted by the man, she discharges no ova, and the 
womb is no way benefited by the operation. 
In this case she should, before the act of co- 
ition, foment the pudendum with a decoction 
of betony, fage, hyson, and calamint, and 
also anoint the mouth and neck of the womb 
with musk and civet. The following appli- 
cation will also be very efficacious to strengthen 
the womb, as it is in this situation required: 
take of bay-berries, mastic, nutmeg, frankin- 
cense, cypress nuts, labdani, galbani, of each 
one drop, styracis, liquidæ, two scruples, cloves 
half a scruple, ambergrease two grains, musk
five grains, with which a bit of spikenard, a 
pessary should be made. Take also of red 
roses, frankincese, lapidis hematitis, of each 
half an ounce, sanguis draconis, fine bole, ma- 
stic, of each two drains, nutmeg and cloves, 
of each a dram, spikenard half a scruple, and 
with oil of wormwood make a plaister for the 
lower parts of the belly. She should also eat 
of the eringo roots condited, and take an in- 
jection of the juice of the roots of satyrion. 
She must use copulation soon after the menses 
are

[132]
are ceased, conception being then most apt to 
take place, as the womb is thirsty and dry,
and most inclinable to attract the seed, as well 
as retain it, by the roughness of its interior 
coat.
If these remedies and precautions are pro- 
perly attended to, it is not to be doubted but 
many families, who might soon be extinct for 
want of heirs, may be enabled to extend their 
lineage to the latest posterity. But every per- 
son (whether male or female) who proposes 
deriving any advantage from these rules, should 
cautiousty attend to one thing, which is, that 
they should not attempt to stimulate nature, 
when she is drained; for even if success were 
so far to crown their endeavours in this respect, 
their heirs must, being begot under these cir- 
cumstances, prove only a puny issue. A man 
who has laboured under any complaints of an 
impotent kind should remember, even after he 
has in some degree recovered his pristine vi- 
gour, that he cannot reasonably expect to get 
above one child a week; and therefore, I 
would recommend him to confine his em- 
braces to an hebdornedal indulgence; and his 
wife need not complain at this, as she will 
then receive them with much more gratifica- 
tion. Another point to be attended to, is the 
reciprocality of enjoyment; and a husband 
who is desirous of being the father of children, 
should be particularly curious in this respect, 
and not let any false modesty on his wife’s 
part conceal the real produce of his endea- 
vous;


[133]
vours; and as he may thereby keep an exact 
account, so he should never exceed, on his 
part, the number of times his wife has actually 
enjoyed coition. When there is a deficiency 
on her side, the fomentation prescribed above 
should be used with greater frequency, and in 
larger quantities, till such time as she has had 
her complete portion of bliss. 
SEC-

[134]
SECTION VIII. 
Of the propriety of AMOROUS PLEASURE. 
IF it were necessary to prove the utility of a 
natural intercourse between the sexes, our 
own very existence, and that of posterity, 
would be incontrovertible reasons. Neither 
found philosophy, or even holy writ itself, any 
way discountenances it; but, on the contra- 
ry, we are particularly commanded to increase 
and multiply. And if, indeed, these conside- 
rations, which are so cogent, were set aside, 
the happy union which it promotes and rivets,
the friendship it cements, and the inexpressible 
joy which it diffuses, would surely be suffici- 
ent argument to refute any impotent unnatu- 
ral attacks upon amorous pleasure, and we must, 
as long as we are susceptible of the power of 
beauty, agree with the poet, when he says, 
Love's the most tender passion of the mind, 
The softest refuge, innocence can find, 
The safe director of unguarded youth, 
Fraught with kind wishes, and secured hy truth. 
Heaven in our cup this drop hath thrown, 
To make the nauseous draught of life go down, 
With regard to our health, it is most certain- 
ly necessary to many constitutions; and tho’
I

[135]
I would chuse to give all the force to Mr
Skmeider’s reasoning it deserves, and allow that 
a great part of the semen is absorbed, and re- 
turns into the mass of blood; yet it is plain 
there would still remain too great a redundan- 
cy in strong robust men, if it were not carried 
off by some discharge, which is frequently in- 
voluntary: but surely these nocturnal emissi- 
ons are contrary to the design of nature, 
which plainly points out their proper destinat- 
ion, the support of the universal chain of ex- 
istence, a chain that is doubtless destroyed by 
this diversion of the course of inheritance; and 
all the sophistry in the world will never be able 
to evince, that the toleration of these evacua- 
tions is not equally destructive of the human 
species as self-pollution, since constitution and 
custom will instruct every man when these 
discharges will come about ; and therefore by 
not anticipating them, and directing them in- 
to their proper channel, he is instrumental in 
destroying the human species in the same pro- 
portion as he might have become a father, by 
marking the just application. 
The prejudice that is occasioned to the 
human frame, from an undue retention of 
the semen, is frequently of very dangerous 
consequence, as a plethora and cacochymy 
may ensue, occasioning pains in the head, pal- 
pitations of the heart, apoplexy, lethargy, 
spermatic fevers, according to the different 
temperaments and constitutions of the persons, 
who by such undue continence are the cause 
of

[136]
of so much harm to themselves, and rather 
than obey the dictates of unerring nature, 
chuse by a rigorous ascetic apathy to resist her 
motions, thereby counteracting that great 
command of the Creator, of which the mind 
is made conscious for the propagation of the 
human species; and, thus obstructing the ani- 
mal œconomy, justly incur the natural con- 
sequences of such premeditated violence offered 
to her laws. 
When man is arrived at the age which 
confers the faculty of procreating, the tender 
organs destined for its source become turgid 
by their fulness, and, by the pressure of their 
contained fluid, ad upon the nervous fibres 
with such inexplicable energy, as to promote 
the expression of their contents, by the grati- 
fication of the universal appetite; and when 
once the confined semen hath been ejected, it 
so far dilates the excretory ducts of the vesiculæ 
seminales, which confined it, as to render them 
unable at any time afterwards to restrain it, 
with sufficient restriction, to resist their pleni- 
tude, when the semen is collected in such 
measure as to impress the nervous fibrillæ of 
those parts, with such sensations as excite in 
the imagination a desire to venery; which in- 
tention naturally arises in the minds of all 
persons, even the most rigid Platonist, and 
presents them with phantasms too powerful 
for the frailty of their nature to chase away, 
or resolution sufficient to prevent gratifica- 
tion. Nor would it be proper, that these de- 
sires


[137]
desires should be entirely suppressed; for  
if every one could so far surmount his amorous 
passions, as to live in a perfect state of celi- 
bacy, and stand in no need of seminal evacua- 
tions, or have no reason to fear any disorders 
from its undue retention, creation would be 
at an end, and all the links of society which 
are cemented by the ties of consanguinity 
would be dissolved. 
MARRIAGE, as it is honourable in all 
countries, so it has been held in great esteem 
from the beginning of the world among all 
sorts and sects of people. The Romans, and 
especially the wife emperor Augustus, did 
what they could to encourage it. The Jews 
did the same. The Lacedemonians, at their 
festivals, would not admit of any single man; 
and if those who were unmarried ventured to 
come amongst them, they were, as soon as 
discovered, ordered to be whipped by the wo- 
men, as unprofitable members of the republic; 
nor were any but married men suffered to bear 
any office; so that throughout the world as 
an encouragement to matrimony, the married 
men were highly preferred, excused from go- 
ing to the wars for the first year after mar- 
riage, and in every thing had the advantage of 
those that were single. 
The virtues of celibacy, it is true, have 
been frequently cried up, as if there were 
something very extraordinary contained in 
them: and many persons have, doubtless, be- 
lieved,

[138]
lieved, that they have acted pursuant to the 
principles of religion, and the dictates of con- 
science, when they have supported this ridi- 
culous, irrational, and unnatural doctrine: 
but if we proceed to examine their reasons 
and arguments, we shall find them to be al- 
together fallacious, and contrary to the intent 
of Providence, law, justice, and religion; and 
I venture to lay it down as an infallible posi- 
tion, that whoever compels, or injoins the 
same in others, is not only guilty of a breach 
of the sixth commandment, which says, Thou 
shalt do no murder, but is likewise guilty as an 
accessory to the breach of divers other com- 
mandments, and a promoter of innumerable 
sins.
HENCE it plainly appears, that it is not the 
use, but the abuse, of coition that is criminal 
and dangerous; and for this reason, our law 
has wisely prescribed, that no man shall have 
more than one wife, though some men of ve- 
ry salacious complexions might plead in op- 
position, that the community and posterity are 
great sufferers by this regulation, as they are 
very capable of propagating their species 
more frequently than their wives are capable 
of being impregnated, and might particularly 
instance the time of their having their courses, 
and during their child-bearing; and to give 
this reasoning some colour, they might in- 
stance the Turks, and other heathenish na- 
tions, who are allowed as many wives as they 
can support, and who are very seldom known 
to

[139]
to be barren. But this would be opening a 
door for anarchy and confusion, would destroy 
all legitimacy and inheritance, and would be 
an inlet to vice and immorality. 
The great object most worthy of inquiry in 
this respect, is to know how far nature and 
inclination should be gratified, and how far  
restrained. Constitution, complexion, the cor- 
poreal and mental state and variations, are so 
many considerations to be taken in; and, after
all, it will be scarce practicable theore- 
tically to draw the line. Some men are trou- 
bled with priapisms and satyriasis’s; some 
women with the furor uterinus: to these it 
would be in vain to talk of reason, nature, 
health, or decency. They should be first 
treated as patients, before they are advised as 
men or women. Their disorders must be cured 
before they are pointed out the happy me- 
dium of gratification, the just calls of nature. 
Others there are of both sexes, whose weakly 
constitutions, from various causes, but none 
more than those I have already had occasion 
to mention, to whom coition would be as 
fatal as arsenic; and these should neither argue 
upon, nor think of, the subject. Women 
past forty-five, and men who have no longer 
those testimonies of virility, which clearly no- 
tify the propriety of amorous gratification, 
reed give themselves any concern upon the 
subject. But those batchelors and virgins still 
in the vigour of life, who, by abstinence, 
have brought on many disorders, the cause of 
which


[140]
which they are entirely ignorant of, cannot 
too soon lay aside their celibacy, and fly into 
each other’s arms, to their mutual benefit and 
delight. The first will find their lethargic, 
supine, and inert disposition, changed to gai- 
ly, cheerfulness, and activity. The females 
will no longer eat chalk, whiting, and such 
like things, but recover their complexion, their 
vivacity, and their good temper; for the green- 
sickness is nothing more than the want of a 
due circulation of the blood and juices, and a 
regular return of the menses. 
A CERTAIN physical writer says, “ The 
“ blood, by the superfetation of the seminal 
“ humour, unduly accumulated for want of 
“ sufficient room to circulate freely through 
“ the vessels, distends the size of the same be- 
“ yond their proper diameters, which conse- 
“ quently impairing their tonic motion, oc- 
“ casions an increase in the size of its moli- 
“ culæ, and of course a remora in the circu- 
“ lation, by reason of which the blood and 
“ humours become glewy and tenacious, and 
“ the whole habit bloated and cacochymic.”  
So that there is no reason to be surprized, 
that those who are abstemiously continent, 
should be affected with such disorders as natu- 
rally flow from these causes. 
On the other hand, though provident na- 
ture, for the continuation of mankind, has 
accompanied the business of generation with 
a sense the most exquisitely delightful, and 
therefore at the time of puberty, the passion 
of


[141]
of love begins to exert itself in consequence of 
a copious secretion of the semen, which, 
prompts to be discharged; yet if we attend to 
the consequences of venereal commerce at 
this time of life, we shall discover, that na- 
ture has not intended the seminal juice for that 
purpose only, since the act of coition, being 
too often repeated at that age, restrains the 
growth of the individual, and unnerves the 
man. That there is besides a benefit ac- 
cruing from it to the constitution, may be 
collected from an observation of those appear- 
ances that arises thereon at the time of puber- 
ty. Then it is that the hairs begin to shoot 
at the pubes, the beard grows, the voice al- 
ters to a graver tone, muscular strength is 
augmented, and a more sprightly comport- 
ment accompanies them, and that the cause of 
these appearances is the saccus genitalis absorb- 
ed by the lymphatic vessels, and reconveyed 
into the blood, there is no reason to doubt, 
after perusing what has been already said upon 
this subject. Even in more advanced life, too 
unlimited a gratification of venereal desires 
will enervate the most robust constitution. I 
have met with frequent examples of men, 
who, by condescending to their wives exces- 
sive letchery, have been, from strong athletic 
men, reduced to mere skeletons. A patient of 
mine, who was brought to death’s door, and 
whom I suspected of having been guilty of 
masturbation, acknowledged, that it was all 
occasioned by his wife, who was, when in 
bed, incessantly tickling and teasing him, to 
prompt him to indulge her insatiable appetite; 
2 and


[142]
and that she carried her obstinacy in this re- 
spect to so great a pitch, that when he was un- 
able or unwilling to repeat the task, she has, 
contrary to decency, become the agent, in- 
stead of the patient, and subverted all order and 
disposition. Another patient in nearly the 
same situation, but with a much greater and 
more constant gleet, informed me, that his 
wife, to whom he had been married several 
years; but being in the situation of Dr. Coop- 
er’s patient, that is, having an obstinate hy- 
men, and whom he could never penetrate with 
the stiffest erection, pretended so much fond- 
ness for him, and was so jealous left he should 
shed his seed upon any other object, that she 
constantly committed masturbation upon him 
every night; and even invented many devices 
to excite his lust, insomuch, that she at 
length brought him to so emaciated a state, 
that she could be no longer under any appre- 
bensions of his paying his devotions at any 
other altar to the Cyprian goddess; neverthe- 
less, habit had so gained upon her, that she 
persisted in her manual operations, and would 
certainly have put an end to his existence, if 
I had not immediately ordered him to quit her 
bed, if he valued life. 
THAT women should have very extrava- 
gant passions as well as men, is not to be won- 
dered at; but that any man should be so far 
hood-winked, as to let himself be thus im- 
posed upon, is somewhat extraordinary; yet 
the sequel of this narrative is still more sur-
prising. Upon my cautioning him against 
future


[143]
future insults of this sort, and advising him  
to prevail upon his wife to undergo a chirurgical 
operation, he undertook the task, and she sub- 
mitted: he recovered his health; she was soon 
after pregnant; and from the time that she 
tasted the grateful effects of his virility, she 
never afterwards misapplied it; but she was 
rather an œconomist in love, left she should 
be too easily deprived of the extatic sensations 
it communicated. 
The operation this lady underwent, doubt- 
less, gave him free access into her vagina, and 
thereby brought her clitoris and the glans of 
his penis into contact, as this is the seat of de- 
light in women. Hence it is called by Co- 
lumbus, amoris dulcedo, the sweetness of love; 
and by Boerhaave, estrum veneris, the sting of 
love, as the necessary and unavoidable friction 
of the penis against the clitoris, in the act of 
coition, causes those excessive ticklings and 
transporting itchings to each sex, that are not 
to be described so well as felt, and still greater 
on the woman’s side, when the discharge of the 
serous matter the woman sheds is more co- 
pious in the act, and at the summit of enjoy- 
ment; for as the penis in men, and especially 
the glans of it, fills, and is instated with spi- 
rits upon a vigorous erection, and still more so 
in the act of emission, so does the clitoris at 
the same time in the woman, and which, 
jointly together, reciprocally produce each to 
the other that inexpressible satisfaction that 
is diffused through all the animal functions; 
and which, if nature had not rendered so ex- 
tremely


[144]
tremely pleasing, what man, that divine ani- 
mal, born for the contemplation of heavenly 
things, would concern himself in so filthy a 
thing, as is the act of coition; and what wo- 
man, indued with modesty, would submit her- 
self to be exposed to man, and readily undergo 
the toil and danger of child-bearing, besides 
the anxiety and care of educating her children? 
But neither the filthiness of the act will deter 
men, nor the severe inconveniencies which 
great bellies often cause to women, nor the 
frequent extreme hazard of their lives when 
in labour, nor loss of beauty and shape, the 
most precious gifts they have, and which ren- 
der them amiable, and admired by all, as well 
as beloved by those who possess them, can or 
will either affright or deter them therefrom;
nor will any of them make that reflection, till 
after the act, or consider any thing before it, 
but the mutual pleasure they expect; and all 
who enjoy allow, that they receive inexpres- 
sible satisfaction by it. 
FROM what has been said, I think it is 
clearly proved, that amorous pleasure does not 
only dispense the highest pitch of sublunary 
bliss; that it is absolutely necessary for the 
propagation and continuation of the human 
species; but that it is indispensibly requisite 
for the preservation of health, in every male 
and female of a vigorous constitution. 
SEC-

[145]
SECTION IX. 
Upon the VENEREAL DISORDER.
TO the many maladies which arise from 
copulation, we must add that which fre- 
quently occurs by promiscuous coition, and 
which is generally known by the name of the 
French disorder. The French, however, ex- 
culpate themselves from being the original com- 
municators of this disease; and in France it is 
called the Neapolitan disease. Every country 
seems ashamed of having introduced this disor- 
der into Europe, where it was unknown before 
the discovery of America: so that Columbus, 
by finding out a new world, brought us home 
a distemper, which by many is thought to be 
more pernicious to our constitutions, than both 
the Americas are advantageous to our trade and 
navigation. 
The error which has prevailed with many, 
and even with some physical people, that the 
leprosy and the venereal disorder are of the same 
nature, and therefore conclude that it is of 
more ancient date in Europe, than is universally 
believed, may easily be refuted. I shall to this 
end quote the words of Andreas Laurentius 
upon the venereal disorder. He says, “ the 
“ leprosy is always attended with a roughness 
“ of the skin; the venereal disease with a 
“ smoothness. The leprosy never begins at 
“ the pudenda, the venereal disease always. 
“ In the leprosy the patient is not afflicted 
“ with any pains, whereas in the venereal 
H “ disease 

[146]
“ disease he is severely tortured with them. 
“ The skin of lepers becomes hard, black, and 
“ callous, which appearances in venereal pa- 
“ tients by no means occur. Leprous persons 
“ are salaceous, and subject to priapisms; while 
“ the others, on the contrary, have an aversion 
“ to women, as long as they are ill. In the 
“ leprosy, the hairs of the arm-pits and groins 
“ fall off with those of the head, which does 
“ not at all happen in the venereal disease. 
“ In short, the leprosy is incurable in its na- 
“ ture; but the other is not, even when it has 
“ been suffered to run on a long time.” To 
which may be subjoined, that the symptoms of 
the leprosy are heightened and increased by the 
use of guaiacum or mercurials; whereas the 
venereal disorder is infallibly cured by them, 
when properly administered. 
The physical writers of antiquity have una- 
nimously agreed that the leprosy was usually 
contracted by unwholesome diet, and not by 
copulative infection; and, on the contrary, the 
venereal disease is never contracted by any er- 
ror in diet, but generally by coition. Hence 
we may reasonably conclude, that these two 
disorders are quite different in cause, nature, 
and symptoms. 
The venereal disease was certainly never 
known in Europe till the year 1494, at the 
time when Charles VIII. of France laid siege to 
Naples. Columbus returned this year from 
Hispaniola to Spain, and imported it into 
Europe on board one of his ships, as many 
historical

[147] 
historical testimonies can vouch. Neverthe- 
less, there are plausible reasons for asserting 
that this disorder was generally known in 
Europe many years prior to this æra; and to 
give these arguments their full force, I shall 
quote the statutes of Jane, queen of the two 
Sicilies, and countess of Provence, for the re- 
gulation of the public stews established at 
Avignon in 1347. 
“ 1. ON the eighth of August, in the year 
“ 1347, our good queen Jane gave leave that 
“ a public brothel should be set up at Avig- 
“ non; and ordered that the wenches, who 
“ plyed there, should not walk the streets, but 
“ keep themselves confined within the bro- 
“ thel; and, by way of distinction, wear a 
“ red knot upon their left shoulders. 
“ 2. ITEM, If any girl has thus offended, 
“ and persists in her offence, that the Clavi- 
“ ger, or chief of the beadles, shall lead her 
“ through the city by beat of drum, a red 
“ knot hanging at her shoulder, back to the 
“ brothel, and shall prohibit her from walking 
“ abroad any more under penalty of being 
“ lashed privately for the first offence; and 
“ being whipped publickly, and turned out of 
“ the house, for the second. 
“ 3. OUR good queen orders that this brothel 
“ shall be erected in Broken-Bridge-Street, 
“ near the convent of the Augustine-Friars, 
“ as far as to Peter’s-gate; and that the en- 
“ trance shall be towards the street; and the 
H2 “ door


[148]
“ door locked, that no youth may have ad- 
“ mittance to the wenches, without leave from 
“ the abbess or governess, who is to be chosen 
“ every year by the directors. The abbess is 
“ to keep the key, and advice the young 
“ men she admits to make no disturbances, 
“ nor frighten the wenches; and to let them 
“ know that in case of misdemeanor they will 
“ not be suffered to go off securely, but be 
“ laid under confinement by the beadles. 
“ 4. The queen commands, that on every 
“ Saturday the women in the house be singly 
“ examined by the abbess and a surgeon ap- 
“ pointed by the directors; and if any of them 
“ has contracted any illness by their whoring, 
“ that they be separated from the rest, and 
“ not suffered to prostitute themselves, for 
“ fear the youth who have to do with them 
“ should contract their distemper. 
“ 5. If any of the wenches in the brothel 
“ prove with child, let the abbess take care to 
“ prevent a miscarriage, and give notice to the 
“ directors to make provision for the child. 
“ 6. Let the abbess diligently take care not 
“ to give admittance to any person into the 
“ brothel on the Friday and Saturday in pas- 
“ sion week, nor on the holiday of Easter, 
“ under the penalty of being dismissed and 
“ whipped. 
“ 7. The queen orders that the wenches ad- 
“ mitted into the brothel abstain from strife and 
“ envying,


[149] 
“ envying, from brawling and thieving, and 
“ that they live lovingly together like sisters; 
“ and in case any difference arise among them, 
“ that they refer it to the abbess, and abide 
“ by her judgment. 
“ 8. If any theft be committed, let the ab- 
“ bess amicably procure restitution to be made 
“ of such things as are stolen. And if the 
“ guilty person should refuse to do it, let her 
“ be lashed by the beadle in private; and if 
“ she fall a second time into the same fault, 
“ let her be whipped through the city by the 
“ common hangman. 
“ 9. Let the abbess admit no Jews into 
“ the brothel; and, if any one should find 
“ means through stealth to gain admittance, 
“ whipped publickly through the streets of the 
“ city.” 
There were also at this time public stews 
allowed in the principal cities of Italy, and 
even at Rome itself, under the walls of the 
pope’s palace: France also was furnished with 
them, particularly in Aquitaine: that at Thou- 
louse was endowed with several privileges by 
Charles VI. and VII. and in the reign of queen 
Elizabeth we find rules and ordinances were 
issued, bearing date in the year 1430, for the 
regulation of stews in London and the borough 
of Southwark, one of the articles whereof runs 
thus: Of those who keep women having a wicked 
infirmity, ordering under a severe penalty, that 
H3 no

[150] 
no stew-holder keep women wythin his hous that 
hath any sickness of brenning (burning). 
But justice must be done to queen Jane of 
Sicily, in owning that her statute seems to have 
been the best calculated for promoting the order 
and tranquillity of brothels: indeed historians 
insinuate that fire was naturally of a very lasci- 
vious disposition, and by turning her mind this 
way, she was mistress of the subject, and there- 
fore capable of displaying her genius upon it. 
As soon as the venereal disorder began to make 
such ravages as it did, when, first introduced 
into Europe, these brothels also began to de- 
cline, as the expence attending the cure of the 
whores, infected with this disease, frequently 
exceeded the profits arising from their prosti- 
tution : so that the lady abbesses at length 
and become virtuous ma-
trons by necessity. 
THIS alone should be a sufficient proof that 
the venereal disorder was unknown in Europe 
before the period I have mentioned; but the 
celebrated Astruc’s observations upon queen 
Jane’s statutes will set this matter in a still 
clearer light. 
He says that those who are of opinion that 
this disorder then existed “ should prove that 
“ there were then no other disorders, besides 
“ what are now called venereal, that could 
“ possibly be contracted by harlots from their 
“ prostitution, or by them be communicated 
“ to such persons as had to do with them.
“ For 

[151]
“ For otherwise it is more rational to inter- 
“ pret this article of such diseases as were 
“ then commonly to be met with, than to 
“ argue from thence against the express testi- 
“ mony of all authors, that the venereal 
“ disease was at that time as well known, as 
“ it is at present. 
“ The argument, therefore, they draw 
“ from hence is inconclusive, unless they can 
“ first prove, that this fourth article cannot be 
“ understood of any other diseases, than such 
“ as are now called venereal (which I am sure 
“ is not to be done,) and must fall to the 
“ ground, if it once can be proved that there 
“ were other diseases, besides the present ve- 
“ nereal disorders, which were then abso- 
“ lutely unknown, arising from a promiscu- 
“ ous and immoderate use of venery, and be- 
“ ing once contracted, were capable of being 
“ communicated to such as conversed with 
“ them, of which consequently this article 
“ ought to be understood. 
“ For, 1st. from the frequency of coition, 
“ women are subject to fissures of the puden- 
“ dum, and superficial exulcerations of the 
“ vagina; nor in a promiscuous and immode- 
“ rate use of venery can the female organs 
“ avoid being considerably hurt by the vehe- 
“ ment and repeated action of the male, espe- 
“ cially in such women, as from their youth, 
“ and the delicacy of their frame, have their 
“ solid parts of weaker and more lax contex- 
“ ture; or such as have not the womb firmly 
H4 “ fixed

[152]
“ fixed in its proper seat, but naturally disposed 
“ to bear down into the vagina; or have to 
“ do with very large men, or whose semen is 
“ acrid; or such as are not careful to cleanse 
“ and wash away the seed of different persons 
“ collected, but suffer it to lie and corrupt, 
“ &c. And as common wenches are most 
“ exposed to these dangers, it is plain they 
“ must formerly have most frequently con- 
“ tracted these disorders; and these when 
“ once contracted must have grown worse 
“ and worse, either from the repetition of the 
“ same cause, or the negligence natural to 
“ whores; and at length have been com- 
“ municated to such as had to do with them, 
“ in like manner as the itch, herpes, &c, are 
“ propagated by infection; whence arose in 
“ men inflammations of the penis, miliary 
“ eruptions, pustules, ulcers upon the surface 
“ of the glans, and round the prepuce. And, 
“ 2dly. Lewd women, if frequently lain 
“ with, in case of any native imbecility in 
“ the womb, are liable to a copious flux of a 
“ soul, sharp, fœtid matter, to ulcers in the 
“ womb; and sometimes (which is still worse) 
“ to a cancer. For, from too frequent coi- 
“ tion, there must arise irregular stagnations 
“ both of the blood and lymph; by which 
“ means either the uterine glands being too 
“ much relaxed, the fluor albus follows; or 
“ the fibres being lacerated, an ulcer is formed; 
“ or the lymph being obstructed, a scirrhus is 
“ produced, which often degenerates into a 
“ cancer. To these disorders, therefore
“ common

[153]
“ common women must ever have been ex- 
“ posed; and from hence through the acri- 
“ mony of the corrupt humour oozing from 
“ the womb, they must have given divers 
“ distempers to such persons as lay with them; 
“ and in particular have caused inflammations 
“ of the glands, prepuce, and yard, miliary 
“ eruptions, pustules, ulcers, &c. such as 
“ have been described by the authors, who 
“ lived before the first breaking out of the 
“ venereal disease. 
“ 3dly. It appears that such women as had 
“ to do with lepers were for the most part 
“ affected with an erysipelatous inflammation 
“ of the vagina and urethra, with a violent 
“ troublesome dysuria, then called by the 
“ name of burning; and that the men who 
“ lay with persons thus infected, or even with 
“ found women, who had not washed them- 
“ selves since they had lain with a leper, for 
“ the most part suffered the same disorder, 
“ contracted as it were by infection. There 
“ was, therefore, a distemper so long as the 
“ leprosy subsisted, which might be con- 
“ tracted by whores from coition, and be 
“ communicated by them to such as had ve- 
“ nereal intercourse with them; which for- 
“ merly, indeed, could not but frequently 
“ occur; but upon the disappearing of the 
“ leprosy, likewise disappeared, as it was in no 
“ respect the same as the venereal gonorrhæa.” 
HAVING thus settled the origin of this dis- 
order, and its first appearance in Europe, I 
“ shall

[154]shall now consider the manner in which it is con- 
tracted, its nature, symptoms, and cure. 
This disorder is communicated either by 
generation, or infection: by generation, when 
transmitted by the parents to the child, whilst 
the body of the embrio is formed; by infec- 
tion in the act of coition between an injured 
and a found person. The fœtus may also be 
infected after being formed, if the mother con- 
tract the disease during her pregnancy. But 
this disorder is never communicated by con- 
tagious air; and though some physicians have 
imagined it may be caught by interventive 
subjects, this opinion is now exploded. It 
is thought, however, that the venereal disease 
may be contracted by a found man lying with 
a found woman, in case she has lately per- 
formed the act of coition with a man infected, 
and has not washed the inside of her parts, 
since this first connexion; as the remains of 
the putrid semen adhering to the vagina, may 
infect the glans of the penis. 
It may be communicated by the breasts of 
a distempered nurse to a found child; as the 
infected milk must soon corrupt the ten- 
der body of the child; and, on the contrary, 
a diseased child sucking the breast of a found 
nurse, may communicate by the saliva this 
disorder to the nurse. 
It may be communicated by lascivious kissing 
the mouth, when either party is affected with 
any venereal ulcers on the inside of the mouth. 
Lying


[155]
LYING in the same bed with an infected 
person, without coition, may communicate 
it, when either party hath any cutaneous dis- 
order arising from the venereal disease; upon 
the principal of exhalation and inhalation. 
It may also be contracted by handling 
the infected parts; as by examining vene- 
real ulcers with a finger, or performing the 
midwife’s office towards an infected woman, 
especially if the surgeon’s finger, or the mid- 
wife’s hands, have any wound or fissure, by 
which the poison may be more easily imbibed. 
The two first:of these ways of receiving 
the contagion, are so well confirmed, by many 
and positive experiments, that they cannot 
be doubted; but the three latter, though 
highly probably, and supported by authori- 
ties, may, perhaps, still be questioned. 
The venereal poison consists of certain 
seeds of morbisic matter, which being in- 
troduced into a found body, in the smallest 
quantity, and by sensible passages, and gra- 
dually increasing in size, form, and force, 
at length corrupt the whole mass of humours. 
This poison creates an inflammation upon the 
parts which it affects. In a gonorrhæa the 
urethra, the prostatæ, and the visiculæ semi- 
nales, in men, are inflamed; and in women, 
the vagina, the pudendum, the prostatæ, and 
the glandulæ Cowperianæ. Chancres in men 
are occasioned by an inflammation of the glans, 
the frænum, and the præpuce; and in women 
in

[156] 
in the pterygia, the carunculæ myrtiformes, 
and other parts of the pudendum. In the 
case of a bubo, the inguinal glands are in- 
flamed, and in that of a node the periosteum. 
In a word, whatever part of the body is seized 
with the virus becomes inflamed; this poison 
being so disposed, that it condenses and crisps 
the membranous stamina of the parts it pene- 
trates, whereby the extremities of the vessels 
interspersed are constringed, and the blood is 
forced from its usual course into the conti- 
guous lymphatic vessels, and causes an inflam- 
mation. When this poison is not timely ex- 
tirpated, it by degrees corrodes, exulcerates, 
and preys upon the parts it has inflamed; and 
thence arise indurations, schirrhous, and cal- 
lous humours. 
The symptoms of a gonorrhæa, (or clap)
which is the most customary stage of the ve- 
nereal disorder, contracted by coition, gene- 
rally appear, in four, eight, or twelve days, 
after the infection is caught; when a small 
quantity of an oily, lymphatic, viscid serum 
oozes through the urethra, producing a plea- 
sant sensation, and gluing up the orifice of 
the passage. The extremity of the urethra 
becomes red and hot, and opens wider than 
common. At first the parts of generation 
have an uncommon titulation, at the time of 
making water more particularly, which daily 
approaches nearer to pain. As the disorder in- 
creases, a tension, rigidity, and induration of 
the penis takes place, with a greater discharge 
of a seminal humour, the difficulty of urine 
in-

[157]
increasmg, with great sharpness like the  
pricking of pins.—The penis sometimes becomes 
distorted and bent, especially in the time of 
erection, which is called a chordee, and the 
humour flowing is of different colours, but ge- 
nerally a yellow, tinged with green, and some- 
times purulent: in others it is ash-coloured, 
resembling matter streaked with blood. 
In females, a few days after having received 
the infection, their parts are unusually moist, 
and an itching heat every day comes nearer to 
pain: when their complaints are arrived at 
their height, the insertion of the penis is scarely 
to be supported. They have also a difficulty 
and scalding in making water; but not so 
much as the men: but the oozing matter is 
very near the same in both. 
RECEIPTS for a Gonorrhæa. 
ꝶ. Lignorum guaiaci & sassafras ana ℥ij. 
Radic. chinœ & sarsaparilla ana ℥jβ.
Antimonii crudi crassiusculè triti & nodulo in- 
clusi ℥iβ. 
Ligna & radices incidantur, & infunduntur om- 
nia tepide per noctem in aquœ fontana ℔viii. 
deinde bulliant moderate ignœ ad tertiœ partis 
consumptionem, addenda finem coctionis. 
Follicul. Jennœ ℥β. 
Radicis liquoritiæ rosæ ℥i. 
Colatura servetur ad usum ter in die usurpanda 
ad ℥viii. mane jejune ventriculo, harâ quintâ vel 
sexta pomeridiana, & ante decubitum.
ANOTHER

[158]
Another, which, it is said, will cure a go- 
norrhæa, in three days, taken as an injection. 
Rx. Aquœ plantagin ℥viii, quibus dissolve 
draconis mitigati, hoc est mercurii sublimati,
dulcis, in alkool redacti ℥ij.
Argitentur simul, & liquoris illius turbidi & 
tepidi ℥i, syphore eburneo, in urethram injicia-
tur ter in die. 
The first, I should, however, rather re- 
commend, as these speedy cures are seldom 
effectual. 
A BUBO is a swelling or tumour in the 
groin, which may be either brought to a 
head or dispersed. In the first case a chirur- 
gical operation must be performed; in the 
latter the patient must be confined to his 
chamber during the whole time of his cure, to 
avoid the danger of being exposed to the air. 
CHANCRES are ulcers arising from impure 
venery, and are generally situated in men upon 
the internal surface of the prepuce, or the back 
or sides of the glands; most frequently upon 
the corona or frænum of the glands; some- 
times too upon the extremity of the duct of 
the urethra. In women frequently upon the 
internal surface of the labia pudendi; often 
upon the clitoris, the root of the clitoris, or 
on the prepuce, with which the clitoris is co- 
vered, upon the nymphæ, carunculæ myrti- 
formes, and vagina; and sometimes upon the 
extremity of the urethra. 
3 WHEN

[159] 
WHEN the prepuce is swelled, it some- 
times so strictly embraces the glans, that it 
can by no means be drawn back; in this 
state it is called by the Greek name phimo- 
sis, that is to say a ligature; but sometimes 
it is so corrugated, and tightened behind the 
corona glands, that it cannot by any art be 
brought forwards; and this state of it, which 
is contrary to the former, is called paraphimo- 
sis; that is to say, a ligature tied round. This 
state of the penis is generally accompanied 
with watery bladders upon the margin of the 
surface, which are called crystallines. 
THESE are the most customary symptoms 
of the first stages of the venereal disorder. I 
have, however, ventured to give receipts only 
for a gonorrhæa, unaccompanied with any of 
these latter symptoms, as where a surgeon's 
assistance is absolutely necessary; or where the 
intricacy of the case may baffle the most skil- 
fu! of the faculty, it would be ridiculous to 
point out such theoretical cures, as may not 
entirely suit one patient in ten. For the 
same reason, I have no occasion to enter 
upon the confirmed pox, as it is most usually 
preceded by some or all of these symptoms. 
A PREVENTATIVE remedy would be of 
more real service to the world, and especially 
the rising generation, than volumes written 
upon the subject: after the disorder is imbibed. 
To this end I shall communicate an easy por- 
table application, which has never been known 
to fail; and which it is to be hoped will annihi- 
late


[160]
late the use of those filthy bladders, commonly 
called machines. 
BEFORE coition rub the nut of the penis, 
glans, and inside of the prepuce with common 
mercurial unguent; remain no longer in the 
act of enjoyment than you have absolute occa- 
sion for; but upon retiring, wash your penis 
well with warm water, or your own, if you 
can conveniently make it, and apply the mer- 
curial unguent as before. 
This recipe was used last war in Germany 
by a skilful surgeon, who recommended it to 
the company he had the care of; and during 
the whole campaign, not one of the men re- 
ceived any infection, notwithstanding their 
corps were very famous for the number of wo- 
men belonging to them. 
In common gonorrhæas, it may with cer- 
tainty be depended upon; in confirmed or 
worse cases it is not recommended. What has 
been said upon the nature, and manner of 
communicating this disorder, should also be 
considered; as it appears that it may be im- 
bibed without copulation. 
FINIS. 


























A 
TREATISE 
UPON THE 
FORMATION
OF THE 
HUMAN SPECIES, &c. 



A 
TREATISE 
UPON THE 
FORMATION 
OF THE 
HUMAN SPECIES; 
The DISORDERS incident to PROCREA- 
TION in Men and Women; 
The Evils arising from the Abuse of the 
Genital Faculties.
WITH 
The most approved and efficacious Methods of 
Cure, illustrated with a Variety of Cases 
and Examples. 
By JAMES FLEMING, 
Hospital-Surgeon and Man-Midwife. 
LONDON: 
Printed M. Thrush, at the King’s-Arms, in 
Salisbury-Court, Fleet-Street. 
MDCCLXVII. 



CONTENTS. 
Introduction, 
Page ix. 
SECTION I. 
Of the formation of the human species;— 
specifying the structure and design of the 
genital parts in men and women;—the 
manner of conception, and the most pro- 
bable means of producing it.—1 
SECTION II. 
Of venereal excesses;—displaying the dan- 
gerous conseqences resulting from an un- 
limited gratification of amorous delights; 
—the utility and importance of the semen 
to the whole mass, illustrated from the 
best writers, ancient and modern.—13
2 SEC-

CONTENTS. 
SECTION III. 
Of the baneful effects of self-pollution in the 
male-sex;—shewing that this practice is 
much more fatal than even venereal ex- 
cesses in a natural way, supported by phy- 
sical reasons, and evident deductions, 
with many recent examples, and extraor- 
dinary cases.—Page 35 
SECTION IV. 
Of the dreadful consequences of self-pollu- 
tion, and the gratification of the Sapphic 
passion in the female-sex, containing the 
origin and progress of this passion, and its 
fatal effects, exemplified in many living 
instances;—also same very curious, uncom- 
mon, and original cases, that have lately 
fallen under the observation of the author, 
at some hospitals in this metropolis, and 
elsewhere; with Dr. Quincey's account of 
two young ladies in a convent, who were 
supposed to have changed their sex by this 
abominable practice, &c. &c.—54 
SEC-

CONTENTS. 
SECTION V. 
Of the disorders incident to the female-sex, 
and their most approved methods of cure; 
mamely, the whites; the suppression of 
the menses; the overflowing of the men- 
ses; the irregularity of the menses; the 
menses; the falling of the womb. 
Page 84
SECTION VI. 
Of the most practical and approved methods 
of cure of the disorders incident to ex- 
cessive venery, or self-pollution, from Hip- 
pocrates, Boerhaave, Hoffman, Stork, 
Capuacico, Lewis, Tissot, &c. &c. 
104
SECTION VII. 
Of impotency in men, and barrenness in wo- 
men, and the most efficacious remedies for 
their cure, containing some curious remarks 
upon these disorders, and how far the 
consequences extend in the two sexes re- 
spectively, 

CONTENTS. 
spectively, with Boerhaave's opinion 
with respect to the cure of impotency, 
and some approved receipts for the same. 
—The best manner of treating barrenness 
in women, divided under its different 
causes, &c. &c.—Page 121 
SECTION VIII 
Of the propriety of amorous pleasure, where- 
in this subject is morally and physically 
considered, shewing in what cases the in- 
dulgence of this passion is allowable, and 
how far it is pernicious or beneficial to 
health.—134. 
SECTION IX. 
Of the venereal disorder, tracing its ori- 
gin; approved recipes for its cure; and 
a preventative remedy.—145. 
INTRO-

INTRODUCTION. 
IF the editor of the following perform- 
ance thought any apology necessary 
for laying it before the public, he would 
enter upon his defence, by acknowledg- 
ing his crime; which is neither more nor 
less, than that of exploding ignorance, and 
revealing the knowledge of human nature: 
but he flatters himself, that we live in too 
liberal an age, to discountenance any at- 
tempts to communicate real instruction; 
and surely none is more important than 
that of being acquainted with our own 
formation, and the source of our animation. 
It is that which should first occupy our 
thoughts, ere we endeavoured to im- 
prove our understandings by foreign or 
remote studies; for it is almost impossible 
to arrive at any degree of excellence in 
the various branches of science, without 
having an intimate acquaintance with that
b being,


x INTRODUCTION. 
being, who is thus busied in the pursuit; 
and yet many there are, who have at- 
tempted to reach the utmost pinacle of 
learning, without having bestowed one 
thought upon the nature of their own ex- 
istence. 
If curiosity, or the allurements of 
knowledge, no way interfered in this de- 
sign, a still more cogent reason should 
urge us to the task; a reason whose ob- 
ject is the basis of all happiness, all case, 
all contentment, all tranquillity; and this 
is nothing less than our Health, with- 
out which riches, science, beauty, are 
idle, insignificant, and useless. We have 
no relish for what we cannot enjoy; and 
if bodily health is wanting, nothing in 
this sublunary state can dispense a mo- 
ment’s real satisfaction. 
To this end, then, it is necessary, that 
wc should consider the nature of our for- 
mation; by what means we came into 
this world; how far our creation might 
have injured the health of our parents; 
the

xi INTRODUCTION. 
the proper use of those generative powers 
with which we are endued, to add our 
mite to the increase of the general stock 
of individuals, and the proper methods 
of curing such disorders as are incidental 
to this pursuit, or the still more fatal 
complaints arising from the abuse of these 
faculties. 
In order to render this work of gene- 
ral utility, and to remove the disgust of 
a dry and tedious study, I have selected 
what has been said by the most elegant as 
well as learned writers of antiquity upon 
these heads; nor have I omitted aught 
that appeared to me pertinent or illustrat- 
ing offered by the modern literati; so 
that this may be considered as an epitome 
Of every thing essential that has been 
written upon these subjects, digested and 
methodized, with obervations and re- 
marks, in the compass of a pocket volume
It may, perhaps, be objected by some 
over-scrupulous critics, that the nature of 
b2 the

xii INTRODUCTION. 
the plan must necessarily create a variety 
of amorous ideas, which, for the benefit 
of the rising generation, had better be 
suppressed than illustrated. 
To this I answer, That the design of 
this work is not to excite lascivious 
thoughts, but to consider ourselves phi- 
losophically as we are; to point out the 
danger of too much indulgence even in 
natural passions, and the still more dire- 
ful consequences of addicting ourselves to 
unnatural ones. If it were necessary, I 
could, in my defence, quote the sacred 
writers, and the fathers of the church, 
who have treated upon these very subjects, 
even in living languages; and I shall en- 
deavour to suppress any indecent expres- 
sions, as far as the nature of the perform- 
ance will allow: wherefore, I hope, in- 
stead of incurring the censure, to meet the 
approbation of sensible and virtuous men. 
This work would have been incom- 
plete, had I not been somewhat particu- 
lar in displaying the filthiness and danger 
of


xiii INTRODUCTION. 
of a crime, that I am afraid the youth of 
the present age are but too guilty of; a 
crime that is pregnant with manifold evils, 
not only to the culprit, but which he 
transmits to posterity; a crime that is 
destructive of our very being, and anni- 
hilates creation. A mirror, to view these 
direful ills, could not be held in too 
strong a light; the picture cannot be too 
highly coloured, that every one whom it 
pourtrays may shudder at his own resem- 
blance. 
IT is a melancholy reflection, that even 
the softer sex, the lovely part of the crea- 
tion, are not exempt from the imputation. 
Nay, if we may credit the satyrists of an- 
tiquity, and particularly Juvenal, they 
complicated the crime: 
Lenonum ancillas posita, Laufella cerona 
Provocate, et tollit pendentis primæ coxæ, 
Ipsa Medulline frictum crisantis adorat. 
Palmam inter dominas virtue natalibus 
œquat.
Such 

xiv INTRODUCTION. 
Such are his words. How many Lau- 
fellas and Medullinas are still in being, 
the number of antiquated maids and 
misses of three-score, more evidently 
prove than any other calculation to be 
framed. 
This vice, then, cannot be too severe- 
ly combated, too publickly exposed; and 
if those who are addicted to it do not, 
after perusing the following sheets, blush, 
tremble, and repent, they are devoid of 
shame, sense, and reflection: they are ir- 
reclaimable, and unworthy of attention. 
But many, I hope, there are, who have 
been unwarily prompted to give way to 
so shameful a practice, who need only see 
it represented in a just light, to shudder 
at their guilt; and these penitents are de- 
serving of regard. For such have I point- 
ed out a proper cure for those disorders, 
which they may have brought upon them- 
selves by their former folly. But let not 
those who have long habituated them- 
selves to this vice, flatter themselves with 
a speedy, or any relief, without they pre- 
viously

xv INTRODUCTION. 
viously eradicate every thought tending 
to this unclean desire. 
The disorders solely incident to the 
female sex, form another part of this- 
work, in which the most approved and 
efficacious remedies are pointed out; 
whereby every lady may, in these cases, 
see her own situation, and, by following 
such prescriptions as are there laid down, 
be restored to her pristine health, with- 
out being obliged to reveal her complaint 
to any one of the faculty. It would be 
needless, in this place, to point out the 
many inconveniencies that have slowed 
from the sex’s ignorance of the real na- 
ture of their disorders; and we too well 
know there are numbers, who, through 
misjudged modesty, will not let a man 
approach them even in labour, when in 
the greatest danger: if so, how many 
may have been lost for want of proper 
instruction in cases though not so vio- 
lent, yet equally fatal, when neglected. 
This

xvi INTRODUCTION. 
THIS part, therefore, will, I imagine, 
sufficiently recommend itself to the fair 
sex, without my expatiating any farther 
upon its utility. 
I HAVE also set apart a section for the 
venereal disorder, in which I have traced 
its origin, nature, symptoms, and method 
of communication; with receipts for such 
stages of it, as patients may rely upon 
themselves for the cure: to which I have 
subjoined a preventative remedy, that will 
doubtless be efficacious in most common 
cases. 
UPON the whole, this work, though 
small, may be considered as an useful and 
instructive treatise upon physiology and 
medicine; and will, the editor flatters 
himself, claim a precedence before many 
voluminous productions, equally prolix 
and unentertaining. 
SEC-


[1] 
SECTION I. 
Of the formation of the human species. 
THE knowledge of ourselves is, doubt- 
less, the most essential and rational in- 
quiry of human beings, and, therefore, 
every attempt to unfold the secrets of nature in 
our formation, must meet with the approbation 
of all those who are desirous of having the veil 
of ignorance drawn aside, that providence and 
reason may appear in all their splendor, to the 
eye of every beholder. 
To compass this effectually, it will be ne- 
cessary to consult the structure of males and fe- 
males in their genital parts, and the cause of 
that proneness to copulation, which is the ori- 
ginal source of generation, and consequently 
the perpetuation of the human species. 
Man, the noblest and most rational animal 
in the creation, is formed of so delicate, so 
nice a mechanism, that any the smallest inter- 
ruption to the most minute operation of the 
corporeal system, in some degree discomposes 
the whole frame; and as perfection is no where 
to be met with in this sublunary sphere, so in 
B man

[2]
man there is constantly some, though, per- 
haps, small impediment to complete health. 
Cold or heat, moisture or drought, must alter- 
nately affect the circulation of his blood, the 
digestive powers of his stomach, &c. &c. and 
as these are more or less diverted, the body is 
impaired. The great art of the materia medica 
is to restore these, when disturbed, to the 
nearest point of perfection they can attain. 
In this treatise, I must, however, confine 
myself to the revolutions of the corporeal frame, 
so far as they are influenced by the act of copu- 
lation. To launch into a detail of all the va- 
rious affections of the human body, with their 
causes and consequences, would lead me far be- 
yond my present design, which is, as I have 
specified in the title page. To investigate the 
formation of the human species; the disorders 
incident to procreation in men and women; 
the evils arising from the abuse of the genital 
faculties, and set forth the most approved me- 
thods of cure. 
In entering upon the first part of my plan, 
which is the formation of the human species, I 
must consider the structure and design of those 
parts in each sex, which are immediately in- 
strumental in this operation. 
The principal organ of generation in man 
is placed obvious to the sight, and sensible to 
the touch; and, by reason of its pendent state, 
disposed for the act of coition, is called by the 
Latins,

[3] 
Latins, penis; the most decent translation of 
which, in English, is the yard, though it vul- 
garly bears another name. When erect, its 
shape is long, though its length is very diffe- 
rent in various men; in some it does not pro- 
ject above three inches from the belly, in others 
four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and even 
ten inches; but the latter size is very scarce. 
It is roundish, and the upper side rather flattish, 
consisting of skin, tendons, veins, arteries, and 
sinews. Its situation is over the os pubis, be- 
ing destined for two very different operations, 
namely, the conducting of the seed into the 
matrix of the woman in the act of copulation, 
and to void a superabundance of urine from 
the bladder. To this end, it internally con- 
sists of two nervous bodies, the septem, the 
urethra, the glans, the muscles, and the ves- 
sels. The two nervous bodies are so called, 
from their being surrounded with a thick, white, 
nervous membrane; yet their interior substance 
is spongy, consisting chiefly of nervous fibres, 
arteries, and veins, interspersed. The cause 
of its erection is its plenitude of spirituous agi- 
tated blood; and consequently a defect of erec- 
tion arises from a deficiency of this supply. The 
contents of the septem is white, sinewy, and ner- 
vous, being destined for the support of the ure- 
thra and side ligaments. The urethra, which 
is the common channel for the seed and urine, 
is in substance loose and soft, thick and sinewy. 
It hath three holes, the two smaller of which 
receive the seed from the vesiculœ seminales; the 
center one, and largest, is the aperture for the 
B2 urine,

[4]
urine, being seated at the neck of the bladder, 
The glans are at the extremity of the yard, 
and are susceptible of the nicest sensations, be- 
ing covered by nothing but a thin membrane. 
The prepuce, or covering, which the Jews cir- 
cumcise, in some men covers almost the whole 
nut of the yard, and in others very little of it; 
and this generally depends upom the state of the 
frænum, which in many is broke or cut. The 
muscles, which are four in number, consist of 
fleshy fibres: the use of the shortest and thickest 
of these fibres, is to extend the yard, and put 
it into a state of erection; wherefore they de- 
rive their name of erectors. The office of the 
two longer and thinner, is to stretch the lower 
part of the urethra in the time of evacuation, 
and are therefore stiled accelerators. The vessels 
consist of veins, arteries, and nerves, some vi- 
sible, and some invisible. 
The testicles, or reservoirs of seed, come 
next under consideration. They are situated 
at the bottom of the abdomen, behind the yard. 
The internal skin, which covers them, is called 
the scrotum, and the internal the membrana 
carnosa. The epididymaides are joined to 
the testicles, from whence arise the vasa defe- 
rentia, or ejaculatoria, which, upon approach- 
ing the neck of the bladder, deposit the semen 
in the seminal vessels, which resemble bunches 
of grapes; and hence is the seed thrown into the 
urethra in the act of coition. The prostate 
glans, which are situated near to them, and 
unite the neck of the bladder, are about the 
size

[5]
size of a common walnut. Hence issues a saline 
glutinous humour, which preserves the urethra 
from the bad effects of the acrimony of the 
semen, as well as that of the urine. There are 
also two vessels, which conduct the blood to the 
testes, where it is elaborated into semen; and 
these are called arteria spermaticœ; and the two 
spermatic veins carry off the superabundant 
blood from the testes. 
Having thus set forth the parts of genera- 
tion in men, those of women come next under 
our consideration. 
The lips of the orifice, seated between the 
thighs, are called the labiœ; and the adjacent 
parts, covered with hair at the age of puberty, 
are called pudenda. Such is the external ap- 
pearance; the internal consists of the nymphœ, 
which appear upon opening the labiæ, and are 
composed of soft spongy flesh, resembling, in 
form and colour, a cock’s comb, receiving, in 
the act of generation, the man’s yard between, 
having, in their center, the clitoris, which is 
the seat of bliss in women, and which I shall 
persently describe. The little buttons, in the 
shape of berries, which close the orifice of the 
neck of the bladder, and, by their swelling, in- 
crease the titillation and exquisite sense in 
the act of copulation, also serve to prevent 
any involuntary discharge of urine, which the 
nymphæ give vent to. We now come to the 
clitoris, which greatly resembles a man’s penis, 
and by its erection and friction in contact with 
B3 the


[6] 
the yard, the woman receives the highest de- 
light. This part is replete with a spongy and 
black matter within, like unto the side liga- 
ments of the yard, which it so much resembles, 
exciting lust, and communicating delight in 
the act of generation, this being the great in- 
centive to venery in females; and the amo- 
rous passion is therefore generally proportioned 
to the size of their clitoris. Its uncommon and 
extraordinary protuberance, I shall have occa- 
sion to mention in another place, and to as- 
sign the most obvious causes for this phæno- 
menon. It rises from the os pubis, having its 
head covered with a very thin membrane, 
where there is an orifice; but it is not perfo- 
rated. The urinary passage is seated over the 
neck of the womb, and under the clitoris. 
This passage is secured from cold, or any 
other violent attacks, in the act of copulation, 
by the largest and uppermost of the four fleshy 
buttons, which is seated before, and closes it. 
The lips of the womb now make their appear- 
ance. The neck or channel is seated between 
the four buttons, and the inner bone of the 
womb, which receives the yard like a sword- 
sheath. It is so constructed, that it may be 
easily and agreeably extended in the act of co- 
pulation, being of a spongy nature; and there 
being in this concavity various foliages, or cir- 
cular plaits, made by wrinkled tunicles, it re- 
sembles a blown rose, in those who have still 
their virginity; but it loses this appearance by 
frequent coition, becoming smooth, and at 
length grisly and hard. The hymen, or clu- 
strum virginale, closes the neck of the womb, 
which

[7]
which is occasionally supplied with a large 
quantity of spirits from different veins and ar- 
teries that there concenter, in order to be di- 
lated; and they retain the yard with additional 
vigour, being capable of receiving in general 
one of eight inches in length. Upon the first 
entrance of the pudendum, there are two 
small arteries, which, being pressed by the pe- 
nis in the act of coition, furnish a humour that 
communicates an additional sensation of plea- 
sure to the woman. 
These parts may be considered as so many 
instruments and channels for conveying the 
seed into the womb, which I shall now more 
particularly consider. It is situated in the lower 
parts of the hypogastrion, adjoining to its 
neck, and is seated between the bladder and the 
streight-gut, whereby it is prevented from be- 
ing displaced, though it is capable of contrac- 
tion or dilatation, as occasions require. Its form 
is circular, resembling in some measure a 
gourd, lessening and growing more acute to- 
wards the extremity, united by its own liga- 
ments, and its neck by its proper substance, 
and certain membranes that fasten it to the 
sharebone and the os sacrum. Its size is various 
in different women, and more particularly in 
those who have borne children from those who 
have not. The preparatory vessels are the 
same in number and origin with women as 
with men; their size and manner of insertion 
constituting all the difference. They are shorter 
in women than in men, the testicles of a 
B4 woman


[8]
woman being seated within the belly, and re- 
quiring a shorter passage to communicate their 
contents; but, on the other hand, have more 
intricate foliages than in man, that the liquor 
may be properly elaborated. These prepara- 
tory vessels are not united as in men, before 
they arrive at the stones; but are divided into 
two branches, the greater of which only passes 
to the stones, and the lesser to the fecundated 
egg, this being properly conception. The 
immediate use of these vessels is to convey the 
blood to the testicles, part whereof is employed 
in their nutrition, and the production of those 
little bladders in every respect resembling eggs, 
through which the vasa præparentiæ run, and 
are obliterated in them. Each testicle in a 
woman contains about twenty eggs, one 
of which being impregnated by the most 
spirituous parts of the male-seed in the act of 
copulation, descends through the oviducts into 
the womb, where it is nourished, and becomes 
a human being. The figure of these ova is not 
perfectly round, but somewhat flat on the sides, 
and their lower parts are oval; but in their up- 
per part, where they have communication 
with the blood vessels, they are covered with 
a single membrane, in order to facilitate the 
conveyance of a proper degree of heat. 
Such then are the general structures of the 
parts of generation in the two sexes. There 
are doubtless many uncommon forms in these 
organs, which may at once astonish, and in 
some degree puzzle the greatest philosophers 
to


[9] 
to account for them; but these excursions of 
nature are not so frequent in the males as in 
the females, which I shall in the sequel endea- 
vour to explain, as well as the too frequent 
cause husbands have to complain, that their 
wives do not bring with them their virginity 
to the marriage-bed, even though they never 
had before any commerce with the male sex. 
When it is considered, that a maidenhead, or 
virginity, consists in nothing more than that 
membranous substance called the hymem, resem- 
bling the bud of a rose half blown, and which 
is destroyed by the first act of copulation, or 
the insertion of any inflexible substance, we 
may easily conclude, that many females have 
got their own maidenheads long before they 
knew a man. The hymen, or clustrum vir- 
ginale, being a thin membrane interwoven 
with fleshy fibres, and having an orifice in the 
center, through which the menses flow, and 
wherein the top of a little finger may be easily 
at first inserted, which, being repeated, and 
the fore finger afterwards supplying its place, 
these practices, within a short time, destroy 
the zone of chastity, as it is emphatically cal- 
led. In some countries marriage is void, 
Unless the bride, upon her wedding-night, gives 
proper testimonials of her having been endow- 
ed with it at the time of her marriage. This 
evidence consists of the effusion of blood upon 
the rupture of the hymenean membrane. Some 
females consider the narrowness of their vagi- 
na as a sufficient proof of their maidenhead; 
but age, disposition of body, and other cir-
B5 cumstances,

[10]
cumstances, either constitute or destroy it. In 
general, it may, indeed, be allowed, that wo- 
men who have frequently indulged and grati- 
fied their amorous desires by copulation, are 
not so streight as those who have had but little 
commerce this way; but this is no positive 
proof of virginity, as artifice may impose a 
substitute for the reality, and astringent medi- 
cines supply the place of continence. 
As the original intent of copulation was, 
doubtless, more to propagate our species, than 
to gratify any carnal appetite, we should, to at- 
tain the desired end, pursue the necessary means; 
when, therefore, our design is to impregnate our 
wives, we should previously dispose them to 
receive our caresses with the most unseigned 
joy. We should invigorate them with nutri- 
tious food, and an agreeable quantity of gene- 
rous wine; and if their desires seem still more 
backward than ours, we should excite them 
by tender and amorous dalliance; for all our 
effects will prove ineffectual, unless they meet 
our embraces with equal delight, and we are 
both critically and instantaneously happy: there- 
fore when we find the parts in women cold and 
inanimate, the clitoris in a flimsy state, and 
no expressions of exquisite sensation upon our 
embrace, it were better to restrain from con- 
summation, as, in all probability, it will be 
the loss of the discharge of valuable seed, with- 
out the profit of reaping the least harvest from 
its being sown; but when delight sparkles in 
her eye, when every thrust seems to commu- 
nicate

[11]
nicate new joy, when you meet the clitoris In 
its greatest extension, and most perfect erec- 
tion, delectably throbbing with the extatic 
friction, in contact with the glans of the pe- 
nis, then you cannot too much exert yourself, 
till, by pushing onward to the goal of felicity, 
inarticulate, though expressive, ejaculations, 
plainly indicate the tumult of her soul, in the 
amazing sensations of a deluge of happiness; 
or, as the poet so finely expresses it. 
Bodies mingling, sexes blending.— 
Who shall most he lost contending. 
Then hold her off, and gaze—then with new rage 
Clasp her, till your conscious limbs presage 
Torrents of joy, which all their banks overflow. 
So lost, so blest, as you but then can know. 
The first emanations of reciprocal bliss be- 
ing ended, it requires prudence and considera- 
tion to know when it is proper to withdraw 
from the field of delight, left you should, by 
too early a retreat, lose the victory you have 
gained in favour of generation. To speak 
without a figure, by unsheathing your yard too 
soon, you make way for the air to penetrate 
the womb, and the cold, so untimely commu- 
nicated, may be of the most fatal consequence: 
therefore you should remain in the same pos- 
ture, and, as far as possible, in the same union, 
till such time as you may conclude, that the 
matrix is closed, which naturally takes place 
soon after it has received the active principle, 
B6 in

[12] 
in order to form a conception; when you may 
safely withdraw, and leave the lady to her re- 
pose. 
THESE cautions being taken, and the fe- 
male ovum having been impregnated, by the 
male semen, at the crisis of copulation, and 
then made its descent into the womb, nothing 
is now necessary, but its being gradually and 
regularly nourished, till it becomes a fœtus; 
and this is GENERATION. 
SECTION

[13]
SECTION II. 
Of venereal excesses. 
THE greatest physician of antiquity, who 
has transmitted his name to us with the 
highest renown, and who will be read and ad- 
mired whilst letters and science retain their in- 
fluence, has described the ills that are occasi- 
oned by the abuse of amorous pleasures, under 
the title of Tabes Dorsalis. Hippocrates says, 
that this disorder arises from some defect in the 
spinal marrow. Young married people, and 
those of a lascivious disposition, are particularly 
afflicted with it, They have no fever, and, 
though they eat well, they fall away, and be- 
come consumptive. They feel as if a sting or 
stitch descended from the head, along the spi- 
nal marrow. Every time they go to stool, or 
have occasion to urine, they shed a great quanti- 
ty of thin seminal liquor. They are incapable of 
procreation, and frequently dream of the act 
of coition. Walking particularly in rugged 
paths puts them out of breath, and weakens 
them, occasioning a heaviness in the head, and 
noise in the ears, which are succeeded by a vi- 
olent fever that terminates their days. Such 
are the words of Hippocrates, which corre- 
spond with what Aetius says upon the same 
subject. Young people have the air and ap- 
pearance of old age. They become pale, effe- 
minate, benumbed, lazy, stupid, and even 
imbecile: 

[14]
imbecile:their bodies are curved, and their 
legs are unable to perform their functions; 
they have an utter distaste, and, for every 
thing, are totally incapacitated; many be- 
come paralytic. The stomach is disordered, 
all the body is weakened, paleness, bodily de- 
cay, and emaciation succeed, These opinions 
are supported by Turpius, that celebrated bur- 
gomaster and physician of Amsterdam: these 
are his words: “ The spinal marrow does 
“ not only waste, but the body and mind both 
“ equally languish, and the man perishes a 
“ miserable victim. Samuel Vesputius was 
“ seized with a flux of humour extremely 
“ sharp, which immediately affected the hind 
“ part of the head, and the nape of the neck, 
“ from whence it communicated to the spinal 
“ marrow, the loins, the buttocks, and the 
“ articulation of the thigh, which made this 
“ unfortunate man suffer such excruciating 
“ pain, that his countenance was entirely dis- 
“ torted, and he was seized with a slow fever, 
“ which by degrees consumed him, but not so 
“ fast as he desired; and he was in such a si- 
“ tuation, that he frequently invoked death 
“ before he snatched him from his misery.” 
To these opinions, we shall add that of the 
celebrated Gabius, in his Pathological and Me- 
dicinal Institutes : “ An immediate emission 
“ of feed is not only prejudicial, by reason of 
“ the loss of a most useful humour, hut like- 
“ wise by a repetition of the convulsive mo- 
“ tion by which it is discharged; for the 
“ highest pleasure is followed by an universal 
4 “ resolution

[15] 
“ resolution of the natural powers, which can- 
“ not frequently take place without exerva- 
“ tion. Besides, the more the strainers of the 
“ body are drained, the more humour they 
“ draw to them from the other parts; and the 
“ juices being thus conveyed to the genitals, 
“ the other parts are impoverished. Hence it 
“ is, that from excessive venery arise lassitude, 
“ weakness, numbness, a feeble gait, head 
“ aches, convulsions of all the senses, but espe- 
“ cially of the sight, and dulness of hearing, 
“ an idiot look, a feverish circulation, exsicca- 
“ tion, leanness, a consumption of the lungs 
“ and back, and effeminacy: these evils are 
“ increased, and become incurable, by reason 
“ of a perpetual itch for pleasure, which the 
“ mind at last contracts, as well as the body; 
“ and from whence it follows, that they have 
“ obscene dreams in sleep, and that the prone 
“ parts upon every the slightest occasion have 
“ a tendency to stiffen, and the quantity of 
“ replaced semen, however small, becomes a 
“ burthen and a stimulus; which semen will 
“ be discharged from the relaxed cells, by the 
“ very slightest efforts, and even without any 
“ effort at all. Thus it is, that these excesses 
“ brings such perdition upon the flower of our 
“ youth.” 
SUCH then are the sentiments of these great 
men at different periods, upon the consequence 
of too violent seminal emissions; and to illu- 
strate what has been premised, it will be ne- 
cessary to pay some attention to the importance 
of

[16]
of this liquor, with respect to the well-being 
of the whole human machine. 
It may with truth be said, that our bodies 
are in a continual state of decay: to repair this 
waste, nature has furnished us with nutrition, 
by the assistance of aliments; but whenever 
this supply is wanting, our frame must neces- 
sarily decay much faster, and more quickly 
sink into a state of extreme debility and mortal 
weakness. Too copious evacuations are the 
most frequent causes of this defect; for our 
bodies are so constructed, that for these ali- 
ments to acquire the degree of preparation ne- 
cessary for the reparation, a certain quantity of 
humours must be ready prepared, and con- 
stantly at hand. If this condition is wanting, 
the digestion and concoction of the aliments are 
imperfect, and the more imperfect in propor- 
tion, as the deficient humour happens to be of 
a more elaborate kind, or of greater importance 
in the animal œconomy. 
The seminal liquor has so great an influx 
ence upon the corporeal powers, and upon 
perfect digestion, which repairs them, that 
physicians of all ages have been unanimously 
of opinion, that the loss of an ounce of this 
humour would weaken more than that of for- 
ty ounces of blood. An idea may be formed 
of its importance, by observing the effect it 
produces as soon as it begins to be formed; the 
voice, the physiognomy, the features of the 
face change; the beard grows, and the body 
often

[17]
often takes another appearance, because the 
muscles acquire a thickness and firmness, which 
form a sensible difference between the body of 
an adult person, and that of a youth not yet 
arrived at the age of puberty. These changes 
are prevented by destroying the organ which 
serves to secrete the liquor that produces it; and 
Boerhaave observed, that the amputation of the 
testicles, at the age of verility, made the beard 
fall, and effeminated the voice. 
There are humours, such as perspiration, 
which quit the body the moment they are se- 
parated from the circulating vessels. There 
are others, such as urine, which after this re- 
paration are retained for a certain time in the 
reservoirs destined for that purpose, and from 
whence they do not issue till they are collected 
in a sufficient quantity, to excite an irritation 
upon these reservoirs, which mechanically 
causes them to empty. There are a third sort. 
Which are secreted and retained in the manner 
of the second, in reservoirs, not with the design 
of being completely evacuated, but to acquire 
in these reservoirs a degree of perfection which 
qualifies them for fresh functions, when they 
return into the mass of humours. Such, 
amongst others, is the genital liquor. Being 
separated in the testicles, it passes from this in 
a pretty long canal into the vesiculœ seminales, 
is continually resorbed by the vessels adapted 
for that purpose, and are gradually restored to 
the mass of humours. Many evidences might 
be produced to demonstrate this fact: amongst 
others,

[18] 
others, for instance, the secretion of the semi- 
nal liquor in a healthy man, is constantly made 
in the testicles: it repairs to the reservoirs, the 
limits of which are very confined, and cannot, 
perhaps, contain all that is secreted in a day; 
there are, nevertheless, some continent men, 
who have no evacuations of this kind for ma- 
ny months: in these it must, therefore, return 
into the vessels of circulation, which is greatly 
facilitated by the structure of the organs, 
which assists in the secretion of this humour, 
in conveying it into the proper channel, and 
in preserving it. The veins are there much 
more considerable than the arteries, and in a 
proportion not to be found elsewhere. And 
supposing, according to some modern opi- 
nions, * that no other than the lymphatic 
veins absorb, the genital parts are equally suit- 
ed to a considerable absorption, as the vessels 
of this kind are there very numerous. 
Though Galen was unacquainted with the 
mechanism of the semen, he was not ignorant 
that the humours were enriched by its being 
retained ; for he says every part is full of it 
with those who refrain from any commerce 
with women; but those who frequently give 
way to this intercourse, are quite deficient of 
this humour. He then enters into a curious 
disquisition, in order to ascertain how small a 
quantity of this liquor can communicate in- 
finite strength to the body; and concludes. 
* Vide, Dr. Munro junior, De Vasis Lymphaticis. Dr. 
Hunter, the Medical Commentaries, &c.
that 

[19]
that it has excellent virtue, and may, there- 
fore, very speedily convey some of its power to 
all parts of the corporeal machine; and that as 
small causes often produce great effects, he 
thinks it is no way surprizing, that the testicles 
should furnish liquor proper to circulate fresh 
vigour over all the body, as the brain produces 
many motions and sensations, and the heart 
communicates the power of beating to the ar- 
teries. To this may be properly added what 
the great professor Haller says upon the same 
subject. His words are: “ The semen is kept 
“ in the vesiculœ seminales until the man makes 
“ use of it, or nocturnal emissions deprive him 
“ of it. During this period, the quantity that 
“ is then confined excites him to acts of ve- 
“ nery; but the greater part of this seed, 
“ which is the most volatile and odoriferous, 
“ as well as the strongest, is absorbed into the 
“ blood, and then produces upon its return 
“ very surprising changes; it makes the beard, 
“ hair, and nails grow; it changes the voice 
“ and manners; for age does not produce 
“ those changes in animals; it is the semen 
“ only that performs these operations, as we 
“ find eunuchs are not susceptible of them." 
This liquor is a stimulus or provocative, 
which irritates the parts it touches, as its pow- 
erful scent, and the manifest irritation it com- 
municates to the organs of generation, plainly 
evince. These sharp particles being then in- 
cessantly absorbed and reunited with the hu- 
mours, they create a gentle, though constant 
stimulus


[20]
stimulus in the vessels, which thereby more 
forcibly contract, and more easily act upon the 
fluids; hence circulation is quickened, nutri- 
tion performed with greater regularity, and 
every other animal function becomes more 
perfect. 
This being the case, eunuchs must ncces- 
sarily be in many respects defective in their 
animal œconomy; but if they are incapable of 
the advantages that are derived from the ab- 
sorption of this liquor, they are, on the other 
hand, not deprived of that precious part of the 
blood which is allotted for semen; and of 
course they are not liable to those changes 
which are occasioned by the prepared seminal 
liquor; nor are they exposed to those disorders 
which arise from the privation of this humour 
unprepared. When the first is not separated, 
the animal machine will be deficient in those 
succours which it derives from the prepared 
semen, without being liable to the alterations 
which depend thereupon; but this can in no 
respect weaken; if, on the one hand, it gains 
nothing, so, on the other, it loses nothing: 
the body of an eunuch may, therefore, in this 
respect be considered in a state of childhood. 
To what has been here said upon this subject, 
the observations of the celebrated professor 
Skmeider of Leipsic, will be no improper sup- 
plement. 
“ Whilst

[21]
“ Whilst I have been some times medi-
“ tating on various natural subjects, says this 
“ professor, such as the human body, the 
“ structure of it, its motion, its humours, and 
“ the like, I imagined that, amongst other 
“ things, the genital liquor well deserved to 
“ be carefully examined; and by inquiring 
“ into the nature, the constitutive parts, the 
“ vessels, receptacles, and secretion of it, I 
“ have recollected some things concerning its 
“ motion; not that which is ejaculatory, and 
“ excited in coition, or by another filthy ti- 
“ tillation; nor yet its own private and in- 
“ testine motion, which, that it must have, 
“ we are pretty sure of, from the spirituous 
“ and sulphureous particles it abounds with; 
“ but the motion I mean is a progressive one, 
“ from its receptacles back again into the mass 
“ of the blood; and several circumstances 
“ have induced me to believe and assert, that 
“ there really is such a motion, till such time 
“ as the contrary shall be plainly and evident- 
“ ly demonstrated to me. To get some light in 
“ this matter, I perused various authors, both 
“ ancient and moderen, philological as well as 
“ anatomical, but to little or no purpose; for 
“ I have been scarce able to find any thing in 
“ them concerning this progressive or circu- 
“ latory motion, except in Hippocrates, in his 
“ book de Genitura; by whole words we may 
“ conclude he was of this opinion, as he says. 
“ As soon as there is seed made, the flesh and out- 
“ ward skin become more porous, and the little 
“ veins are more opened than they were before;
“ but

[22]
“ but those who are yet in their childhood, or else 
“ eunuchs, have, for that reason, no hair either 
“ on the pubes or chin, and are all over smooth, 
“ because no pussage being yet made for the seed, 
“ the outward superficies are no where rarefied; 
“ for the passage to the seed, as I said a little 
“ before, is stopped up. 
“ From these words it is evident, that Hip- 
“ pocrates has made mention of this progress 
“ of the seed into the blood and body; whilst 
“ he asserts, that by this same seed the flesh 
“ and outward skin are rarefied, that the beard 
“ and hair on the pubes might come through, 
“ because then there is a passage made for 
“ the seed, which, before the years of pu- 
“ berty, and in eunuchs, is yet stopped up. 
“ Rolfinch just hints at it, and at the same 
“ time denies the circulation of the seed, as 
“ will appear from his words: The ostentatious 
“ name of circulation, says he, gives no rest to 
“ the curious; the semen seems neither to circulate 
“ within nor without the testicles; the vigour 
“ which the testicles add to the body ought not to 
“ be aseribed to their hulk, but to their power; 
“ yet I will not deny, but that some seminal atoms 
“ may be mixed with the blood, from the remain- 
“ der of what serves for the nutrition of the tes- 
“ ticles, and which is received back into the veins. 
“ That these words intimate a regress of the 
“ seed into the blood, is undeniable; but they 
“ are not strong enough, and a few atoms are 
“ not sufficient to procure the body mettle, 
“ and add strength and vigour to it; and it 
“ must

[23]
“ must not be a small quantity of them that 
“ would be able to have that effect Tauvry, 
“ speaking of the use of the seed, in regard to 
“ the body it is made in, and considering it 
“ on account of the visible effects it has upon 
“ the body, comes, without doubt, into the 
“ opinion of its circulatory motion. I shall 
“ transcribe the passage entire, it is worth 
“ reading, and runs thus; “ Nobody doubts, 
“ but that we owe our origin to the seed, and that 
“ whilst it regenerates us in other beings very like 
“ ourselves, it renders us as it were immortal. 
“ But it is more difficult to trace and know the 
“ uase it is of to the subject itself in which it is 
“ produced; yet we see it gives us a certain de- 
“ gree of perfections strength, and vigour; be- 
“ cause eunuchs, womens and those who, by ex- 
“ cessive venery, are enervated, are, like chil- 
“ drens dastardly and imperfect; for the same 
“ reason it produces a beards, ond makes the 
“ voice of a deeper sound; and as between eunuch 
“ and woman, there is no other difference, than 
“ what relates to the production of this liquids, 
“ it is very probabks that this same liquid, re- 
“ turning into the mass of the bloods is the cause 
“ of these remarkable effects." 
These are the words and arguments of our 
author, to which I shall add my own reasons, 
to confirm this opinion. The first and most 
cogent is the smallness of the seminal bags, and 
continual and daily afflux into them. That 
they are small, we are convinced by our eyes; 
they are not three inches in length, and 
hardly

[24]
hardly one inch in breadth and thickness, tho’ 
on one side they are commonly somewhat big- 
ger than they are on the other. Now, let 
any one well consider the smallness of these 
vessels, and the daily influx of seed into them, 
which nobody can deny, unless he denies like- 
wise, against all reason and experience, the cir- 
culation of the blood, the undoubted cause of 
secretion of all humours in the body, whether 
good or bad. Now let, I say, any one well 
consider the continual increase of seed, and 
the smallness of the seminal bags, that are no 
ways capable of receiving and containing such 
a quantity of seed as may be made in seven or 
eight weeks (I will say nothing of many years) 
and so long till a man lawfully cohabits with a 
woman. As these things then are incompa- 
tible, it is necessary that the semen should be 
carried off again to the mass of the blood or the 
body, for the reasons already alledged by 
Tauvry, and others that may be given. The 
change that is likewise observed in the tempe- 
rament of the body after castration, is a cor- 
roborating evidence of the progressive motion 
of the semen; for it is manifest, that animals, 
after their testicles are taken away, grow fat- 
ter, are more languid, and less courageous. 
It is likewise, amongst other things, to be ob- 
served, that in eunuchs the hair of the beard 
and privities does not fall off before castration; 
and that if it is not on the chin, and other 
parts, it never will appear as upon those who 
have not undergone this operation. The pri- 
vation of virility likewise changes the voice.
which

[25]
which becomes more sharp after it. It is re- 
ported of stags that are fit for copulation, that 
if immediately after the shedding of their horns, 
which fall off every year, they are deprived of 
the powers of procreation, no new horns will 
grow in future. This motion of the seed is more- 
over proved from the rank smell and taste of 
some beasts, and the flesh of others; as also 
the stated periods on which their desire of co- 
pulation returns. What becomes of all the 
seed? Where is it hid when those animals do 
not couple with their females? Therefore to 
say that no secretion of semen is made, is 
speaking against all reason and experience. Or- 
gans are set apart for that secretion, which, ac- 
cording to the laws of nature, are constantly 
employed in their office. There is the matter, 
or arterial blood, from which the seed is sepa- 
ted. We are likewise taught by experience 
the presence of the seed in animals at all times. 
Whenever an animal is diffected, the seed- 
bags will appear turgid with recent seed. I 
am, moreover, of opinion, that if the semen 
did not circulate in the body, it would be ut- 
terly impossible for unmarried men to abstain 
from fornication, by reason of the continual 
increase of seed, and the incessant irritations 
it would occasion to abominable lust; not to 
mention the various and most dangerous dis- 
orders such a superabundance of semen would 
create, if the quantity could not be any way 
diminished, except by copulation. It is true, 
that a man may disturb and spoil the motion 
the seed, by excesses in diet, and various 
C meats


[26]
meats and liquors, that either augment the 
quantity of liquor too much, or render it 
sharp, or else obstruct the vessels, and so 
cause a corruption and stagnation of the seed, 
and an acrimony contracted from thence, 
ought sometimes to be reckoned amongst the 
morbific causes of a furor uterinus, priapism, 
and satyriasis. This is evident from what 
is often observed in woman troubled with 
the furor uterinus; namely, that upon rub- 
bing the pudenda with musk or amber- 
grease, or giving them clysters of the same na- 
ture, great quantities of spermatic liquor are 
discharged, with immediate relief to the pati- 
ent. From what has been said, I think it is 
manifest, that the seed, from its vessels, re- 
turns into the blood, and from that again into 
them. But where is the passage through which 
it is conveyed? This, I confess, we know 
little of; but then our want of knowledge is 
no reason we should deny there is such a pas- 
sage. Our ignorance and diffidence cannot 
take away the truth and reality of things. Tell 
me, pray, which way is it that, from an epyema 
in the thorax, an imposthume in the abdomen, 
or an inflammation in the pleura, lungs, &c. 
the purulent matter is carried to the urinary 
passages, the guts, or the mouth? We see 
that in a pleurisy, the matter is most common- 
ly discharged at the mouth; but then at other 
times we likewise find, that it is brought away 
with the urine, or the excrements. Nay, what 
is still more surprising, several hard substances 
that had been swallowed, such as pins, &c.
3 have

[27] 
have been brought away through the urinary 
passages with the urine, as we have had several 
examples, attested by persons of worth and 
credit, Miscell. I. C. 4. II. D. 10. III. P. 
m. 4. and act. euditer, Mens. August. Anni. 
1712. Which way could these things get to 
the urinary vessels? That the blood carried 
them with it, through the arteries, veins, and 
capillary vessels, is very difficult to conceive. 
Let any one who understands anatomy weigh 
and consider the curious progress, and many 
crooked windings the chyle is forced to make 
in its passage from the stomach to the blood. 
Let him consider, moreover, the various 
windings and capillary vessels through which 
the blood circulates, and compare it to those 
hard substances, and then judge, whether they 
can easily be carried to the secretary organs of 
the urine, and with the same facility be sepa- 
rated from the blood, as the urine is, without 
wounding the vessels. The above mentioned 
Tauvry is of opinion, that the seed through 
the pores of the veins goes back into the mass 
of blood, which regress he conceives to be 
in this manner: The seed, says he, in- 
cluded within its vessels ferments, and, by 
continuing there, acquires a constitution it 
was not before endowed with; that is, it gets 
more motion, and is more subtilized; so that 
returning into the mass of blood, it there 
brings forth those alterations, which it could 
not have produced, unless it had been rectified 
and exalted in the seminal vessels. When these 
vessels are once filled, and more seminal mat- 
C2 ter


[28]
ter comes to them, that which is contained in 
them is forced by degrees to go off into the 
pores of the veins, and circulating with the 
blood, by its glutinous quality, in a manner, 
involves and with-holds the spirits, and hinders 
the dissipation of them. This is the reason that 
in the act of coition great quantities of this 
oily substance are, by repetition, exhausted, 
the spirits evaporated; and from this principle 
arises the debility of those who are destitute of 
this liquor. Mr. Boyle is of the same opinion. 
As to myself, I believe that the seed being at- 
tenuated and subtilized in the testicles and se- 
minal vessels, returns by the lymphatic vessels, 
which, together with the vasa deferentia, ascends 
into the abdomen, and then they discharge 
their lympha in the chyliferous vessels; and 
that after this manner it is carried again into 
the chyle and blood, to the great benefit of the 
whole body. I heartily wish, that the most 
skilful anatomists, and philological writers of 
the greatest penetration, would make further 
inquiry into this affair, the certain knowledge 
of which would be of great utility. 
From these observations, I think it is clear- 
ly proved, that the superabundant semen is ab- 
sorbed by the lymphatic vessels into the body, 
where it communicates fresh circulation and 
vigour, and disperses strength and power to 
every part of the body. If then this liquor 
is of such eminent importance to the pro- 
per functions of the whole machine, let us 
consider what may be the effects of too great a 
discharge

[29]
discharge of it. Aetius has handed down to
us a description of the ills that are produced 
by too great an emission of the semen: 
“ Young people, says he, have the air and 
“ appearance of old age; they become pale, 
“ effeminate, benumbed, lazy, base, stupid, 
“ and even imbecile; their bodies become 
“ bent, their legs are not able to carry them; 
“ they have an utter distaste for every thing, 
“ are totally incapacitated, and many become 
“ paralytic;” and he therefore includes amo- 
rous pleasures among the number of the six 
causes which occasion the palsy. Galen ob- 
serves, that the same causes occasion disorders 
of the brain, and of the nerves, and destroy 
the powers; and he tells us, that a patient under 
his care for a violent disorder, not being per- 
fectly recovered, died the same night that he 
Paid the conjugal tribute to his wife. And 
Pliny, the naturalist, informs us, that Corne- 
lius Gallus, the ancient prætor, and Titus 
Etherius, the Roman knight, died in the very 
act of coition. Sanctorius, who has examin- 
ed with the greatest attention all the causes 
which actuate our bodies, has observed, after 
Aetius,that this weakens the stomach, de- 
stroys digestion, obstructs that insensible per- 
spiration, the irregularity of which produces 
the most fatal consequences, occasions the li- 
ver and reins to be overheated, gives a dispo- 
sition for the stone in the kidneys, and usually 
occasions the loss of, or weakens, the sight.
Lommius, in his Commentaries upon Celsus, 
observes, that frequent emissions of the seed re- 
C3 lax,

[30]
lax, dry up, weaken, enervate, and produce 
a croud of evils, such as apoplexies, lethar-
gies, epilepsies, faintings, the loss of sight, tre- 
mors, palsy, spasm, and every species of the 
most racking gout. Schelaumer says, that too 
great a dissipation of the animal spirits weakens 
the stomach, destroys the appetite, and nutri- 
tion no longer taking place, the motion of the 
heart is weakened, all the parts languish, and 
an epilepsy succeeds. Salmuth has seen a learn- 
ed man of a splenetic cast go mad; and another 
man, whose brain was so dried up, that it was 
heard to rattle in the pericranium; and both 
these disorders were occasioned by excesses of 
the same nature. And the author of Memoirs 
of Curious Naturalists (De Cur 2. ann. 5. ap- 
pend. obs. 88. p. 56) says, that he himself 
has seen a man of 59 years of age, who, three 
weeks after his marriage with a young woman, 
fell suddenly blind, and died at the end of four 
months, which he attributed to the excessive 
libidinous disposition of the wife, and the too 
frequent gratification of the husband. The ce- 
lebrated Hoffman tells us (in his De morbis ex- 
nimia venere) that a young man of 18 years of 
age, who had frequent connections with a ser- 
vant girl, was on a sudden seized with a 
weakness, and a general tremor in all his 
limbs; his face became red, and his pulse ve- 
ry weak. He was relieved from this state in 
an hour’s time; but an incessent languor con- 
tinued upon him. The same fit frequently re- 
turned, and threw him into great agonies, 
which, at the end of eight days, occasioned a 
contractions

[31]
contraction and tumour in the right arm, with 
a pain in his right elbow, which was greatly 
encreased. The disorder continued increasing 
for a long time, notwithstanding many reme- 
dies were prescribed. At length, however, 
the doctor performed a cure upon this patient. 
Boerhaave says, that the loss of too much se- 
men occasions lassitude, debilitates, and renders 
exercise difficult; it causes convulsions, ema- 
ciation, and pains in the membrane of the 
brain; it deadens the senses, and particularly 
the sight; gives rise to a dorsal consumption, 
and various other disorders, which are connect- 
ed with these. He also says, that he had seen 
a patient, whose disorder began by lassitude, 
and a weakness in all parts of the body, parti- 
cularly towards the loins; it was attended 
with an involuntary motion of the tendons, 
periodical spasms, and bodily decay, info- 
much, as to destroy the whole corporeal 
frame; he felt a pain even in the membrane 
of the brain, a pain which patients call a dry 
burning heat, and which incessantly affected 
the most noble parts. And he says, that he 
has likewise seen a young man afflicted with a 
dorsal consumption, who, though he was fre- 
quently cautioned not to give way to amorous 
pleasures, nevertheless so far yielded to their 
impulse, that his body, before his death, was 
quite deformed, and the fleshy substance which 
appears above the spinal apophyses of the loins, 
was intirely wasted; and that even the brain 
was in some measure consumed. 
C4 Coition

[32]
Coition brings on epileptical fits, in those 
who are subject to them; and to this cause 
Van Swieten attributes the great oppression the 
patients suffer, if the fits are frequent. Doctor 
Didier knew a merchant of Montpellier, who 
never made any sacrifices to Venus, without 
having a fit of epilepsy. Galen furnishes us 
with a similar instance, as well as Henry Van 
Steers. Van Swieten knew a man, who was 
troubled with the epilepsy, who had a fit upon 
his wedding-night. Hoffman was acquainted 
with a very lascivous woman, who usually had 
a fit of epilepsy after each add of venery. Boer- 
haave observes, that in the heat of venery, all 
the nerves are affected, oftentimes even mor- 
tally; and gives an example of a woman, 
who, every time she performed the act of co- 
ition, fell into a pretty long sincope; and an- 
other of a man, who died the very first time 
he copulated with a woman, the spasm being 
so violent, that it brought on a general palsy. 
And Monsieur Savage has given us a very ex- 
traordinary instance of a man, who was seized 
with a spasm in the very middle of enjoyment, 
whereby his whole body became stiff, he lost 
all sensation and memory, and the fit continu- 
ed upon him for twelve years, A few years 
since, a handsome young woman, of a very las- 
civious disposition, bordering upon the furor 
uterinus, could not be completely gratified 
with the successive attacks of seven dragoons, 
who were quartered at Ipswich. Though each 
of the assailants had quite exhausted himself in 
her service, she would willingly have met with 
another



[33] 
another lover the same evening; but being in 
this disappointed, she went to her own bed, 
and the next morning was found almost speech- 
less, bathed in her own blood, which gushed 
from the matrix. I saw her in this condition, 
and prescribed what I thought would have 
been of some service to her; but she expired 
before the application could be made. 
THUS we find, that excessive indulgence 
in amorous pleasures does not only produce 
languishing disorders, but frequently acute and 
violent disorders; and it constantly impedes 
the cure of complaints derived from another 
source. Hoffman, after speaking of the dan- 
gerous effects of amorous pleasure, for those 
who labour under wounds, considers those 
risks which persons run, by adicting them- 
selves to it, who are afflicted with fevers. Up- 
on this occasion, he quotes an observation of Fa- 
bricius de Hilden, who says, that a man hav- 
ing copulated with a woman the tenth day of 
a pleurisy, which had terminated the seventh, 
by abundant perspiration, he was seized with a 
violent fever, and immediate trembling, and 
died on the thirteenth day. He also relates, 
that a man of a gouty disposition, much adict- 
ed to women and wine, who fancying himself 
cured of a pleurisy, was, immediately after co- 
ition, seized with a violent trembling all over 
his body, extreme flushings in his face, with 
all the symptoms of the disorder which he 
thought he had got rid of; but which returned 
with much greater violence than at first, and 
C5 he

[34]
he was in far greater danger. He also men- 
tions a man, who never yielded to venereal 
excesses, without having an intermitting fever 
for several days. Bartholus takes notice of a 
young bridegroom, who, the day after his 
nuptials, was seized with a violent fever, 
occasioned by his conjugal excesses, which 
brought on a great dejection of spirits, accom- 
panied with faintings, risings in the stomach, 
immediate drought, light-headedness, and in- 
capacity of sleeping, and much uneasiness. And 
Monsieur Chesneau tells us, he has seen a 
young married couple, who, the first week of 
their nuptials, were seized with a violent in- 
cessant fever, accompanied with flushings in 
their faces, which were greatly bloated, and 
one of them had a violent pain at the crupper; 
and they fell martyrs to lust before the end of 
the first month. 
If such fatal accidents are produced by the 
excessive indulgence of amorous passions in a 
natural and legal way, still more baneful ef- 
fects must flow from the gratification of them 
in an unnatural and illegal manner, which I
shall illustrate in the succeeding chapters. 
SEC-

[35]
SECTION III. 
Of the baneful effects of self-pollution in 
the male-sex. 
WE have already seen the concurrent testi- 
monies of the most eminent ancient 
and modern physicians, with regard to the fa- 
tal consequences of excessive indulgence in 
amorous pleasure in a natural way; the sub- 
jest of this section is the consideration of the 
still more direful effects of seminal discharges 
in an unnatural way; for, as a celebrated phi- 
lologist observes, “ The loss of too great a 
“ quantity of semen in the natural manner, is 
“ attended with very dangerous consequences; 
“ but they are still more dreadful, when the 
“ same quantity has been dissipated in an un- 
“ natural manner; for the accidents which 
“ happen to those who waste themselves in a 
“ natural way are very terrible; but those 
“ which are occasioned by self-pollution are 
“ still more shocking.” 
It would, indeed, be of little consequence, 
in a physical sense, whether this evacuation 
was occasioned by either of the methods I have 
mentioned, if they were alike pernicious; but 
the manner is in this respect equal to the sub- 
stance. Sanctorius points out to us the cause 
of the peculiar evils arising from self-pollution:
C6 “ He

[36] 
“ He says, moderate coition is useful, when 
“ nature sollicits for it: when it is sollicited 
“ by the imagination, it weakens all the fa- 
“ culties, and particularly the memory.” This 
may be very clearly explained; when we are 
in a state of health, we have no amorous de- 
sires, but when the vesiculœ seminales are re- 
plete with a quantity of liquor, which has ac- 
quired such a degree of thickness, as to render 
its return into the mass of blood difficult; and 
in these circumstances, when an evacuation 
takes place, we may be partly certain, that 
the corporeal frame will not thereby suffer any 
sensible diminution of strength. But such is the 
structure of the genital organs, that they are 
actuated, and the succeeding desires are ani- 
mated, not only by the presence of the super- 
abundant seminal humour, but also by the ima- 
gination, which having great influence upon 
these parts, may, by being occupied with las- 
civious ideas, give them such a disposition, as 
to create these desires, the gratification where- 
of is the more pernicious, in proportion as it 
is unnecessary to the welfare of the body. 
These organs, like the others, are never pro- 
perly actuated, but when nature stimulates 
them: for example, the want of food and 
drink, is indicated by hunger and thirst; and 
excesses in either respect are prejudicial, by 
enfeebling the body. The necessity of going 
to stool, and voiding urine, is signified by cer- 
tain physical conditions; but a bad habit may 
so far pervert the constitution of the organs, 
that the necessity of these evacuations may no 
longer

[37]
longer depend upon the quantity of matter to 
be evacuated. We subject ourselves to want, 
without being in want; and this is precisely 
the case of those who addict themselves to self- 
pollution. Imagination and custom, not na- 
ture and reason, prompt them to the filthy 
practice. Nature is drained of one of her most 
essential humours, and which she so visibly 
points out the application of for her own sup- 
port, and the perpetuation of the human spe- 
cies. Habit will nevertheless in time so far 
pervert nature, that, in consequence of that 
law of animal œconomy, whereby humours 
are attracted by irritation, there will be a con- 
tinual conflux of humours upon these parts: 
for, as Hippocrates observes, when a man ha- 
bituates himself to seminal emissions, the ves- 
sels that are therein employed, are unnecessa- 
rily dilated, and the semen is by that means 
more abundantly attracted. Not only the bo- 
dy, but the mind, is contaminated; for no 
sooner has this uncleanness fixed its empire in 
the heart, but from that time it pursues the 
man every where, and never relinquishes its 
dominion. Even upon the most serious and 
awful occasions, he will find himself transport- 
ed with lustful conceptions and desires, which 
incessantly pursue him, and occupy his imagi- 
nation. The self-polluter, entirely devoted 
to this filthy meditation, is liable, upon that 
account, to the same disorders, as the meta- 
physician, or the mathematician, whose at- 
tention is engrossed by a single object; and it 
is universally allowed, that nothing debilitates 
the


[38]
the faculties more than the mind being eon- 
stantly engaged upon the same subject; for 
that part of the brain which is then occupied 
makes an effort, similar to that of a mussle, 
which has been for a long time greatly extend- 
ed; this occasions such a continued motion in 
the part as cannot be stopt, or such a fixed 
attention, that the idea cannot be changed. 
Self-polluters are under the same predicament, 
or else they are completely incapacitated; so 
that when their faculties are not entirely de- 
stroyed, they are afflicted with all the disor- 
ders incident to the brain, the hypocondria, 
epilepsy, catalepsy, insensibility, imbecility, 
nervous disorders, &c. &c. 
These very disorders, when thus produ- 
ced, are an additional incentive to their cause, 
as the patient flatters himself with momentary 
relief, from the gratification of a disposition 
that perpetually engages his attention; and 
therefore he daily and hourly encreases his mi- 
sery, and saps the very effence of existence. 
If to this we add the difficulty that fre- 
quently attends the gratification of amorous 
passions in a natural way, the expence that 
necessarily attends it, and the risk with regard 
to infection, which serve as so many damps 
to the pursuit, a young man that is dependant, 
having but a small income, and his character 
to preserve, will frequently surmount his de- 
sires, be they ever so inordinate; but when 
once he habituates himself to a self-gratifica- 
tion,

[39]
tion, the means are so easy, the method so 
cheap, and the danger so latent, that every 
time he finds an impulse he creates an oppor- 
tunity, till at length the generative organs be- 
ing incessantly irritated, a perpetual stimulus 
is brought on, independant of any external 
cause; so that if there were no more danger to 
be apprehended at first from emissions of this 
kind, than those in the natural way, the train 
of evils produced by this habit, and the mind 
being debauched, must demonstrate their fa- 
tal tendency: but still more cogent reasons are 
to be given, why seminal discharges this way 
are more destructive than in copulation. 
The frequency of erection, though im- 
perfect, which this disposition excites, greatly 
diminishes the strength of self-polluters. All 
parts in a state of extention exhaust the 
powers: the spirits that are conveyed thither 
in greater quantities, and of course dissipated, 
are wanted in the performance of other func- 
tions, which is therefore only imperfectly 
done: these concurrent causes are attended 
with very dangerous effects. Self-polluters are 
also afflicted with a kind of palsy in the organs 
of generation, which brings on impotency, 
through a defect in erection, and a simple 
gonorrhæa, by reason of the relaxed parts 
suffering the real semen to escape as soon as se- 
creted, together with an afflux of that humour 
which the prostatæ separate. In short, all the 
internal membrane of the urethra acquires a 
catarrhous

[40]
catarrhous disposition, which excites a running 
similar to the fluor albus in women. 
The devotees to self-pollution act in such 
direct opposition to nature, and all the ties of 
society, that they very richly deserve the ac- 
cumulated evils incident to their shameful prac- 
tice. I might carry this observation much 
farther in a theological and moral point of 
view; but I shall confine myself in this treatise 
merely to physical causes and effects, as I do 
not attempt to write for the emoliariation of 
manners, but for the preservation and recovery 
of health. They are of such a selfish and mer- 
cenary disposition, that, unwilling to partici- 
pate their bliss with the amiable part of the 
creation, they are justly and reciprocally de- 
barred from that joy which the heart is sensible 
of, and which should be nicely distinguished 
from that voluptuousness, solely corporeal, 
which man enjoys in common with animals, 
and from which it is completely distinct. This 
joy aids digestion, animates circulation, acce- 
lerates all the functions, restores strength, and 
supports it. If this is found to unite with the 
pleasures of love, it contributes to repair, and 
even to restore, what they stole by force; and 
observation proves it. Sanctorius says upon 
this subject, “ After excessive coition with a 
“ woman that is beloved, a man is not sen- 
“ sible of the lassitude which should follow this 
“ excess, because the joy which the soul feels 
“ encreases the strength of the heart, favours 
“ the functions, and repairs what was lost." 
Beauty

[41]Beauty has charms which dilate our hearts, 
and multiply our spirits. This much is, how- 
ever, certain, that nature alots more felicity to 
those joys procured in her proper channel, than 
in those which are repugnant and destructive to 
her. 
Again, there are innumerable pores spread 
over the surface of the human body, which are 
plainly the emunctories or channels of discharge 
for vitiated redundant, or, in short, perspir- 
able matter. There also exists on the surface 
of the body a resorbent faculty. Every instant 
half the pores of the skin exhale a very subtile 
humour that is of greater consequence than all 
our other evacuations. At the same time another 
kind of pores receive part of the fluids which 
surround us, and communicate them to the 
vessels. It is demonstrable, that in some cases 
this inhalation is very important. In robust 
people, the exhalation is greater than in weak 
persons; and contrarywise, the inhalation in 
these is more considerable, and the perspiration 
of healthy people contains something nutritious 
and strengthening, which being inhaled by an- 
other invigorates him. From these observa- 
tions we may deduce, how the young female 
who lay with David increased his strength; 
how other aged men have been assistted in the 
same manner; and consequently why it 
weakens the healthy person, who loses with- 
out receiving, or rather who receives weak 
exhalations, corrupt and putrid, which are pre- 
judicial to her constitution. In the act of co- 
ition,

[42] 
ition, this perspiration is probably more ani- 
mated and spiritual than at any other time. It 
is a real loss which is sustained, and which 
takes place in whatever manner the sperm is 
emitted, as it depends upon the agitation 
which attends it. In copulation it is recipro- 
cal, and the one inhales what the other ex- 
hales. This mutual exchange is endubitably 
evinced, when proper attention is paid to these 
operations. A certain modern professor says, 
that he saw, not long since, a man, who 
was not afflicted with any kind of gonorrhæa, 
or any cutaneous venereal symptoms, commu- 
nicate the venereal disorder to a woman, wrho, 
at the same instant, gave him the itch in ex- 
change. This may serve as a corroborating 
proof of this mutual loss and gain in the act of 
coition; and though the example might, in 
ludicrous hands, be turned against the argu- 
ment, it certainly evinces, that where there 
is no infection communicated on either side, 
the nutritious absorption may counterbalance 
the loss by perspiration. 
THESE are the reasons why seminal dis- 
charges by manual friction, are more pernici- 
ous in their consequences, than in the natural 
act of coition. And if this were not sufficient- 
ly proved by the foregoing reasons, the block- 
ing spectacles of masturbation, the horrid vic- 
tims of self-pollution might be brought forth to 
display the dreadful effects peculiar to this 
filthy and abominable practice; and indeed it 
is

[43]
is a duty owing to the public, to hold up the 
minor of Onania. 
The examples I shall now give are well 
authenticated by the best writers upon the sub- 
ject; and it will therefore be needless to 
trouble the reader with references or quota- 
tion marks. 
The general evils which all practitioners, 
who have written upon this subject, agree in, 
are thus specified: the intellectual facul- 
ties are weakened; loss of memory ensues, the 
ideas are clouded, the patients sometimes fall 
into slight madness, they have an incessant 
irksome uneasiness, continual anguish, and so 
keen a remorse of conscience, that they fre- 
quently shed tears; they are subject to verti- 
goes; all their senses, and particularly sight 
and hearing, are weakened; their sleep, if 
they can obtain any, is disturbed with fright- 
ful dreams; the powers of their body decay; 
the growth of such as abandon themselves to 
those abominable practices, before it is accom- 
plished, is greatly prevented; some cannot 
sleep at all, others are in a perpetual state of 
drowsiness; they are all affected with hypocon- 
driac or hysteric complaints, and are overcome 
with the accidents that accompany those grie- 
vous disorders, melancholy, sighing, tears, 
palpitations, suffocations, and faintings; some 
emit a calcarious saliva; coughs, slow fevers, 
and consumptions, are chastisements which 
others meet with in their own crimes. The 
most

[44]
most acute pains form another object of pa- 
tients complaints; some are thus affected in 
their heads, others in their breasts, stomach, 
and intestines; others have external rheuma- 
tic pains, aching numbness in all parts of their 
body, when they are slighly pressed; pimples, 
do not only appear in the face, being one of 
the most common symptoms, but also suppu- 
rating blisters upon the nose, the breast, and 
the thighs, and painful itchings in the same 
parts. Some patients complain even of fleshy 
excrescences upon their foreheads. The or- 
gans of generation also participate of that mi- 
sery whereof they are the primary causes. Ma- 
ny patients are incapable of erection, others 
discharge the semen upon the slightest titillation, 
and the most feeble erection, or in the efforts 
they make when at stool. Many are affected 
with a constant gonorrhæa, which entirely 
destroys their powers, and the discharge re- 
sembles fœtid matter, or mucus. Others are 
tormented with painful priapisms, dysuriœ, 
stranguries, heat of urine, and a difficulty of 
rendering it, which greatly torments many pa- 
tients. Some have painful tumours upon their 
testicles, penis, bladder, and spermatic cord; so 
that either the impracticability of coition, or 
a depravation of the genital liquor, render every 
one impotent, who has given way to this 
practice for any length of time. Moreover, 
the functions of the intestines are sometimes 
very much disordered; and some patients com- 
plain very much of stubborn constipations,. 
others of the hemorrhoids, or of the running of
a fœtid


[45] 
a fœtid matter from the fundament, and some 
with diarrhæas immediately after the crime, 
&c. &c. Such are the general disorders and 
evils produced by this filthy practice; and I 
shall now illustrate them with such examples 
as I have either been an eye-witness of, or 
such as are sufficiently vouched for by men of 
veracity and judgment. 
ONE patient, who had been married some 
years, and was the father of several children, 
having, nevertheless, addicted himself to this 
filthy practice, to avoid impregnating his wife, 
who was of a very prolific disposition, and 
who had agreed with him to be mutual assist- 
ants to each other in this manual operation, 
applied to me in a very deplorable state. He 
had an incessant seminal running or gleet, vio- 
lent pains in his back and breast, was very 
faint and weak, as well by this continual 
draining, as from a total suppression of appetite, 
loathing every kind of food, and incapable of 
retaining any thing upon his stomach. This 
brought on a violent dejection of spirits, which 
terminated in a kind of hypocondria, accom- 
panied with cold sweats; and notwithstanding 
all the remedies that were prescribed for him, 
by reason of his incapacity to take them, he 
died a martyr to this abominable practice. 
ANOTHER patient, who had addicted him- 
self to masturbation frequently from his tender 
years, had a nob of flesh, resembling a wen, 
growing upon his forehead; his face was co-
vered

[46]
vered with pimples; his nose sore and full  
of eruptions; his legs and thighs fallen away, 
and scarce able to support him; he was also 
afflicted with violent pains in his head and 
back, and frequent tremors all over his body; 
his hand shook to that degree, that he was in- 
capable of carrying a glass of wine, or any 
other liquor to his mouth without spilling, 
and though he had been a very skilful penman, 
he was incapable of writing his name. This 
patient, having discontinued his abominable 
practice, has in some degree recovered his 
strength; his face is not near so frightful, and 
the tremor of his hand has so much subsided, 
that I have lately had a letter written by him 
very prettily. 
A YOUTH, who had not yet attained his 
sixteenth year, devoted himself with such rage 
to masturbation, that at length, instead of se- 
men, he brought forth nothing but blood, the 
emission of which was soon followed with ex- 
cessive pain, and an inflammation of all the or- 
gans of generation. Emollient cataplasms were 
ordered him, which produced the desired ef- 
fect; but he soon after died of the small pox; 
and there is much reason to believe, that the 
shocks which he gave to his constitution by 
the abominable practice of self-pollution, great- 
ly tended to render the disorder so fatal. 
ANOTHER young patient was afflicted with 
that total stiffness mentioned by Boerhaave; 
his neck was first seized with it, then the spine,  
which

[47]
which gradually communicated it to all the 
members. Some time before his death, he 
could bear no other posture than lying on his 
belly in bed, being incapable of moving either 
bis hands or feet, or indeed of any other kind 
of motion, and unable to take any other ali- 
ment than what was put into his mouth. He 
existed some weeks in this dreadful situation, 
and died, or rather went out, like a snuff of a 
candle, without being sensible of pain. 
A PATIENT who had the misfortune in his 
juvenile days, being but then between eight 
and ten years of age, to contract this perni- 
cious habit, soon destroyed his constitution; 
but he was lately afflicted in a most extraordi- 
nary manner; his nerves were extremely weak, 
his hands devoid of strength, incessantly trem- 
bling, and in a state of perpetual perspiration; 
be had violent qualms of the stomach, pains in 
bis arms and legs, which sometimes commu- 
nicated to his veins and breast. He was trou- 
bled with coughing, his eyes were sunk, and 
always weak; he had a violent appetite, yet 
greatly fell away, and had a very bad aspect as 
to physiognomy. This patient, nevertheless, 
having taken the remedies, and followed the 
regimen prescribed, recovered his health and 
vigour, and is now in perfect health. 
ANOTHER patient, who gave way to this 
Pernicious practice, had his nervous system 
greatly affected, which was accompanied with 
weakness, uneasiness, weariness, and anxiety; 
he

{48]
he was exhausted by an almost incessant flux 
of semen; his face had a cadaverous appear- 
ance; weakness rendered every kind of mo- 
tion difficult to him; his legs were so feeble, 
that he could scarce stand upright upon them, 
and he did not dare stir out of his bed-room; 
his digestive powers were in so bad a state, that 
he voided his food three or four hours after 
having swallowed it, in its original state, and 
as if his stomach had the instant before receiv- 
ed it; he was greatly afflicted with phlegm, 
and expectoration greatly exhausted him. His 
weakness and want of resolution to discontinue 
the shocking practice, rendered it impossible to 
perform a cure upon him. 
ANOTHER patient, in the prime of his life, 
who, in the dawn of manhood, contracted a 
detestable habit, had his head very much con- 
fused, and was greatly subject to vertigoes, 
which made him apprehensive of the apo- 
plexy, wherefore he had recourse to phlebo- 
tomy; but the physician who prescribed it 
was soon convinced of his error. His breast 
was oppressed, which occasioned a confined 
respiration: he had frequent pains in his sto- 
mach, and by turns his whole body was af- 
fected; he had interrupted and uneasy sleep at 
night, and his spirits were no way recruited by 
it; he was also troubled with frequent itch- 
ings, was very pale, and had pains in his eyes, 
which were extremely weak, his skin appear- 
ed jaundiced, and his whole body was meta- 
morphosed; he died soon after. 
A

[49]
A YOUTH about seventeen devoted him- 
self to this filthy and seducing practice, when 
he was in a perfect state of health. His rage 
was so great for self-pollution, that he would 
sometimes repeat the act three or four times 
in one day, and a slight insensibility always pre- 
ceded and succeeded the ejaculation, which 
was also attended with a convulsive motion in 
the extending muscles of the head, and a swel- 
ling of the neck. Some months after he had 
addicted himself to this practice, he was very 
feeble every time he was guilty of it; he ne- 
vertheless persisted till he was brought to 
death's door; and the evil had made so great 
a progress, that it was out of the power of 
medicine to administer him any relief. In 
this condition the organs of generation were 
so easily irritated, and were so weak, that his 
semen flowed from him involuntarily upon the 
slightest erection, By this means, being daily 
more and more weakened, he was now afflict- 
ed with an habitual spasm, which had not hi- 
therto affected him but in the very act, and 
discontinued afterwards. But this fit now 
continued upon him for twelve or fourteen 
hours, and which brought on such violent 
pains in the neck, that he could not be pre- 
vented from making the most hideous outcries. 
During these periods, he was incapable of swal- 
lowing any food; so that his weakness and 
misery daily increased; and he languished in 
this state for several months, towards the end 
of which, before he died, he resembled a 
corpse, more than a living man, calling forth 
D an 


[50]
an infectious stench, and aqueous palish blood 
issuing from his nose, slaver constantly flowing 
from his mouth, and, being troubled with a 
diarrhæa, he voided his excrements in the bed, 
without knowing it. The disorder of his mind 
was equally shocking as that of his body; his 
memory was entirely destroyed, destitute of 
ideas, and consequently of the ability of com- 
paring any the most simple; wherefore he be- 
came void of reflection, and was insensible to 
every thing but pain, and which was very vi- 
olent upon the periodial return of the spasm. 
Here we shall leave this unhappy person, as 
his condition was too horrid to be reflected on 
without terror, and as death at length, his 
only consolation, came to his relief. 
BESIDES these examples, Mr. Limmer- 
man acquaints us, that a man about twenty- 
three years of age was greatly troubled with 
an epilepsy, from having much infeebled him- 
self by self-pollution. Every time he had a se- 
minal emission, he fell into a perfect fit of 
epilepsy, and afterwards pains in the reins and 
about the coccyx: nevertheless, he could not 
refrain from this practice; for having, after 
he received some benefit from the doctor’s ad- 
vice, returned again to his former infamous 
practice, he was at length seized with the fits 
whilst walking in the streets; and he was 
found dead in his chamber, having fallen out 
of bed, bathed in his own blood. Mr. Mieg 
of Basil, in Switzerland, tells us, that the son 
of a merchant in that city, died at the age of 
fourteen,

[51] 
fourteen, after having baffled the skill of all 
the Helvetic physicians; his disorder was con- 
vulsions, and a sort of epilepsy, which derived 
its source from self-pollution. And the celebrat- 
ed Hoffman informs us of a young man, who, 
at the age of fifteen, having given way to self- 
pollution, which he continued till he was near 
twenty-three, was at that time afflicted with 
such a weakness in his eyes and head, that the 
former were often troubled with violent spasms 
at the time of ejaculation: that when he was 
willing to pay more than common attention to 
any thing, a kind of stupor, similar to intoxi- 
cation, succeeded; the pupil of the eye was 
greatly dilated, and he suffered exquisite tor- 
ture in that part; he involuntarily shed tears, 
and a large quantity of whitish matter collect- 
ed itself in the corners of his eyes, which were 
thereby rendered very painful. 
A MARRIED man applied to me, who ac- 
knowledged, that, in his youth, having much 
defiled himself by selt-pollution, he had 
brought on a running, which the cold bath, 
and many other remedies, did not remove; 
that in this situation no one suspected him of 
labouring under any bodily complaint, but his 
doctor, as he was fresh coloured, and natu- 
rally robust; and that meeting with a young 
lady, whose beauty enamoured him, he paid 
his addresses to her, and soon gained her con- 
sent. He had, however, some mortifying re- 
flections concerning his disorder; but being in 
hopes of a cure, and dreading the loss of his 
D2 mistress, 


[52]
mistress, if he had deferred the union, which 
he earnestly wished for, they were married. It 
was near four months after the ceremony that 
he applied to me, when he acknowledged, 
that he had been as yet unable to consummate 
his nuptials; for that he had a seminal dis- 
charge before a perfect erection; and that all 
endeavours, after the first attempt, only pro- 
duced a further loss of semen, without com- 
municating any strength to the penis: that he 
at first attributed this to the over-fondness he 
had for his wife, and that delicacy which 
sometimes throws a check upon a man in his 
highest vigour; and he therefore resolved to 
surmount what he then thought false modesty, 
by drinking a bottle extraordinary; but this, 
so far from remedying the evil, did but increase 
it; for he could procure no kind of erec- 
tion, and his seed came away as soon as he 
touched her nature. He was the more morti- 
fied at his disagreeable situation, as he believed 
his wife had made complaints to her mother, 
who had dropped some hints of a divorce, the 
thoughts of which tortured his soul more than 
the loss of life, fortune, and every thing else 
that was dear to him. This gentleman being 
naturally of a strong constitution, and having 
in every respect (except pollution) lived regu- 
larly and soberly, I performed a cure upon him 
in about five months; and a short time after 
he came to me with rapture, to tell me that 
his wife was pregnant.
THESE



[53]
These examples will be sufficient to evince 
the shocking effects of this baneful practice in 
the male sex; evils that are not solely confined 
to the body, but communicate their influence 
to the mind, which is hereby overwhelmed 
with anguish, melancholy, and despair, an in- 
capacity of business or even recreation, a dis- 
relish to all the comforts and solace of this life, 
and more particularly the female sex, whom 
at length they consider with horror, from a 
consciousness of having injured them in a most 
essential and irreparable manner. With these 
torturing reflections, and this incessant self- 
reproach, they appear as monuments of grief 
and misery, and lucky are those who do not 
terminate so shocking a career with even sui- 
cide, after having been the indirect destroyer 
of many others.
D3 SECTION

[54]
SECTION IV. 
Of the dreadful consequences of self-pol-
lution, and the gratification of the SAP- 
PHIC PASSION in the female sex. 
SORRY I am to be obliged to say, that 
the tender sex, the most amiable part of 
the creation, those for whom we are animated 
to glory, danger, and every enterprise which 
we think will recommend us to their regard; I
say, these desirable objects, who should meet us 
with mutual and warm embraces, and render 
our passions and our loves congenial, have 
their minds as well as bodies fequently ener- 
vated by shameful practices, which they think 
are entirely hidden from the world; but which 
are but too plainly depicted in their counte- 
nances, and by their frigid relish for genuine 
love, and their unnatural distaste to the male 
part of creation, for whom they were by Pro- 
vidence destined; for their bodies are by these 
filthy practices not only so weakened and ema- 
ciated, that they are often rendered barren, 
and thereby greatly prejudice society and po- 
sterity; but they at length contract an uncon- 
querable habit of this kind of gratification, 
which is always so ready at hand, and which 
they fancy they indulge themselves, without the 
danger of child-bearing, the loss of reputation. 
or

[55]
or the loss of health. In this they greatly 
deceive themselves; for the evil consequences 
of such practices are infinitely more dreadful 
than any of the dangers which terrify them 
from natural enjoyment. 
This ’tis true is a tender point to treat up- 
on; and it may be urged in their defence, that 
strong passions, a naturally amorous constitu- 
tion, the sight of accidental rencounters be- 
tween animals in the streets or fields, which 
may render their natural stimulations some- 
what inordinate, and scarce controulable, are 
great palliatives for what they may think an in- 
nocent amusement. Add to this their parents 
and relations, who have the care of them, do 
not consider how early these natural operations 
take place; that if they are thinking of a hus- 
band for a daughter, they are consulting rather 
the force of his pocket, than the strength of 
his constitution, and the risk a young woman 
runs in having any intercourse with a man be- 
fore marriage. It were to be wished, that pa- 
rents would consult the real happiness of their 
children, and not attempt to curb those de- 
sires that are laudable when directed in a pro- 
per channel, but rather endeavour to promote 
their gratification as far as they are reasonable. 
To this end, it would be prudent to provide a 
proper husband for a daughter as soon as she is 
marriageable, instead of letting her languish 
till she is five or six and twenty in hopes of a 
good match. Mothers should not attempt to 
persuade their daughters that they are mere 
D4 children

[56]
children, when they are as capable of being 
mothers as themselves, with no other view 
than that their real age may not be guessed at 
or discovered. Such artifices as these are con- 
stantly detected; and it would be much more 
to their credit to be young grandmothers than 
old coquettes. 
In England, and other northern climates, 
females do not attain the age of maturity so 
early as in more southern latitudes; so that in 
some parts of Asia women are almost past child 
bearing as early as some of cold constitutions 
in the northern parts of America have little 
more than attained the age of puberty. But 
in general females in England are capable of 
child-bearing about fifteen; and this is testi- 
fied by the downy marks of puberty upon their 
privities, the projection of their breasts, and 
their monthly purgations. Many have these 
signs upon them at thirteen and fourteen; and 
could therefore increase the number of our 
progeny from that time, till about the age of 
forty-five, which is the period when women 
in this part of the world usually discontinue 
having their menses, and are past child-bear- 
ing. It must therefore be very impolitic for 
a state to prevent a female being able to dis- 
pose of her person in wedlock till she become 
twenty-one, since, it is plain, she might in that 
time have produced six or seven subjects, the 
number of which constitute the most permanent 
riches, prosperity, and security of a king-
dom.
THUS


[57] 
THUS much I have said to palliate, if pos- 
sible, any errors in the conduct of the ladies, 
whose advocate I would willingly be upon 
every occasion; but let not any female imagine, 
that the most elaborate eloquence can ever ex- 
cuse their pursuing this abominable practice, 
which is the more baneful, as it may be said 
to be contagious, a single sinner, in this re- 
spect, having frequently corrupted a whole se- 
minary of, before, virtuous girls. 
THE dangers attending this practice are so 
various and dreadful, that they cannot be paint- 
ed in too lively colours; for even the instru- 
ment of gratification is sometimes as fatal as 
the future effects of repeated indulgence. To 
explain what I mean in this respect, I shall 
relate a fact of which I was an eye-witness, 
and could, if necessary, be attested by several 
other gentlemen of the faculty, as well as 
nurses, and other persons who are acquainted 
with the event. A young female, about the 
age of fourteen, who belonged to a certain 
laudable charity, a little north of St. Paul’s, 
but was not perceived to have so much of the 
woman about her as she really had (otherwise 
she would not have remained there) was 
brought into the sick ward whilst I attended, 
when she made excessive complaints of being 
in violent pain towards her back and loins, 
and which the nurse who attended her attri- 
buted to the stone in her bladder. I told her, 
I must examine her, which she seemed much, 
averse to, and it was with the utmost difficul-
D5 ty 


[58]
ty I could prevail upon her to let me make 
an inspection; but her bashfulness was at length 
conquered by her pain. Upon examining the 
pudendum, which bore the external marks of 
puberty, I found the lips much distended, and 
inflamed; and upon penetrating my finger, I 
felt something of a hard substance, which I at 
first imagined to be the clitoris in a state of 
more than common tension. I now told her, 
that I believed she had been guilty of some 
practices that had been very pernicious to her, 
and intreated her to tell me the truth. Upon 
thrusting against this opposing part, I found I 
greatly increased her pain, and I was convin- 
ced that she had forced something up the va- 
gina, from whence she could not withdraw it. 
I now begged her to tell me what it was, when 
she frankly told me, that she had been playing 
with a carrot, which had broke just at the time 
of ejaculation. She also owned, she had been 
frequently guilty of the practice, but had hi- 
therto escaped from such an accident. It was 
with great difficulty that I was able to extract 
it, and not without putting her to the most ex- 
cruciating pain. At length, however, I re- 
leased her, and brought out the thin end of a 
middle sized carrot, about five inches long. 
This fact requires no comment to show to 
what a pitch of mortifying shame, as well as 
torture, such acts as these frequently expose 
that sex, whom we are inclined to believe 
equally innocent, delicate, and chaste. 
In

[59]
In other respects, the danger to which wo- 
men expose themselves by this filthy practice, 
are very analagous to those which the men are 
liable to from this filthy practice. The hu- 
mour which is lost by females is not, it is true, 
so elaborate as the male semen, and may not 
therefore enfeeble the body so speedily; but 
when they are guilty of excesses, their nervous 
system being weaker than ours, and naturally 
more liable to spasms, the accidents arising 
therefrom are still more evident; they are also 
exposed to hysterical fits, and dreadful vapours;
to incurable jaundices; to violent cramps in 
the stomach and back; to acute pains in the 
nose; to the fluor albus, the accretion whereof 
is a continual source of the most smarting pain, 
to descents and ulcerations of the matrix, and 
to all the infirmities which these disorders bring 
on; to the furor uterinus, which at once de- 
prives them of decency and reason, and brings 
them to a level with the most lascivious brutes, 
a state in which they cannot long exist, as 
their vices and crimes, when arrived at this 
pitch, must soon terminate their days, though 
not their ignominy. 
A PRETTY woman, in the best state of 
health, who addicts herself to self-pollution, will 
find her charms presently decay, her eyes will 
become languid and dead, her complexion will 
fade, her body will fall away, and in a short 
time, if she perseveres in the practice, from 
an agreeable and  desirable object, she will 
become not only tasteless to the men, but even 
D6 disgustful

[60] 
disgustful to herself; and if it be true, as Ro- 
chefoucault says, That the last sighs of a fine 
woman are more for the loss of her beauty 
than her life, she will have the disagreeable 
task of anticipating this mortification in the 
very prime of youth. We are told by all the 
professors, who have written upon this sub- 
ject, that young people of either sex who ad- 
dict themselves to it will fall away and dimi- 
nish, instead of increase in their growth; and 
we often find young people of both sexes, but 
particularly females, who, being well made at 
the age of ten or twelve, become afterwards 
crooked, by the bending and weakness of the 
spine. 
I HAVE already mentioned the disgust that 
is created by this practice to natural pleasures, 
and it is still stronger in females than in our 
sex; for women, who have habituated them- 
selves to this practice, are always indifferent 
to the lawful duties of the conjugal bed, even 
when their inclinations and power still remain; 
and this indifference does not only induce ma- 
ny females to embrace a life of celibacy, but 
accompanies others that have been prevailed 
upon to enter upon the marriage-state; and 
we have the testimonies of many females, that 
this practice had gained so complete a domi- 
nion over their senses, that they detested the 
lawful means of assuaging the lusts of the flesh. 
A MARRIED woman made her case known, 
through the channel of her midwife, to a gen- 
tleman

[61]
tleman of the faculty, nearly as follows: When 
I was a young girl of between fifteen and six- 
teen, at the boarding-school, being enticed by 
some of my school-fellows, and particularly 
my bed-fellow, I began to penetrate those 
parts, which should never have been explor- 
ed but by a husband. This practice I stuck 
to till I was run away with by the musick-master 
at eighteen. It were needless to enumerate 
the difficulties I met with till my relations 
were reconciled to the match. Sufficient it is 
to say, I had four children by my husband in 
three years, two being twins; but they all 
died, and also my husband soon after. I was 
in state of widowhood for three years, and 
then I married with the approbation of my re- 
lations. Before this union, I found all my 
girlish inclinations come upon me, and not 
daring to risk any connection with a man, I 
repeated my boarding-school practice with 
such violence (particularly just before and after 
my monthly courses) that I made myself vio- 
lently force, and brought on such a bearing 
down of the womb, that it was with much 
difficulty I could walk. These complaints 
have increased since my last marriage; and, 
though four years have elapsed from that pe- 
riod, I have not been once pregnant. I have 
been prevailed upon by my husband to under- 
go a physician’s inspection; when he said, that 
my womb was very weak and slippery, and he 
was afraid I should never have any more children. 
He, however, prescribed the Bath water, and 
injections; but they have been of no service. 
I am


[62]
I am now really weakened by a white run- 
ning, which is very considerable, and with the 
bearing down, which frequently is very great, 
and occasions a continual pain in my womb, 
and in my back, whereby I am greatly fallen 
away; and what is remarkable, I have no 
manner of inclination for the act of procrea- 
tion, and very little or no pleasure in the act; 
which I am inclined to believe is as much the 
reason as any other of my incapacity of bear- 
ing children. I have, nevertheless, a good 
stomach, and sleep very well; and therefore 
it appears to me the more extraordinary, that 
I who used to be so amorous, and, to say the 
truth, so excessively desirous of conversing with 
my first husband in this way, should have no 
inclination in this respect to my present hus- 
band, notwithstanding I have a great regard 
for him. 
ANOTHER female, upon being much im- 
portuned by a man-midwife of eminence who 
visited her, at her husband’s request, at length- 
acknowledged, that she had commenced the 
filthy practice of self-pollution very young, and 
persevered in it till the time of her marriage, 
which took place when she was about twenty 
years of age: that she had always been very 
pale from the age of puberty, though before 
she had a fresh complexio; and that from a 
good state of health, she became very weakly, 
and never had her menses but four times till 
she was married; after which she still conti- 
nued her filthy practice, having much more 
gratification

[63] 
gratification in it than in her husband's em- 
braces, though he was a young vigorous man, 
and remarkably calculated to please the fair 
sex; that she had been equally a stranger to 
her courses and pregnancy, and was constant- 
ly ailing in other respects. Upon examining, 
her womb, she was found to have a continual 
oozing, and a great bearing down. 
A short time since, a young woman,, 
about seventeen years old, who had hitherto 
enjoyed a good state of health, was seized 
with an astonishing weakness; her powers 
daily diminished; in the day-time she was 
constantly overcome with drowsiness, and was 
at night unable to sleep; she lost her appetite, 
and a dropsical swelling spread all over her bo- 
dy. She consulted a skilful surgeon, who, af- 
ter he found that her menses were regular, sus- 
pected self-pollution. The effect of the first 
question he put to her confirmed the justness 
of his suspicion, and the patient then acknow- 
ledged it. 
A MARRIED woman, aged about forty- 
seven years, consulted a physician for barren- 
ness, from a laxness of muscular fibres of the 
vagina and uterus; but examining the case, 
and suspecting both from the character she 
bore, and from what she herself said, that it 
was not owing to any insufficiency in the hus- 
band, whom she publicly complained of, but 
to her own insatiable lust; for it plainly ap- 
peared her case was owing to friction: where-
fore,

[64]
fore, considering her age, and the little hopes 
of success upon such a patient, he refused 
meddling. 
A FEMALE patient of nineteen was of a 
sanguine complexion, and a hot and lustful 
temperament, which, overcoming the virtuous 
principles she had in her youth imbibed, was 
prompted to abuse herself by self-pollution. She 
had continued in this practice from the age of 
fourteen, not without frequent intervals of 
remorse at her unclean desires, never imagin- 
ing, however, that there was any sin or dan- 
ger in the act; but shuddered at the thoughts 
of a discovery, in case of marriage, from her 
husband, as she had not only broke away all 
the badge of virginity; but her womb was as 
much distended as if she had borne several chil- 
dren, by reason of the largeness of the instru- 
ments with which she used latterly to gratify 
her lust; and the more she followed the 
practice, the more her desires were heighten- 
ed. She was at length brought to a most 
shocking state, by nervous disorders, and par- 
ticularly those of the womb; in which state 
she applied to an eminent surgeon; but, alas!
she was so violently affected with a furor ute- 
rinus, that she would implore every man she 
met to asswage her lust, not only in obscene 
terms, but even by the most indecent actions; 
and her very surgeon, upon examining the 
parts, excited such violent sensations, that she 
could not restrain from importuning him to 
commit the act of coition ; but he not com- 
plying

[65]
plying with her request, she had recourse to 
self-pollution, which had such an effect upon 
the ovaria, that she shed some of the ova. In 
this condition she remained near four years, 
at the end of which time she died raving in 
one of those lascivious fits. Her body was af- 
terwards opened by some skilful surgeons, 
when the glans of the clitoris, or female pre- 
puce, which is the chief seat of pleasure in 
woman, was much larger than the natural 
size, and was invested with a sharp corroding 
watery humour, which they imagined must 
in that part itch to a prodigious degree, and 
create the insufferable titillation and desire: 
and they were also of opinion, that the acri- 
monious humour with which that part was af- 
fected had been attracted thither, by the fre- 
quent operations to gratify her lubidinous de- 
sires. She was naturally very handsome, and 
might have been an ornament to her sex, if 
she had not given way to this unnatural prac- 
tice; for it was this alone that brought on all 
her complaints. 
Another female patient, who had, in her 
early days, addicted herself to this abominable 
custom, was at length reduced to such a state, 
that when she leaned upon her elbows, or 
nsed any strength with her hands, they were 
quite benumbed, and her fingers would catch 
and draw up like the cramp. Her stomach 
appeared outwardly swelled, and she had vio- 
lent pains in it, which often made her feel as 
if she would choak, and made her seem as if
she

[66]
she was sore from her navel to her throat. She 
had racking pains in her back, between her 
loins, and under her shoulders. If she offer- 
ed to pull herself up, all her bones would 
snap, which might be heard standing near her. 
If at any time she turned her head on one side, 
or offered to talk much, it greatly hurt her.
The hollow of her stomach, and under her 
shoulders, seemed inwardly swelled, and fulL 
of pain. Her hands were seldom warm, and 
the bones of her insteps at night were much 
swelled, and very painful. After sleeping, 
she awoke with great numbness in her arms; 
and if she happened to be on her back, with 
a great pain in her heels. When she wanted 
to walk, she was ready to swoon with the 
numbness in her loins, pain in her back and 
stomach. Her shoulders sometimes seemed as 
if they were stuck full of pins; and it was 
with much difficulty she could move either of 
her hands to her head, which made her be- 
lieve she had strained something within her. 
Towards the evening, she had prodigious 
flushings in the face, which made her head 
beat as if full of pulses, whereby her eyes were 
greatly weakened, and her sight much im- 
paired. When she awoke in a morning, she 
was very dry, and her tongue very white, 
with great inward heat and drought, and much 
inclined to vomit, and sick fits, accompanied 
with giddiness. She was very apprehensive of 
an ulcer in her womb, or kidnies, as she had 
violent pains in these parts. This, upon ex- 
amination, appeared to be the case; and she 
soon

[67]
soon after fell a martyr to her lustful and un- 
natural indulgences. 
In the course of these examples, the reader 
must have observed, that female invention is 
more prolific than man’s, even in sin; and 
that though self-pollution in the male sex has 
scarce ever been known to be practised any 
otherwise than by manual friction, female sin- 
ners have, avowedly, made use of various fo- 
reign instruments to gratify their inordinate 
lusts: but besides these applications, it is well 
known, that there is another species of pollu- 
tion among the females, which may be call- 
ed clitorical, the origin of which may be tra- 
ced so far back as the time of the second 
Sappho, and from her derives its name of the
Sapphic passion. Some women are by nature, 
but more by vicious practices, so formed, as to 
have some resemblance to man: this has given 
rise to the erroneous opinion, which, in some 
degree, still prevails, that there are such be- 
ings as hermophrodites. The uncommon size 
of a part, which is naturally very small, and 
whereupon Monsieur Tronchin has furnished 
us a very elaborate description, is the case of 
those supposed phenomena, and the shameful 
abuse of the part, in this respect, all the evil. 
There may have been some females, who, per- 
haps, thought themselves more than women, 
and glorying in the functions of a double sex,
usurped the province of men. Others may, 
perhaps, have been prompted, by curiosity, to 
the same kind of essays; but most votaries to the 
Sapphic


[68]
Sapphic passion are those, who, by frequent 
and violent self-pollution, have forced nature 
out of her common path; and lust being ge- 
nerated by lust, their inordinate desires can- 
not be gratified, but by still more unnatural 
practices. 
I have seen a letter, written by a young 
lady of only eighteen, who had many mental 
endowments, learning, and naturally a great 
share of beauty, wherein she relates the cause 
and progress of her crimes and disorders: she 
says, “ To be ingenuous, I had been guilty of 
“ this nasty practice (meaning self-pollution) 
“ from the time I was twelve years old. A 
“ young female servant at my father’s, who 
“ was of an amorous complexion, yet dread- 
“ ing any commerce with the men, first 
“ taught it me. Frequent, and almost in- 
“ cessant repetition, at length produced such 
“ a bearing down of my womb as greatly 
“ terrified me; but Sally appeased my fears, 
“ by telling me, that she had been in the 
“ same state, and it went away again; and 
“ now, she said, we might act like man and 
“ wife, and that there would be full as much 
“ pleasure as if we were really so. But I soon 
“ became so weak, that I could not walk, 
“ and in a short time I had such violent pains 
“ in my back, my womb, and particularly 
“ the offending part, which continues still 
“ to hang out, notwithstanding what Sally 
“ said, that I am afraid I shall never be well 
“ again. But what terrifies more than all is. 
“ that

[69] 
“ that my father has taken pains to get a 
“ husband for me, imagining, I believe, my 
“ paleness and weakness are occasioned by 
“ my being kept from man; and a young 
“ gentleman of fortune is now paying his ad- 
“ dresses to me: I am frighted out of my wits 
“ at the discovery he will make the first: 
“ night; and, indeed, I would rather be 
“ with Sally than the handsomest man in 
“ England, &c. &c. &c.” 
THUS we find, that the danger of this kind 
of pollution is not less than that of the other 
sorts of masturbation: the effect are, indeed, 
equally shocking, as all these paths lead to ema- 
ciation, languor, pain, and even death: but 
this last species deserves the greater attention, 
as it is now so common, and there are many 
women who are known to love girls with as 
much fondness as ever did the most passionate 
of men, and conceive the most poignant jea- 
lousy, when they were addressed by the male 
sex, upon the subject of love or tender dalli- 
ance. 
I SHALL make no apology for transcribing 
here that part of Dr Quincy’s translation 
of Carr’s Medicinal Epistles, relative to two 
nuns, who were reported to have changed 
their sex, being so pertinent and illustrative to 
the subject under, consideration. 
“ I SHOULD blush, perhaps, from too 
“ much modesty, to concern myself in a sto- 
“ ry

[70]
“ ry that is not a very chaste one, had not a 
“ professor of divinity given it to the world 
“ in print, and a college of cardinals inquired 
“ into it. This gives me some assurance, and 
“ guards me from any imputations of indecen- 
“ cy. I shall therefore not write any thing 
“ out of wantonness, or omit any thing ma- 
“ terial upon the account of modesty. It is 
“ an unhappiness, that you have fixed upon 
“ me to account for so unnatural a phenome- 
“ non in nature. You would greatly have 
“ obliged the learned world, had you prevail- 
“ ed upon the Honourable Mr. Boyle, who 
“ is a finished philosopher, to have under- 
“ taken this work, though I am not, indeed, 
“ without hopes, that as soon as this strange 
“ story is related to him, he will think it 
“ worth his skilful inquiry; for such is his 
“ consummate learning, and which will be 
“ to his eternal honour, such are his inclina- 
“ tions to instruct others, that he will be pro- 
“ voked not to suffer such an extraordinary 
“ case, to escape the notice of the ablest phi- 
“ losopher. 
“ You acquaint me in your letter, that it 
“ is reported at Rome, that two nuns, in a 
“ monastery, were changed in such a man- 
“ ner, as to be suspected of virility. The re- 
“ port reached the pope’s ears, who, upon 
“ such an extraordinary occasion, ordered 
“ some cardinals to inquire into the truth of 
“ it. After their search, they affirmed, that 
“ the nuns were grown in such a manner, as 
“ to

[71]
“ to have changed their sex; in testimony of 
“ which you say, the cardinals commanded 
“ them to be expelled the monastery; and 
“ that, at that time, they had changed 
“ their dress, and took upon themselves the 
“ employ of men. 
“ I wonder what could induce his ho- 
“ liness to commit the inspection of that affair 
“ to his cardinals, who are no way conversant 
“ in the difference of sexes. It is true, in- 
“ deed, that the reputation of their integrity 
“ would prevent all manner of suspicion as to 
“ their report; but yet their unspotted chasti- 
“ ty, joined with shame and modesty, could 
“ never suffer them to make such a nice in- 
“ quiry, as the nature of such a thing de- 
“ manded. 
“ Persons who read this account may, 
“ perhaps, be divided into different opinions, 
“ and both of them wrong. Some who have 
“ a considence in the integrity of the cardi- 
“ nals may not, upon that account, disbe- 
“ lieve it; but, as it exceeds the wonted 
“ bounds of nature, take it for a miracle. 
“ Others may wholly disbelieve it, as it so 
“ far exceeds the reach of nature, that, as 
“ miracles are ceased, it must be impossible; 
“ and as they are under no obligation to dis- 
“ believe impossibilities, so they will not be- 
“ lieve this. 
“ I would

[72] 
“ I WOULD satisfy both these kinds of 
“ readers, and by you I doubt not, in such 
“ intricacies, it will be well taken, that I 
“ have endeavoured to do my best. The one, 
“ that the excursion of nature, which you 
“ call a change of sex, is no way to be ac- 
“ counted an impossibility, from the structure 
“ of the parts of generation: and the other, 
“ that such a wonderful phænomenon does not 
“ exceed the bounds of nature, nor is it so 
“ unfrequent as to deserve to be reckoned a 
“ miracle. He must be a stranger to the power 
“ of nature, who thinks she cannot do some- 
“ times, what she thinks not fit to do often. 
“ WHOSEVER thinks these two nuns 
“ have changed their sex, is under a mistake; 
“ all that gives any ground for such an opini- 
“ on is the uncommon increase of the cli- 
“ toris, which, as it is used to frequent irri- 
“ tations, thrusts out, and enlarges its de- 
“ mensions, not unlike to a human penis. I 
“ am unwilling to be so censorious with rela- 
“ tion to these nuns, who profess a severer 
“ way of living, and a more constant attend- 
“ ance at their devotion, as to suspect their 
“ lasciviousness should prompt them to an un- 
“ usal exercise of those parts, by which they 
“ might increase their bulk, according to Mar- 
“ tial, 
“ Mentiturque virum prodigiosa venut,
“ because there are instances of the same in 
“ infants themselves, who cannot be supposed 
“ guilty of such wanton practices. 
“ Nor

[73]
“ Nor can I be of opinion, that these per- 
“ sons were men from the first; because if 
“ they had counterfeited their habits to gratify 
“ their lust in such a place, there would have 
“ happened some discoveries of it, which there 
“ has not done; and therefore no such thing 
“ ought to be suspected. Besides, such a con- 
“ jecture cannot take place, when we con- 
“ sider their breasts are like those of other wo- 
“ men, and were so at their admistion into 
“ the convent, and continue so still. 
“ THE inquisitive Regneur de Graef, in 
“ his book upon the female organs, upon the 
“ head de clitoriæ, takes notice of the clitoris 
“ of an infant to come so near the member of 
“ virility in the other sex, as to deceive the 
“ nurse, and the more skilful gossips, who 
“ took it for a male child, and in its baptism 
“ named it accordingly; and that the mistake 
“ was not detected till after its death, upon 
“ an accurate defection of the body, of which, 
“ the same author gives an account. 
“ The clitoris, in some adult persons, is 
“ seen to hang out beyond the labiœ, or 
“ the openings of the thighs. There is a di- 
“ stemper called furor uterinus, which some- 
“ times arises from this cause, that in walk- 
“ ing, or other exercise, the clitoris is rub- 
“ bed by the cloaths, and excites such extra- 
“ vagant desires as puts them out of all shame 
“ and modesty, and stimulates them to a de- 
“ gree of madness to venereal embraces. 
E THIS 


[74]
“ This uncommon growth of the clitoris is 
“ so frequent in some eastern countries, that 
“ the more skilful surgeons have found out a 
“ method of amputating it, and to take it 
“ away from a person about to marry, left it 
“ should be a hindrance in coition; nor is 
“ the reason for such a growth very difficult 
“ to be assigned: first, Because the fury of 
“ lust wonderfully distends the nerves and ar- 
“ teries, and particularly, above any other 
“ parts, blows up those organs with spirits 
“ and heat. Upon coition, real or imagina- 
“ ry, those of a man are blown up and ex- 
“ tended by a plentiful influx of blood 
“ and animal spirits, from the titillation 
“ which attends it, as if nature was pro- 
“ digal in her care for a supply of those parts. 
“ Secondly, The cavity of the part wherein 
“ it is situated (as if it were not to be con- 
“ fined to narrow bounds, which would hin- 
“ der its increase) facilitates its growth; and 
“ as it is placed where there is room enough, 
“ it can enlarge itself on every side, whereby 
“ its vessels are prolonged, and receive nou- 
“ rishiment on all parts. 
“ Upon a comparison of the male and fe- 
“ male organs, you will not find them to dif- 
“ fer so much as you at first imagined, ex- 
“ cepting that those of a man are thrown out 
“ with a more vigorous heat; whereas those 
“ of a woman, by a defect in that respect, are 
“ only to be perceived inwardly. The cli- 
“ toris of a woman, upon turning out, would 
2 “ resemble

[75] 
“ resemble a scrotum, and the two ovaries an- 
“ nexed to the sides of its bottom, with what 
“ they include, would make up the number 
“ of the testicles. The clitoris is shaped like 
“ a penis; it has the same source of pleasure, 
“ stretches out, and relaxes in the same man- 
“ ner again; it also ends in a gland, but wants 
“ a cavity; which is no wonder, because it 
“ does not serve for the discharge of any thing, 
“ as it oozes out its contents more conveni- 
“ ently into the aperture of the neck of the 
“ bladder: but was that aperture to be closed, 
“ as it is in men, then, in an erection, it 
“ would necessarily find some other out-let 
“ towards the end of its gland; for the ves- 
“ sels of all kinds are first formed by the im- 
“ pulse of some circulating flux; where the 
“ flux is obstructed, it forms a cell, and ves- 
“ sels where it circulates. 
“ In our first formation, when the genital 
“ parts hardly exceed the point of a needle, 
“ difference of sex depends upon very 
“ nice circumstances; but when persons are 
“ grown up, it is the most difficult thing in 
“ he world, to believe there can be a thorough 
“ change from one sex to the other, as the 
“ poets relate of Teresia: but there is more 
“ reason to think, that the largeness of the
“ clitoris, by its likeness to a human pe- 
“ nis might deceive the inquirers into this 
“ matter; or that they were men from the 
“ first formation; but that the genital parts, 
“ by some defect in the first rudiments, not 
E2 “ obtain

[76]
“ obtaining a due protrusion, upon the in- 
“ crease of strength and venereal titillation, 
“ broke forth, and seemed to grow afresh. 
“ We have frequent instances of nature's 
“ excursions in those parts. There is a very 
“ remarkable story of a child born some time 
“ since, in a village near the mountain called 
“ Grandvaux, in France, in all other respects 
“ like other children, who bad those parts 
“ which distinguish its sex perfectly like a 
“ man; the pubes were grown over with 
“ thick hair, and he frequently had all the 
“ motions of lasciviousness, with an erection 
“ for coition, especially when waking from 
“ sleep, and, before he was two years old, his 
“ parents were advised not to suffer him to 
“ be with his sisters or maids, left that should 
“ happen at two years of age, which Hi- 
“ eronymus wondered at in twelve or thir- 
“ teen. 
“ NATURE refuses to be circumscribed in
“ her operations, but she has never been known 
“ to make such excursions as this must have
“ been; we ought therefore to stand in won- 
“ der at her great regularity, because of our 
“ inability in following her through all her 
“ works. 
FROM hence It may plainly be adduced,
that these religious young ladies had some avo- 
cations from their prayers of a more sensual 
nature; and I think there can no doubt re-
main 


[77]
main of their frequent gratisications of the 
Sapphic passion. It is true, that some wo- 
men have naturally a greater protusion of the 
clitoris than others; but scarce any were ever 
known to have the projection and erection of 
this part so far resemble a penis, as not only 
to be capable of the act of coition, but even 
to be pronounced of the male sex. The an- 
tients called these women fricatrices and subi- 
gatrices; and modern times have produced 
instances in Romish countries, of punishments 
having been inflicted for this abuse of na- 
ture. The Arabians have still more refined 
notion upon this head; and in Creophagi 
they actually circumcise the women thus 
afflicted, by cutting away a certain apophosis 
of musculous skin, that descends from the su- 
perior parts of the matrix, and is subject to 
erection in the act of coition. We are told 
by Lusitanus, that a very pious virgin had 
a very propended clitoris, which so pro- 
voked her to venery, by its only unavoidable 
friction against her linen and thighs as she 
moved, that gave her great trouble and af- 
fliction; insomuch, that, with the consent 
of her parents, this physician was applied to, 
in order to make an amputation of it, which, 
he adds, was accordingly performed. 
ACCORDING to some ancient histories of 
France, there was people who inhabited near 
Languedoc, the females of which had most 
amazing clitorises, insomuch, that they could 
perform either the man or the woman’s part 
E3 in

[78] 
in the act of coition, and communicated near- 
ly as much pleasure to the female, who was in 
this respect the patient, as a male agent; in 
consequence of which laws were framed to 
leave them to their choice, in which capacity 
they would act; but having once chosen, 
they were liable to severe punishments if they 
introduced any variety in their copulative ope- 
rations. Modern writers tell us, that upon 
the confines of the mouth of the river Missis- 
sippi, whose source is in the gulph of Mexico, 
there is a people similar to these females. I 
cannot, however, assent to these phenomena, 
till such time as I have further conviction of 
their reality, or better authority than the re- 
ports of these writers to credit their exist- 
ence. 
But upon the principles already set forth, 
the propension of this part may be accounted 
for; so that when Plauterius, a physician, tells 
us, that he had seen a woman have a clitoris 
hang out as long as a goose neck; or when 
Plempius relates, that one Helena lay with se- 
veral women, and actually gained the virgini- 
ty of many maids; these relations are not so 
incredible. The following story is also very 
well attested by several French physicians: 
“ A certain young lady at Toulose had a re- 
“ laxation of the vagina, resembling a man's 
“ penis, and some asserted that she used it in 
“ that way, it being six inches in length, and 
“ four in circumference in the middle, where 
“ it was very hard. It gradually increased 
“ from


[79]
“ from her childhood. She was examined 
“ by the physicians of that city, who were 
“ unanimously of opinion, that it was a real 
“ penis; whereupon the town magistrates 
“ ordered her to wear the dress of a man. In 
“ this habit she came to Paris, but thought 
“ proper to throw off the male dress, in order 
“ to gain admission into a nunnery, where she 
“ spent the remainder of her days. 
I shall make no comment upon the pro- 
priety of admitting a person of her form and 
disposition into a seminary of this nature, or 
the danger of her inspiring many (before) vir- 
tuous nuns with the most lascivious desires. 
Had the account of the two holy sisters, who 
Were supposed to have changed their sex, not 
been wrote long before this affair happened, I 
should have been inclined to believe that this 
young lady was one of them ; however, it 
seems, that a soft chin, and a female dress, 
will find admission into these religious socie- 
ties; if so, and such ladies as this, are receiv- 
ed, I cannot imagine there would be any great 
difficulty for a young men with but little 
beard to gain admission, as he might, probab- 
ly, if necessary, more easily conceal the part 
that might preclude him, than this young lady 
could its resemblance. 
Mr. COWPER, the surgeon, furnishes us 
with the following case of a woman, whose 
husband could never make any penetration, 
when he endeavoured to cohabit with her, but 
E4 into

[80]
into the urinary passage, vagina being so 
uncommonly closed, that he could not, with 
the most vigorous erection, gain admission 
with his penis. 
“ I was called upon to a married woman 
“ about twenty years of age, whose lower 
“ belly was distended as if with child. Upon 
“ examining the pudendum, I found the 
“ hymen altogether impervious, and driven 
“ out beyond the labia pudendi, in such a 
“ manner, that, at first sight, it appeared not 
“ unlike a prolapsus uteri. In the upper part, 
“ towards the clitoris, we found the orifice 
“ of the meatus urinarius, or urinary passage, 
“ very open, and its sides extended not un- 
“ like the anus, or cloaca of a cock, that, 
“ without any difficulty, I could put up my 
“ finger into the bladder of urine. On divid- 
“ ing the hymen, at least a gallon of grumous 
“ blood, of divers colours and consistencies, 
“ came from her, which was the retained 
“ menstrua. The next day, no less quantity 
“ of the same matter flowed upon taking out 
“ the pessary, which I had put in the day be- 
“ fore. After three or four days, she was 
“ easy, and soon after recovered, and with- 
“ in a year after was delivered of a healthy 
“ child. Her husband told us, that, tho’ 
“ lying with her at first (before this opera- 
“ tion) was painful to himself as well as to 
“ her, yet at last he had a more easy admis- 
“ sion, which could be no other way than in 
“ the meatus urinarius. It seems something 
“ uncommon,

[81]
“ uncommon, that her urinary passage should 
“ so dilate itself, as to let in the erected pe- 
“ nis, by no more than the force of an erec- 
“ tion could afford. This history evinces, 
“ that this woman’s hymen was not only a 
“ strong membrane, and could make resist- 
“ ance to that force which overcame the mea- 
“ tus urinarius, and sphincter of the bladder, 
“ which is considerably strong, but by ad- 
“ mitting of so great a dilatation, as to hang, 
“ out extra pudendum, shews, that the struc- 
“ ture of it is fibrous, and consequently ca- 
“ pable of great distentions. There was an- 
“ other young woman, who laboured under 
“ the same misfortune of having an obsti- 
“ nate hymen, insomuch, that her husband, 
“ though a healthful strong young man, could 
“ make no penetration; but she chose rather 
“ to have her marriage disanulled than in- 
“ dure the operation, being deterred by the 
“ shame of exposing her body, and the dis- 
“ courses that may be raised upon it; for that 
“ a lady’s being reviewed by the judge’s or- 
“ der at Paris, by the most noted physician 
“ and there, upon a contest about her 
“ virginity, gave occasion for their fans and 
“ snuff-boxes being painted afterwards with 
“ indecent postures.
These observations of Mr. Cowper are 
no way unnatural, but are supported by fre- 
quent experience; but I cannot give credit 
to Montius, when he tells us, that a wo- 
man, who had an uncommon large clitoris,
E5 but


[82]
but who, nevertheless, had brought forth seve- 
ral children, often ravished her own maid- 
servants, and more than once got them with 
child. This is somewhat similar to the ac- 
count we meet with in the Scottish trials of a 
young woman, who got her master’s daugh- 
ter with child, of which she was convicted, 
condemned, and executed. But we need not 
be surprized at such credulity and injustice, 
when we reflect how very lately innocent wo- 
men have been accused, convicted, and put 
to death for witchcraft. Our enlightened age 
should equally explode both these impositions, 
which might be well suited to the barbarous 
times of ignorance and superstition. 
From what has been said, let every fe- 
male consider the imminent danger to which 
they expose themselves, and the dreadful ac- 
cidents that arise from these unnatural and 
filthy practices, as besides all the horrors and 
diseases to which the male sex are exposed by 
self-pollution (and which they are required 
to peruse for their own advantage, as it would 
be unnecessary to repeat them here) they un- 
avoidably break down the barrier of virginity, 
which must be detected by their husband when- 
ever they marry; and indeed frequently oc- 
casion such extraordinary bearings down of 
the clitoris, as render them incapable of coition 
with them. It were, therefore, to be wished, 
that every woman, who is so viciously disposed 
as to defile herself, or let herself be defil- 
ed

[83]
ed by another, might meet with as obstinate 
a hymen as Mr. Cowper’s patient, a hymen 
inflexible to every unnatural instrument that 
might promise her the gratification of her 
lust.
E6 SEC- 

[84]
SECTION V. 
Of the disorders incident to the female sex, 
and the most approved methods of cure. 
AFTER what has been said concerning 
the filthy, shameful, and destructive prac- 
tices of the women, by themselves, or amongst 
each other, which occasion such a variety of 
evils and disorders, it were but justice to the 
sex to own, that, from their natural forma- 
tion and disposition, and the incidental casual- 
ties attending pregnancy and child-bearing, 
they are subject to many afflictions in various 
respects, analogous to those mentioned in the 
former section, and from which the men are 
entirely exempted; and therefore I think it 
necessary to explain myself upon these heads in 
this section. 
The whites are a soul excretion from the 
womb, commonly attendant upon weak wo- 
men, oftentimes after hard labour, sometimes 
during pregnancy, and frequently in a virgin 
state. This disorder is a distillation of a variety 
of corrupt humours through the womb, flow- 
ing from different parts of the body. This 
oozing is of many colours, sometimes black- 
ish, yellowish, geenish, reddish, and bluish. 
Having no periodical flux, as the regular men- 
sis, its returns are disorderly and uncertain. 
PHYSICIANS

[85]
PHYSCIANS attribute the cause of this dis- 
order sometimes to a general weakness or ca- 
cochymia; and sometimes to a partial debili- 
ty, as in the liver, which by the inability of 
the sanguinificative faculty, occasions a ge- 
neration of corrupt blood. In this case the 
matter is reddish, when the gall is remiss in its 
office, not drawing away the choleric super- 
fluities which are engendered in the liver. 
When the spleen does not sufficiently perform 
its office in cleansing the blood of the dregs 
and excrementitious parts, it then is blackish. 
Sometimes it is occasioned by catarrhs in the 
head, or from any other member that is in a 
disordered state. When the flowing is whit- 
ish, the cause resides in the reins or the sto- 
mach: if in the reins, it is occasioned by their 
being overheated, which causes the sperma- 
tic matter, by reason of its tenuity, to flow 
involuntarily: but when the stomach is the 
seat of the complaint, it is occasioned by crude 
and vitiated matter remaining there undi- 
gested, by reason of melancholy, or some 
stomachic complaint; and this vitiated matter 
is communicated to the womb by the liver, or 
instead of being appropriated to chyle. 
If this disorder be occasioned by the distil- 
lation of the brain, let the patient take syrup 
of betony, stæchas, and marjoram, and purge 
with pillococh. Take the juice of sage, hy- 
sop, betony, nexelle, with one drop of oil 
of cloves, and a little silk cotton, with which 
make napalia. Take elect, dianth, aromat. ro- 
sar,


[86]
sar. diambre diamoci dulcis, of each one 
dram; of nutmeg, half a dram; with 
sugar and betony water, make lozenges, 
which are to be taken night and morning. 
Half a dram of auriæ Alexandrinæ going to 
bed, will also be useful. 
In case the oozing is of a reddish colour, 
phlebotomy in the arm is proper; otherwise 
apply ligatures to the arms and shoulders. 
Galen prescribes a friction of honey to the 
upper parts. 
If the disorder proceed from crudities in 
the stomach, or from a cold disordered liver, 
take every morning a decoction of lignum sac- 
tum; and a purgation of pill, de agarico, de 
hermodact. de hiera diacolocynthid, fœdita 
agragrative. Take of elect. aromat. ros. two 
drams, citron pills dried, nutmeg, long- 
pepper, of each one scruple, diagalinga one 
dram, santali alba, ligni aloes, of each 
half a scruple, sugar six ounces, and with 
mint-water make lozenges of them, which 
are to be taken after meals. When the dis- 
order arises from the liver, and there is at the 
same time a repression of the stomach, eme- 
tics are eligible, and they may be composed 
of three drams of the elect of diaaru. Some 
physicians also prescribe the dieurical method, 
with phosolinum, opium., &c. 
When the oozing arises from melancho- 
lious, prepare with syrup of maidenhair, 
epithimum,


[87] 
epithimum, polipody, burrage, begloss, fu- 
metory, hart’s-tongue, and syrup bystanti- 
num, which must be prepared without vine- 
gar, otherwise it will rather increase the dis- 
order, than assist nature in its removal. The 
proper pills for purgation, are pilulæ eumariæ, 
pilulæ indæ, pilulæ de lap. lazuli, dasena, and 
confectio hameigh. Of stampt prunes take 
two ounces, senna one dram, epithimum, 
polipody, fumetory, of each one dram and 
an half, four dates one ounce, with endive 
water, make a decoction, take of it four 
ounces, to which add confectioni hamich 
three drams manna three drams, orelsi, pil. 
indat. phil. fætidarum, agarici trochiscati, 
one scruple each, lap. lazuli, five grains, with 
syrup of erithimum, make pills, one of which 
is to be taken hebdomedally. 
When the cause of the flux is choleric, 
prepare with syrup of endive, violets, succory, 
roses, and purge with mirabolans, manna, 
rhubarb, and cassia. Of rhubarb take two drams, 
anniseed one dram; cinnamon one scruple; 
infuse them in six ounces of prune broth; 
add to the straining of manna an ounce, to be 
taken secundem artem. Take of spiciecum
diatrion santalon, diatragacant. frig. diarrhod. 
abbatis, diaconit, of each one dram, sugar 
four ounces, and with plantain water make 
lozenges. 
But particularly let the womb be cleansed 
from corrupt matter, and be strengthened; 
for

[88]
for the cleansing whereof make injections of 
the decoction of betony, fetherfew, mug- 
wort, spikenard, bistort, mercury, sage, ad- 
ding thereto sugar, oil of sweet almonds, of 
each an ounce. The womb should be strength- 
ened with trochisks made in the following 
manner: take of myrrh, fetherfew, mug- 
wort, nutmegs, mace, amber, ligni aloes, 
storax, red roses, of each one ounce, with mu- 
cilage of tragacanth. The trochisks being thus 
prepared, cast them on the coals, and smother 
the womb therewith. Likewise fermentations 
for the womb may be used, made of red wine, 
after mastich, fine bole, balustia, and red roses 
have been decocted therein. The best is a 
dry regimen, this distemper being occasioned 
by phlegmatic and crude humours. Too 
much sleep is also pernicious; and, on the 
other hand, moderate exercise is eligible. 
I have been the more circumstantial in 
prescribing for the cure of this disorder, as it 
is more general than may be thought, and 
is, indeed, concomitant with a weak or over 
delicate constitution: therefore ladies of this 
complexion should pay the greatest attention 
to removing the complaint before it makes 
too great a progress. To this end, I would 
have every female who finds herself subject to 
this affliction examine strictly, whether or 
not her suspicions are well founded, and to 
keep the parts particularly clean, by washing 
with luke-warm water, at least every other 
day. Besides the satisfaction it must afford 
3 every

[89]
every female to know the real situation of her 
own body, and, if disordered, timely to re- 
medy it, there is nothing which is more 
productive of health in this respect; and, as a 
proof of it, an additional gratification will 
arise therefrom in the act of copulation, and 
it will greatly tend to the improvement of their 
complexion. The disorders relative to the 
monthly courses are so very analogous to the 
former, that many have called the whites the 
false courses, though, in fact, they arise from 
a different source. Nature has made provision 
for the nourishment of children during their 
recess in the womb of their mother, by that 
redundancy of blood which is natural to all 
women, and which flowing out at certain pe- 
riods of time, when they are not pregnant, 
are from thence called terms, and menses, 
from their monthly flux of excrementitious 
and unprofitable blood. As to this flux being 
excrementitious, is to be understood only with 
regard to the redundancy and overplus of it, 
as it is in no other way an excrement than 
with respect to quantity, being, in point of 
quality, as pure and incorrupt as any blood in 
the veins; and this appears by its final destina- 
tion, the propagation and conservation of 
mankind; as also by its generation, being the 
superfluity of the last aliment of the fleshy parts. 
These monthly purgations usually commence 
about the fourteenth year, and continue to the 
forty-fifth, but not without frequent intervening 
suppressions, which are sometimes natural, and 
sometimes morbific. They are natural in preg- 
nant women, and those who give suck; but 
when

[90] 
when morbific, they are occasioned by an in- 
terruption of that accustomary evacuation of 
blood which should monthly flow from the 
matrix, and which proceed from the matter 
being vitiated. The cause is, in this case, 
either internal or external: the internal cause 
either instrumental or material, in the blood, 
or in the womb. The blood may be faulty 
two ways, in quantity, or in quality: in 
quantity, when it is so consumed, that there is 
not an overplus left, as in viragoes, and all 
other virile women, who, through their heat 
and strength of nature, digest and consume all 
their best nourishment. The blood may also 
be consumed, and the terms suppressed by too 
much bleeding at the nose; likewise by a flux 
of the hemorrhoids, by a dysenteria, evacua- 
tions, chronical and continual disorders. And 
the matter may also be vicious in quality, as 
when sanguineous, phlegmatical, bilious, or 
melancholious; each of these, if they offend 
in grossness, will cause an obstruction in the 
veins. The defect may likewise, for various 
reasons, reside in the womb, as, by the nar- 
rowness of the veins and passages, by a post- 
humes, tumours, ulcers, and by over much 
cold and heat, the one vitiating the action, 
the other confirming the matter; also by an 
evil composition of the matter; likewise by an 
evil composition of the uterine parts, by the 
neck of the womb being turned aside, and 
sometimes, though but rarely, by a membrane 
or excrescence of flesh growing about the 
Womb. The external cause may be heat or 
dryness


[91}
dryness of the air, immoderate walking, great 
labour, violent motion, whereby the matter 
is so consumed, and the body is so exhausted, 
that there is no redundant blood remaining to 
be expelled; whence it is recorded of the Ama- 
zons, that being active, and always in mo- 
tion, they had little or no monthly fluxes. It 
may also be caused by cold, and most frequent- 
ly is so, the blood being thereby rendered vi- 
tious and gross, condensing and binding up the 
passages, that it cannot flow forth. If the 
suppression be natural, and caused by concep- 
tion, it may be known by drinking of honey 
and water after supper, going to bed; for if, 
after taking it, the woman feel a bearing pain 
about the navel, and the lower parts of the 
belly, it is a sign she hath conceived, and that 
the suppression is natural. If she does not find 
this effect from drinking of the honey and wa- 
ter, she may conclude it to be vitious, and 
should immediately endeavour to promote the 
return of the menses, in the manner hereafter 
prescribed; otherwise the efFects may be very 
dangerous, as this suppression may occasion 
swimmings, faintings, intermission of pulse, 
obstructions, chachexies, jaundice, dropsies, 
hardness of the spleen, epilepsies, apoplexies, 
phrensy, melancholy, &c. Evacuations are 
in this case proper; and therefore in the 
middle of the menstrual period, it will be pro- 
per to open the liver vein; and for the rever- 
sion of the humour two days after the usual 
evacuation, open the saphena vein of both 
feet; and if the repletion be not great, apply 
cupping

[92]
cupping glasses to the legs and thighs. After 
phlebotomy, the humours must be prepared, 
and made flexible with syrup of stœchas, hare- 
hound, hyssop, betony, maidenhair, mug- 
wort, and sumitory; then let a bath be made 
of rue, fetherfew, marjoram, savin, bay leaves, 
pennyroyal, camomile, and juniper berries. 
After which take of the leaves of nep, betony, 
succory, maidenhair, of each one handful, 
make a decoction, of which take three ounces; 
syrup of mugwort, succory, maidenhair, mix 
of each half an ounce; and when the patient 
comes out of the bath, let her drink it all; 
then purge with the following pill, de agaric, 
elephang. coch. fœtid. Galen, in this case, 
commends pilula de hiera cum colycintida, as 
being proper to purge the offending humour; 
they are calculated to open the passages of the 
womb. If the patient’s stomach be overcharg- 
ed, let her take a vomit; but let it be prepar- 
ed in such a manner, as to operate also as a 
cathartic, left the humours should be too much 
turned back, by working only upwards; 
wherefore take of trochisk of agaric two 
drams, infuse them in three ounces of oxi- 
mel, in which dissolve benedict. laxat. half an 
ounce, and of the electuary of diasarum one 
scruple, which is to be taken as a purgative. 
When the humour hath in this manner been 
purged, more efficacious and forcible reme- 
dies may be applied, such as the extract of 
mugwort one scruple and a half, musk ten 
grains, trochisks of myrrh one dram and an 
half, rinds of cassia, parsley-seed, castor, of 
each

[93] 
each one scruple, to be taken with the juice of 
smallage, or going to bed. The lower parts 
should also be administered to by fumigation, 
pessaries, unctions, injections, and insessions; 
make suffumigations of amber, galbanum, 
melhantum, bay-berries, mugwort, cinnamon, 
nutmegs, cloves, &c. make pessaries of figs, 
and the leaves of mercury, bruised, and rolled 
up with lint; make injections of the decocti- 
ons of mercury, betony, origin, mugwort, and 
figs, and inject it into the womb with a spunge. 
For unction, take ladant, oil of myrrh, of 
each two drams, oil of lillies, almonds, 
capers, camomile, of each half an ounce, and 
with wax make an unguent to anoint the 
place. The patient should also remain in a 
dry warm air; should not deep much; but, 
on the other hand, she should use moderate 
exercise, especially before meals, which should 
consist of attenuating food. 
The overflowing of the menses is a dis- 
order directly opposite to that which I have just 
been speaking of. This complaint is a sangui- 
neous excrement, consisting only of blood, 
and proceeding from the womb, and exceed- 
ing in time and quality. The cause of this 
overflowing is either external or internal. 
The external cause may be the heat of the 
air, the lifting or carrying heavy burthens, 
unnatural child-births, falls, &c. The in- 
ternal cause may be threefold; in the matter, 
instrument, or faculty. The matter, which is 
the blood, may be vitious two ways; first, in
quantity,

[94]
quantity, being so much, that the veins are 
not able to contain it. Secondly, in quality, 
being adust, sharp, or unconcocted. The 
instruments, that is to say, the veins, are 
faulty, by the dilatation of the orifice, which 
may be caused two ways, by the heat of the 
constitution, climate, or season, heating the 
blood, whereby the passages are dilated, and 
the faculty so much weakened, that it cannot 
retain the blood. Secondly, by falls, blows, 
violent motions, breaking of veins, &c. If 
it comes by the breaking of a vein, the body is 
sometimes cold, the blood flows forth on 
heaps, and that suddenly, accompanied with 
great pain. If it be occasioned by heat, the 
orifice of the veins being dilated, there is little 
or no pain attending it, yet the blood flows 
faster than it doth in an erosion, and not so fast 
as in a rupture. If it arise from an erosion, 
or sharpness of blood, she feels a great scald- 
ing in the passage; and in this case it differs 
from the other two, in its flowing not so 
suddenly nor so copiously as in those. If it be 
occasioned by the weakness of the womb, she 
has an aversion to copulation even in the very 
act. If it proceed from the blood, drop some 
of it on a cloth, and when it is dry, the qua- 
lity may be judged from the colour. When 
choleric, it will be yellowish; if melancholy, 
blackish; if phlegmatic, waterish and whitish. 
The cure of this complaint consists in three 
things; first, the repelling and carrying back 
the blood; secondly, the correcting and tak- 
ing away the fluxibility of the matter; and,
thirdly, 


[95]
thirdly, the corroborating the veins or facul- 
ties. In the first case, to promote a regression 
of the blood, phlebotomy in the arm will be 
useful, and such a quantity of blood may be 
taken away as the strength of the patient will 
permit, which, however, should not be done 
at once, but at different periods, the spirits 
being thereby less weakened, and the retrac- 
tion so much the greater. The cupping glass 
should be applied to the liver, that the rever- 
sion may be in the fountain, moderated with 
cathartics. Astrictorics are also necessary to 
correct the fluxibility of the matter. When it 
is occasioned by the acrimony of the blood, 
it should be considered whether the erosion be 
by salt phlegm, or adust colour: if by the 
first, prepare wormwood, rosin, citron peel, 
and succory, with syrup of violets; and the 
following purgative should also be taken; mi- 
rabolans, cherbul, half an ounce, trochics of 
agaric one dram, with which make a de- 
coction in plantain water, adding thereto sy- 
rup rosat. lax. three ounces to make a potion. 
When by adust colour, prepare the body 
with syrup of roses, myrtles, sorrel, and pur- 
slain, mixt with plantain water, knot-grass, 
and endive; and then the following purgative 
potion should be taken; rinds of myrabolans, 
and rhubarb, one dram each, cinnamon fif- 
teen grains, infused in endive water, with the 
straining pulp of tamarinds and cassia, half an 
ounce each, and the syrup of roses one ounce. 
If the blood be waterish and unconcocted, as it 
is in dropsical cases, and flow, by reason of its 
tenuity,


[96] 
tenuity, it will be necessary to draw off the 
water; and to which end it will be proper to 
purge with agaric, elaterium, and coloquinti- 
da. Sweating is also very proper in this case, 
as the offending matter is thereby taken away, 
and the motion of the blood is carried to the 
outward parts. For this purpose cardimom 
water, with mithridate, or the decoction of 
guaiacum, sassafras, and sarsaparilla, are very 
fit. The gum of guaicum is also a great su- 
dorific. If the blood flows from the breaking 
of a vein, without any evil quality of itself, 
strengtheners only should in this case be ap- 
plied; for which purpose a scruple of bole ar- 
moniac, a dram of treacle, half an ounce of 
conserve of roses, with syrup of myrtle, make 
an excellent electuary. In case the flux is of 
long continuance, two drams of mastich, a 
dram of olibani, and one tyoch de careble, 
with one scruple of balaustium, made into 
powder, and with the syrup of quinces formed 
into pills, will be salutary. 
THERE is another disorder attending the 
menses, which is their irregularity. When 
they come before their time, there is a de- 
praved excretion, which often supplies their 
place at the expected periods; and in this 
case they return twice a month. The cause 
in this case resides in the blood, which stirs up 
the expulsive faculty in the womb, and some- 
times in the whole body, and is frequently oc- 
casioned by the patient’s diet, which increasing 
the blood too much, renders it too sharp or too 
hot;

[97]
hot; and in case the retentive faculty of  
the womb be weak, and the expulsive faculty 
strong, and of a quick sense, they are brought 
forth the sooner by means of a fall, a blow, or 
some violent passion, which the person afflict- 
ed can account for. If it be occasioned by 
heat, thin and sharp humours, the whole bo- 
dy is disordered. The looseness of the vessels, 
and the weakness of the retentive faculty, is 
known from a moist and relaxed habit of body. 
It is, in this case, more troublesome than dan- 
gerous; but is pernicious to conception; and 
the cure is therefore necessary to all, but par- 
ticularly those who are desirous of propagating 
their species, the satisfaction resulting from 
which, few women are, indeed, willing to 
forego. If, therefore, they come too soon 
from the faculty, provoked by too great a 
plethory, phlebotomy, and a spare diet, should 
be used, with much exercise. If it arise from 
the sharpness of the blood, good diet and me- 
dicines are necessary, with bathing in iron- 
water. When it is occasioned by the reten- 
tive faculty, and the looseness of the vessels, 
gentle astringents are the properest. The 
courses may slow after their usual time, by 
reason of the thickness of the blood, the small- 
ness of the quantity, the streightness of the 
passage, or weakness of the expulsive faculties. 
If these causes should all concur, too much 
care cannot be taken to remove them speedily. 
If the blood does not abound in such a quan- 
tity as to excite nature to expel it, its purg- 
ing must necessarily be deferred till there be 
F enough;

[98]
enough; and if the blood be thick, the passage 
stopt, and the expulsive faculty weak, the 
menses must needs be out of order, and the 
purging of them retarded. To remove these 
complaints, then, if the quantity of blood be 
but small, she should live well as to diet, and 
take but little exercise. If the blood be thick 
and foul, it should be thinned, and the hu-
mours mixed therewith be evacuated: where- 
fore, it is proper to take purgatives after the 
courses, and to use calamints. Fumes, pessa- 
ries, and the application of cupping-glasses, 
without scarification, to the inside of the thighs, 
are also necessary. The legs should likewise 
be rubbed, the ancles scarified, and the feet 
held in warm water, four or five days before 
the courses come down. Proper applications 
are also necessary to be made to the pudendum, 
In order to provoke the flowing of the menses, 
some time before they are expected. A marri- 
ed woman cannot do better, in this case, than 
to excite her husband to perform pretty fre- 
quently conjugal duty. 
The last disorder which I shall mention, 
peculiar to the women, is the falling of the 
womb, which is not only extremely trouble- 
some, but is also a hindrance to conception. 
The womb will sometimes descend as low as 
the knees. This is occasioned by the liga- 
ments, which unite it to the other parts, being 
out of order. There are four ligaments, two 
above, broad and membranous, which come 
from the peritonæum, and two below, which 
are

[99]
are nervous, round, and hollow. The womb 
is aleo bound to the great vessels by veins and 
arteries, and to the back by nerves. The 
womb changes its place, when it is drawn an- 
other way; and when the ligaments are loose, 
its own weight bears it down. It is drawn 
on one side when the menstrui are hindered 
from flowing, and the veins and arteries, 
which go to the womb, are full. If there be 
a mole * on one side, the liver and spleen will 
cause it; the liver veins on the right side, and 
the spleen on the left, being more or less re- 
plenished. Some physicians are of opinion, 
that this disorder arises from the solution of the 
connection of the fibrous neck, and the parts 
adjacent. Be this as it may, with women in 
the dropsy, the falling of the womb is occasi- 
oned by the saltness of the water. When there 
is a little tumour, like the skin stretched 
* A mole, is a false conception, or lump of flesh, burthen- 
ing in the womb. Some are of opinion, that it is produced 
by the woman’s seed going into the womb without the 
man’s; but this can only mean, if any thing, that some of 
the ova have gained admittance into the womb, by mastur- 
bation, or some such filthy practice. Other physicians are 
of opinion, that it is engendered of the menstruous blood; 
but in this case it would follow, that maids, by having their 
courses stopt, would be subjest to this accident; but this has 
never yet been proved. The real cause of this carnous con-
ception proceeds from both the man and the woman; from 
corrupt and barren seed in the man, and from the menstruous 
blood in the woman, both mingled together in the cavity of 
the womb; and nature finding herself weak, yet endeavouring 
to maintain the perpetuity of her species, labours to bring
forth such a vicious conception rather than none; and, 
being incapable to produce a living creature, generates a 
lump of flesh. 
F2 within

[100]
within or without the pudendum, or a weight 
felt about the privities, these are symptoms of 
the falling of the womb. When there is a 
tumour like a goose’s egg, and a hole at the 
bottom, great pain is at first felt in the parts 
to which the womb is fastened; such as the 
loins, the bottom of the belly, and the os sa- 
crum, which is occasioned by the breaking or 
stretching of the ligaments; but the pain some 
time after abates, and an impediment in walk- 
ing succeeds. Blood will sometimes issue from 
the breach of the vessels, and the urine and ex- 
crements are no longer voided, in which a fe- 
ver and convulsion will ensue, which frequently 
prove of the most fatal tendency, more espe- 
cially if the patient be pregnant. This dis- 
order should be treated as follows; First, put 
up the womb, before the air alter it, or it be 
swollen or inflamed; for which purpose a cly- 
ster is necessary to remove the excrements. 
The patient should then be laid upon her back, 
with her legs asunder, her thighs raised up, 
and her head down, when the tumour should 
be thrust in, but without violence. In case 
it be swollen by alteration or cold, foment it 
with the decoction of mallows, althea, line, 
fenugreek, camomile-flowers, bay-berries, 
and anoint it with oil of lillies and hens 
grease. If there be an inflammation, it must 
not be thrust up, but frighted in, by placing 
a red hot iron before it, having first sprinkled 
upon it the powder of mastic and frankincense. 
When it is replaced, the patient should lie 
with her legs stretched one upon the other for 
eight

[101]
eight or ten days. A pessary of cork or spunge;
in the shape of a pear, dipped in sharp urine, or 
the juice of acacia, with powder of sanguis, 
galbanum, and bdellium, should be put into 
the womb. A cupping-glass, with a great steam, 
should be applied to the navel or paps, or to 
both kidneys; and the following plaister should 
be laid to the back: opoponix, two ounces, 
liquid storax, half an ounce, mastic, frankin- 
cense, pitch, and bole, two drams each, form- 
ed into a plaister with wax. Fomentations 
and astringents of bramble leaves, plantain, 
horse-tails, thistles, of each two handfuls; 
worm-seed, two pugils, and half an ounce of 
pomegranate flowers boiled in water; and an 
injection should also be used made as follows: 
comfrey-roots, an ounce, rupture-wort, two 
drams, yarrow, mugwort, of each half an 
ounce, boiled in red wine. The womb should 
be strengthened with hart’s-horn, bays, one 
dram of each, and myrrh half a dram, made 
into powder for two doses, which are to be 
given in sharp wines. Rollers and ligatures, 
as for a rupture, are proper to keep it in its 
place; and pessaries should be put into the 
bottom of the womb, in order to force it to 
remain in its replaced state. There are some 
physicians, it is true, who are of opinion, that 
they are prejudicial to conception; but the ma- 
jority recommend them, justly imagining, that 
they neither prevent conception, or occasion 
any injury whatever to the genital parts of the 
female; but, on the contrary, that they not 
only cure the disorder, but promote genera-
F3 tion 

[102] 
tion by their retentive influence. The pa- 
tient’s diet should be drying, astringent, and 
glutinous; such as quinces, pears, green- 
cheese, rice; and consequently red wine is 
the properest, avoiding all summer fruits. 
I FIND, in madam Fouquet’s collection of 
charitable remedies, the following receipt, 
which is stiled, a sovereign plaister for the dis- 
orders of the matrix, &c. 
Cerus, half a pound, minium, one 
pound, Genoa soap, ten ounces, oil of olives, 
two pounds. Put the minium and the cerus 
in a pan upon the fire; continue stirring the 
same, till they are well incorporated and united 
together; then cut the soap in small bits, and 
put it in piece by piece, keeping the contents 
of the pan continually stirring; let it do over 
a middling fire, till such time as it be- 
come grey, or a chesnut colour; take care 
that nothing boils over, whilst it is boiling, 
as these ingredients swell a good deal; and 
continue constantly stirring till it be boiled 
enough; when it is of a good consistence, 
take it off the fire, and stir it still it be cold, 
when rolls are to be made of it; and care 
should be taken, not to handle them with 
wet hands. 
When there is occasion to use this plaister, 
it must be spread upon linnen, or leather; but, 
if upon leather, care must be taken that it has 
no scent.
If

[103]
If the ligaments of the womb are relaxed, 
and a bearing down ensues, it should be ap- 
plied to the navel, the patient remaining in 
bed two days, and keeping it on, till such 
time as she be cured: it should, however, be 
taken off at the end of a fortnight, the place 
wiped, and another plaister put on, remaining 
without any bandage. 
If a woman, when brought to bed, has 
any difficulty of having the after-birth brought 
away, this plaister will be greatly efficacious 
in performing it, by being put upon the navel, 
and leaving it in the manner above prescribed. 
To which is added, there is a very illustrious 
example of a cure performed by the applica- 
tion of this plaister. 
If a lying-in woman, or any other, or a 
maid, has too great a flux of the menses, this 
is a sovereign remedy, by applying it to the 
navel, as above. 
If a woman, or a young girl, has not a 
sufficient flux of her monthly courses, or there 
is an entire suppression of them, this plaister 
should be used; and, in this case, it should be 
placed beneath the navel. 
F4 SEC-

[104]
SECTION VI. 
Of the most practical and approved me- 
thods of cure for the disorders incident 
to excessive venery, or self-pollution. 
HIPPOCRATES says, that when a 
patient has exhausted himself by too 
much indulgence, either of amorous pleasure, 
or even masturbation, and when he has those 
symptoms already described, we should apply 
fomentations all over his body; then give him 
an emetic; repeat it, in order to purge his 
head; then a purgative. “ The cure should 
“ be begun in spring. After the purgative, 
“ give him scummed, or ass’s milk; the cow 
“ milk for forty days. Whilst he drinks the 
“ milk, he should eat no meat; and at night 
“ he should take water gruel. After leaving 
“ off milk, he should eat the most tender 
“ meats, beginning with a small quantity on- 
“ ly. By this means he will recover his flesh. 
“ For a whole twelvemonth he should avoid 
“ every kind of debauchery, all venereal prac- 
“ tices, and every other immoderate exercise; 
“ and in his walks, he should equally avoid 
“ cold, and being in the sun.” 
Boerhaave says, that these disorders are 
always extremely difficult to cure, as they sel- 
dom make their appearance till such time as 
the

[105] 
the body is weakened, and remedies can be 
no longer efficacious. However, the follow- 
ing, he continues, are the most likely to suc- 
ceed. A dry regimen, consisting of birds, 
beef, mutton, veal, kid, roasted rather than 
boiled; a small quantity of good beer; a little 
wine of the strengthening sort. Then much 
exercise, gradually increased, should be used;
till the patient is fatigued; and this exercise 
should be taken fasting; afterwards frictions, 
with perfumed flannels, should take place, up- 
on the reins, the abdomen, the buttocks, and 
scrotum, regularly night and morning. And, 
lastly, half a dram of the following opiate 
should be taken every two hours in the day. 
℞. Terrœ japon. dr. 4. opopanac dr. 5. 
cort. peruv. dr. 6. cons. rosar. rubr. unc. 1. 
obiban dr. 11. succ acac. unc. ss. syrup. kerm. q. 
s. f. l.a. cond. with half an ounce of medical 
wine.
℞. Rad. cariophyll. ment. pœn. mar. aa. 
unc 1. cort. rad. cappar. tamarise. aa. unc 1. 
ss. lign. agalloch. veri unc 1. vin. gall. alb. 
lib. 6. f. l. a. vin. med. 
These prescriptions being regularly fol- 
lowed, the patient may, probably, be cured in 
about two months. 
HOFFMAN writes upon this subject,
“ That all remedies should be avoided that 
“ are not fit for weak persons, and which 
F5 “ may

[106]
“ may weaken a body already enervated; 
“ such are all astringents, those that are too 
“ cooling, saturnine, nitrous, and acid, and 
“ particularly narcotics; they are all prejudi- 
“ cial in cases of this nature, notwithstanding 
“ which they are very frequently used. The 
“ object in view, continues he, is to restore 
“ strength, and to give the fibres that tone 
“ which they have lost; therefore, warm vo- 
“ latile medicines, aromatics, such as have a 
“ strong and agreeable smell, are improper in 
“ this case; but mild aliments that tend to 
“ repair that nutritive gelatinous substance, 
“ which immoderate evacuations have de- 
“ stroyed, as beef, veal, and chicken broth, 
“ with a little wine, common spice, salt, 
“ nutmeg, and cloves. And it should be in 
“ general observed, that all remedies which 
“ promote perspiration, and animate the lan- 
“ guid tone of the fibres, will be of further 
“ assistance.” 
The following decoction and injection have 
been successfully used.
DECOCTION. 
Rx. Flor. succat. lamii. alb. mpl. 6. radic. 
usper et galang. aa. unc 2. rad. bistort. unc 1. 
rad. osmund. regal. unc 2. flor. ros. rubr. mpl. 
4. ichthyocoll. unc 2. 
Scissa. tus. mixt. cum aquœ quart. 8. ad 
quartœ part. evaporat. quoquant. A quart 
whereof to be taken daily. 
INJEC-

[107]
INJECTION. 
Rx. Saccari saturni, vitriol alb. alum, rup. 
aa dr. 1. aq. chalyb. fabror. pint1 1. ss. per 
dies decem igne arena digerantur. add spir. vin. 
camphr. cochl. 3. 
M. Stork is of opinion, that patients, in 
this situation, should be treated in the follow-
ing manner; “ First, they should be fed with 
“ nutritious broths; water gruel, rice, or 
“ barley, boiled in broth or milk, are also. 
“ very essential, care being taken not to load 
“ the stomach with them, but their use to be 
“ frequent. If the stomach should be so 
“ weak, as it sometimes happens, when the 
“ disorder has made great progress, that it 
“ cannot retain this sort of food, without be- 
“ ing greatly oppressed, the patient should
“ have a wet-nurse, and suck her breast. 
“ This has sometimes been attended with 
“ success in the most dangerous cases. The 
“ relaxed fibres are, in some measure, restor- 
“ ed to their tone, by the use of wine im- 
“ pregnated with steel, bark, and cinnamon. 
“ As soon as the patient has got strength 
“ enough to walk, it is very beneficial for him
“ to go into the open air, in a hilly coun-
“ try” 
The best meats are those that are roasted the like
by a slow fire, or gently boiled in their juice. 
They may consist of veal, young mutton, 
young beef, fowls, pidgeons, partridges, and 
F6 the

[108]
the like: and the best kind of aliment is 
milk. Such liquors should be refrained from 
as tend to increase weakness and relaxation, 
diminish the small digestive powers that re- 
main, and communicate acrimony to the hu- 
mours; warm water, coffee, and tea, should 
therefore be avoided. Spirituous liquors are 
also pernicious. The most salutary liquor is 
pure spring water, mixt with wine, and the 
best wines are those that are the most stoma- 
chic. Beer is not good; but mum may, in 
some degree, serve instead of wine, where the 
proper sort is wanting ; and chocolate is par- 
ticularly eligible, especially for breakfast. 
INHALATION, communicated from one 
person to another, may have its use, when 
the patient is particularly feeble. Capuaccio, 
the celebrated Italian professor, prescribed two 
nurses to a patient, between whom he was to 
lie, as well as suck their breasts; and he re- 
covered his strength and powers so wonder- 
fully, that, after some months, he impreg- 
nated them both, and thereby enabled them 
to continue administering his milk diet. His 
pupil, Forestus, was so well convinced of the 
utility of his master’s practice, that he con- 
stantly prescribed a healthy blooming nurse as 
a bed fellow, to every patient troubled with 
the tabis dorsalis. But the danger in this case 
is, that the patient should fancy himself 
more vigorous than he really is, and endea- 
vour too early to testify to his nurse the proofs 
of his recovery. A woman of prudence and 
experience


[109]
experience is, at least, therefore requisite;
and she should be entirely divested of any of 
those passions which might prove fatal to the 
patient, even after his recovery; for this last 
reason, a red haired, or very black, woman 
should never be chosen upon these occasions. 
The most approved remedies in this dis- 
order, are the cold bath, and the bark or 
quinquina used together. Their virtues are 
the same, and, being united, frequently pro- 
duce the most happy effects, even when every 
other application has failed. They invigo- 
rate, diminish the feverish and nervous heat; 
they calm the irregular motions produced by 
the spasmodic disposition of the nervous sys- 
tem; they fortify a weak stomach, and dissi-
pate its attendant complaints; they also restore 
lost appetite, promote digestion, and increase 
nutrition; they facilitate the operation of all 
the functions, and particularly perspiration, 
which renders them so efficacious in all catarr- 
hous and cutaneous disorders. They should, 
however, not be used, if the patient is afflict- 
ed with internal ulcerous abscesses, inflamma- 
tions, or obstructions. To these two reme- 
dies may be added steel, which is useful in all 
cases of weakness, and may be given either in 
substance or by infusion. For the same rea- 
son Spa water, as a strengthener, is much to 
be commended in this case. Bitters, gums, 
myrrh, and gentle aromatics, are proper; but 
the choice of these different remedies must de- 
pend upon circumstances, I have known the 
following

[110]
following pills and decoction to be taken  
with great success. 
PILLS. 
Rx. Myrrh. elect. unc ss. gum. galhan. extr. 
trisol. fibr. terr. japan. aa dr. 2. sir. cort.
aur. q. s. f. pil. gra. 3. 
DECOCTION. 
Rx. Cort. peruv. unc 2. cort, rad. capp. 
unc 1. cinnam. acut. dr. 2. limat. mart. in no-
doul. lax. unc ss. cum. oq. font. lib. 2. ss. l. a. f. 
decoct. 
The pills should be taken with broth, after  
breakfast, dinner, or supper, about seven 
at a time. 
If quinquina is taken, it is not necessary 
that the patient should confine himself to a 
milk diet, and when the wine is impregnated 
with bark, it does not prompt them to vomit 
when taken in the morning fasting; this is 
the proper time for it, and night for the taking 
of the milk. If the mineral waters are taken, 
it is necessary that some bottles of pure water 
should be taken before the milk is mixed with 
it. If the disorder be inveterate, it common- 
ly degenerates into a cacochymy, which it is 
necessary to remove, before the patient’s 
strength is endeavoured to be restored. Eva- 
cuants are, in this case, absolutely necessary, 
and are frequently very successful. If the pa- 
tient’s life is in danger, recourse must be had 
to

[111] 
to real cordials, such as Spanish wine, fresh 
eggs, succulent broths, and the like; and flan- 
nels, heated with treacle, are very efficacious 
when applied to the breast. In case of a fever, 
the patient should not be blooded, till such 
time as there is an indication, by the fulness 
and hardness of the pulse and it were better 
to he blooded twice, losing small quantities 
each time, than to part with much blood at 
one time. 
In a word, those medicines which are most 
immediately necessary are those which are 
ranged under the heads of balsamics and astrin- 
gents. By balsamic medicines, are meant 
those which comfort the nerves, strengthen 
the constitution, and thereby animate the pa- 
tient. Among these are flor. tilliœ lavendul.
rorismarin. pœoniœ. herb. thym. menth. vul- 
gar majoran culaminth. cort cinnamon canell 
alb. aurantior. siccati, fruct. nuc. moschat. of the 
animal class musk. The simple waters of cin- 
namon, orange peel, and common mint; the 
aq. aelexater. simple. the spirit of rosemary, the 
compound spirit of lavendar, sp. volat. aroma- 
tic. julep-e-moscho. The tincture of cinnamon,
and the essential oils of marjoram, spearmint, 
rosemary, lavendar, and cinnamon fyr. e cort. 
aurantior. coryophillor rubr. from whence 
many useful remedies may be formed, and
suited to various constitution and stages of 
affliction. 
AMONGST the class of astringents we may 
include, rad. bistort. formentille, &c. but what, 
as


[112]
as I have said before, deserves the preference 
to every other internal medicine, is the quin- 
quinilla, or Peruvian bark. 
OF the officinial compositions, may be 
reckoned conserv. prunellor. sylvestr. elixir. vi- 
triol. acid. the extract and simple tincture of 
the cort Peruv. tinct saturnia, syrup of quin- 
ces, lemons, &c. and amongst the grateful, 
cooling, and salutary fruits, may be reckoned 
oranges, cherries, rasberries, strawberries, 
grapes, currants, &c. but these are to be 
used with moderation, and not with a milk 
diet.
The external remedies must also be astrin- 
gent, such as the emplastr, roborant, which 
is to be applied to the loins. The testicles 
should also be suspended in a bag, or truss, 
when they hang too loose, which is common- 
ly the case in this situation; and the perinæ- 
um, the testicles, and the pubes, should be 
embrocated, upon going to bed, with vinegar, 
or cloths that have been steeped in verjuice, or 
vinegar should be laid on them all night. 
PREVIOUS to the administering of these 
remedies, and making of these applications, it 
is necessary that the stomach and bowels 
should be cleansed; and therefore an emetic 
and a dose are proper to be taken. There is 
seldom occasion for more than one emetic, as
the rest of the cure depends entirely on bra- 
cing medicines, and nervous ones interspersed 
with

[113]
with nourishing diet; therefore the whites of
eggs mixed, and afterwards the yokes, will ge- 
nerally be found salutary. Tea, as I have said 
before, is very pernicious; but to those who 
have accustomed themselves to drink in a morn- 
ing, or afternoon, it will be difficult immedi- 
ately to leave it off; therefore as a substitute 
may be requisite, and in this case nothing can 
be better than baum and mint, in every dish 
of which should be infused a tea spoonful of the 
balsamic mixture, ex cremor luct. vitell. ov. 
with a few drops of oil of cinnamon; and 
the stomach will thereby be greatly assisted in 
its functions. 
The following julep may be taken at any 
time on an empty stomach; and in case of 
costiveness, the chewing of a little rhubarb 
will remove it. 
JULEP. 
Rx. Ex. aq. alexiter. simp. aq. cinnamon. 
simp. menth, &c. with some drops of spir. la- 
vend. c. and tinct. saturnia. à p. e. of elex. vi- 
triol acid. vel. tinct. cort. peruviam. 
But as the cure of this disorder depends as 
much upon knowing what to avoid, as what 
to do, therefore, without a nice regularity of 
the non-naturals, medicines will have little or 
no effect; it is therefore necessary to consider 
the importance of the salubrity of the air; the 
diet, which should be analeptic and cooling; 
sleep 

[114]
sleep exercise; the secretions of the body; 
and the necessity of chearful company, and 
amusements. I shall, therefore, in this place 
set down what Dr. Lewis says upon these 
heads, being at once the most concise and per- 
tinent observations I have met with upon the 
subject 
“ No disease, says he, requires a greater 
“ regard to the non-naturals than the tabes 
“ dorsalis; its attacks are early, its progress 
“ slow, but sure; and it seems almost to be 
“ interwoven in the constitution before the 
“ patient discovers his danger; for the appe- 
“ tite is generally good [bene comedunt, says 
“ Hippocrates.) As the air is that element 
“ by which we live, move, and have our be- 
“ ing, the good and bad qualities of it ever 
“ stand foremost in a medical view. A clear 
“ and temperate air is universally known to 
“ be the best for continuing health; but cold 
“ rather than a hot air seems to contribute 
“ more to the recovering a thin hectical con- 
“ stitution; and a patient should habituate 
“ himself to be often in it. 
“ As to diet, every thing salted, spiced, 
“ or otherwise seasoned, and all spirituous 
“ and fermented liquors, of whatever kind,
“ ought to be religiously avoided. They ac- 
“ celerate the motion of the blood, and in- 
“ flame the body. Water (only Bristol wa- 
“ ter) mixed with a little old Rhenish wine, 
“ in the summer season; in the winter, red 
“ port should be made the common drink; 

[115]
“ and plain roasting or boiling is the best 
“ cookery for the animal diet of the patient. 
“ But among all the materials of food, there 
“ is not any thing more beneficial than milk *. 
“ I have known a pint, and with some two 
“ pints of milk, drunk in two draughts at 
“ half an hour’s distance, warm from the 
“ cow in the morning, and repeated in the 
“ afternoon, become a wonderful restorative. 
“ All the warmer months, it ought to be so 
“ used, and to be made as much as possible 
“ an ingredient in the other daily sustenance. 
“ Thus, chocolate made with milk, in such 
“ quantity as to pass easily off the stomach, is 
“ an excellent breakfast for a tabid consti- 
“ tion, I knew a child, twelve years old, 
“ in the last stage of a consumption, when 
“ given over by a physician, recovered by the 
“ mother's giving her chocolate only, in 
“ small quantities often repeated. Indeed it 
“ is an aliment that, for weak constitutions, 
“ cannot be too much recommended; and it 
“ may at any time be made to fit easy on the 
“ stomach, by diluting it with water. Be- 
“ sides chocolate, viper broth, broths prepar- 
“ ed with milk, rice, milk, and a variety of 
“ other combinations, known to every fami- 
“ ly, may be contrived to humour the palate 
“ of the patient. 
“ I have not known a single instance, 
“ where animal diet for dinner has done any 
* Purgato sursum et dorsum corpore, lac bubulum per 
quadraginta dies bibendum exhibeto, Burneti Hippocra- 
tes, p. 15. 
“ harm;

[116]
“ harm; yet it will be prudent to recom- 
“ mend such as is of easy digestion. Lamb, 
“ veal, young mutton, fowls, &c. well roast- 
“ ed or boiled, unattended with poignant 
“ sauces, and swallowed with equal quanti- 
“ ties of bread and roots together (more or 
“ less occasionally) cannot fail of producing 
“ laudable chyle and good nutriment, if well 
“ digested (the criterion whereby the quantity 
“ and quality of the meal are determined) 
“ and will do more service in recruiting lan- 
“ guid nature than medicine can. 
“ But with regard to supper, the patient 
“ is to be particularly cautioned. Nothing 
“ but milk, warmed before the fire, and a 
“ slice of thin toasted bread, can be allowed 
“ without detriment; and this ought to be 
“ taken two hours before bed-time; for sleep 
“ is a time of application, not for the pre- 
“ paration of the aliment. That nutrition 
“ may be carried on naturally, it is necessary 
“ that deep should be found and uninterrupt- 
“ ed; but nothing even in a state of health 
“ is a greater impediment to repose than a 
“ late or an animal supper, as the voluptuous 
“ can tell. If this be the case in general, 
“ to a person labouring under a tabes dorsalis, 
“ the avoiding such becomes indispensably 
“ necessary. Seminal emissions in the night 
“ draw after them all the other symptoms. 
“ Whether these are owing to venereal dreams 
“ or not, they certainly will not happen so 
“ often, if the mind, and its powers, are 
“ composed,

[117] 
“ composed, i.e. unconcerned in any animal 
“ actions; for the disturbance of the imagi- 
“ nation is thereby in a great measure cut off. 
“ This is a truth incontestable; for I have 
“ always found the patient to sleep more 
“ soundly, and to escape this evacuation 
“ more constantly, when he takes no supper 
“ at all. 
“ Sleep little, and in due season. If the 
“ dictates of nature be followed (and a phy- 
“ sician is nature’s minister) we should go ear- 
“ ly to bed, and rise early. In the night- 
“ season, the inclemency of the atomsphere is 
“ greatest, and our bodies, after the vigilance 
“ and labour of the day, then lead able to 
“ resist the impression. Perspiration, the 
“ most important of all the bodily discharges, 
“ goes on best in bed *. But it is absolutely 
“ necessary to forbid a patient, afflicted with 
“ the disease I am prescribing, to an indul- 
“ gence in bed in the morning. The more 
“ moderate the quantity of his sleep is, the 
“ sweeter and more invigorating will it be. 
“ Thus, if he lies down at ten o’clock (which 
“ hour he should never exceed) he ought to 
“ rise in the summer time at four or five, in 
“ the winter time at six or seven, otherwise 
“ he may observe as a general rule, to rise 
“ immediately upon awaking; for a second 
“ repose in the morning, however inclined 
* —diuturna enim parcior longe nocturne perspiratio,
sanctor. aphorism. explanat. auctore P. Nogues, f. 1. p. 35.
“ he


[118]
“ he may be to it, is almost always attended 
“ with dreams; and though this practice may 
“ be irksome at first, custom will make it fa- 
“ miliar and agreeable. 
“ MODERATE exercise must be used, espe- 
“ cially riding on horse back. That the air 
“ may be enjoyed to the best advantage, and 
“ that the diet of the patient may be thorough- 
“ ly digested, which will pave the way to a 
“ natural sleep, he ought to use as much ex- 
“ ercise as his strength will permit. Gentle 
“ walking, in the morning in the fields, if 
“ the season be favourable, otherwise at home, 
“ or playing at shuttle-cock, may serve for 
“ part; but the best kind of exercise is that 
“ of riding on horse-back. It is exercise 
“ without labour; and since the mind in the 
“ tabes dorsalis is to be relieved, as well as 
“ the body, the taking a long journey, by 
“ such daily portions as to avoid extraordi- 
“ nary weariness, whereby new objects will 
“ continually present, is surprisingly effica- 
“ cious; and, if the circumstances of the pa- 
“ tient will permit, ought ever to be recom- 
“ mended by his physician. 
“ THE secretions of the body are to be re- 
“ gulated, if out of order. Thus, smoaking 
“ tobacco is to be forbidden. The saliva was 
“ not by nature designed to be thus lavishly 
“ expended; and though some constitations 
“ may bear this evacuation, it cannot be al- 
“ lowed in the present case, since the solids
“ in

[119]
“ in general, being weak, the glans have 
“ patent orifices, and the fluids are thereby 
“ rendered liable to run off too fast. As to 
“ the rest of the secretions, the non-naturals 
“ being rightly observed, there is seldom any 
“ disorder in them. 
“ The patient should be entertained with 
“ chearful company. The last point we have 
“ to speak to on this head, is the passions. 
“ Physicians well know how important the 
“ regulation of them is; for between the 
“ mind and the body there is such a connec- 
“ tion, that the vital and animal actions ne- 
“ ver fail to affect one another. In the tabes 
“ dorsalis, the patient discovers exceeding 
“ grief and melancholy. Now, it is not 
“ enough that they are mitigated by remedy- 
“ ing the vice of these corporeal organs upon 
“ which they depend; every possible means 
“ of relief is to be sought after; and some as- 
“ sistance may be had by exciting the opposite 
“ passions. Thus mirthful company, and en- 
“ gaging diversions, &c. are known to take 
“ off the mind from gloomy thoughts and im- 
“ mense melancholy. Here the elegant vi- 
“ vacious harangues of the physician will do 
“ great service. But it must be observed here, 
“ that as the company of females is apt to ex- 
“ cite libidinous ideas, it ought, by all means, 
“ to be avoided. Study also is highly preju- 
“ dicial. The patient should never be left to 
“ himself; never suffered to read, nor have 
“ any time to reflect on his severe fortune; 
“ for

[120]
“ for all these oppress the nerves, sink the 
“ spirits, and obstruct the cure.”  
So far Dr. Lewis; and I shall conclude 
this section in the words of the celebrated Dr. 
Tissot, in his Treatise upon Masturbation. “ It 
“ would be useless to extend this piece any 
“ farther. I have endeavoured to omit no- 
“ thing that might open the eyes of young 
“ people to all the horrors of that abyss which 
“ they prepare for themselves. I have point- 
“ out the most proper means of removing 
“ those ills which they have drawn upon 
“ themselves; and I conclude by assuring, 
“ that some happy cures should not delude 
“ them. Those who are the best cured with 
“ difficulty recover their primitive vigour, 
“ and preserve tolerable health only by dint 
“ of managing it. Those who remain in a 
“ languid state, are ten-fold the number of 
“ those who are cured; and some examples 
“ of persons who are but little ailing, or of a 
“ vigorous constitution, which promoted their 
“ recovery, should not be considered as a ge- 
“ neral rule.”  
SEC-

[121]
SECTION VII. 
Of impotency in men, and barrenness in 
women; and the most efficacious remedies 
for their cure. 
THERE cannot, assuredly, be a more 
dreadful curse inflicted upon a man of a 
warm constitution, than the inability of pro- 
pagating his species. If he resides in a capital 
city, his senses must be incessantly importun- 
ed to make some unsuccessful effort to abate 
that desire, so naturally implanted in him, and 
which he is incapable of gratifying. If his 
constant residence be in the country, every 
bird and animal that salutes his mate recals 
to his mind the misery of his situation; and 
every blooming fair too frequently convinces 
him of his being a real, not a fabulous, Tan- 
talus. 
It is true, the fair sex do not labour under 
such immediate cruel grievances upon this ac- 
count, as being only the patient in the amo- 
rous constict. Barrenness does not prevent their 
receiving those balsamic tributes, which the 
potent part of the male creation are capable of 
paying them. It must, nevertheless, be a 
mortifying reflection for every married wo- 
man, in this state, to consider herself incapa- 
citated from propagating her species, and giv- 
G ing

[122]
ing that assistance in the nuptial association, 
which was its ultimate and great design. Be- 
sides, she must fall far short of those raptures 
which a fruitful woman is susceptible of, and 
can at most enjoy but a small portion of pro- 
creative bliss. 
Women, in some countries, are examined 
by matrons, before they are admitted to the 
nuptial bed; and those only that are pronoun- 
ced to be fruitful, are allowed to enter into 
the marriage-state; and I must own, that I 
see no reason, without custom be allowed one, 
where the ladies are made so free with, why 
the men should not undergo as strict an in- 
spection, especially if we consider, that when 
the defect is on the woman’s side, she may still 
be made use of, and give her husband at least 
momentary pleasure, if she be not impene- 
trable; whereas, if the defect be on the man’s 
side, she can find no relief, except it be in 
adultery, as it is impossible for him to com- 
municate any satisfaction to her, or expert to 
convey the seed into the womb, if his yard is 
incapable of erection; and this is the most 
certain symptom of impotency in man. 
BARRENNESS is, however, more common 
in women than in men, by reason of the ma- 
ny additional bodily infirmities to which their 
sex is liable, and which I have already enu- 
merated: to these may be added those causes 
that most frequently occasion it in men, 
namely

[123]
namely, too early and great an indulgence 
in venery or masturbation. 
It also sometimes happens, that impotency 
is occasioned in men by a deficiency and want 
of seed; and I think I cannot do better, than 
transcribe the great Boerhaave’s words upon 
this subject, in his treatise de Viribus Medi- 
camentorum. 
“ THIS chapter, says he, consists of such 
“ medicines as increase seed, and promote its 
“ secretion; but we are ignorant how the 
“ animalcules in the seed are generated. 
“ Leeuwenhoeck tells us, they are not to be 
“ found in any part of the body; but in the 
“ male sperm of all animals, which is sepa- 
“ rated in the testicles, and are like so many 
“ tadpoles, of a prodigious number, swimming 
“ every way in the seed, with incredible 
“ briskness and activity; that they are not to 
“ be found in the liquid of the prostatæ is 
“ evident from castrated animals. Now, 
“ there are four things which augment the 
“ seed: first, all such things as augment chyle, 
“ milk, and blood. Milk taken in large 
“ quantities is a great breeder of seed, and 
“ renders persons more salacious than wine or 
“ spices. Hence those who eat much of ve- 
“ getables, eggs, or milk, are much addicted 
“ to venery. Secondly, all medicines which 
“ convey a more abundant quantity of chy- 
“ lous blood towards those parts, where the 
“ genital liquid is prepared. To this purpose,
G2 “ fomen-


[124]
“ fomentations, bathings, frications, em- 
“ plastics, balsams, made of spices, are very 
“ conducive; as also, oil of rue, and eu- 
“ phorbium, plaisters of melilot; these will 
“ increase sufficiently the spermatic juice. 
“ The following things are much commend- 
“ ed by Italians as specifics, who are much 
“ admirers of such delicacies, viz. all bal- 
“ sams, emplastics, composed from sea 
“ southernwood, buffwort, calamint, sweet- 
“ sconted dittany of Crete, leveage, which 
“ are commended as salacious herbs; parsley, 
“ savine, savory, especially that of Crete;
“ thyme, wild thyme, nepenthe, wild mar- 
“ joram, as that of Crete, where animals are 
“ most salacious; pepper, eringo roots, hedge 
“ mustard, are great provocatives to venery; 
“ as are also all compounds from these herbs, 
“ made up in decoctions, potions, cataplasms, 
“ and ointments. Thirdly, such things as 
“ cause a vehement stimulation in the liquids; 
“ as all aromatics stimulate the nervous 
“ juices. Thus, onions, garlick, and leeks, 
“ are great incentives to lust, which is evi- 
“ dent from those persons who eat them fre- 
“ quently, as the Persians and Egyptians do, 
“ who are much given to venery, and are 
“ scarce satisfied with one woman. Hither be- 
“ long all aromatic gums. Thus we see hy- 
“ pocondriac people, to whom we have given 
“ them for resolving obstructions, by taking 
“ them often, become very salacious; as myrrh, 
“ aloes, galbanum, opponax, sagaperium,
“ tachamahae, bdellium, &c, also balsams,
“ as

[125]
“ as capavy, &c. if these be used too much, 
“ they will cause a priapism, and excite an 
“ abundant secretion of seed. Hither also be- 
“ long all natural salts, except nitre, all vo- 
“ latile salts, especially those that are oily, 
“ and oily spints, as of wine, which operate 
“ chiefly by stimulation, soaps, all diuretics, 
“ chiefly by water excepted, castoriam di- 
“ stilled, aromatic oils, which operate two 
“ ways, either by increasing motion, or by 
“ irritation. Fourthly, there are specific pro- 
“ vocatives to venery, which act upon bo- 
“ dies not fitly disposed, as feeds of dill, 
“ vetches, satyrion, concerning which see 
“ Diascorides, the brains of sparrows, and the 
“ stones of salacious animals, as of cocks, 
“ lambs, &c. are very much commended; as 
“ likewise, the glandules of animals, which 
“ are of a similar nature to the testicles, as 
“ those which grow in the asperia arteria of 
“ calves, all which are so beneficial, as they 
“ generate good chyle; ultiocinus, a small 
“ sea-fish, which, if eaten, is said to cause such 
“ an incitement to venery, as to induce a sa- 
“ tyriasis, or continual erection of the penis: 
“ but I am of opinion, that the effect doth 
“ not so much depend upon the fish, as upon 
“ those things which are taken with it; for 
“ it is generally eaten with pepper, salt, ga- 
“ langal, &c. A milk diet may be proper, 
“ because the generation of seed depends upon 
“ good chyle.”
G3 Besides


[126] 
BESIDES what is recommended in the 
above chapter from Boerhaave, the following 
prescription will be found very efficacious in 
all impotent cases: Take of the best palm 
sack six ounces, of jelly of hartshorn three 
ounces, essence of ambergrease ten drops, 
chocolate all nut half an ounce, black pepper, 
powdered, one scruple, essence of satyrion 
twenty drops, confection of alkermes one 
dram, essence of cantharides twelve drops, vo- 
latile salt of vipers ten grains, white sugar 
candy three drams; the chocolate and sugar 
candy must be dissolved in the sack over the 
fire, but it should not boil; and when it is 
cold, the other things are to be added, with 
the yokes of two eggs. They should be mix- 
ed very well together, and drank at one or 
more draughts, every morning at breakfast. 
The testicles should at the same time be anoint- 
ed with the following salutary balsam: take oil 
of mace, by expression, two drains, Peruvian 
balsam one dram, oil of nutmegs, oil of cloves, 
of each six drops, musk eight grains, civet 
ten grains, essence of cantharides, and essence 
of ambergrease, of each six drops; mix them 
well without the use of fire, and anoint the 
genitals therewith night and morning. The 
cold bath may also be used at the same time 
with great success. 
HAVING given this advice to the men, 
it is time we should attend the ladies. 
In

[127]
In the cure of barrenness, attention must 
be particularly paid to the cause; as this 
must be first removed, and then the womb 
strengthened, and the spirits of the seed en- 
livened by corroborating applications. 
If barrenness proceed from over much heat, 
let the patient use inwardly succory, endive, 
violets, water lillies, sorrel, and lettuce, with 
syrups and conserves made of the same; to 
which end, take conserves of borrage, violets, 
water lillies, of each one ounce; half an ounce 
of conserve of roses, diamargariton rigid, 
diatrion, santalon, of each half a dram, and 
with syrup of violets, or juice of citron, make 
an electuary. She should also take of endive, 
water lillies, borrage flowers, of each a hand- 
ful, rhubarb, mirobolans, of each three drams, 
and, with water, make a decoction; add to 
the straining the syrup laxative of violets, one 
ounce, syrup of cassia half an ounce, manna 
three drams; all which make into a potion; 
take of the syrup of mugwort one once, syrup 
of maidenhair two ounces, pulv. elect. trio- 
sant, and make all up into a julep; apply to 
the reins and privities fomentations of the juice 
of lettuce, violets, roses, mallows, vine leaves, 
and nightshade. She should also anoint her 
privities with the cooling ointment of galls. 
Baths are also good for her to fit in. The air 
she perspires should be clear; her garments 
thin; her food lettuce, endive, succory, and 
barley; but she should eat no hot meals, nor 
drink any strong wines. Repose, as well cor- 
G4 poreal

[128]
poreal as mental, is necessary for her; and she 
should use but little copulation. 
When barrenness is occasioned by the pre- 
dominancy of blood extinguishing the power 
of the seed, which may be known by her de- 
siring venery, and receiving no pleasure in the 
act of copulation, even at the critical instant 
of the man’s emission; by her courses being 
phlegmatic, thick, and slimy, and not flow- 
ing regularly; in this case she should take 
syrup of calamint, mugwort, betony, of each 
one ounce, water of pennyroyal, feverfew, hy- 
sop, sage, of each an ounce, made into a julep. 
She should also take every morning two spoon- 
fuls of cinnamon water, with one spoonful of 
mithridate. She should likewise take of oil of 
anniseed one scruple and a half, jasmini, diaca- 
lam, both diamosci, diagalang, of each one 
dram, sugar four ounces, made with water of 
cinnamon into lozenges, a dram and an half 
of which should be taken twice a day, two 
hours before meals. Cupping glasses should 
be fastened to her hips and belly, and she 
should take storax, calamint one ounce, mas- 
tick, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, lignum 
aloes, frankincese, of each half an ounce, 
musk ten grains, ambergrease half a scruple, 
and with those make them into a confection, 
to be divided into four parts, one whereof is 
to be formed into a pomum doratum to smell 
to, if she be not inclined to hysterics; the 
second should be made into a mass of pills, 
three of which should be taken every night; 
the third into a pessary, and put into the 


[129] 
womb; and the fourth into a fumigation for 
the matrix. 
WHEN barrenness is occasioned by the 
faculties of the womb being weakened, and 
the life of the seed suffocated by too much tu- 
midity flowing in those parts, she should, in, 
this case, take of betony, marjoram, mug- 
wort, pennyroyal, balm, of each one handful, 
root of asarum, fennel, elacampanes, of each 
two drams, anniseed, cumminseed, of each a 
dram, with a sufficient quantity of sugar and 
water, to form them into a syrup, three ounces 
of which are to be taken every morning. The 
following purgative pills are to be taken; of 
pill extid. two scruples, diagridion two grains, 
spec. de costore one scruple, which are to be 
made up into nine pills, with syrup of mug- 
wort. Take likewise spec. diagemmæ, diamo- 
sci, diambre, of each one dram, cinnamon one 
dram and a half, mace, cloves, nutmegs, of 
each half a dram, sugar six ounces, and with 
water of feverfew make them into lozenges, 
which are to be taken every morning. She 
should also take of the decoction of sarsaparilla, 
and virga anred, with a good quantity of sage, 
which is an herb of so much virtue, that Cor- 
nelius Agrippa honoured it with the title of 
sacra herba, or the holy herb; and Dodenæus, 
in his history of Plants, relates, that after a 
great plague had happened in Egypt, which 
had nearly depopulated the country, the sur- 
viving women were commanded to drink the 
juice of sage, that they might multiply the 
G5 faster.


[30]
faster. She should also anoint her genital 
parts with oil of anniseed and spikenard. Tro- 
chisks are also very beneficial in smothering the 
womb, which should be made as follows: she 
should take mace, nutmeg, cinnamon, storax, 
amber, of each one dram, cloves, labdani, of 
each half a dram, turpentine, a sufficient quan- 
tity; after which she should use an infusion to 
fit upon after her courses are gone, made in this 
manner; take the roots of valerian and ele- 
campane, of each one pound, of galingal 
three ounces, origans, lavendar, marjoram, 
betony, mugwort, bay leaves, calamint, of 
each three handfuls, prepared with water. 
In case barrenness arises from the dryness of 
the womb, consuming the matter of the seed, 
the patient should take every day almonds and 
goats milk, extracted with honey; she should 
eat frequently of the root satyrion, condited, 
and of the electuary of diasatyrion; she should 
likewise take three sheeps heads, and boil them 
till the flesh is Separated from the bone, then 
take of melilot, violets, camomile, of each a 
handful, and of fenugreek, linseed, and vale- 
rian root, of each a pound, and being de- 
cocted in the aforesaid broth, she should conti- 
nue fitting in it up to her navel, till it become 
cool; she should also take of deer’s suet half 
an ounce, cow’s marrow, styracis, liquidæ, of 
each a dram, oil of sweet almonds two ounces, 
and with silk or cotton make the same into a 
pessary, and inject oil of Sweet almonds and 
melted butter 
BARRENNESS

[131]
BARRENNESS may likewise be occasioned 
by remissness in the act of coition; for though 
there be no impediment on either side, yet if 
both sexes meet not in that act with equal vi- 
gour and desire, no conception can be the con- 
fequence of it. It frequently happens, that 
the man is too quick for the woman, or the 
woman too slow for the man; and therefore 
not being prepared to receive the seed with 
that delight which she ought, when it is emit- 
ted by the man, she discharges no ova, and the 
womb is no way benefited by the operation. 
In this case she should, before the act of co- 
ition, foment the pudendum with a decoction 
of betony, fage, hyson, and calamint, and 
also anoint the mouth and neck of the womb 
with musk and civet. The following appli- 
cation will also be very efficacious to strengthen 
the womb, as it is in this situation required: 
take of bay-berries, mastic, nutmeg, frankin- 
cense, cypress nuts, labdani, galbani, of each 
one drop, styracis, liquidæ, two scruples, cloves 
half a scruple, ambergrease two grains, musk
five grains, with which a bit of spikenard, a 
pessary should be made. Take also of red 
roses, frankincese, lapidis hematitis, of each 
half an ounce, sanguis draconis, fine bole, ma- 
stic, of each two drains, nutmeg and cloves, 
of each a dram, spikenard half a scruple, and 
with oil of wormwood make a plaister for the 
lower parts of the belly. She should also eat 
of the eringo roots condited, and take an in- 
jection of the juice of the roots of satyrion. 
She must use copulation soon after the menses 
are

[132]
are ceased, conception being then most apt to 
take place, as the womb is thirsty and dry,
and most inclinable to attract the seed, as well 
as retain it, by the roughness of its interior 
coat.
If these remedies and precautions are pro- 
perly attended to, it is not to be doubted but 
many families, who might soon be extinct for 
want of heirs, may be enabled to extend their 
lineage to the latest posterity. But every per- 
son (whether male or female) who proposes 
deriving any advantage from these rules, should 
cautiousty attend to one thing, which is, that 
they should not attempt to stimulate nature, 
when she is drained; for even if success were 
so far to crown their endeavours in this respect, 
their heirs must, being begot under these cir- 
cumstances, prove only a puny issue. A man 
who has laboured under any complaints of an 
impotent kind should remember, even after he 
has in some degree recovered his pristine vi- 
gour, that he cannot reasonably expect to get 
above one child a week; and therefore, I 
would recommend him to confine his em- 
braces to an hebdornedal indulgence; and his 
wife need not complain at this, as she will 
then receive them with much more gratifica- 
tion. Another point to be attended to, is the 
reciprocality of enjoyment; and a husband 
who is desirous of being the father of children, 
should be particularly curious in this respect, 
and not let any false modesty on his wife’s 
part conceal the real produce of his endea- 
vous;


[133]
vours; and as he may thereby keep an exact 
account, so he should never exceed, on his 
part, the number of times his wife has actually 
enjoyed coition. When there is a deficiency 
on her side, the fomentation prescribed above 
should be used with greater frequency, and in 
larger quantities, till such time as she has had 
her complete portion of bliss. 
SEC-

[134]
SECTION VIII. 
Of the propriety of AMOROUS PLEASURE. 
IF it were necessary to prove the utility of a 
natural intercourse between the sexes, our 
own very existence, and that of posterity, 
would be incontrovertible reasons. Neither 
found philosophy, or even holy writ itself, any 
way discountenances it; but, on the contra- 
ry, we are particularly commanded to increase 
and multiply. And if, indeed, these conside- 
rations, which are so cogent, were set aside, 
the happy union which it promotes and rivets,
the friendship it cements, and the inexpressible 
joy which it diffuses, would surely be suffici- 
ent argument to refute any impotent unnatu- 
ral attacks upon amorous pleasure, and we must, 
as long as we are susceptible of the power of 
beauty, agree with the poet, when he says, 
Love's the most tender passion of the mind, 
The softest refuge, innocence can find, 
The safe director of unguarded youth, 
Fraught with kind wishes, and secured hy truth. 
Heaven in our cup this drop hath thrown, 
To make the nauseous draught of life go down, 
With regard to our health, it is most certain- 
ly necessary to many constitutions; and tho’
I

[135]
I would chuse to give all the force to Mr
Skmeider’s reasoning it deserves, and allow that 
a great part of the semen is absorbed, and re- 
turns into the mass of blood; yet it is plain 
there would still remain too great a redundan- 
cy in strong robust men, if it were not carried 
off by some discharge, which is frequently in- 
voluntary: but surely these nocturnal emissi- 
ons are contrary to the design of nature, 
which plainly points out their proper destinat- 
ion, the support of the universal chain of ex- 
istence, a chain that is doubtless destroyed by 
this diversion of the course of inheritance; and 
all the sophistry in the world will never be able 
to evince, that the toleration of these evacua- 
tions is not equally destructive of the human 
species as self-pollution, since constitution and 
custom will instruct every man when these 
discharges will come about ; and therefore by 
not anticipating them, and directing them in- 
to their proper channel, he is instrumental in 
destroying the human species in the same pro- 
portion as he might have become a father, by 
marking the just application. 
The prejudice that is occasioned to the 
human frame, from an undue retention of 
the semen, is frequently of very dangerous 
consequence, as a plethora and cacochymy 
may ensue, occasioning pains in the head, pal- 
pitations of the heart, apoplexy, lethargy, 
spermatic fevers, according to the different 
temperaments and constitutions of the persons, 
who by such undue continence are the cause 
of

[136]
of so much harm to themselves, and rather 
than obey the dictates of unerring nature, 
chuse by a rigorous ascetic apathy to resist her 
motions, thereby counteracting that great 
command of the Creator, of which the mind 
is made conscious for the propagation of the 
human species; and, thus obstructing the ani- 
mal œconomy, justly incur the natural con- 
sequences of such premeditated violence offered 
to her laws. 
When man is arrived at the age which 
confers the faculty of procreating, the tender 
organs destined for its source become turgid 
by their fulness, and, by the pressure of their 
contained fluid, ad upon the nervous fibres 
with such inexplicable energy, as to promote 
the expression of their contents, by the grati- 
fication of the universal appetite; and when 
once the confined semen hath been ejected, it 
so far dilates the excretory ducts of the vesiculæ 
seminales, which confined it, as to render them 
unable at any time afterwards to restrain it, 
with sufficient restriction, to resist their pleni- 
tude, when the semen is collected in such 
measure as to impress the nervous fibrillæ of 
those parts, with such sensations as excite in 
the imagination a desire to venery; which in- 
tention naturally arises in the minds of all 
persons, even the most rigid Platonist, and 
presents them with phantasms too powerful 
for the frailty of their nature to chase away, 
or resolution sufficient to prevent gratifica- 
tion. Nor would it be proper, that these de- 
sires


[137]
desires should be entirely suppressed; for  
if every one could so far surmount his amorous 
passions, as to live in a perfect state of celi- 
bacy, and stand in no need of seminal evacua- 
tions, or have no reason to fear any disorders 
from its undue retention, creation would be 
at an end, and all the links of society which 
are cemented by the ties of consanguinity 
would be dissolved. 
MARRIAGE, as it is honourable in all 
countries, so it has been held in great esteem 
from the beginning of the world among all 
sorts and sects of people. The Romans, and 
especially the wife emperor Augustus, did 
what they could to encourage it. The Jews 
did the same. The Lacedemonians, at their 
festivals, would not admit of any single man; 
and if those who were unmarried ventured to 
come amongst them, they were, as soon as 
discovered, ordered to be whipped by the wo- 
men, as unprofitable members of the republic; 
nor were any but married men suffered to bear 
any office; so that throughout the world as 
an encouragement to matrimony, the married 
men were highly preferred, excused from go- 
ing to the wars for the first year after mar- 
riage, and in every thing had the advantage of 
those that were single. 
The virtues of celibacy, it is true, have 
been frequently cried up, as if there were 
something very extraordinary contained in 
them: and many persons have, doubtless, be- 
lieved,

[138]
lieved, that they have acted pursuant to the 
principles of religion, and the dictates of con- 
science, when they have supported this ridi- 
culous, irrational, and unnatural doctrine: 
but if we proceed to examine their reasons 
and arguments, we shall find them to be al- 
together fallacious, and contrary to the intent 
of Providence, law, justice, and religion; and 
I venture to lay it down as an infallible posi- 
tion, that whoever compels, or injoins the 
same in others, is not only guilty of a breach 
of the sixth commandment, which says, Thou 
shalt do no murder, but is likewise guilty as an 
accessory to the breach of divers other com- 
mandments, and a promoter of innumerable 
sins.
HENCE it plainly appears, that it is not the 
use, but the abuse, of coition that is criminal 
and dangerous; and for this reason, our law 
has wisely prescribed, that no man shall have 
more than one wife, though some men of ve- 
ry salacious complexions might plead in op- 
position, that the community and posterity are 
great sufferers by this regulation, as they are 
very capable of propagating their species 
more frequently than their wives are capable 
of being impregnated, and might particularly 
instance the time of their having their courses, 
and during their child-bearing; and to give 
this reasoning some colour, they might in- 
stance the Turks, and other heathenish na- 
tions, who are allowed as many wives as they 
can support, and who are very seldom known 
to

[139]
to be barren. But this would be opening a 
door for anarchy and confusion, would destroy 
all legitimacy and inheritance, and would be 
an inlet to vice and immorality. 
The great object most worthy of inquiry in 
this respect, is to know how far nature and 
inclination should be gratified, and how far  
restrained. Constitution, complexion, the cor- 
poreal and mental state and variations, are so 
many considerations to be taken in; and, after
all, it will be scarce practicable theore- 
tically to draw the line. Some men are trou- 
bled with priapisms and satyriasis’s; some 
women with the furor uterinus: to these it 
would be in vain to talk of reason, nature, 
health, or decency. They should be first 
treated as patients, before they are advised as 
men or women. Their disorders must be cured 
before they are pointed out the happy me- 
dium of gratification, the just calls of nature. 
Others there are of both sexes, whose weakly 
constitutions, from various causes, but none 
more than those I have already had occasion 
to mention, to whom coition would be as 
fatal as arsenic; and these should neither argue 
upon, nor think of, the subject. Women 
past forty-five, and men who have no longer 
those testimonies of virility, which clearly no- 
tify the propriety of amorous gratification, 
reed give themselves any concern upon the 
subject. But those batchelors and virgins still 
in the vigour of life, who, by abstinence, 
have brought on many disorders, the cause of 
which


[140]
which they are entirely ignorant of, cannot 
too soon lay aside their celibacy, and fly into 
each other’s arms, to their mutual benefit and 
delight. The first will find their lethargic, 
supine, and inert disposition, changed to gai- 
ly, cheerfulness, and activity. The females 
will no longer eat chalk, whiting, and such 
like things, but recover their complexion, their 
vivacity, and their good temper; for the green- 
sickness is nothing more than the want of a 
due circulation of the blood and juices, and a 
regular return of the menses. 
A CERTAIN physical writer says, “ The 
“ blood, by the superfetation of the seminal 
“ humour, unduly accumulated for want of 
“ sufficient room to circulate freely through 
“ the vessels, distends the size of the same be- 
“ yond their proper diameters, which conse- 
“ quently impairing their tonic motion, oc- 
“ casions an increase in the size of its moli- 
“ culæ, and of course a remora in the circu- 
“ lation, by reason of which the blood and 
“ humours become glewy and tenacious, and 
“ the whole habit bloated and cacochymic.”  
So that there is no reason to be surprized, 
that those who are abstemiously continent, 
should be affected with such disorders as natu- 
rally flow from these causes. 
On the other hand, though provident na- 
ture, for the continuation of mankind, has 
accompanied the business of generation with 
a sense the most exquisitely delightful, and 
therefore at the time of puberty, the passion 
of


[141]
of love begins to exert itself in consequence of 
a copious secretion of the semen, which, 
prompts to be discharged; yet if we attend to 
the consequences of venereal commerce at 
this time of life, we shall discover, that na- 
ture has not intended the seminal juice for that 
purpose only, since the act of coition, being 
too often repeated at that age, restrains the 
growth of the individual, and unnerves the 
man. That there is besides a benefit ac- 
cruing from it to the constitution, may be 
collected from an observation of those appear- 
ances that arises thereon at the time of puber- 
ty. Then it is that the hairs begin to shoot 
at the pubes, the beard grows, the voice al- 
ters to a graver tone, muscular strength is 
augmented, and a more sprightly comport- 
ment accompanies them, and that the cause of 
these appearances is the saccus genitalis absorb- 
ed by the lymphatic vessels, and reconveyed 
into the blood, there is no reason to doubt, 
after perusing what has been already said upon 
this subject. Even in more advanced life, too 
unlimited a gratification of venereal desires 
will enervate the most robust constitution. I 
have met with frequent examples of men, 
who, by condescending to their wives exces- 
sive letchery, have been, from strong athletic 
men, reduced to mere skeletons. A patient of 
mine, who was brought to death’s door, and 
whom I suspected of having been guilty of 
masturbation, acknowledged, that it was all 
occasioned by his wife, who was, when in 
bed, incessantly tickling and teasing him, to 
prompt him to indulge her insatiable appetite; 
2 and


[142]
and that she carried her obstinacy in this re- 
spect to so great a pitch, that when he was un- 
able or unwilling to repeat the task, she has, 
contrary to decency, become the agent, in- 
stead of the patient, and subverted all order and 
disposition. Another patient in nearly the 
same situation, but with a much greater and 
more constant gleet, informed me, that his 
wife, to whom he had been married several 
years; but being in the situation of Dr. Coop- 
er’s patient, that is, having an obstinate hy- 
men, and whom he could never penetrate with 
the stiffest erection, pretended so much fond- 
ness for him, and was so jealous left he should 
shed his seed upon any other object, that she 
constantly committed masturbation upon him 
every night; and even invented many devices 
to excite his lust, insomuch, that she at 
length brought him to so emaciated a state, 
that she could be no longer under any appre- 
bensions of his paying his devotions at any 
other altar to the Cyprian goddess; neverthe- 
less, habit had so gained upon her, that she 
persisted in her manual operations, and would 
certainly have put an end to his existence, if 
I had not immediately ordered him to quit her 
bed, if he valued life. 
THAT women should have very extrava- 
gant passions as well as men, is not to be won- 
dered at; but that any man should be so far 
hood-winked, as to let himself be thus im- 
posed upon, is somewhat extraordinary; yet 
the sequel of this narrative is still more sur-
prising. Upon my cautioning him against 
future


[143]
future insults of this sort, and advising him  
to prevail upon his wife to undergo a chirurgical 
operation, he undertook the task, and she sub- 
mitted: he recovered his health; she was soon 
after pregnant; and from the time that she 
tasted the grateful effects of his virility, she 
never afterwards misapplied it; but she was 
rather an œconomist in love, left she should 
be too easily deprived of the extatic sensations 
it communicated. 
The operation this lady underwent, doubt- 
less, gave him free access into her vagina, and 
thereby brought her clitoris and the glans of 
his penis into contact, as this is the seat of de- 
light in women. Hence it is called by Co- 
lumbus, amoris dulcedo, the sweetness of love; 
and by Boerhaave, estrum veneris, the sting of 
love, as the necessary and unavoidable friction 
of the penis against the clitoris, in the act of 
coition, causes those excessive ticklings and 
transporting itchings to each sex, that are not 
to be described so well as felt, and still greater 
on the woman’s side, when the discharge of the 
serous matter the woman sheds is more co- 
pious in the act, and at the summit of enjoy- 
ment; for as the penis in men, and especially 
the glans of it, fills, and is instated with spi- 
rits upon a vigorous erection, and still more so 
in the act of emission, so does the clitoris at 
the same time in the woman, and which, 
jointly together, reciprocally produce each to 
the other that inexpressible satisfaction that 
is diffused through all the animal functions; 
and which, if nature had not rendered so ex- 
tremely


[144]
tremely pleasing, what man, that divine ani- 
mal, born for the contemplation of heavenly 
things, would concern himself in so filthy a 
thing, as is the act of coition; and what wo- 
man, indued with modesty, would submit her- 
self to be exposed to man, and readily undergo 
the toil and danger of child-bearing, besides 
the anxiety and care of educating her children? 
But neither the filthiness of the act will deter 
men, nor the severe inconveniencies which 
great bellies often cause to women, nor the 
frequent extreme hazard of their lives when 
in labour, nor loss of beauty and shape, the 
most precious gifts they have, and which ren- 
der them amiable, and admired by all, as well 
as beloved by those who possess them, can or 
will either affright or deter them therefrom;
nor will any of them make that reflection, till 
after the act, or consider any thing before it, 
but the mutual pleasure they expect; and all 
who enjoy allow, that they receive inexpres- 
sible satisfaction by it. 
FROM what has been said, I think it is 
clearly proved, that amorous pleasure does not 
only dispense the highest pitch of sublunary 
bliss; that it is absolutely necessary for the 
propagation and continuation of the human 
species; but that it is indispensibly requisite 
for the preservation of health, in every male 
and female of a vigorous constitution. 
SEC-

[145]
SECTION IX. 
Upon the VENEREAL DISORDER.
TO the many maladies which arise from 
copulation, we must add that which fre- 
quently occurs by promiscuous coition, and 
which is generally known by the name of the 
French disorder. The French, however, ex- 
culpate themselves from being the original com- 
municators of this disease; and in France it is 
called the Neapolitan disease. Every country 
seems ashamed of having introduced this disor- 
der into Europe, where it was unknown before 
the discovery of America: so that Columbus, 
by finding out a new world, brought us home 
a distemper, which by many is thought to be 
more pernicious to our constitutions, than both 
the Americas are advantageous to our trade and 
navigation. 
The error which has prevailed with many, 
and even with some physical people, that the 
leprosy and the venereal disorder are of the same 
nature, and therefore conclude that it is of 
more ancient date in Europe, than is universally 
believed, may easily be refuted. I shall to this 
end quote the words of Andreas Laurentius 
upon the venereal disorder. He says, “ the 
“ leprosy is always attended with a roughness 
“ of the skin; the venereal disease with a 
“ smoothness. The leprosy never begins at 
“ the pudenda, the venereal disease always. 
“ In the leprosy the patient is not afflicted 
“ with any pains, whereas in the venereal 
H “ disease 

[146]
“ disease he is severely tortured with them. 
“ The skin of lepers becomes hard, black, and 
“ callous, which appearances in venereal pa- 
“ tients by no means occur. Leprous persons 
“ are salaceous, and subject to priapisms; while 
“ the others, on the contrary, have an aversion 
“ to women, as long as they are ill. In the 
“ leprosy, the hairs of the arm-pits and groins 
“ fall off with those of the head, which does 
“ not at all happen in the venereal disease. 
“ In short, the leprosy is incurable in its na- 
“ ture; but the other is not, even when it has 
“ been suffered to run on a long time.” To 
which may be subjoined, that the symptoms of 
the leprosy are heightened and increased by the 
use of guaiacum or mercurials; whereas the 
venereal disorder is infallibly cured by them, 
when properly administered. 
The physical writers of antiquity have una- 
nimously agreed that the leprosy was usually 
contracted by unwholesome diet, and not by 
copulative infection; and, on the contrary, the 
venereal disease is never contracted by any er- 
ror in diet, but generally by coition. Hence 
we may reasonably conclude, that these two 
disorders are quite different in cause, nature, 
and symptoms. 
The venereal disease was certainly never 
known in Europe till the year 1494, at the 
time when Charles VIII. of France laid siege to 
Naples. Columbus returned this year from 
Hispaniola to Spain, and imported it into 
Europe on board one of his ships, as many 
historical

[147] 
historical testimonies can vouch. Neverthe- 
less, there are plausible reasons for asserting 
that this disorder was generally known in 
Europe many years prior to this æra; and to 
give these arguments their full force, I shall 
quote the statutes of Jane, queen of the two 
Sicilies, and countess of Provence, for the re- 
gulation of the public stews established at 
Avignon in 1347. 
“ 1. ON the eighth of August, in the year 
“ 1347, our good queen Jane gave leave that 
“ a public brothel should be set up at Avig- 
“ non; and ordered that the wenches, who 
“ plyed there, should not walk the streets, but 
“ keep themselves confined within the bro- 
“ thel; and, by way of distinction, wear a 
“ red knot upon their left shoulders. 
“ 2. ITEM, If any girl has thus offended, 
“ and persists in her offence, that the Clavi- 
“ ger, or chief of the beadles, shall lead her 
“ through the city by beat of drum, a red 
“ knot hanging at her shoulder, back to the 
“ brothel, and shall prohibit her from walking 
“ abroad any more under penalty of being 
“ lashed privately for the first offence; and 
“ being whipped publickly, and turned out of 
“ the house, for the second. 
“ 3. OUR good queen orders that this brothel 
“ shall be erected in Broken-Bridge-Street, 
“ near the convent of the Augustine-Friars, 
“ as far as to Peter’s-gate; and that the en- 
“ trance shall be towards the street; and the 
H2 “ door


[148]
“ door locked, that no youth may have ad- 
“ mittance to the wenches, without leave from 
“ the abbess or governess, who is to be chosen 
“ every year by the directors. The abbess is 
“ to keep the key, and advice the young 
“ men she admits to make no disturbances, 
“ nor frighten the wenches; and to let them 
“ know that in case of misdemeanor they will 
“ not be suffered to go off securely, but be 
“ laid under confinement by the beadles. 
“ 4. The queen commands, that on every 
“ Saturday the women in the house be singly 
“ examined by the abbess and a surgeon ap- 
“ pointed by the directors; and if any of them 
“ has contracted any illness by their whoring, 
“ that they be separated from the rest, and 
“ not suffered to prostitute themselves, for 
“ fear the youth who have to do with them 
“ should contract their distemper. 
“ 5. If any of the wenches in the brothel 
“ prove with child, let the abbess take care to 
“ prevent a miscarriage, and give notice to the 
“ directors to make provision for the child. 
“ 6. Let the abbess diligently take care not 
“ to give admittance to any person into the 
“ brothel on the Friday and Saturday in pas- 
“ sion week, nor on the holiday of Easter, 
“ under the penalty of being dismissed and 
“ whipped. 
“ 7. The queen orders that the wenches ad- 
“ mitted into the brothel abstain from strife and 
“ envying,


[149] 
“ envying, from brawling and thieving, and 
“ that they live lovingly together like sisters; 
“ and in case any difference arise among them, 
“ that they refer it to the abbess, and abide 
“ by her judgment. 
“ 8. If any theft be committed, let the ab- 
“ bess amicably procure restitution to be made 
“ of such things as are stolen. And if the 
“ guilty person should refuse to do it, let her 
“ be lashed by the beadle in private; and if 
“ she fall a second time into the same fault, 
“ let her be whipped through the city by the 
“ common hangman. 
“ 9. Let the abbess admit no Jews into 
“ the brothel; and, if any one should find 
“ means through stealth to gain admittance, 
“ whipped publickly through the streets of the 
“ city.” 
There were also at this time public stews 
allowed in the principal cities of Italy, and 
even at Rome itself, under the walls of the 
pope’s palace: France also was furnished with 
them, particularly in Aquitaine: that at Thou- 
louse was endowed with several privileges by 
Charles VI. and VII. and in the reign of queen 
Elizabeth we find rules and ordinances were 
issued, bearing date in the year 1430, for the 
regulation of stews in London and the borough 
of Southwark, one of the articles whereof runs 
thus: Of those who keep women having a wicked 
infirmity, ordering under a severe penalty, that 
H3 no

[150] 
no stew-holder keep women wythin his hous that 
hath any sickness of brenning (burning). 
But justice must be done to queen Jane of 
Sicily, in owning that her statute seems to have 
been the best calculated for promoting the order 
and tranquillity of brothels: indeed historians 
insinuate that fire was naturally of a very lasci- 
vious disposition, and by turning her mind this 
way, she was mistress of the subject, and there- 
fore capable of displaying her genius upon it. 
As soon as the venereal disorder began to make 
such ravages as it did, when, first introduced 
into Europe, these brothels also began to de- 
cline, as the expence attending the cure of the 
whores, infected with this disease, frequently 
exceeded the profits arising from their prosti- 
tution : so that the lady abbesses at length 
and become virtuous ma-
trons by necessity. 
THIS alone should be a sufficient proof that 
the venereal disorder was unknown in Europe 
before the period I have mentioned; but the 
celebrated Astruc’s observations upon queen 
Jane’s statutes will set this matter in a still 
clearer light. 
He says that those who are of opinion that 
this disorder then existed “ should prove that 
“ there were then no other disorders, besides 
“ what are now called venereal, that could 
“ possibly be contracted by harlots from their 
“ prostitution, or by them be communicated 
“ to such persons as had to do with them.
“ For 

[151]
“ For otherwise it is more rational to inter- 
“ pret this article of such diseases as were 
“ then commonly to be met with, than to 
“ argue from thence against the express testi- 
“ mony of all authors, that the venereal 
“ disease was at that time as well known, as 
“ it is at present. 
“ The argument, therefore, they draw 
“ from hence is inconclusive, unless they can 
“ first prove, that this fourth article cannot be 
“ understood of any other diseases, than such 
“ as are now called venereal (which I am sure 
“ is not to be done,) and must fall to the 
“ ground, if it once can be proved that there 
“ were other diseases, besides the present ve- 
“ nereal disorders, which were then abso- 
“ lutely unknown, arising from a promiscu- 
“ ous and immoderate use of venery, and be- 
“ ing once contracted, were capable of being 
“ communicated to such as conversed with 
“ them, of which consequently this article 
“ ought to be understood. 
“ For, 1st. from the frequency of coition, 
“ women are subject to fissures of the puden- 
“ dum, and superficial exulcerations of the 
“ vagina; nor in a promiscuous and immode- 
“ rate use of venery can the female organs 
“ avoid being considerably hurt by the vehe- 
“ ment and repeated action of the male, espe- 
“ cially in such women, as from their youth, 
“ and the delicacy of their frame, have their 
“ solid parts of weaker and more lax contex- 
“ ture; or such as have not the womb firmly 
H4 “ fixed

[152]
“ fixed in its proper seat, but naturally disposed 
“ to bear down into the vagina; or have to 
“ do with very large men, or whose semen is 
“ acrid; or such as are not careful to cleanse 
“ and wash away the seed of different persons 
“ collected, but suffer it to lie and corrupt, 
“ &c. And as common wenches are most 
“ exposed to these dangers, it is plain they 
“ must formerly have most frequently con- 
“ tracted these disorders; and these when 
“ once contracted must have grown worse 
“ and worse, either from the repetition of the 
“ same cause, or the negligence natural to 
“ whores; and at length have been com- 
“ municated to such as had to do with them, 
“ in like manner as the itch, herpes, &c, are 
“ propagated by infection; whence arose in 
“ men inflammations of the penis, miliary 
“ eruptions, pustules, ulcers upon the surface 
“ of the glans, and round the prepuce. And, 
“ 2dly. Lewd women, if frequently lain 
“ with, in case of any native imbecility in 
“ the womb, are liable to a copious flux of a 
“ soul, sharp, fœtid matter, to ulcers in the 
“ womb; and sometimes (which is still worse) 
“ to a cancer. For, from too frequent coi- 
“ tion, there must arise irregular stagnations 
“ both of the blood and lymph; by which 
“ means either the uterine glands being too 
“ much relaxed, the fluor albus follows; or 
“ the fibres being lacerated, an ulcer is formed; 
“ or the lymph being obstructed, a scirrhus is 
“ produced, which often degenerates into a 
“ cancer. To these disorders, therefore
“ common

[153]
“ common women must ever have been ex- 
“ posed; and from hence through the acri- 
“ mony of the corrupt humour oozing from 
“ the womb, they must have given divers 
“ distempers to such persons as lay with them; 
“ and in particular have caused inflammations 
“ of the glands, prepuce, and yard, miliary 
“ eruptions, pustules, ulcers, &c. such as 
“ have been described by the authors, who 
“ lived before the first breaking out of the 
“ venereal disease. 
“ 3dly. It appears that such women as had 
“ to do with lepers were for the most part 
“ affected with an erysipelatous inflammation 
“ of the vagina and urethra, with a violent 
“ troublesome dysuria, then called by the 
“ name of burning; and that the men who 
“ lay with persons thus infected, or even with 
“ found women, who had not washed them- 
“ selves since they had lain with a leper, for 
“ the most part suffered the same disorder, 
“ contracted as it were by infection. There 
“ was, therefore, a distemper so long as the 
“ leprosy subsisted, which might be con- 
“ tracted by whores from coition, and be 
“ communicated by them to such as had ve- 
“ nereal intercourse with them; which for- 
“ merly, indeed, could not but frequently 
“ occur; but upon the disappearing of the 
“ leprosy, likewise disappeared, as it was in no 
“ respect the same as the venereal gonorrhæa.” 
HAVING thus settled the origin of this dis- 
order, and its first appearance in Europe, I 
“ shall

[154]shall now consider the manner in which it is con- 
tracted, its nature, symptoms, and cure. 
This disorder is communicated either by 
generation, or infection: by generation, when 
transmitted by the parents to the child, whilst 
the body of the embrio is formed; by infec- 
tion in the act of coition between an injured 
and a found person. The fœtus may also be 
infected after being formed, if the mother con- 
tract the disease during her pregnancy. But 
this disorder is never communicated by con- 
tagious air; and though some physicians have 
imagined it may be caught by interventive 
subjects, this opinion is now exploded. It 
is thought, however, that the venereal disease 
may be contracted by a found man lying with 
a found woman, in case she has lately per- 
formed the act of coition with a man infected, 
and has not washed the inside of her parts, 
since this first connexion; as the remains of 
the putrid semen adhering to the vagina, may 
infect the glans of the penis. 
It may be communicated by the breasts of 
a distempered nurse to a found child; as the 
infected milk must soon corrupt the ten- 
der body of the child; and, on the contrary, 
a diseased child sucking the breast of a found 
nurse, may communicate by the saliva this 
disorder to the nurse. 
It may be communicated by lascivious kissing 
the mouth, when either party is affected with 
any venereal ulcers on the inside of the mouth. 
Lying


[155]
LYING in the same bed with an infected 
person, without coition, may communicate 
it, when either party hath any cutaneous dis- 
order arising from the venereal disease; upon 
the principal of exhalation and inhalation. 
It may also be contracted by handling 
the infected parts; as by examining vene- 
real ulcers with a finger, or performing the 
midwife’s office towards an infected woman, 
especially if the surgeon’s finger, or the mid- 
wife’s hands, have any wound or fissure, by 
which the poison may be more easily imbibed. 
The two first:of these ways of receiving 
the contagion, are so well confirmed, by many 
and positive experiments, that they cannot 
be doubted; but the three latter, though 
highly probably, and supported by authori- 
ties, may, perhaps, still be questioned. 
The venereal poison consists of certain 
seeds of morbisic matter, which being in- 
troduced into a found body, in the smallest 
quantity, and by sensible passages, and gra- 
dually increasing in size, form, and force, 
at length corrupt the whole mass of humours. 
This poison creates an inflammation upon the 
parts which it affects. In a gonorrhæa the 
urethra, the prostatæ, and the visiculæ semi- 
nales, in men, are inflamed; and in women, 
the vagina, the pudendum, the prostatæ, and 
the glandulæ Cowperianæ. Chancres in men 
are occasioned by an inflammation of the glans, 
the frænum, and the præpuce; and in women 
in

[156] 
in the pterygia, the carunculæ myrtiformes, 
and other parts of the pudendum. In the 
case of a bubo, the inguinal glands are in- 
flamed, and in that of a node the periosteum. 
In a word, whatever part of the body is seized 
with the virus becomes inflamed; this poison 
being so disposed, that it condenses and crisps 
the membranous stamina of the parts it pene- 
trates, whereby the extremities of the vessels 
interspersed are constringed, and the blood is 
forced from its usual course into the conti- 
guous lymphatic vessels, and causes an inflam- 
mation. When this poison is not timely ex- 
tirpated, it by degrees corrodes, exulcerates, 
and preys upon the parts it has inflamed; and 
thence arise indurations, schirrhous, and cal- 
lous humours. 
The symptoms of a gonorrhæa, (or clap)
which is the most customary stage of the ve- 
nereal disorder, contracted by coition, gene- 
rally appear, in four, eight, or twelve days, 
after the infection is caught; when a small 
quantity of an oily, lymphatic, viscid serum 
oozes through the urethra, producing a plea- 
sant sensation, and gluing up the orifice of 
the passage. The extremity of the urethra 
becomes red and hot, and opens wider than 
common. At first the parts of generation 
have an uncommon titulation, at the time of 
making water more particularly, which daily 
approaches nearer to pain. As the disorder in- 
creases, a tension, rigidity, and induration of 
the penis takes place, with a greater discharge 
of a seminal humour, the difficulty of urine 
in-

[157]
increasmg, with great sharpness like the  
pricking of pins.—The penis sometimes becomes 
distorted and bent, especially in the time of 
erection, which is called a chordee, and the 
humour flowing is of different colours, but ge- 
nerally a yellow, tinged with green, and some- 
times purulent: in others it is ash-coloured, 
resembling matter streaked with blood. 
In females, a few days after having received 
the infection, their parts are unusually moist, 
and an itching heat every day comes nearer to 
pain: when their complaints are arrived at 
their height, the insertion of the penis is scarely 
to be supported. They have also a difficulty 
and scalding in making water; but not so 
much as the men: but the oozing matter is 
very near the same in both. 
RECEIPTS for a Gonorrhæa. 
ꝶ. Lignorum guaiaci & sassafras ana ℥ij. 
Radic. chinœ & sarsaparilla ana ℥jβ.
Antimonii crudi crassiusculè triti & nodulo in- 
clusi ℥iβ. 
Ligna & radices incidantur, & infunduntur om- 
nia tepide per noctem in aquœ fontana ℔viii. 
deinde bulliant moderate ignœ ad tertiœ partis 
consumptionem, addenda finem coctionis. 
Follicul. Jennœ ℥β. 
Radicis liquoritiæ rosæ ℥i. 
Colatura servetur ad usum ter in die usurpanda 
ad ℥viii. mane jejune ventriculo, harâ quintâ vel 
sexta pomeridiana, & ante decubitum.
ANOTHER

[158]
Another, which, it is said, will cure a go- 
norrhæa, in three days, taken as an injection. 
Rx. Aquœ plantagin ℥viii, quibus dissolve 
draconis mitigati, hoc est mercurii sublimati,
dulcis, in alkool redacti ℥ij.
Argitentur simul, & liquoris illius turbidi & 
tepidi ℥i, syphore eburneo, in urethram injicia-
tur ter in die. 
The first, I should, however, rather re- 
commend, as these speedy cures are seldom 
effectual. 
A BUBO is a swelling or tumour in the 
groin, which may be either brought to a 
head or dispersed. In the first case a chirur- 
gical operation must be performed; in the 
latter the patient must be confined to his 
chamber during the whole time of his cure, to 
avoid the danger of being exposed to the air. 
CHANCRES are ulcers arising from impure 
venery, and are generally situated in men upon 
the internal surface of the prepuce, or the back 
or sides of the glands; most frequently upon 
the corona or frænum of the glands; some- 
times too upon the extremity of the duct of 
the urethra. In women frequently upon the 
internal surface of the labia pudendi; often 
upon the clitoris, the root of the clitoris, or 
on the prepuce, with which the clitoris is co- 
vered, upon the nymphæ, carunculæ myrti- 
formes, and vagina; and sometimes upon the 
extremity of the urethra. 
3 WHEN

[159] 
WHEN the prepuce is swelled, it some- 
times so strictly embraces the glans, that it 
can by no means be drawn back; in this 
state it is called by the Greek name phimo- 
sis, that is to say a ligature; but sometimes 
it is so corrugated, and tightened behind the 
corona glands, that it cannot by any art be 
brought forwards; and this state of it, which 
is contrary to the former, is called paraphimo- 
sis; that is to say, a ligature tied round. This 
state of the penis is generally accompanied 
with watery bladders upon the margin of the 
surface, which are called crystallines. 
THESE are the most customary symptoms 
of the first stages of the venereal disorder. I 
have, however, ventured to give receipts only 
for a gonorrhæa, unaccompanied with any of 
these latter symptoms, as where a surgeon's 
assistance is absolutely necessary; or where the 
intricacy of the case may baffle the most skil- 
fu! of the faculty, it would be ridiculous to 
point out such theoretical cures, as may not 
entirely suit one patient in ten. For the 
same reason, I have no occasion to enter 
upon the confirmed pox, as it is most usually 
preceded by some or all of these symptoms. 
A PREVENTATIVE remedy would be of 
more real service to the world, and especially 
the rising generation, than volumes written 
upon the subject: after the disorder is imbibed. 
To this end I shall communicate an easy por- 
table application, which has never been known 
to fail; and which it is to be hoped will annihi- 
late


[160]
late the use of those filthy bladders, commonly 
called machines. 
BEFORE coition rub the nut of the penis, 
glans, and inside of the prepuce with common 
mercurial unguent; remain no longer in the 
act of enjoyment than you have absolute occa- 
sion for; but upon retiring, wash your penis 
well with warm water, or your own, if you 
can conveniently make it, and apply the mer- 
curial unguent as before. 
This recipe was used last war in Germany 
by a skilful surgeon, who recommended it to 
the company he had the care of; and during 
the whole campaign, not one of the men re- 
ceived any infection, notwithstanding their 
corps were very famous for the number of wo- 
men belonging to them. 
In common gonorrhæas, it may with cer- 
tainty be depended upon; in confirmed or 
worse cases it is not recommended. What has 
been said upon the nature, and manner of 
communicating this disorder, should also be 
considered; as it appears that it may be im- 
bibed without copulation. 
FINIS. 


























A 
TREATISE 
UPON THE 
FORMATION
OF THE 
HUMAN SPECIES, &c. 



A 
TREATISE 
UPON THE 
FORMATION 
OF THE 
HUMAN SPECIES; 
The DISORDERS incident to PROCREA- 
TION in Men and Women; 
The Evils arising from the Abuse of the 
Genital Faculties.
WITH 
The most approved and efficacious Methods of 
Cure, illustrated with a Variety of Cases 
and Examples. 
By JAMES FLEMING, 
Hospital-Surgeon and Man-Midwife. 
LONDON: 
Printed M. Thrush, at the King’s-Arms, in 
Salisbury-Court, Fleet-Street. 
MDCCLXVII. 



CONTENTS. 
Introduction, 
Page ix. 
SECTION I. 
Of the formation of the human species;— 
specifying the structure and design of the 
genital parts in men and women;—the 
manner of conception, and the most pro- 
bable means of producing it.—1 
SECTION II. 
Of venereal excesses;—displaying the dan- 
gerous conseqences resulting from an un- 
limited gratification of amorous delights; 
—the utility and importance of the semen 
to the whole mass, illustrated from the 
best writers, ancient and modern.—13
2 SEC-

CONTENTS. 
SECTION III. 
Of the baneful effects of self-pollution in the 
male-sex;—shewing that this practice is 
much more fatal than even venereal ex- 
cesses in a natural way, supported by phy- 
sical reasons, and evident deductions, 
with many recent examples, and extraor- 
dinary cases.—Page 35 
SECTION IV. 
Of the dreadful consequences of self-pollu- 
tion, and the gratification of the Sapphic 
passion in the female-sex, containing the 
origin and progress of this passion, and its 
fatal effects, exemplified in many living 
instances;—also same very curious, uncom- 
mon, and original cases, that have lately 
fallen under the observation of the author, 
at some hospitals in this metropolis, and 
elsewhere; with Dr. Quincey's account of 
two young ladies in a convent, who were 
supposed to have changed their sex by this 
abominable practice, &c. &c.—54 
SEC-

CONTENTS. 
SECTION V. 
Of the disorders incident to the female-sex, 
and their most approved methods of cure; 
mamely, the whites; the suppression of 
the menses; the overflowing of the men- 
ses; the irregularity of the menses; the 
menses; the falling of the womb. 
Page 84
SECTION VI. 
Of the most practical and approved methods 
of cure of the disorders incident to ex- 
cessive venery, or self-pollution, from Hip- 
pocrates, Boerhaave, Hoffman, Stork, 
Capuacico, Lewis, Tissot, &c. &c. 
104
SECTION VII. 
Of impotency in men, and barrenness in wo- 
men, and the most efficacious remedies for 
their cure, containing some curious remarks 
upon these disorders, and how far the 
consequences extend in the two sexes re- 
spectively, 

CONTENTS. 
spectively, with Boerhaave's opinion 
with respect to the cure of impotency, 
and some approved receipts for the same. 
—The best manner of treating barrenness 
in women, divided under its different 
causes, &c. &c.—Page 121 
SECTION VIII 
Of the propriety of amorous pleasure, where- 
in this subject is morally and physically 
considered, shewing in what cases the in- 
dulgence of this passion is allowable, and 
how far it is pernicious or beneficial to 
health.—134. 
SECTION IX. 
Of the venereal disorder, tracing its ori- 
gin; approved recipes for its cure; and 
a preventative remedy.—145. 
INTRO-

INTRODUCTION. 
IF the editor of the following perform- 
ance thought any apology necessary 
for laying it before the public, he would 
enter upon his defence, by acknowledg- 
ing his crime; which is neither more nor 
less, than that of exploding ignorance, and 
revealing the knowledge of human nature: 
but he flatters himself, that we live in too 
liberal an age, to discountenance any at- 
tempts to communicate real instruction; 
and surely none is more important than 
that of being acquainted with our own 
formation, and the source of our animation. 
It is that which should first occupy our 
thoughts, ere we endeavoured to im- 
prove our understandings by foreign or 
remote studies; for it is almost impossible 
to arrive at any degree of excellence in 
the various branches of science, without 
having an intimate acquaintance with that
b being,


x INTRODUCTION. 
being, who is thus busied in the pursuit; 
and yet many there are, who have at- 
tempted to reach the utmost pinacle of 
learning, without having bestowed one 
thought upon the nature of their own ex- 
istence. 
If curiosity, or the allurements of 
knowledge, no way interfered in this de- 
sign, a still more cogent reason should 
urge us to the task; a reason whose ob- 
ject is the basis of all happiness, all case, 
all contentment, all tranquillity; and this 
is nothing less than our Health, with- 
out which riches, science, beauty, are 
idle, insignificant, and useless. We have 
no relish for what we cannot enjoy; and 
if bodily health is wanting, nothing in 
this sublunary state can dispense a mo- 
ment’s real satisfaction. 
To this end, then, it is necessary, that 
wc should consider the nature of our for- 
mation; by what means we came into 
this world; how far our creation might 
have injured the health of our parents; 
the

xi INTRODUCTION. 
the proper use of those generative powers 
with which we are endued, to add our 
mite to the increase of the general stock 
of individuals, and the proper methods 
of curing such disorders as are incidental 
to this pursuit, or the still more fatal 
complaints arising from the abuse of these 
faculties. 
In order to render this work of gene- 
ral utility, and to remove the disgust of 
a dry and tedious study, I have selected 
what has been said by the most elegant as 
well as learned writers of antiquity upon 
these heads; nor have I omitted aught 
that appeared to me pertinent or illustrat- 
ing offered by the modern literati; so 
that this may be considered as an epitome 
Of every thing essential that has been 
written upon these subjects, digested and 
methodized, with obervations and re- 
marks, in the compass of a pocket volume
It may, perhaps, be objected by some 
over-scrupulous critics, that the nature of 
b2 the

xii INTRODUCTION. 
the plan must necessarily create a variety 
of amorous ideas, which, for the benefit 
of the rising generation, had better be 
suppressed than illustrated. 
To this I answer, That the design of 
this work is not to excite lascivious 
thoughts, but to consider ourselves phi- 
losophically as we are; to point out the 
danger of too much indulgence even in 
natural passions, and the still more dire- 
ful consequences of addicting ourselves to 
unnatural ones. If it were necessary, I 
could, in my defence, quote the sacred 
writers, and the fathers of the church, 
who have treated upon these very subjects, 
even in living languages; and I shall en- 
deavour to suppress any indecent expres- 
sions, as far as the nature of the perform- 
ance will allow: wherefore, I hope, in- 
stead of incurring the censure, to meet the 
approbation of sensible and virtuous men. 
This work would have been incom- 
plete, had I not been somewhat particu- 
lar in displaying the filthiness and danger 
of


xiii INTRODUCTION. 
of a crime, that I am afraid the youth of 
the present age are but too guilty of; a 
crime that is pregnant with manifold evils, 
not only to the culprit, but which he 
transmits to posterity; a crime that is 
destructive of our very being, and anni- 
hilates creation. A mirror, to view these 
direful ills, could not be held in too 
strong a light; the picture cannot be too 
highly coloured, that every one whom it 
pourtrays may shudder at his own resem- 
blance. 
IT is a melancholy reflection, that even 
the softer sex, the lovely part of the crea- 
tion, are not exempt from the imputation. 
Nay, if we may credit the satyrists of an- 
tiquity, and particularly Juvenal, they 
complicated the crime: 
Lenonum ancillas posita, Laufella cerona 
Provocate, et tollit pendentis primæ coxæ, 
Ipsa Medulline frictum crisantis adorat. 
Palmam inter dominas virtue natalibus 
œquat.
Such 

xiv INTRODUCTION. 
Such are his words. How many Lau- 
fellas and Medullinas are still in being, 
the number of antiquated maids and 
misses of three-score, more evidently 
prove than any other calculation to be 
framed. 
This vice, then, cannot be too severe- 
ly combated, too publickly exposed; and 
if those who are addicted to it do not, 
after perusing the following sheets, blush, 
tremble, and repent, they are devoid of 
shame, sense, and reflection: they are ir- 
reclaimable, and unworthy of attention. 
But many, I hope, there are, who have 
been unwarily prompted to give way to 
so shameful a practice, who need only see 
it represented in a just light, to shudder 
at their guilt; and these penitents are de- 
serving of regard. For such have I point- 
ed out a proper cure for those disorders, 
which they may have brought upon them- 
selves by their former folly. But let not 
those who have long habituated them- 
selves to this vice, flatter themselves with 
a speedy, or any relief, without they pre- 
viously

xv INTRODUCTION. 
viously eradicate every thought tending 
to this unclean desire. 
The disorders solely incident to the 
female sex, form another part of this- 
work, in which the most approved and 
efficacious remedies are pointed out; 
whereby every lady may, in these cases, 
see her own situation, and, by following 
such prescriptions as are there laid down, 
be restored to her pristine health, with- 
out being obliged to reveal her complaint 
to any one of the faculty. It would be 
needless, in this place, to point out the 
many inconveniencies that have slowed 
from the sex’s ignorance of the real na- 
ture of their disorders; and we too well 
know there are numbers, who, through 
misjudged modesty, will not let a man 
approach them even in labour, when in 
the greatest danger: if so, how many 
may have been lost for want of proper 
instruction in cases though not so vio- 
lent, yet equally fatal, when neglected. 
This

xvi INTRODUCTION. 
THIS part, therefore, will, I imagine, 
sufficiently recommend itself to the fair 
sex, without my expatiating any farther 
upon its utility. 
I HAVE also set apart a section for the 
venereal disorder, in which I have traced 
its origin, nature, symptoms, and method 
of communication; with receipts for such 
stages of it, as patients may rely upon 
themselves for the cure: to which I have 
subjoined a preventative remedy, that will 
doubtless be efficacious in most common 
cases. 
UPON the whole, this work, though 
small, may be considered as an useful and 
instructive treatise upon physiology and 
medicine; and will, the editor flatters 
himself, claim a precedence before many 
voluminous productions, equally prolix 
and unentertaining. 
SEC-


[1] 
SECTION I. 
Of the formation of the human species. 
THE knowledge of ourselves is, doubt- 
less, the most essential and rational in- 
quiry of human beings, and, therefore, 
every attempt to unfold the secrets of nature in 
our formation, must meet with the approbation 
of all those who are desirous of having the veil 
of ignorance drawn aside, that providence and 
reason may appear in all their splendor, to the 
eye of every beholder. 
To compass this effectually, it will be ne- 
cessary to consult the structure of males and fe- 
males in their genital parts, and the cause of 
that proneness to copulation, which is the ori- 
ginal source of generation, and consequently 
the perpetuation of the human species. 
Man, the noblest and most rational animal 
in the creation, is formed of so delicate, so 
nice a mechanism, that any the smallest inter- 
ruption to the most minute operation of the 
corporeal system, in some degree discomposes 
the whole frame; and as perfection is no where 
to be met with in this sublunary sphere, so in 
B man

[2]
man there is constantly some, though, per- 
haps, small impediment to complete health. 
Cold or heat, moisture or drought, must alter- 
nately affect the circulation of his blood, the 
digestive powers of his stomach, &c. &c. and 
as these are more or less diverted, the body is 
impaired. The great art of the materia medica 
is to restore these, when disturbed, to the 
nearest point of perfection they can attain. 
In this treatise, I must, however, confine 
myself to the revolutions of the corporeal frame, 
so far as they are influenced by the act of copu- 
lation. To launch into a detail of all the va- 
rious affections of the human body, with their 
causes and consequences, would lead me far be- 
yond my present design, which is, as I have 
specified in the title page. To investigate the 
formation of the human species; the disorders 
incident to procreation in men and women; 
the evils arising from the abuse of the genital 
faculties, and set forth the most approved me- 
thods of cure. 
In entering upon the first part of my plan, 
which is the formation of the human species, I 
must consider the structure and design of those 
parts in each sex, which are immediately in- 
strumental in this operation. 
The principal organ of generation in man 
is placed obvious to the sight, and sensible to 
the touch; and, by reason of its pendent state, 
disposed for the act of coition, is called by the 
Latins,

[3] 
Latins, penis; the most decent translation of 
which, in English, is the yard, though it vul- 
garly bears another name. When erect, its 
shape is long, though its length is very diffe- 
rent in various men; in some it does not pro- 
ject above three inches from the belly, in others 
four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and even 
ten inches; but the latter size is very scarce. 
It is roundish, and the upper side rather flattish, 
consisting of skin, tendons, veins, arteries, and 
sinews. Its situation is over the os pubis, be- 
ing destined for two very different operations, 
namely, the conducting of the seed into the 
matrix of the woman in the act of copulation, 
and to void a superabundance of urine from 
the bladder. To this end, it internally con- 
sists of two nervous bodies, the septem, the 
urethra, the glans, the muscles, and the ves- 
sels. The two nervous bodies are so called, 
from their being surrounded with a thick, white, 
nervous membrane; yet their interior substance 
is spongy, consisting chiefly of nervous fibres, 
arteries, and veins, interspersed. The cause 
of its erection is its plenitude of spirituous agi- 
tated blood; and consequently a defect of erec- 
tion arises from a deficiency of this supply. The 
contents of the septem is white, sinewy, and ner- 
vous, being destined for the support of the ure- 
thra and side ligaments. The urethra, which 
is the common channel for the seed and urine, 
is in substance loose and soft, thick and sinewy. 
It hath three holes, the two smaller of which 
receive the seed from the vesiculœ seminales; the 
center one, and largest, is the aperture for the 
B2 urine,

[4]
urine, being seated at the neck of the bladder, 
The glans are at the extremity of the yard, 
and are susceptible of the nicest sensations, be- 
ing covered by nothing but a thin membrane. 
The prepuce, or covering, which the Jews cir- 
cumcise, in some men covers almost the whole 
nut of the yard, and in others very little of it; 
and this generally depends upom the state of the 
frænum, which in many is broke or cut. The 
muscles, which are four in number, consist of 
fleshy fibres: the use of the shortest and thickest 
of these fibres, is to extend the yard, and put 
it into a state of erection; wherefore they de- 
rive their name of erectors. The office of the 
two longer and thinner, is to stretch the lower 
part of the urethra in the time of evacuation, 
and are therefore stiled accelerators. The vessels 
consist of veins, arteries, and nerves, some vi- 
sible, and some invisible. 
The testicles, or reservoirs of seed, come 
next under consideration. They are situated 
at the bottom of the abdomen, behind the yard. 
The internal skin, which covers them, is called 
the scrotum, and the internal the membrana 
carnosa. The epididymaides are joined to 
the testicles, from whence arise the vasa defe- 
rentia, or ejaculatoria, which, upon approach- 
ing the neck of the bladder, deposit the semen 
in the seminal vessels, which resemble bunches 
of grapes; and hence is the seed thrown into the 
urethra in the act of coition. The prostate 
glans, which are situated near to them, and 
unite the neck of the bladder, are about the 
size

[5]
size of a common walnut. Hence issues a saline 
glutinous humour, which preserves the urethra 
from the bad effects of the acrimony of the 
semen, as well as that of the urine. There are 
also two vessels, which conduct the blood to the 
testes, where it is elaborated into semen; and 
these are called arteria spermaticœ; and the two 
spermatic veins carry off the superabundant 
blood from the testes. 
Having thus set forth the parts of genera- 
tion in men, those of women come next under 
our consideration. 
The lips of the orifice, seated between the 
thighs, are called the labiœ; and the adjacent 
parts, covered with hair at the age of puberty, 
are called pudenda. Such is the external ap- 
pearance; the internal consists of the nymphœ, 
which appear upon opening the labiæ, and are 
composed of soft spongy flesh, resembling, in 
form and colour, a cock’s comb, receiving, in 
the act of generation, the man’s yard between, 
having, in their center, the clitoris, which is 
the seat of bliss in women, and which I shall 
persently describe. The little buttons, in the 
shape of berries, which close the orifice of the 
neck of the bladder, and, by their swelling, in- 
crease the titillation and exquisite sense in 
the act of copulation, also serve to prevent 
any involuntary discharge of urine, which the 
nymphæ give vent to. We now come to the 
clitoris, which greatly resembles a man’s penis, 
and by its erection and friction in contact with 
B3 the


[6] 
the yard, the woman receives the highest de- 
light. This part is replete with a spongy and 
black matter within, like unto the side liga- 
ments of the yard, which it so much resembles, 
exciting lust, and communicating delight in 
the act of generation, this being the great in- 
centive to venery in females; and the amo- 
rous passion is therefore generally proportioned 
to the size of their clitoris. Its uncommon and 
extraordinary protuberance, I shall have occa- 
sion to mention in another place, and to as- 
sign the most obvious causes for this phæno- 
menon. It rises from the os pubis, having its 
head covered with a very thin membrane, 
where there is an orifice; but it is not perfo- 
rated. The urinary passage is seated over the 
neck of the womb, and under the clitoris. 
This passage is secured from cold, or any 
other violent attacks, in the act of copulation, 
by the largest and uppermost of the four fleshy 
buttons, which is seated before, and closes it. 
The lips of the womb now make their appear- 
ance. The neck or channel is seated between 
the four buttons, and the inner bone of the 
womb, which receives the yard like a sword- 
sheath. It is so constructed, that it may be 
easily and agreeably extended in the act of co- 
pulation, being of a spongy nature; and there 
being in this concavity various foliages, or cir- 
cular plaits, made by wrinkled tunicles, it re- 
sembles a blown rose, in those who have still 
their virginity; but it loses this appearance by 
frequent coition, becoming smooth, and at 
length grisly and hard. The hymen, or clu- 
strum virginale, closes the neck of the womb, 
which

[7]
which is occasionally supplied with a large 
quantity of spirits from different veins and ar- 
teries that there concenter, in order to be di- 
lated; and they retain the yard with additional 
vigour, being capable of receiving in general 
one of eight inches in length. Upon the first 
entrance of the pudendum, there are two 
small arteries, which, being pressed by the pe- 
nis in the act of coition, furnish a humour that 
communicates an additional sensation of plea- 
sure to the woman. 
These parts may be considered as so many 
instruments and channels for conveying the 
seed into the womb, which I shall now more 
particularly consider. It is situated in the lower 
parts of the hypogastrion, adjoining to its 
neck, and is seated between the bladder and the 
streight-gut, whereby it is prevented from be- 
ing displaced, though it is capable of contrac- 
tion or dilatation, as occasions require. Its form 
is circular, resembling in some measure a 
gourd, lessening and growing more acute to- 
wards the extremity, united by its own liga- 
ments, and its neck by its proper substance, 
and certain membranes that fasten it to the 
sharebone and the os sacrum. Its size is various 
in different women, and more particularly in 
those who have borne children from those who 
have not. The preparatory vessels are the 
same in number and origin with women as 
with men; their size and manner of insertion 
constituting all the difference. They are shorter 
in women than in men, the testicles of a 
B4 woman


[8]
woman being seated within the belly, and re- 
quiring a shorter passage to communicate their 
contents; but, on the other hand, have more 
intricate foliages than in man, that the liquor 
may be properly elaborated. These prepara- 
tory vessels are not united as in men, before 
they arrive at the stones; but are divided into 
two branches, the greater of which only passes 
to the stones, and the lesser to the fecundated 
egg, this being properly conception. The 
immediate use of these vessels is to convey the 
blood to the testicles, part whereof is employed 
in their nutrition, and the production of those 
little bladders in every respect resembling eggs, 
through which the vasa præparentiæ run, and 
are obliterated in them. Each testicle in a 
woman contains about twenty eggs, one 
of which being impregnated by the most 
spirituous parts of the male-seed in the act of 
copulation, descends through the oviducts into 
the womb, where it is nourished, and becomes 
a human being. The figure of these ova is not 
perfectly round, but somewhat flat on the sides, 
and their lower parts are oval; but in their up- 
per part, where they have communication 
with the blood vessels, they are covered with 
a single membrane, in order to facilitate the 
conveyance of a proper degree of heat. 
Such then are the general structures of the 
parts of generation in the two sexes. There 
are doubtless many uncommon forms in these 
organs, which may at once astonish, and in 
some degree puzzle the greatest philosophers 
to


[9] 
to account for them; but these excursions of 
nature are not so frequent in the males as in 
the females, which I shall in the sequel endea- 
vour to explain, as well as the too frequent 
cause husbands have to complain, that their 
wives do not bring with them their virginity 
to the marriage-bed, even though they never 
had before any commerce with the male sex. 
When it is considered, that a maidenhead, or 
virginity, consists in nothing more than that 
membranous substance called the hymem, resem- 
bling the bud of a rose half blown, and which 
is destroyed by the first act of copulation, or 
the insertion of any inflexible substance, we 
may easily conclude, that many females have 
got their own maidenheads long before they 
knew a man. The hymen, or clustrum vir- 
ginale, being a thin membrane interwoven 
with fleshy fibres, and having an orifice in the 
center, through which the menses flow, and 
wherein the top of a little finger may be easily 
at first inserted, which, being repeated, and 
the fore finger afterwards supplying its place, 
these practices, within a short time, destroy 
the zone of chastity, as it is emphatically cal- 
led. In some countries marriage is void, 
Unless the bride, upon her wedding-night, gives 
proper testimonials of her having been endow- 
ed with it at the time of her marriage. This 
evidence consists of the effusion of blood upon 
the rupture of the hymenean membrane. Some 
females consider the narrowness of their vagi- 
na as a sufficient proof of their maidenhead; 
but age, disposition of body, and other cir-
B5 cumstances,

[10]
cumstances, either constitute or destroy it. In 
general, it may, indeed, be allowed, that wo- 
men who have frequently indulged and grati- 
fied their amorous desires by copulation, are 
not so streight as those who have had but little 
commerce this way; but this is no positive 
proof of virginity, as artifice may impose a 
substitute for the reality, and astringent medi- 
cines supply the place of continence. 
As the original intent of copulation was, 
doubtless, more to propagate our species, than 
to gratify any carnal appetite, we should, to at- 
tain the desired end, pursue the necessary means; 
when, therefore, our design is to impregnate our 
wives, we should previously dispose them to 
receive our caresses with the most unseigned 
joy. We should invigorate them with nutri- 
tious food, and an agreeable quantity of gene- 
rous wine; and if their desires seem still more 
backward than ours, we should excite them 
by tender and amorous dalliance; for all our 
effects will prove ineffectual, unless they meet 
our embraces with equal delight, and we are 
both critically and instantaneously happy: there- 
fore when we find the parts in women cold and 
inanimate, the clitoris in a flimsy state, and 
no expressions of exquisite sensation upon our 
embrace, it were better to restrain from con- 
summation, as, in all probability, it will be 
the loss of the discharge of valuable seed, with- 
out the profit of reaping the least harvest from 
its being sown; but when delight sparkles in 
her eye, when every thrust seems to commu- 
nicate

[11]
nicate new joy, when you meet the clitoris In 
its greatest extension, and most perfect erec- 
tion, delectably throbbing with the extatic 
friction, in contact with the glans of the pe- 
nis, then you cannot too much exert yourself, 
till, by pushing onward to the goal of felicity, 
inarticulate, though expressive, ejaculations, 
plainly indicate the tumult of her soul, in the 
amazing sensations of a deluge of happiness; 
or, as the poet so finely expresses it. 
Bodies mingling, sexes blending.— 
Who shall most he lost contending. 
Then hold her off, and gaze—then with new rage 
Clasp her, till your conscious limbs presage 
Torrents of joy, which all their banks overflow. 
So lost, so blest, as you but then can know. 
The first emanations of reciprocal bliss be- 
ing ended, it requires prudence and considera- 
tion to know when it is proper to withdraw 
from the field of delight, left you should, by 
too early a retreat, lose the victory you have 
gained in favour of generation. To speak 
without a figure, by unsheathing your yard too 
soon, you make way for the air to penetrate 
the womb, and the cold, so untimely commu- 
nicated, may be of the most fatal consequence: 
therefore you should remain in the same pos- 
ture, and, as far as possible, in the same union, 
till such time as you may conclude, that the 
matrix is closed, which naturally takes place 
soon after it has received the active principle, 
B6 in

[12] 
in order to form a conception; when you may 
safely withdraw, and leave the lady to her re- 
pose. 
THESE cautions being taken, and the fe- 
male ovum having been impregnated, by the 
male semen, at the crisis of copulation, and 
then made its descent into the womb, nothing 
is now necessary, but its being gradually and 
regularly nourished, till it becomes a fœtus; 
and this is GENERATION. 
SECTION

[13]
SECTION II. 
Of venereal excesses. 
THE greatest physician of antiquity, who 
has transmitted his name to us with the 
highest renown, and who will be read and ad- 
mired whilst letters and science retain their in- 
fluence, has described the ills that are occasi- 
oned by the abuse of amorous pleasures, under 
the title of Tabes Dorsalis. Hippocrates says, 
that this disorder arises from some defect in the 
spinal marrow. Young married people, and 
those of a lascivious disposition, are particularly 
afflicted with it, They have no fever, and, 
though they eat well, they fall away, and be- 
come consumptive. They feel as if a sting or 
stitch descended from the head, along the spi- 
nal marrow. Every time they go to stool, or 
have occasion to urine, they shed a great quanti- 
ty of thin seminal liquor. They are incapable of 
procreation, and frequently dream of the act 
of coition. Walking particularly in rugged 
paths puts them out of breath, and weakens 
them, occasioning a heaviness in the head, and 
noise in the ears, which are succeeded by a vi- 
olent fever that terminates their days. Such 
are the words of Hippocrates, which corre- 
spond with what Aetius says upon the same 
subject. Young people have the air and ap- 
pearance of old age. They become pale, effe- 
minate, benumbed, lazy, stupid, and even 
imbecile: 

[14]
imbecile:their bodies are curved, and their 
legs are unable to perform their functions; 
they have an utter distaste, and, for every 
thing, are totally incapacitated; many be- 
come paralytic. The stomach is disordered, 
all the body is weakened, paleness, bodily de- 
cay, and emaciation succeed, These opinions 
are supported by Turpius, that celebrated bur- 
gomaster and physician of Amsterdam: these 
are his words: “ The spinal marrow does 
“ not only waste, but the body and mind both 
“ equally languish, and the man perishes a 
“ miserable victim. Samuel Vesputius was 
“ seized with a flux of humour extremely 
“ sharp, which immediately affected the hind 
“ part of the head, and the nape of the neck, 
“ from whence it communicated to the spinal 
“ marrow, the loins, the buttocks, and the 
“ articulation of the thigh, which made this 
“ unfortunate man suffer such excruciating 
“ pain, that his countenance was entirely dis- 
“ torted, and he was seized with a slow fever, 
“ which by degrees consumed him, but not so 
“ fast as he desired; and he was in such a si- 
“ tuation, that he frequently invoked death 
“ before he snatched him from his misery.” 
To these opinions, we shall add that of the 
celebrated Gabius, in his Pathological and Me- 
dicinal Institutes : “ An immediate emission 
“ of feed is not only prejudicial, by reason of 
“ the loss of a most useful humour, hut like- 
“ wise by a repetition of the convulsive mo- 
“ tion by which it is discharged; for the 
“ highest pleasure is followed by an universal 
4 “ resolution

[15] 
“ resolution of the natural powers, which can- 
“ not frequently take place without exerva- 
“ tion. Besides, the more the strainers of the 
“ body are drained, the more humour they 
“ draw to them from the other parts; and the 
“ juices being thus conveyed to the genitals, 
“ the other parts are impoverished. Hence it 
“ is, that from excessive venery arise lassitude, 
“ weakness, numbness, a feeble gait, head 
“ aches, convulsions of all the senses, but espe- 
“ cially of the sight, and dulness of hearing, 
“ an idiot look, a feverish circulation, exsicca- 
“ tion, leanness, a consumption of the lungs 
“ and back, and effeminacy: these evils are 
“ increased, and become incurable, by reason 
“ of a perpetual itch for pleasure, which the 
“ mind at last contracts, as well as the body; 
“ and from whence it follows, that they have 
“ obscene dreams in sleep, and that the prone 
“ parts upon every the slightest occasion have 
“ a tendency to stiffen, and the quantity of 
“ replaced semen, however small, becomes a 
“ burthen and a stimulus; which semen will 
“ be discharged from the relaxed cells, by the 
“ very slightest efforts, and even without any 
“ effort at all. Thus it is, that these excesses 
“ brings such perdition upon the flower of our 
“ youth.” 
SUCH then are the sentiments of these great 
men at different periods, upon the consequence 
of too violent seminal emissions; and to illu- 
strate what has been premised, it will be ne- 
cessary to pay some attention to the importance 
of

[16]
of this liquor, with respect to the well-being 
of the whole human machine. 
It may with truth be said, that our bodies 
are in a continual state of decay: to repair this 
waste, nature has furnished us with nutrition, 
by the assistance of aliments; but whenever 
this supply is wanting, our frame must neces- 
sarily decay much faster, and more quickly 
sink into a state of extreme debility and mortal 
weakness. Too copious evacuations are the 
most frequent causes of this defect; for our 
bodies are so constructed, that for these ali- 
ments to acquire the degree of preparation ne- 
cessary for the reparation, a certain quantity of 
humours must be ready prepared, and con- 
stantly at hand. If this condition is wanting, 
the digestion and concoction of the aliments are 
imperfect, and the more imperfect in propor- 
tion, as the deficient humour happens to be of 
a more elaborate kind, or of greater importance 
in the animal œconomy. 
The seminal liquor has so great an influx 
ence upon the corporeal powers, and upon 
perfect digestion, which repairs them, that 
physicians of all ages have been unanimously 
of opinion, that the loss of an ounce of this 
humour would weaken more than that of for- 
ty ounces of blood. An idea may be formed 
of its importance, by observing the effect it 
produces as soon as it begins to be formed; the 
voice, the physiognomy, the features of the 
face change; the beard grows, and the body 
often

[17]
often takes another appearance, because the 
muscles acquire a thickness and firmness, which 
form a sensible difference between the body of 
an adult person, and that of a youth not yet 
arrived at the age of puberty. These changes 
are prevented by destroying the organ which 
serves to secrete the liquor that produces it; and 
Boerhaave observed, that the amputation of the 
testicles, at the age of verility, made the beard 
fall, and effeminated the voice. 
There are humours, such as perspiration, 
which quit the body the moment they are se- 
parated from the circulating vessels. There 
are others, such as urine, which after this re- 
paration are retained for a certain time in the 
reservoirs destined for that purpose, and from 
whence they do not issue till they are collected 
in a sufficient quantity, to excite an irritation 
upon these reservoirs, which mechanically 
causes them to empty. There are a third sort. 
Which are secreted and retained in the manner 
of the second, in reservoirs, not with the design 
of being completely evacuated, but to acquire 
in these reservoirs a degree of perfection which 
qualifies them for fresh functions, when they 
return into the mass of humours. Such, 
amongst others, is the genital liquor. Being 
separated in the testicles, it passes from this in 
a pretty long canal into the vesiculœ seminales, 
is continually resorbed by the vessels adapted 
for that purpose, and are gradually restored to 
the mass of humours. Many evidences might 
be produced to demonstrate this fact: amongst 
others,

[18] 
others, for instance, the secretion of the semi- 
nal liquor in a healthy man, is constantly made 
in the testicles: it repairs to the reservoirs, the 
limits of which are very confined, and cannot, 
perhaps, contain all that is secreted in a day; 
there are, nevertheless, some continent men, 
who have no evacuations of this kind for ma- 
ny months: in these it must, therefore, return 
into the vessels of circulation, which is greatly 
facilitated by the structure of the organs, 
which assists in the secretion of this humour, 
in conveying it into the proper channel, and 
in preserving it. The veins are there much 
more considerable than the arteries, and in a 
proportion not to be found elsewhere. And 
supposing, according to some modern opi- 
nions, * that no other than the lymphatic 
veins absorb, the genital parts are equally suit- 
ed to a considerable absorption, as the vessels 
of this kind are there very numerous. 
Though Galen was unacquainted with the 
mechanism of the semen, he was not ignorant 
that the humours were enriched by its being 
retained ; for he says every part is full of it 
with those who refrain from any commerce 
with women; but those who frequently give 
way to this intercourse, are quite deficient of 
this humour. He then enters into a curious 
disquisition, in order to ascertain how small a 
quantity of this liquor can communicate in- 
finite strength to the body; and concludes. 
* Vide, Dr. Munro junior, De Vasis Lymphaticis. Dr. 
Hunter, the Medical Commentaries, &c.
that 

[19]
that it has excellent virtue, and may, there- 
fore, very speedily convey some of its power to 
all parts of the corporeal machine; and that as 
small causes often produce great effects, he 
thinks it is no way surprizing, that the testicles 
should furnish liquor proper to circulate fresh 
vigour over all the body, as the brain produces 
many motions and sensations, and the heart 
communicates the power of beating to the ar- 
teries. To this may be properly added what 
the great professor Haller says upon the same 
subject. His words are: “ The semen is kept 
“ in the vesiculœ seminales until the man makes 
“ use of it, or nocturnal emissions deprive him 
“ of it. During this period, the quantity that 
“ is then confined excites him to acts of ve- 
“ nery; but the greater part of this seed, 
“ which is the most volatile and odoriferous, 
“ as well as the strongest, is absorbed into the 
“ blood, and then produces upon its return 
“ very surprising changes; it makes the beard, 
“ hair, and nails grow; it changes the voice 
“ and manners; for age does not produce 
“ those changes in animals; it is the semen 
“ only that performs these operations, as we 
“ find eunuchs are not susceptible of them." 
This liquor is a stimulus or provocative, 
which irritates the parts it touches, as its pow- 
erful scent, and the manifest irritation it com- 
municates to the organs of generation, plainly 
evince. These sharp particles being then in- 
cessantly absorbed and reunited with the hu- 
mours, they create a gentle, though constant 
stimulus


[20]
stimulus in the vessels, which thereby more 
forcibly contract, and more easily act upon the 
fluids; hence circulation is quickened, nutri- 
tion performed with greater regularity, and 
every other animal function becomes more 
perfect. 
This being the case, eunuchs must ncces- 
sarily be in many respects defective in their 
animal œconomy; but if they are incapable of 
the advantages that are derived from the ab- 
sorption of this liquor, they are, on the other 
hand, not deprived of that precious part of the 
blood which is allotted for semen; and of 
course they are not liable to those changes 
which are occasioned by the prepared seminal 
liquor; nor are they exposed to those disorders 
which arise from the privation of this humour 
unprepared. When the first is not separated, 
the animal machine will be deficient in those 
succours which it derives from the prepared 
semen, without being liable to the alterations 
which depend thereupon; but this can in no 
respect weaken; if, on the one hand, it gains 
nothing, so, on the other, it loses nothing: 
the body of an eunuch may, therefore, in this 
respect be considered in a state of childhood. 
To what has been here said upon this subject, 
the observations of the celebrated professor 
Skmeider of Leipsic, will be no improper sup- 
plement. 
“ Whilst

[21]
“ Whilst I have been some times medi-
“ tating on various natural subjects, says this 
“ professor, such as the human body, the 
“ structure of it, its motion, its humours, and 
“ the like, I imagined that, amongst other 
“ things, the genital liquor well deserved to 
“ be carefully examined; and by inquiring 
“ into the nature, the constitutive parts, the 
“ vessels, receptacles, and secretion of it, I 
“ have recollected some things concerning its 
“ motion; not that which is ejaculatory, and 
“ excited in coition, or by another filthy ti- 
“ tillation; nor yet its own private and in- 
“ testine motion, which, that it must have, 
“ we are pretty sure of, from the spirituous 
“ and sulphureous particles it abounds with; 
“ but the motion I mean is a progressive one, 
“ from its receptacles back again into the mass 
“ of the blood; and several circumstances 
“ have induced me to believe and assert, that 
“ there really is such a motion, till such time 
“ as the contrary shall be plainly and evident- 
“ ly demonstrated to me. To get some light in 
“ this matter, I perused various authors, both 
“ ancient and moderen, philological as well as 
“ anatomical, but to little or no purpose; for 
“ I have been scarce able to find any thing in 
“ them concerning this progressive or circu- 
“ latory motion, except in Hippocrates, in his 
“ book de Genitura; by whole words we may 
“ conclude he was of this opinion, as he says. 
“ As soon as there is seed made, the flesh and out- 
“ ward skin become more porous, and the little 
“ veins are more opened than they were before;
“ but

[22]
“ but those who are yet in their childhood, or else 
“ eunuchs, have, for that reason, no hair either 
“ on the pubes or chin, and are all over smooth, 
“ because no pussage being yet made for the seed, 
“ the outward superficies are no where rarefied; 
“ for the passage to the seed, as I said a little 
“ before, is stopped up. 
“ From these words it is evident, that Hip- 
“ pocrates has made mention of this progress 
“ of the seed into the blood and body; whilst 
“ he asserts, that by this same seed the flesh 
“ and outward skin are rarefied, that the beard 
“ and hair on the pubes might come through, 
“ because then there is a passage made for 
“ the seed, which, before the years of pu- 
“ berty, and in eunuchs, is yet stopped up. 
“ Rolfinch just hints at it, and at the same 
“ time denies the circulation of the seed, as 
“ will appear from his words: The ostentatious 
“ name of circulation, says he, gives no rest to 
“ the curious; the semen seems neither to circulate 
“ within nor without the testicles; the vigour 
“ which the testicles add to the body ought not to 
“ be aseribed to their hulk, but to their power; 
“ yet I will not deny, but that some seminal atoms 
“ may be mixed with the blood, from the remain- 
“ der of what serves for the nutrition of the tes- 
“ ticles, and which is received back into the veins. 
“ That these words intimate a regress of the 
“ seed into the blood, is undeniable; but they 
“ are not strong enough, and a few atoms are 
“ not sufficient to procure the body mettle, 
“ and add strength and vigour to it; and it 
“ must

[23]
“ must not be a small quantity of them that 
“ would be able to have that effect Tauvry, 
“ speaking of the use of the seed, in regard to 
“ the body it is made in, and considering it 
“ on account of the visible effects it has upon 
“ the body, comes, without doubt, into the 
“ opinion of its circulatory motion. I shall 
“ transcribe the passage entire, it is worth 
“ reading, and runs thus; “ Nobody doubts, 
“ but that we owe our origin to the seed, and that 
“ whilst it regenerates us in other beings very like 
“ ourselves, it renders us as it were immortal. 
“ But it is more difficult to trace and know the 
“ uase it is of to the subject itself in which it is 
“ produced; yet we see it gives us a certain de- 
“ gree of perfections strength, and vigour; be- 
“ cause eunuchs, womens and those who, by ex- 
“ cessive venery, are enervated, are, like chil- 
“ drens dastardly and imperfect; for the same 
“ reason it produces a beards, ond makes the 
“ voice of a deeper sound; and as between eunuch 
“ and woman, there is no other difference, than 
“ what relates to the production of this liquids, 
“ it is very probabks that this same liquid, re- 
“ turning into the mass of the bloods is the cause 
“ of these remarkable effects." 
These are the words and arguments of our 
author, to which I shall add my own reasons, 
to confirm this opinion. The first and most 
cogent is the smallness of the seminal bags, and 
continual and daily afflux into them. That 
they are small, we are convinced by our eyes; 
they are not three inches in length, and 
hardly

[24]
hardly one inch in breadth and thickness, tho’ 
on one side they are commonly somewhat big- 
ger than they are on the other. Now, let 
any one well consider the smallness of these 
vessels, and the daily influx of seed into them, 
which nobody can deny, unless he denies like- 
wise, against all reason and experience, the cir- 
culation of the blood, the undoubted cause of 
secretion of all humours in the body, whether 
good or bad. Now let, I say, any one well 
consider the continual increase of seed, and 
the smallness of the seminal bags, that are no 
ways capable of receiving and containing such 
a quantity of seed as may be made in seven or 
eight weeks (I will say nothing of many years) 
and so long till a man lawfully cohabits with a 
woman. As these things then are incompa- 
tible, it is necessary that the semen should be 
carried off again to the mass of the blood or the 
body, for the reasons already alledged by 
Tauvry, and others that may be given. The 
change that is likewise observed in the tempe- 
rament of the body after castration, is a cor- 
roborating evidence of the progressive motion 
of the semen; for it is manifest, that animals, 
after their testicles are taken away, grow fat- 
ter, are more languid, and less courageous. 
It is likewise, amongst other things, to be ob- 
served, that in eunuchs the hair of the beard 
and privities does not fall off before castration; 
and that if it is not on the chin, and other 
parts, it never will appear as upon those who 
have not undergone this operation. The pri- 
vation of virility likewise changes the voice.
which

[25]
which becomes more sharp after it. It is re- 
ported of stags that are fit for copulation, that 
if immediately after the shedding of their horns, 
which fall off every year, they are deprived of 
the powers of procreation, no new horns will 
grow in future. This motion of the seed is more- 
over proved from the rank smell and taste of 
some beasts, and the flesh of others; as also 
the stated periods on which their desire of co- 
pulation returns. What becomes of all the 
seed? Where is it hid when those animals do 
not couple with their females? Therefore to 
say that no secretion of semen is made, is 
speaking against all reason and experience. Or- 
gans are set apart for that secretion, which, ac- 
cording to the laws of nature, are constantly 
employed in their office. There is the matter, 
or arterial blood, from which the seed is sepa- 
ted. We are likewise taught by experience 
the presence of the seed in animals at all times. 
Whenever an animal is diffected, the seed- 
bags will appear turgid with recent seed. I 
am, moreover, of opinion, that if the semen 
did not circulate in the body, it would be ut- 
terly impossible for unmarried men to abstain 
from fornication, by reason of the continual 
increase of seed, and the incessant irritations 
it would occasion to abominable lust; not to 
mention the various and most dangerous dis- 
orders such a superabundance of semen would 
create, if the quantity could not be any way 
diminished, except by copulation. It is true, 
that a man may disturb and spoil the motion 
the seed, by excesses in diet, and various 
C meats


[26]
meats and liquors, that either augment the 
quantity of liquor too much, or render it 
sharp, or else obstruct the vessels, and so 
cause a corruption and stagnation of the seed, 
and an acrimony contracted from thence, 
ought sometimes to be reckoned amongst the 
morbific causes of a furor uterinus, priapism, 
and satyriasis. This is evident from what 
is often observed in woman troubled with 
the furor uterinus; namely, that upon rub- 
bing the pudenda with musk or amber- 
grease, or giving them clysters of the same na- 
ture, great quantities of spermatic liquor are 
discharged, with immediate relief to the pati- 
ent. From what has been said, I think it is 
manifest, that the seed, from its vessels, re- 
turns into the blood, and from that again into 
them. But where is the passage through which 
it is conveyed? This, I confess, we know 
little of; but then our want of knowledge is 
no reason we should deny there is such a pas- 
sage. Our ignorance and diffidence cannot 
take away the truth and reality of things. Tell 
me, pray, which way is it that, from an epyema 
in the thorax, an imposthume in the abdomen, 
or an inflammation in the pleura, lungs, &c. 
the purulent matter is carried to the urinary 
passages, the guts, or the mouth? We see 
that in a pleurisy, the matter is most common- 
ly discharged at the mouth; but then at other 
times we likewise find, that it is brought away 
with the urine, or the excrements. Nay, what 
is still more surprising, several hard substances 
that had been swallowed, such as pins, &c.
3 have

[27] 
have been brought away through the urinary 
passages with the urine, as we have had several 
examples, attested by persons of worth and 
credit, Miscell. I. C. 4. II. D. 10. III. P. 
m. 4. and act. euditer, Mens. August. Anni. 
1712. Which way could these things get to 
the urinary vessels? That the blood carried 
them with it, through the arteries, veins, and 
capillary vessels, is very difficult to conceive. 
Let any one who understands anatomy weigh 
and consider the curious progress, and many 
crooked windings the chyle is forced to make 
in its passage from the stomach to the blood. 
Let him consider, moreover, the various 
windings and capillary vessels through which 
the blood circulates, and compare it to those 
hard substances, and then judge, whether they 
can easily be carried to the secretary organs of 
the urine, and with the same facility be sepa- 
rated from the blood, as the urine is, without 
wounding the vessels. The above mentioned 
Tauvry is of opinion, that the seed through 
the pores of the veins goes back into the mass 
of blood, which regress he conceives to be 
in this manner: The seed, says he, in- 
cluded within its vessels ferments, and, by 
continuing there, acquires a constitution it 
was not before endowed with; that is, it gets 
more motion, and is more subtilized; so that 
returning into the mass of blood, it there 
brings forth those alterations, which it could 
not have produced, unless it had been rectified 
and exalted in the seminal vessels. When these 
vessels are once filled, and more seminal mat- 
C2 ter


[28]
ter comes to them, that which is contained in 
them is forced by degrees to go off into the 
pores of the veins, and circulating with the 
blood, by its glutinous quality, in a manner, 
involves and with-holds the spirits, and hinders 
the dissipation of them. This is the reason that 
in the act of coition great quantities of this 
oily substance are, by repetition, exhausted, 
the spirits evaporated; and from this principle 
arises the debility of those who are destitute of 
this liquor. Mr. Boyle is of the same opinion. 
As to myself, I believe that the seed being at- 
tenuated and subtilized in the testicles and se- 
minal vessels, returns by the lymphatic vessels, 
which, together with the vasa deferentia, ascends 
into the abdomen, and then they discharge 
their lympha in the chyliferous vessels; and 
that after this manner it is carried again into 
the chyle and blood, to the great benefit of the 
whole body. I heartily wish, that the most 
skilful anatomists, and philological writers of 
the greatest penetration, would make further 
inquiry into this affair, the certain knowledge 
of which would be of great utility. 
From these observations, I think it is clear- 
ly proved, that the superabundant semen is ab- 
sorbed by the lymphatic vessels into the body, 
where it communicates fresh circulation and 
vigour, and disperses strength and power to 
every part of the body. If then this liquor 
is of such eminent importance to the pro- 
per functions of the whole machine, let us 
consider what may be the effects of too great a 
discharge

[29]
discharge of it. Aetius has handed down to
us a description of the ills that are produced 
by too great an emission of the semen: 
“ Young people, says he, have the air and 
“ appearance of old age; they become pale, 
“ effeminate, benumbed, lazy, base, stupid, 
“ and even imbecile; their bodies become 
“ bent, their legs are not able to carry them; 
“ they have an utter distaste for every thing, 
“ are totally incapacitated, and many become 
“ paralytic;” and he therefore includes amo- 
rous pleasures among the number of the six 
causes which occasion the palsy. Galen ob- 
serves, that the same causes occasion disorders 
of the brain, and of the nerves, and destroy 
the powers; and he tells us, that a patient under 
his care for a violent disorder, not being per- 
fectly recovered, died the same night that he 
Paid the conjugal tribute to his wife. And 
Pliny, the naturalist, informs us, that Corne- 
lius Gallus, the ancient prætor, and Titus 
Etherius, the Roman knight, died in the very 
act of coition. Sanctorius, who has examin- 
ed with the greatest attention all the causes 
which actuate our bodies, has observed, after 
Aetius,that this weakens the stomach, de- 
stroys digestion, obstructs that insensible per- 
spiration, the irregularity of which produces 
the most fatal consequences, occasions the li- 
ver and reins to be overheated, gives a dispo- 
sition for the stone in the kidneys, and usually 
occasions the loss of, or weakens, the sight.
Lommius, in his Commentaries upon Celsus, 
observes, that frequent emissions of the seed re- 
C3 lax,

[30]
lax, dry up, weaken, enervate, and produce 
a croud of evils, such as apoplexies, lethar-
gies, epilepsies, faintings, the loss of sight, tre- 
mors, palsy, spasm, and every species of the 
most racking gout. Schelaumer says, that too 
great a dissipation of the animal spirits weakens 
the stomach, destroys the appetite, and nutri- 
tion no longer taking place, the motion of the 
heart is weakened, all the parts languish, and 
an epilepsy succeeds. Salmuth has seen a learn- 
ed man of a splenetic cast go mad; and another 
man, whose brain was so dried up, that it was 
heard to rattle in the pericranium; and both 
these disorders were occasioned by excesses of 
the same nature. And the author of Memoirs 
of Curious Naturalists (De Cur 2. ann. 5. ap- 
pend. obs. 88. p. 56) says, that he himself 
has seen a man of 59 years of age, who, three 
weeks after his marriage with a young woman, 
fell suddenly blind, and died at the end of four 
months, which he attributed to the excessive 
libidinous disposition of the wife, and the too 
frequent gratification of the husband. The ce- 
lebrated Hoffman tells us (in his De morbis ex- 
nimia venere) that a young man of 18 years of 
age, who had frequent connections with a ser- 
vant girl, was on a sudden seized with a 
weakness, and a general tremor in all his 
limbs; his face became red, and his pulse ve- 
ry weak. He was relieved from this state in 
an hour’s time; but an incessent languor con- 
tinued upon him. The same fit frequently re- 
turned, and threw him into great agonies, 
which, at the end of eight days, occasioned a 
contractions

[31]
contraction and tumour in the right arm, with 
a pain in his right elbow, which was greatly 
encreased. The disorder continued increasing 
for a long time, notwithstanding many reme- 
dies were prescribed. At length, however, 
the doctor performed a cure upon this patient. 
Boerhaave says, that the loss of too much se- 
men occasions lassitude, debilitates, and renders 
exercise difficult; it causes convulsions, ema- 
ciation, and pains in the membrane of the 
brain; it deadens the senses, and particularly 
the sight; gives rise to a dorsal consumption, 
and various other disorders, which are connect- 
ed with these. He also says, that he had seen 
a patient, whose disorder began by lassitude, 
and a weakness in all parts of the body, parti- 
cularly towards the loins; it was attended 
with an involuntary motion of the tendons, 
periodical spasms, and bodily decay, info- 
much, as to destroy the whole corporeal 
frame; he felt a pain even in the membrane 
of the brain, a pain which patients call a dry 
burning heat, and which incessantly affected 
the most noble parts. And he says, that he 
has likewise seen a young man afflicted with a 
dorsal consumption, who, though he was fre- 
quently cautioned not to give way to amorous 
pleasures, nevertheless so far yielded to their 
impulse, that his body, before his death, was 
quite deformed, and the fleshy substance which 
appears above the spinal apophyses of the loins, 
was intirely wasted; and that even the brain 
was in some measure consumed. 
C4 Coition

[32]
Coition brings on epileptical fits, in those 
who are subject to them; and to this cause 
Van Swieten attributes the great oppression the 
patients suffer, if the fits are frequent. Doctor 
Didier knew a merchant of Montpellier, who 
never made any sacrifices to Venus, without 
having a fit of epilepsy. Galen furnishes us 
with a similar instance, as well as Henry Van 
Steers. Van Swieten knew a man, who was 
troubled with the epilepsy, who had a fit upon 
his wedding-night. Hoffman was acquainted 
with a very lascivous woman, who usually had 
a fit of epilepsy after each add of venery. Boer- 
haave observes, that in the heat of venery, all 
the nerves are affected, oftentimes even mor- 
tally; and gives an example of a woman, 
who, every time she performed the act of co- 
ition, fell into a pretty long sincope; and an- 
other of a man, who died the very first time 
he copulated with a woman, the spasm being 
so violent, that it brought on a general palsy. 
And Monsieur Savage has given us a very ex- 
traordinary instance of a man, who was seized 
with a spasm in the very middle of enjoyment, 
whereby his whole body became stiff, he lost 
all sensation and memory, and the fit continu- 
ed upon him for twelve years, A few years 
since, a handsome young woman, of a very las- 
civious disposition, bordering upon the furor 
uterinus, could not be completely gratified 
with the successive attacks of seven dragoons, 
who were quartered at Ipswich. Though each 
of the assailants had quite exhausted himself in 
her service, she would willingly have met with 
another



[33] 
another lover the same evening; but being in 
this disappointed, she went to her own bed, 
and the next morning was found almost speech- 
less, bathed in her own blood, which gushed 
from the matrix. I saw her in this condition, 
and prescribed what I thought would have 
been of some service to her; but she expired 
before the application could be made. 
THUS we find, that excessive indulgence 
in amorous pleasures does not only produce 
languishing disorders, but frequently acute and 
violent disorders; and it constantly impedes 
the cure of complaints derived from another 
source. Hoffman, after speaking of the dan- 
gerous effects of amorous pleasure, for those 
who labour under wounds, considers those 
risks which persons run, by adicting them- 
selves to it, who are afflicted with fevers. Up- 
on this occasion, he quotes an observation of Fa- 
bricius de Hilden, who says, that a man hav- 
ing copulated with a woman the tenth day of 
a pleurisy, which had terminated the seventh, 
by abundant perspiration, he was seized with a 
violent fever, and immediate trembling, and 
died on the thirteenth day. He also relates, 
that a man of a gouty disposition, much adict- 
ed to women and wine, who fancying himself 
cured of a pleurisy, was, immediately after co- 
ition, seized with a violent trembling all over 
his body, extreme flushings in his face, with 
all the symptoms of the disorder which he 
thought he had got rid of; but which returned 
with much greater violence than at first, and 
C5 he

[34]
he was in far greater danger. He also men- 
tions a man, who never yielded to venereal 
excesses, without having an intermitting fever 
for several days. Bartholus takes notice of a 
young bridegroom, who, the day after his 
nuptials, was seized with a violent fever, 
occasioned by his conjugal excesses, which 
brought on a great dejection of spirits, accom- 
panied with faintings, risings in the stomach, 
immediate drought, light-headedness, and in- 
capacity of sleeping, and much uneasiness. And 
Monsieur Chesneau tells us, he has seen a 
young married couple, who, the first week of 
their nuptials, were seized with a violent in- 
cessant fever, accompanied with flushings in 
their faces, which were greatly bloated, and 
one of them had a violent pain at the crupper; 
and they fell martyrs to lust before the end of 
the first month. 
If such fatal accidents are produced by the 
excessive indulgence of amorous passions in a 
natural and legal way, still more baneful ef- 
fects must flow from the gratification of them 
in an unnatural and illegal manner, which I
shall illustrate in the succeeding chapters. 
SEC-

[35]
SECTION III. 
Of the baneful effects of self-pollution in 
the male-sex. 
WE have already seen the concurrent testi- 
monies of the most eminent ancient 
and modern physicians, with regard to the fa- 
tal consequences of excessive indulgence in 
amorous pleasure in a natural way; the sub- 
jest of this section is the consideration of the 
still more direful effects of seminal discharges 
in an unnatural way; for, as a celebrated phi- 
lologist observes, “ The loss of too great a 
“ quantity of semen in the natural manner, is 
“ attended with very dangerous consequences; 
“ but they are still more dreadful, when the 
“ same quantity has been dissipated in an un- 
“ natural manner; for the accidents which 
“ happen to those who waste themselves in a 
“ natural way are very terrible; but those 
“ which are occasioned by self-pollution are 
“ still more shocking.” 
It would, indeed, be of little consequence, 
in a physical sense, whether this evacuation 
was occasioned by either of the methods I have 
mentioned, if they were alike pernicious; but 
the manner is in this respect equal to the sub- 
stance. Sanctorius points out to us the cause 
of the peculiar evils arising from self-pollution:
C6 “ He

[36] 
“ He says, moderate coition is useful, when 
“ nature sollicits for it: when it is sollicited 
“ by the imagination, it weakens all the fa- 
“ culties, and particularly the memory.” This 
may be very clearly explained; when we are 
in a state of health, we have no amorous de- 
sires, but when the vesiculœ seminales are re- 
plete with a quantity of liquor, which has ac- 
quired such a degree of thickness, as to render 
its return into the mass of blood difficult; and 
in these circumstances, when an evacuation 
takes place, we may be partly certain, that 
the corporeal frame will not thereby suffer any 
sensible diminution of strength. But such is the 
structure of the genital organs, that they are 
actuated, and the succeeding desires are ani- 
mated, not only by the presence of the super- 
abundant seminal humour, but also by the ima- 
gination, which having great influence upon 
these parts, may, by being occupied with las- 
civious ideas, give them such a disposition, as 
to create these desires, the gratification where- 
of is the more pernicious, in proportion as it 
is unnecessary to the welfare of the body. 
These organs, like the others, are never pro- 
perly actuated, but when nature stimulates 
them: for example, the want of food and 
drink, is indicated by hunger and thirst; and 
excesses in either respect are prejudicial, by 
enfeebling the body. The necessity of going 
to stool, and voiding urine, is signified by cer- 
tain physical conditions; but a bad habit may 
so far pervert the constitution of the organs, 
that the necessity of these evacuations may no 
longer

[37]
longer depend upon the quantity of matter to 
be evacuated. We subject ourselves to want, 
without being in want; and this is precisely 
the case of those who addict themselves to self- 
pollution. Imagination and custom, not na- 
ture and reason, prompt them to the filthy 
practice. Nature is drained of one of her most 
essential humours, and which she so visibly 
points out the application of for her own sup- 
port, and the perpetuation of the human spe- 
cies. Habit will nevertheless in time so far 
pervert nature, that, in consequence of that 
law of animal œconomy, whereby humours 
are attracted by irritation, there will be a con- 
tinual conflux of humours upon these parts: 
for, as Hippocrates observes, when a man ha- 
bituates himself to seminal emissions, the ves- 
sels that are therein employed, are unnecessa- 
rily dilated, and the semen is by that means 
more abundantly attracted. Not only the bo- 
dy, but the mind, is contaminated; for no 
sooner has this uncleanness fixed its empire in 
the heart, but from that time it pursues the 
man every where, and never relinquishes its 
dominion. Even upon the most serious and 
awful occasions, he will find himself transport- 
ed with lustful conceptions and desires, which 
incessantly pursue him, and occupy his imagi- 
nation. The self-polluter, entirely devoted 
to this filthy meditation, is liable, upon that 
account, to the same disorders, as the meta- 
physician, or the mathematician, whose at- 
tention is engrossed by a single object; and it 
is universally allowed, that nothing debilitates 
the


[38]
the faculties more than the mind being eon- 
stantly engaged upon the same subject; for 
that part of the brain which is then occupied 
makes an effort, similar to that of a mussle, 
which has been for a long time greatly extend- 
ed; this occasions such a continued motion in 
the part as cannot be stopt, or such a fixed 
attention, that the idea cannot be changed. 
Self-polluters are under the same predicament, 
or else they are completely incapacitated; so 
that when their faculties are not entirely de- 
stroyed, they are afflicted with all the disor- 
ders incident to the brain, the hypocondria, 
epilepsy, catalepsy, insensibility, imbecility, 
nervous disorders, &c. &c. 
These very disorders, when thus produ- 
ced, are an additional incentive to their cause, 
as the patient flatters himself with momentary 
relief, from the gratification of a disposition 
that perpetually engages his attention; and 
therefore he daily and hourly encreases his mi- 
sery, and saps the very effence of existence. 
If to this we add the difficulty that fre- 
quently attends the gratification of amorous 
passions in a natural way, the expence that 
necessarily attends it, and the risk with regard 
to infection, which serve as so many damps 
to the pursuit, a young man that is dependant, 
having but a small income, and his character 
to preserve, will frequently surmount his de- 
sires, be they ever so inordinate; but when 
once he habituates himself to a self-gratifica- 
tion,

[39]
tion, the means are so easy, the method so 
cheap, and the danger so latent, that every 
time he finds an impulse he creates an oppor- 
tunity, till at length the generative organs be- 
ing incessantly irritated, a perpetual stimulus 
is brought on, independant of any external 
cause; so that if there were no more danger to 
be apprehended at first from emissions of this 
kind, than those in the natural way, the train 
of evils produced by this habit, and the mind 
being debauched, must demonstrate their fa- 
tal tendency: but still more cogent reasons are 
to be given, why seminal discharges this way 
are more destructive than in copulation. 
The frequency of erection, though im- 
perfect, which this disposition excites, greatly 
diminishes the strength of self-polluters. All 
parts in a state of extention exhaust the 
powers: the spirits that are conveyed thither 
in greater quantities, and of course dissipated, 
are wanted in the performance of other func- 
tions, which is therefore only imperfectly 
done: these concurrent causes are attended 
with very dangerous effects. Self-polluters are 
also afflicted with a kind of palsy in the organs 
of generation, which brings on impotency, 
through a defect in erection, and a simple 
gonorrhæa, by reason of the relaxed parts 
suffering the real semen to escape as soon as se- 
creted, together with an afflux of that humour 
which the prostatæ separate. In short, all the 
internal membrane of the urethra acquires a 
catarrhous

[40]
catarrhous disposition, which excites a running 
similar to the fluor albus in women. 
The devotees to self-pollution act in such 
direct opposition to nature, and all the ties of 
society, that they very richly deserve the ac- 
cumulated evils incident to their shameful prac- 
tice. I might carry this observation much 
farther in a theological and moral point of 
view; but I shall confine myself in this treatise 
merely to physical causes and effects, as I do 
not attempt to write for the emoliariation of 
manners, but for the preservation and recovery 
of health. They are of such a selfish and mer- 
cenary disposition, that, unwilling to partici- 
pate their bliss with the amiable part of the 
creation, they are justly and reciprocally de- 
barred from that joy which the heart is sensible 
of, and which should be nicely distinguished 
from that voluptuousness, solely corporeal, 
which man enjoys in common with animals, 
and from which it is completely distinct. This 
joy aids digestion, animates circulation, acce- 
lerates all the functions, restores strength, and 
supports it. If this is found to unite with the 
pleasures of love, it contributes to repair, and 
even to restore, what they stole by force; and 
observation proves it. Sanctorius says upon 
this subject, “ After excessive coition with a 
“ woman that is beloved, a man is not sen- 
“ sible of the lassitude which should follow this 
“ excess, because the joy which the soul feels 
“ encreases the strength of the heart, favours 
“ the functions, and repairs what was lost." 
Beauty

[41]Beauty has charms which dilate our hearts, 
and multiply our spirits. This much is, how- 
ever, certain, that nature alots more felicity to 
those joys procured in her proper channel, than 
in those which are repugnant and destructive to 
her. 
Again, there are innumerable pores spread 
over the surface of the human body, which are 
plainly the emunctories or channels of discharge 
for vitiated redundant, or, in short, perspir- 
able matter. There also exists on the surface 
of the body a resorbent faculty. Every instant 
half the pores of the skin exhale a very subtile 
humour that is of greater consequence than all 
our other evacuations. At the same time another 
kind of pores receive part of the fluids which 
surround us, and communicate them to the 
vessels. It is demonstrable, that in some cases 
this inhalation is very important. In robust 
people, the exhalation is greater than in weak 
persons; and contrarywise, the inhalation in 
these is more considerable, and the perspiration 
of healthy people contains something nutritious 
and strengthening, which being inhaled by an- 
other invigorates him. From these observa- 
tions we may deduce, how the young female 
who lay with David increased his strength; 
how other aged men have been assistted in the 
same manner; and consequently why it 
weakens the healthy person, who loses with- 
out receiving, or rather who receives weak 
exhalations, corrupt and putrid, which are pre- 
judicial to her constitution. In the act of co- 
ition,

[42] 
ition, this perspiration is probably more ani- 
mated and spiritual than at any other time. It 
is a real loss which is sustained, and which 
takes place in whatever manner the sperm is 
emitted, as it depends upon the agitation 
which attends it. In copulation it is recipro- 
cal, and the one inhales what the other ex- 
hales. This mutual exchange is endubitably 
evinced, when proper attention is paid to these 
operations. A certain modern professor says, 
that he saw, not long since, a man, who 
was not afflicted with any kind of gonorrhæa, 
or any cutaneous venereal symptoms, commu- 
nicate the venereal disorder to a woman, wrho, 
at the same instant, gave him the itch in ex- 
change. This may serve as a corroborating 
proof of this mutual loss and gain in the act of 
coition; and though the example might, in 
ludicrous hands, be turned against the argu- 
ment, it certainly evinces, that where there 
is no infection communicated on either side, 
the nutritious absorption may counterbalance 
the loss by perspiration. 
THESE are the reasons why seminal dis- 
charges by manual friction, are more pernici- 
ous in their consequences, than in the natural 
act of coition. And if this were not sufficient- 
ly proved by the foregoing reasons, the block- 
ing spectacles of masturbation, the horrid vic- 
tims of self-pollution might be brought forth to 
display the dreadful effects peculiar to this 
filthy and abominable practice; and indeed it 
is

[43]
is a duty owing to the public, to hold up the 
minor of Onania. 
The examples I shall now give are well 
authenticated by the best writers upon the sub- 
ject; and it will therefore be needless to 
trouble the reader with references or quota- 
tion marks. 
The general evils which all practitioners, 
who have written upon this subject, agree in, 
are thus specified: the intellectual facul- 
ties are weakened; loss of memory ensues, the 
ideas are clouded, the patients sometimes fall 
into slight madness, they have an incessant 
irksome uneasiness, continual anguish, and so 
keen a remorse of conscience, that they fre- 
quently shed tears; they are subject to verti- 
goes; all their senses, and particularly sight 
and hearing, are weakened; their sleep, if 
they can obtain any, is disturbed with fright- 
ful dreams; the powers of their body decay; 
the growth of such as abandon themselves to 
those abominable practices, before it is accom- 
plished, is greatly prevented; some cannot 
sleep at all, others are in a perpetual state of 
drowsiness; they are all affected with hypocon- 
driac or hysteric complaints, and are overcome 
with the accidents that accompany those grie- 
vous disorders, melancholy, sighing, tears, 
palpitations, suffocations, and faintings; some 
emit a calcarious saliva; coughs, slow fevers, 
and consumptions, are chastisements which 
others meet with in their own crimes. The 
most

[44]
most acute pains form another object of pa- 
tients complaints; some are thus affected in 
their heads, others in their breasts, stomach, 
and intestines; others have external rheuma- 
tic pains, aching numbness in all parts of their 
body, when they are slighly pressed; pimples, 
do not only appear in the face, being one of 
the most common symptoms, but also suppu- 
rating blisters upon the nose, the breast, and 
the thighs, and painful itchings in the same 
parts. Some patients complain even of fleshy 
excrescences upon their foreheads. The or- 
gans of generation also participate of that mi- 
sery whereof they are the primary causes. Ma- 
ny patients are incapable of erection, others 
discharge the semen upon the slightest titillation, 
and the most feeble erection, or in the efforts 
they make when at stool. Many are affected 
with a constant gonorrhæa, which entirely 
destroys their powers, and the discharge re- 
sembles fœtid matter, or mucus. Others are 
tormented with painful priapisms, dysuriœ, 
stranguries, heat of urine, and a difficulty of 
rendering it, which greatly torments many pa- 
tients. Some have painful tumours upon their 
testicles, penis, bladder, and spermatic cord; so 
that either the impracticability of coition, or 
a depravation of the genital liquor, render every 
one impotent, who has given way to this 
practice for any length of time. Moreover, 
the functions of the intestines are sometimes 
very much disordered; and some patients com- 
plain very much of stubborn constipations,. 
others of the hemorrhoids, or of the running of
a fœtid


[45] 
a fœtid matter from the fundament, and some 
with diarrhæas immediately after the crime, 
&c. &c. Such are the general disorders and 
evils produced by this filthy practice; and I 
shall now illustrate them with such examples 
as I have either been an eye-witness of, or 
such as are sufficiently vouched for by men of 
veracity and judgment. 
ONE patient, who had been married some 
years, and was the father of several children, 
having, nevertheless, addicted himself to this 
filthy practice, to avoid impregnating his wife, 
who was of a very prolific disposition, and 
who had agreed with him to be mutual assist- 
ants to each other in this manual operation, 
applied to me in a very deplorable state. He 
had an incessant seminal running or gleet, vio- 
lent pains in his back and breast, was very 
faint and weak, as well by this continual 
draining, as from a total suppression of appetite, 
loathing every kind of food, and incapable of 
retaining any thing upon his stomach. This 
brought on a violent dejection of spirits, which 
terminated in a kind of hypocondria, accom- 
panied with cold sweats; and notwithstanding 
all the remedies that were prescribed for him, 
by reason of his incapacity to take them, he 
died a martyr to this abominable practice. 
ANOTHER patient, who had addicted him- 
self to masturbation frequently from his tender 
years, had a nob of flesh, resembling a wen, 
growing upon his forehead; his face was co-
vered

[46]
vered with pimples; his nose sore and full  
of eruptions; his legs and thighs fallen away, 
and scarce able to support him; he was also 
afflicted with violent pains in his head and 
back, and frequent tremors all over his body; 
his hand shook to that degree, that he was in- 
capable of carrying a glass of wine, or any 
other liquor to his mouth without spilling, 
and though he had been a very skilful penman, 
he was incapable of writing his name. This 
patient, having discontinued his abominable 
practice, has in some degree recovered his 
strength; his face is not near so frightful, and 
the tremor of his hand has so much subsided, 
that I have lately had a letter written by him 
very prettily. 
A YOUTH, who had not yet attained his 
sixteenth year, devoted himself with such rage 
to masturbation, that at length, instead of se- 
men, he brought forth nothing but blood, the 
emission of which was soon followed with ex- 
cessive pain, and an inflammation of all the or- 
gans of generation. Emollient cataplasms were 
ordered him, which produced the desired ef- 
fect; but he soon after died of the small pox; 
and there is much reason to believe, that the 
shocks which he gave to his constitution by 
the abominable practice of self-pollution, great- 
ly tended to render the disorder so fatal. 
ANOTHER young patient was afflicted with 
that total stiffness mentioned by Boerhaave; 
his neck was first seized with it, then the spine,  
which

[47]
which gradually communicated it to all the 
members. Some time before his death, he 
could bear no other posture than lying on his 
belly in bed, being incapable of moving either 
bis hands or feet, or indeed of any other kind 
of motion, and unable to take any other ali- 
ment than what was put into his mouth. He 
existed some weeks in this dreadful situation, 
and died, or rather went out, like a snuff of a 
candle, without being sensible of pain. 
A PATIENT who had the misfortune in his 
juvenile days, being but then between eight 
and ten years of age, to contract this perni- 
cious habit, soon destroyed his constitution; 
but he was lately afflicted in a most extraordi- 
nary manner; his nerves were extremely weak, 
his hands devoid of strength, incessantly trem- 
bling, and in a state of perpetual perspiration; 
be had violent qualms of the stomach, pains in 
bis arms and legs, which sometimes commu- 
nicated to his veins and breast. He was trou- 
bled with coughing, his eyes were sunk, and 
always weak; he had a violent appetite, yet 
greatly fell away, and had a very bad aspect as 
to physiognomy. This patient, nevertheless, 
having taken the remedies, and followed the 
regimen prescribed, recovered his health and 
vigour, and is now in perfect health. 
ANOTHER patient, who gave way to this 
Pernicious practice, had his nervous system 
greatly affected, which was accompanied with 
weakness, uneasiness, weariness, and anxiety; 
he

{48]
he was exhausted by an almost incessant flux 
of semen; his face had a cadaverous appear- 
ance; weakness rendered every kind of mo- 
tion difficult to him; his legs were so feeble, 
that he could scarce stand upright upon them, 
and he did not dare stir out of his bed-room; 
his digestive powers were in so bad a state, that 
he voided his food three or four hours after 
having swallowed it, in its original state, and 
as if his stomach had the instant before receiv- 
ed it; he was greatly afflicted with phlegm, 
and expectoration greatly exhausted him. His 
weakness and want of resolution to discontinue 
the shocking practice, rendered it impossible to 
perform a cure upon him. 
ANOTHER patient, in the prime of his life, 
who, in the dawn of manhood, contracted a 
detestable habit, had his head very much con- 
fused, and was greatly subject to vertigoes, 
which made him apprehensive of the apo- 
plexy, wherefore he had recourse to phlebo- 
tomy; but the physician who prescribed it 
was soon convinced of his error. His breast 
was oppressed, which occasioned a confined 
respiration: he had frequent pains in his sto- 
mach, and by turns his whole body was af- 
fected; he had interrupted and uneasy sleep at 
night, and his spirits were no way recruited by 
it; he was also troubled with frequent itch- 
ings, was very pale, and had pains in his eyes, 
which were extremely weak, his skin appear- 
ed jaundiced, and his whole body was meta- 
morphosed; he died soon after. 
A

[49]
A YOUTH about seventeen devoted him- 
self to this filthy and seducing practice, when 
he was in a perfect state of health. His rage 
was so great for self-pollution, that he would 
sometimes repeat the act three or four times 
in one day, and a slight insensibility always pre- 
ceded and succeeded the ejaculation, which 
was also attended with a convulsive motion in 
the extending muscles of the head, and a swel- 
ling of the neck. Some months after he had 
addicted himself to this practice, he was very 
feeble every time he was guilty of it; he ne- 
vertheless persisted till he was brought to 
death's door; and the evil had made so great 
a progress, that it was out of the power of 
medicine to administer him any relief. In 
this condition the organs of generation were 
so easily irritated, and were so weak, that his 
semen flowed from him involuntarily upon the 
slightest erection, By this means, being daily 
more and more weakened, he was now afflict- 
ed with an habitual spasm, which had not hi- 
therto affected him but in the very act, and 
discontinued afterwards. But this fit now 
continued upon him for twelve or fourteen 
hours, and which brought on such violent 
pains in the neck, that he could not be pre- 
vented from making the most hideous outcries. 
During these periods, he was incapable of swal- 
lowing any food; so that his weakness and 
misery daily increased; and he languished in 
this state for several months, towards the end 
of which, before he died, he resembled a 
corpse, more than a living man, calling forth 
D an 


[50]
an infectious stench, and aqueous palish blood 
issuing from his nose, slaver constantly flowing 
from his mouth, and, being troubled with a 
diarrhæa, he voided his excrements in the bed, 
without knowing it. The disorder of his mind 
was equally shocking as that of his body; his 
memory was entirely destroyed, destitute of 
ideas, and consequently of the ability of com- 
paring any the most simple; wherefore he be- 
came void of reflection, and was insensible to 
every thing but pain, and which was very vi- 
olent upon the periodial return of the spasm. 
Here we shall leave this unhappy person, as 
his condition was too horrid to be reflected on 
without terror, and as death at length, his 
only consolation, came to his relief. 
BESIDES these examples, Mr. Limmer- 
man acquaints us, that a man about twenty- 
three years of age was greatly troubled with 
an epilepsy, from having much infeebled him- 
self by self-pollution. Every time he had a se- 
minal emission, he fell into a perfect fit of 
epilepsy, and afterwards pains in the reins and 
about the coccyx: nevertheless, he could not 
refrain from this practice; for having, after 
he received some benefit from the doctor’s ad- 
vice, returned again to his former infamous 
practice, he was at length seized with the fits 
whilst walking in the streets; and he was 
found dead in his chamber, having fallen out 
of bed, bathed in his own blood. Mr. Mieg 
of Basil, in Switzerland, tells us, that the son 
of a merchant in that city, died at the age of 
fourteen,

[51] 
fourteen, after having baffled the skill of all 
the Helvetic physicians; his disorder was con- 
vulsions, and a sort of epilepsy, which derived 
its source from self-pollution. And the celebrat- 
ed Hoffman informs us of a young man, who, 
at the age of fifteen, having given way to self- 
pollution, which he continued till he was near 
twenty-three, was at that time afflicted with 
such a weakness in his eyes and head, that the 
former were often troubled with violent spasms 
at the time of ejaculation: that when he was 
willing to pay more than common attention to 
any thing, a kind of stupor, similar to intoxi- 
cation, succeeded; the pupil of the eye was 
greatly dilated, and he suffered exquisite tor- 
ture in that part; he involuntarily shed tears, 
and a large quantity of whitish matter collect- 
ed itself in the corners of his eyes, which were 
thereby rendered very painful. 
A MARRIED man applied to me, who ac- 
knowledged, that, in his youth, having much 
defiled himself by selt-pollution, he had 
brought on a running, which the cold bath, 
and many other remedies, did not remove; 
that in this situation no one suspected him of 
labouring under any bodily complaint, but his 
doctor, as he was fresh coloured, and natu- 
rally robust; and that meeting with a young 
lady, whose beauty enamoured him, he paid 
his addresses to her, and soon gained her con- 
sent. He had, however, some mortifying re- 
flections concerning his disorder; but being in 
hopes of a cure, and dreading the loss of his 
D2 mistress, 


[52]
mistress, if he had deferred the union, which 
he earnestly wished for, they were married. It 
was near four months after the ceremony that 
he applied to me, when he acknowledged, 
that he had been as yet unable to consummate 
his nuptials; for that he had a seminal dis- 
charge before a perfect erection; and that all 
endeavours, after the first attempt, only pro- 
duced a further loss of semen, without com- 
municating any strength to the penis: that he 
at first attributed this to the over-fondness he 
had for his wife, and that delicacy which 
sometimes throws a check upon a man in his 
highest vigour; and he therefore resolved to 
surmount what he then thought false modesty, 
by drinking a bottle extraordinary; but this, 
so far from remedying the evil, did but increase 
it; for he could procure no kind of erec- 
tion, and his seed came away as soon as he 
touched her nature. He was the more morti- 
fied at his disagreeable situation, as he believed 
his wife had made complaints to her mother, 
who had dropped some hints of a divorce, the 
thoughts of which tortured his soul more than 
the loss of life, fortune, and every thing else 
that was dear to him. This gentleman being 
naturally of a strong constitution, and having 
in every respect (except pollution) lived regu- 
larly and soberly, I performed a cure upon him 
in about five months; and a short time after 
he came to me with rapture, to tell me that 
his wife was pregnant.
THESE



[53]
These examples will be sufficient to evince 
the shocking effects of this baneful practice in 
the male sex; evils that are not solely confined 
to the body, but communicate their influence 
to the mind, which is hereby overwhelmed 
with anguish, melancholy, and despair, an in- 
capacity of business or even recreation, a dis- 
relish to all the comforts and solace of this life, 
and more particularly the female sex, whom 
at length they consider with horror, from a 
consciousness of having injured them in a most 
essential and irreparable manner. With these 
torturing reflections, and this incessant self- 
reproach, they appear as monuments of grief 
and misery, and lucky are those who do not 
terminate so shocking a career with even sui- 
cide, after having been the indirect destroyer 
of many others.
D3 SECTION

[54]
SECTION IV. 
Of the dreadful consequences of self-pol-
lution, and the gratification of the SAP- 
PHIC PASSION in the female sex. 
SORRY I am to be obliged to say, that 
the tender sex, the most amiable part of 
the creation, those for whom we are animated 
to glory, danger, and every enterprise which 
we think will recommend us to their regard; I
say, these desirable objects, who should meet us 
with mutual and warm embraces, and render 
our passions and our loves congenial, have 
their minds as well as bodies fequently ener- 
vated by shameful practices, which they think 
are entirely hidden from the world; but which 
are but too plainly depicted in their counte- 
nances, and by their frigid relish for genuine 
love, and their unnatural distaste to the male 
part of creation, for whom they were by Pro- 
vidence destined; for their bodies are by these 
filthy practices not only so weakened and ema- 
ciated, that they are often rendered barren, 
and thereby greatly prejudice society and po- 
sterity; but they at length contract an uncon- 
querable habit of this kind of gratification, 
which is always so ready at hand, and which 
they fancy they indulge themselves, without the 
danger of child-bearing, the loss of reputation. 
or

[55]
or the loss of health. In this they greatly 
deceive themselves; for the evil consequences 
of such practices are infinitely more dreadful 
than any of the dangers which terrify them 
from natural enjoyment. 
This ’tis true is a tender point to treat up- 
on; and it may be urged in their defence, that 
strong passions, a naturally amorous constitu- 
tion, the sight of accidental rencounters be- 
tween animals in the streets or fields, which 
may render their natural stimulations some- 
what inordinate, and scarce controulable, are 
great palliatives for what they may think an in- 
nocent amusement. Add to this their parents 
and relations, who have the care of them, do 
not consider how early these natural operations 
take place; that if they are thinking of a hus- 
band for a daughter, they are consulting rather 
the force of his pocket, than the strength of 
his constitution, and the risk a young woman 
runs in having any intercourse with a man be- 
fore marriage. It were to be wished, that pa- 
rents would consult the real happiness of their 
children, and not attempt to curb those de- 
sires that are laudable when directed in a pro- 
per channel, but rather endeavour to promote 
their gratification as far as they are reasonable. 
To this end, it would be prudent to provide a 
proper husband for a daughter as soon as she is 
marriageable, instead of letting her languish 
till she is five or six and twenty in hopes of a 
good match. Mothers should not attempt to 
persuade their daughters that they are mere 
D4 children

[56]
children, when they are as capable of being 
mothers as themselves, with no other view 
than that their real age may not be guessed at 
or discovered. Such artifices as these are con- 
stantly detected; and it would be much more 
to their credit to be young grandmothers than 
old coquettes. 
In England, and other northern climates, 
females do not attain the age of maturity so 
early as in more southern latitudes; so that in 
some parts of Asia women are almost past child 
bearing as early as some of cold constitutions 
in the northern parts of America have little 
more than attained the age of puberty. But 
in general females in England are capable of 
child-bearing about fifteen; and this is testi- 
fied by the downy marks of puberty upon their 
privities, the projection of their breasts, and 
their monthly purgations. Many have these 
signs upon them at thirteen and fourteen; and 
could therefore increase the number of our 
progeny from that time, till about the age of 
forty-five, which is the period when women 
in this part of the world usually discontinue 
having their menses, and are past child-bear- 
ing. It must therefore be very impolitic for 
a state to prevent a female being able to dis- 
pose of her person in wedlock till she become 
twenty-one, since, it is plain, she might in that 
time have produced six or seven subjects, the 
number of which constitute the most permanent 
riches, prosperity, and security of a king-
dom.
THUS


[57] 
THUS much I have said to palliate, if pos- 
sible, any errors in the conduct of the ladies, 
whose advocate I would willingly be upon 
every occasion; but let not any female imagine, 
that the most elaborate eloquence can ever ex- 
cuse their pursuing this abominable practice, 
which is the more baneful, as it may be said 
to be contagious, a single sinner, in this re- 
spect, having frequently corrupted a whole se- 
minary of, before, virtuous girls. 
THE dangers attending this practice are so 
various and dreadful, that they cannot be paint- 
ed in too lively colours; for even the instru- 
ment of gratification is sometimes as fatal as 
the future effects of repeated indulgence. To 
explain what I mean in this respect, I shall 
relate a fact of which I was an eye-witness, 
and could, if necessary, be attested by several 
other gentlemen of the faculty, as well as 
nurses, and other persons who are acquainted 
with the event. A young female, about the 
age of fourteen, who belonged to a certain 
laudable charity, a little north of St. Paul’s, 
but was not perceived to have so much of the 
woman about her as she really had (otherwise 
she would not have remained there) was 
brought into the sick ward whilst I attended, 
when she made excessive complaints of being 
in violent pain towards her back and loins, 
and which the nurse who attended her attri- 
buted to the stone in her bladder. I told her, 
I must examine her, which she seemed much, 
averse to, and it was with the utmost difficul-
D5 ty 


[58]
ty I could prevail upon her to let me make 
an inspection; but her bashfulness was at length 
conquered by her pain. Upon examining the 
pudendum, which bore the external marks of 
puberty, I found the lips much distended, and 
inflamed; and upon penetrating my finger, I 
felt something of a hard substance, which I at 
first imagined to be the clitoris in a state of 
more than common tension. I now told her, 
that I believed she had been guilty of some 
practices that had been very pernicious to her, 
and intreated her to tell me the truth. Upon 
thrusting against this opposing part, I found I 
greatly increased her pain, and I was convin- 
ced that she had forced something up the va- 
gina, from whence she could not withdraw it. 
I now begged her to tell me what it was, when 
she frankly told me, that she had been playing 
with a carrot, which had broke just at the time 
of ejaculation. She also owned, she had been 
frequently guilty of the practice, but had hi- 
therto escaped from such an accident. It was 
with great difficulty that I was able to extract 
it, and not without putting her to the most ex- 
cruciating pain. At length, however, I re- 
leased her, and brought out the thin end of a 
middle sized carrot, about five inches long. 
This fact requires no comment to show to 
what a pitch of mortifying shame, as well as 
torture, such acts as these frequently expose 
that sex, whom we are inclined to believe 
equally innocent, delicate, and chaste. 
In

[59]
In other respects, the danger to which wo- 
men expose themselves by this filthy practice, 
are very analagous to those which the men are 
liable to from this filthy practice. The hu- 
mour which is lost by females is not, it is true, 
so elaborate as the male semen, and may not 
therefore enfeeble the body so speedily; but 
when they are guilty of excesses, their nervous 
system being weaker than ours, and naturally 
more liable to spasms, the accidents arising 
therefrom are still more evident; they are also 
exposed to hysterical fits, and dreadful vapours;
to incurable jaundices; to violent cramps in 
the stomach and back; to acute pains in the 
nose; to the fluor albus, the accretion whereof 
is a continual source of the most smarting pain, 
to descents and ulcerations of the matrix, and 
to all the infirmities which these disorders bring 
on; to the furor uterinus, which at once de- 
prives them of decency and reason, and brings 
them to a level with the most lascivious brutes, 
a state in which they cannot long exist, as 
their vices and crimes, when arrived at this 
pitch, must soon terminate their days, though 
not their ignominy. 
A PRETTY woman, in the best state of 
health, who addicts herself to self-pollution, will 
find her charms presently decay, her eyes will 
become languid and dead, her complexion will 
fade, her body will fall away, and in a short 
time, if she perseveres in the practice, from 
an agreeable and  desirable object, she will 
become not only tasteless to the men, but even 
D6 disgustful

[60] 
disgustful to herself; and if it be true, as Ro- 
chefoucault says, That the last sighs of a fine 
woman are more for the loss of her beauty 
than her life, she will have the disagreeable 
task of anticipating this mortification in the 
very prime of youth. We are told by all the 
professors, who have written upon this sub- 
ject, that young people of either sex who ad- 
dict themselves to it will fall away and dimi- 
nish, instead of increase in their growth; and 
we often find young people of both sexes, but 
particularly females, who, being well made at 
the age of ten or twelve, become afterwards 
crooked, by the bending and weakness of the 
spine. 
I HAVE already mentioned the disgust that 
is created by this practice to natural pleasures, 
and it is still stronger in females than in our 
sex; for women, who have habituated them- 
selves to this practice, are always indifferent 
to the lawful duties of the conjugal bed, even 
when their inclinations and power still remain; 
and this indifference does not only induce ma- 
ny females to embrace a life of celibacy, but 
accompanies others that have been prevailed 
upon to enter upon the marriage-state; and 
we have the testimonies of many females, that 
this practice had gained so complete a domi- 
nion over their senses, that they detested the 
lawful means of assuaging the lusts of the flesh. 
A MARRIED woman made her case known, 
through the channel of her midwife, to a gen- 
tleman

[61]
tleman of the faculty, nearly as follows: When 
I was a young girl of between fifteen and six- 
teen, at the boarding-school, being enticed by 
some of my school-fellows, and particularly 
my bed-fellow, I began to penetrate those 
parts, which should never have been explor- 
ed but by a husband. This practice I stuck 
to till I was run away with by the musick-master 
at eighteen. It were needless to enumerate 
the difficulties I met with till my relations 
were reconciled to the match. Sufficient it is 
to say, I had four children by my husband in 
three years, two being twins; but they all 
died, and also my husband soon after. I was 
in state of widowhood for three years, and 
then I married with the approbation of my re- 
lations. Before this union, I found all my 
girlish inclinations come upon me, and not 
daring to risk any connection with a man, I 
repeated my boarding-school practice with 
such violence (particularly just before and after 
my monthly courses) that I made myself vio- 
lently force, and brought on such a bearing 
down of the womb, that it was with much 
difficulty I could walk. These complaints 
have increased since my last marriage; and, 
though four years have elapsed from that pe- 
riod, I have not been once pregnant. I have 
been prevailed upon by my husband to under- 
go a physician’s inspection; when he said, that 
my womb was very weak and slippery, and he 
was afraid I should never have any more children. 
He, however, prescribed the Bath water, and 
injections; but they have been of no service. 
I am


[62]
I am now really weakened by a white run- 
ning, which is very considerable, and with the 
bearing down, which frequently is very great, 
and occasions a continual pain in my womb, 
and in my back, whereby I am greatly fallen 
away; and what is remarkable, I have no 
manner of inclination for the act of procrea- 
tion, and very little or no pleasure in the act; 
which I am inclined to believe is as much the 
reason as any other of my incapacity of bear- 
ing children. I have, nevertheless, a good 
stomach, and sleep very well; and therefore 
it appears to me the more extraordinary, that 
I who used to be so amorous, and, to say the 
truth, so excessively desirous of conversing with 
my first husband in this way, should have no 
inclination in this respect to my present hus- 
band, notwithstanding I have a great regard 
for him. 
ANOTHER female, upon being much im- 
portuned by a man-midwife of eminence who 
visited her, at her husband’s request, at length- 
acknowledged, that she had commenced the 
filthy practice of self-pollution very young, and 
persevered in it till the time of her marriage, 
which took place when she was about twenty 
years of age: that she had always been very 
pale from the age of puberty, though before 
she had a fresh complexio; and that from a 
good state of health, she became very weakly, 
and never had her menses but four times till 
she was married; after which she still conti- 
nued her filthy practice, having much more 
gratification

[63] 
gratification in it than in her husband's em- 
braces, though he was a young vigorous man, 
and remarkably calculated to please the fair 
sex; that she had been equally a stranger to 
her courses and pregnancy, and was constant- 
ly ailing in other respects. Upon examining, 
her womb, she was found to have a continual 
oozing, and a great bearing down. 
A short time since, a young woman,, 
about seventeen years old, who had hitherto 
enjoyed a good state of health, was seized 
with an astonishing weakness; her powers 
daily diminished; in the day-time she was 
constantly overcome with drowsiness, and was 
at night unable to sleep; she lost her appetite, 
and a dropsical swelling spread all over her bo- 
dy. She consulted a skilful surgeon, who, af- 
ter he found that her menses were regular, sus- 
pected self-pollution. The effect of the first 
question he put to her confirmed the justness 
of his suspicion, and the patient then acknow- 
ledged it. 
A MARRIED woman, aged about forty- 
seven years, consulted a physician for barren- 
ness, from a laxness of muscular fibres of the 
vagina and uterus; but examining the case, 
and suspecting both from the character she 
bore, and from what she herself said, that it 
was not owing to any insufficiency in the hus- 
band, whom she publicly complained of, but 
to her own insatiable lust; for it plainly ap- 
peared her case was owing to friction: where-
fore,

[64]
fore, considering her age, and the little hopes 
of success upon such a patient, he refused 
meddling. 
A FEMALE patient of nineteen was of a 
sanguine complexion, and a hot and lustful 
temperament, which, overcoming the virtuous 
principles she had in her youth imbibed, was 
prompted to abuse herself by self-pollution. She 
had continued in this practice from the age of 
fourteen, not without frequent intervals of 
remorse at her unclean desires, never imagin- 
ing, however, that there was any sin or dan- 
ger in the act; but shuddered at the thoughts 
of a discovery, in case of marriage, from her 
husband, as she had not only broke away all 
the badge of virginity; but her womb was as 
much distended as if she had borne several chil- 
dren, by reason of the largeness of the instru- 
ments with which she used latterly to gratify 
her lust; and the more she followed the 
practice, the more her desires were heighten- 
ed. She was at length brought to a most 
shocking state, by nervous disorders, and par- 
ticularly those of the womb; in which state 
she applied to an eminent surgeon; but, alas!
she was so violently affected with a furor ute- 
rinus, that she would implore every man she 
met to asswage her lust, not only in obscene 
terms, but even by the most indecent actions; 
and her very surgeon, upon examining the 
parts, excited such violent sensations, that she 
could not restrain from importuning him to 
commit the act of coition ; but he not com- 
plying

[65]
plying with her request, she had recourse to 
self-pollution, which had such an effect upon 
the ovaria, that she shed some of the ova. In 
this condition she remained near four years, 
at the end of which time she died raving in 
one of those lascivious fits. Her body was af- 
terwards opened by some skilful surgeons, 
when the glans of the clitoris, or female pre- 
puce, which is the chief seat of pleasure in 
woman, was much larger than the natural 
size, and was invested with a sharp corroding 
watery humour, which they imagined must 
in that part itch to a prodigious degree, and 
create the insufferable titillation and desire: 
and they were also of opinion, that the acri- 
monious humour with which that part was af- 
fected had been attracted thither, by the fre- 
quent operations to gratify her lubidinous de- 
sires. She was naturally very handsome, and 
might have been an ornament to her sex, if 
she had not given way to this unnatural prac- 
tice; for it was this alone that brought on all 
her complaints. 
Another female patient, who had, in her 
early days, addicted herself to this abominable 
custom, was at length reduced to such a state, 
that when she leaned upon her elbows, or 
nsed any strength with her hands, they were 
quite benumbed, and her fingers would catch 
and draw up like the cramp. Her stomach 
appeared outwardly swelled, and she had vio- 
lent pains in it, which often made her feel as 
if she would choak, and made her seem as if
she

[66]
she was sore from her navel to her throat. She 
had racking pains in her back, between her 
loins, and under her shoulders. If she offer- 
ed to pull herself up, all her bones would 
snap, which might be heard standing near her. 
If at any time she turned her head on one side, 
or offered to talk much, it greatly hurt her.
The hollow of her stomach, and under her 
shoulders, seemed inwardly swelled, and fulL 
of pain. Her hands were seldom warm, and 
the bones of her insteps at night were much 
swelled, and very painful. After sleeping, 
she awoke with great numbness in her arms; 
and if she happened to be on her back, with 
a great pain in her heels. When she wanted 
to walk, she was ready to swoon with the 
numbness in her loins, pain in her back and 
stomach. Her shoulders sometimes seemed as 
if they were stuck full of pins; and it was 
with much difficulty she could move either of 
her hands to her head, which made her be- 
lieve she had strained something within her. 
Towards the evening, she had prodigious 
flushings in the face, which made her head 
beat as if full of pulses, whereby her eyes were 
greatly weakened, and her sight much im- 
paired. When she awoke in a morning, she 
was very dry, and her tongue very white, 
with great inward heat and drought, and much 
inclined to vomit, and sick fits, accompanied 
with giddiness. She was very apprehensive of 
an ulcer in her womb, or kidnies, as she had 
violent pains in these parts. This, upon ex- 
amination, appeared to be the case; and she 
soon

[67]
soon after fell a martyr to her lustful and un- 
natural indulgences. 
In the course of these examples, the reader 
must have observed, that female invention is 
more prolific than man’s, even in sin; and 
that though self-pollution in the male sex has 
scarce ever been known to be practised any 
otherwise than by manual friction, female sin- 
ners have, avowedly, made use of various fo- 
reign instruments to gratify their inordinate 
lusts: but besides these applications, it is well 
known, that there is another species of pollu- 
tion among the females, which may be call- 
ed clitorical, the origin of which may be tra- 
ced so far back as the time of the second 
Sappho, and from her derives its name of the
Sapphic passion. Some women are by nature, 
but more by vicious practices, so formed, as to 
have some resemblance to man: this has given 
rise to the erroneous opinion, which, in some 
degree, still prevails, that there are such be- 
ings as hermophrodites. The uncommon size 
of a part, which is naturally very small, and 
whereupon Monsieur Tronchin has furnished 
us a very elaborate description, is the case of 
those supposed phenomena, and the shameful 
abuse of the part, in this respect, all the evil. 
There may have been some females, who, per- 
haps, thought themselves more than women, 
and glorying in the functions of a double sex,
usurped the province of men. Others may, 
perhaps, have been prompted, by curiosity, to 
the same kind of essays; but most votaries to the 
Sapphic


[68]
Sapphic passion are those, who, by frequent 
and violent self-pollution, have forced nature 
out of her common path; and lust being ge- 
nerated by lust, their inordinate desires can- 
not be gratified, but by still more unnatural 
practices. 
I have seen a letter, written by a young 
lady of only eighteen, who had many mental 
endowments, learning, and naturally a great 
share of beauty, wherein she relates the cause 
and progress of her crimes and disorders: she 
says, “ To be ingenuous, I had been guilty of 
“ this nasty practice (meaning self-pollution) 
“ from the time I was twelve years old. A 
“ young female servant at my father’s, who 
“ was of an amorous complexion, yet dread- 
“ ing any commerce with the men, first 
“ taught it me. Frequent, and almost in- 
“ cessant repetition, at length produced such 
“ a bearing down of my womb as greatly 
“ terrified me; but Sally appeased my fears, 
“ by telling me, that she had been in the 
“ same state, and it went away again; and 
“ now, she said, we might act like man and 
“ wife, and that there would be full as much 
“ pleasure as if we were really so. But I soon 
“ became so weak, that I could not walk, 
“ and in a short time I had such violent pains 
“ in my back, my womb, and particularly 
“ the offending part, which continues still 
“ to hang out, notwithstanding what Sally 
“ said, that I am afraid I shall never be well 
“ again. But what terrifies more than all is. 
“ that

[69] 
“ that my father has taken pains to get a 
“ husband for me, imagining, I believe, my 
“ paleness and weakness are occasioned by 
“ my being kept from man; and a young 
“ gentleman of fortune is now paying his ad- 
“ dresses to me: I am frighted out of my wits 
“ at the discovery he will make the first: 
“ night; and, indeed, I would rather be 
“ with Sally than the handsomest man in 
“ England, &c. &c. &c.” 
THUS we find, that the danger of this kind 
of pollution is not less than that of the other 
sorts of masturbation: the effect are, indeed, 
equally shocking, as all these paths lead to ema- 
ciation, languor, pain, and even death: but 
this last species deserves the greater attention, 
as it is now so common, and there are many 
women who are known to love girls with as 
much fondness as ever did the most passionate 
of men, and conceive the most poignant jea- 
lousy, when they were addressed by the male 
sex, upon the subject of love or tender dalli- 
ance. 
I SHALL make no apology for transcribing 
here that part of Dr Quincy’s translation 
of Carr’s Medicinal Epistles, relative to two 
nuns, who were reported to have changed 
their sex, being so pertinent and illustrative to 
the subject under, consideration. 
“ I SHOULD blush, perhaps, from too 
“ much modesty, to concern myself in a sto- 
“ ry

[70]
“ ry that is not a very chaste one, had not a 
“ professor of divinity given it to the world 
“ in print, and a college of cardinals inquired 
“ into it. This gives me some assurance, and 
“ guards me from any imputations of indecen- 
“ cy. I shall therefore not write any thing 
“ out of wantonness, or omit any thing ma- 
“ terial upon the account of modesty. It is 
“ an unhappiness, that you have fixed upon 
“ me to account for so unnatural a phenome- 
“ non in nature. You would greatly have 
“ obliged the learned world, had you prevail- 
“ ed upon the Honourable Mr. Boyle, who 
“ is a finished philosopher, to have under- 
“ taken this work, though I am not, indeed, 
“ without hopes, that as soon as this strange 
“ story is related to him, he will think it 
“ worth his skilful inquiry; for such is his 
“ consummate learning, and which will be 
“ to his eternal honour, such are his inclina- 
“ tions to instruct others, that he will be pro- 
“ voked not to suffer such an extraordinary 
“ case, to escape the notice of the ablest phi- 
“ losopher. 
“ You acquaint me in your letter, that it 
“ is reported at Rome, that two nuns, in a 
“ monastery, were changed in such a man- 
“ ner, as to be suspected of virility. The re- 
“ port reached the pope’s ears, who, upon 
“ such an extraordinary occasion, ordered 
“ some cardinals to inquire into the truth of 
“ it. After their search, they affirmed, that 
“ the nuns were grown in such a manner, as 
“ to

[71]
“ to have changed their sex; in testimony of 
“ which you say, the cardinals commanded 
“ them to be expelled the monastery; and 
“ that, at that time, they had changed 
“ their dress, and took upon themselves the 
“ employ of men. 
“ I wonder what could induce his ho- 
“ liness to commit the inspection of that affair 
“ to his cardinals, who are no way conversant 
“ in the difference of sexes. It is true, in- 
“ deed, that the reputation of their integrity 
“ would prevent all manner of suspicion as to 
“ their report; but yet their unspotted chasti- 
“ ty, joined with shame and modesty, could 
“ never suffer them to make such a nice in- 
“ quiry, as the nature of such a thing de- 
“ manded. 
“ Persons who read this account may, 
“ perhaps, be divided into different opinions, 
“ and both of them wrong. Some who have 
“ a considence in the integrity of the cardi- 
“ nals may not, upon that account, disbe- 
“ lieve it; but, as it exceeds the wonted 
“ bounds of nature, take it for a miracle. 
“ Others may wholly disbelieve it, as it so 
“ far exceeds the reach of nature, that, as 
“ miracles are ceased, it must be impossible; 
“ and as they are under no obligation to dis- 
“ believe impossibilities, so they will not be- 
“ lieve this. 
“ I would

[72] 
“ I WOULD satisfy both these kinds of 
“ readers, and by you I doubt not, in such 
“ intricacies, it will be well taken, that I 
“ have endeavoured to do my best. The one, 
“ that the excursion of nature, which you 
“ call a change of sex, is no way to be ac- 
“ counted an impossibility, from the structure 
“ of the parts of generation: and the other, 
“ that such a wonderful phænomenon does not 
“ exceed the bounds of nature, nor is it so 
“ unfrequent as to deserve to be reckoned a 
“ miracle. He must be a stranger to the power 
“ of nature, who thinks she cannot do some- 
“ times, what she thinks not fit to do often. 
“ WHOSEVER thinks these two nuns 
“ have changed their sex, is under a mistake; 
“ all that gives any ground for such an opini- 
“ on is the uncommon increase of the cli- 
“ toris, which, as it is used to frequent irri- 
“ tations, thrusts out, and enlarges its de- 
“ mensions, not unlike to a human penis. I 
“ am unwilling to be so censorious with rela- 
“ tion to these nuns, who profess a severer 
“ way of living, and a more constant attend- 
“ ance at their devotion, as to suspect their 
“ lasciviousness should prompt them to an un- 
“ usal exercise of those parts, by which they 
“ might increase their bulk, according to Mar- 
“ tial, 
“ Mentiturque virum prodigiosa venut,
“ because there are instances of the same in 
“ infants themselves, who cannot be supposed 
“ guilty of such wanton practices. 
“ Nor

[73]
“ Nor can I be of opinion, that these per- 
“ sons were men from the first; because if 
“ they had counterfeited their habits to gratify 
“ their lust in such a place, there would have 
“ happened some discoveries of it, which there 
“ has not done; and therefore no such thing 
“ ought to be suspected. Besides, such a con- 
“ jecture cannot take place, when we con- 
“ sider their breasts are like those of other wo- 
“ men, and were so at their admistion into 
“ the convent, and continue so still. 
“ THE inquisitive Regneur de Graef, in 
“ his book upon the female organs, upon the 
“ head de clitoriæ, takes notice of the clitoris 
“ of an infant to come so near the member of 
“ virility in the other sex, as to deceive the 
“ nurse, and the more skilful gossips, who 
“ took it for a male child, and in its baptism 
“ named it accordingly; and that the mistake 
“ was not detected till after its death, upon 
“ an accurate defection of the body, of which, 
“ the same author gives an account. 
“ The clitoris, in some adult persons, is 
“ seen to hang out beyond the labiœ, or 
“ the openings of the thighs. There is a di- 
“ stemper called furor uterinus, which some- 
“ times arises from this cause, that in walk- 
“ ing, or other exercise, the clitoris is rub- 
“ bed by the cloaths, and excites such extra- 
“ vagant desires as puts them out of all shame 
“ and modesty, and stimulates them to a de- 
“ gree of madness to venereal embraces. 
E THIS 


[74]
“ This uncommon growth of the clitoris is 
“ so frequent in some eastern countries, that 
“ the more skilful surgeons have found out a 
“ method of amputating it, and to take it 
“ away from a person about to marry, left it 
“ should be a hindrance in coition; nor is 
“ the reason for such a growth very difficult 
“ to be assigned: first, Because the fury of 
“ lust wonderfully distends the nerves and ar- 
“ teries, and particularly, above any other 
“ parts, blows up those organs with spirits 
“ and heat. Upon coition, real or imagina- 
“ ry, those of a man are blown up and ex- 
“ tended by a plentiful influx of blood 
“ and animal spirits, from the titillation 
“ which attends it, as if nature was pro- 
“ digal in her care for a supply of those parts. 
“ Secondly, The cavity of the part wherein 
“ it is situated (as if it were not to be con- 
“ fined to narrow bounds, which would hin- 
“ der its increase) facilitates its growth; and 
“ as it is placed where there is room enough, 
“ it can enlarge itself on every side, whereby 
“ its vessels are prolonged, and receive nou- 
“ rishiment on all parts. 
“ Upon a comparison of the male and fe- 
“ male organs, you will not find them to dif- 
“ fer so much as you at first imagined, ex- 
“ cepting that those of a man are thrown out 
“ with a more vigorous heat; whereas those 
“ of a woman, by a defect in that respect, are 
“ only to be perceived inwardly. The cli- 
“ toris of a woman, upon turning out, would 
2 “ resemble

[75] 
“ resemble a scrotum, and the two ovaries an- 
“ nexed to the sides of its bottom, with what 
“ they include, would make up the number 
“ of the testicles. The clitoris is shaped like 
“ a penis; it has the same source of pleasure, 
“ stretches out, and relaxes in the same man- 
“ ner again; it also ends in a gland, but wants 
“ a cavity; which is no wonder, because it 
“ does not serve for the discharge of any thing, 
“ as it oozes out its contents more conveni- 
“ ently into the aperture of the neck of the 
“ bladder: but was that aperture to be closed, 
“ as it is in men, then, in an erection, it 
“ would necessarily find some other out-let 
“ towards the end of its gland; for the ves- 
“ sels of all kinds are first formed by the im- 
“ pulse of some circulating flux; where the 
“ flux is obstructed, it forms a cell, and ves- 
“ sels where it circulates. 
“ In our first formation, when the genital 
“ parts hardly exceed the point of a needle, 
“ difference of sex depends upon very 
“ nice circumstances; but when persons are 
“ grown up, it is the most difficult thing in 
“ he world, to believe there can be a thorough 
“ change from one sex to the other, as the 
“ poets relate of Teresia: but there is more 
“ reason to think, that the largeness of the
“ clitoris, by its likeness to a human pe- 
“ nis might deceive the inquirers into this 
“ matter; or that they were men from the 
“ first formation; but that the genital parts, 
“ by some defect in the first rudiments, not 
E2 “ obtain

[76]
“ obtaining a due protrusion, upon the in- 
“ crease of strength and venereal titillation, 
“ broke forth, and seemed to grow afresh. 
“ We have frequent instances of nature's 
“ excursions in those parts. There is a very 
“ remarkable story of a child born some time 
“ since, in a village near the mountain called 
“ Grandvaux, in France, in all other respects 
“ like other children, who bad those parts 
“ which distinguish its sex perfectly like a 
“ man; the pubes were grown over with 
“ thick hair, and he frequently had all the 
“ motions of lasciviousness, with an erection 
“ for coition, especially when waking from 
“ sleep, and, before he was two years old, his 
“ parents were advised not to suffer him to 
“ be with his sisters or maids, left that should 
“ happen at two years of age, which Hi- 
“ eronymus wondered at in twelve or thir- 
“ teen. 
“ NATURE refuses to be circumscribed in
“ her operations, but she has never been known 
“ to make such excursions as this must have
“ been; we ought therefore to stand in won- 
“ der at her great regularity, because of our 
“ inability in following her through all her 
“ works. 
FROM hence It may plainly be adduced,
that these religious young ladies had some avo- 
cations from their prayers of a more sensual 
nature; and I think there can no doubt re-
main 


[77]
main of their frequent gratisications of the 
Sapphic passion. It is true, that some wo- 
men have naturally a greater protusion of the 
clitoris than others; but scarce any were ever 
known to have the projection and erection of 
this part so far resemble a penis, as not only 
to be capable of the act of coition, but even 
to be pronounced of the male sex. The an- 
tients called these women fricatrices and subi- 
gatrices; and modern times have produced 
instances in Romish countries, of punishments 
having been inflicted for this abuse of na- 
ture. The Arabians have still more refined 
notion upon this head; and in Creophagi 
they actually circumcise the women thus 
afflicted, by cutting away a certain apophosis 
of musculous skin, that descends from the su- 
perior parts of the matrix, and is subject to 
erection in the act of coition. We are told 
by Lusitanus, that a very pious virgin had 
a very propended clitoris, which so pro- 
voked her to venery, by its only unavoidable 
friction against her linen and thighs as she 
moved, that gave her great trouble and af- 
fliction; insomuch, that, with the consent 
of her parents, this physician was applied to, 
in order to make an amputation of it, which, 
he adds, was accordingly performed. 
ACCORDING to some ancient histories of 
France, there was people who inhabited near 
Languedoc, the females of which had most 
amazing clitorises, insomuch, that they could 
perform either the man or the woman’s part 
E3 in

[78] 
in the act of coition, and communicated near- 
ly as much pleasure to the female, who was in 
this respect the patient, as a male agent; in 
consequence of which laws were framed to 
leave them to their choice, in which capacity 
they would act; but having once chosen, 
they were liable to severe punishments if they 
introduced any variety in their copulative ope- 
rations. Modern writers tell us, that upon 
the confines of the mouth of the river Missis- 
sippi, whose source is in the gulph of Mexico, 
there is a people similar to these females. I 
cannot, however, assent to these phenomena, 
till such time as I have further conviction of 
their reality, or better authority than the re- 
ports of these writers to credit their exist- 
ence. 
But upon the principles already set forth, 
the propension of this part may be accounted 
for; so that when Plauterius, a physician, tells 
us, that he had seen a woman have a clitoris 
hang out as long as a goose neck; or when 
Plempius relates, that one Helena lay with se- 
veral women, and actually gained the virgini- 
ty of many maids; these relations are not so 
incredible. The following story is also very 
well attested by several French physicians: 
“ A certain young lady at Toulose had a re- 
“ laxation of the vagina, resembling a man's 
“ penis, and some asserted that she used it in 
“ that way, it being six inches in length, and 
“ four in circumference in the middle, where 
“ it was very hard. It gradually increased 
“ from


[79]
“ from her childhood. She was examined 
“ by the physicians of that city, who were 
“ unanimously of opinion, that it was a real 
“ penis; whereupon the town magistrates 
“ ordered her to wear the dress of a man. In 
“ this habit she came to Paris, but thought 
“ proper to throw off the male dress, in order 
“ to gain admission into a nunnery, where she 
“ spent the remainder of her days. 
I shall make no comment upon the pro- 
priety of admitting a person of her form and 
disposition into a seminary of this nature, or 
the danger of her inspiring many (before) vir- 
tuous nuns with the most lascivious desires. 
Had the account of the two holy sisters, who 
Were supposed to have changed their sex, not 
been wrote long before this affair happened, I 
should have been inclined to believe that this 
young lady was one of them ; however, it 
seems, that a soft chin, and a female dress, 
will find admission into these religious socie- 
ties; if so, and such ladies as this, are receiv- 
ed, I cannot imagine there would be any great 
difficulty for a young men with but little 
beard to gain admission, as he might, probab- 
ly, if necessary, more easily conceal the part 
that might preclude him, than this young lady 
could its resemblance. 
Mr. COWPER, the surgeon, furnishes us 
with the following case of a woman, whose 
husband could never make any penetration, 
when he endeavoured to cohabit with her, but 
E4 into

[80]
into the urinary passage, vagina being so 
uncommonly closed, that he could not, with 
the most vigorous erection, gain admission 
with his penis. 
“ I was called upon to a married woman 
“ about twenty years of age, whose lower 
“ belly was distended as if with child. Upon 
“ examining the pudendum, I found the 
“ hymen altogether impervious, and driven 
“ out beyond the labia pudendi, in such a 
“ manner, that, at first sight, it appeared not 
“ unlike a prolapsus uteri. In the upper part, 
“ towards the clitoris, we found the orifice 
“ of the meatus urinarius, or urinary passage, 
“ very open, and its sides extended not un- 
“ like the anus, or cloaca of a cock, that, 
“ without any difficulty, I could put up my 
“ finger into the bladder of urine. On divid- 
“ ing the hymen, at least a gallon of grumous 
“ blood, of divers colours and consistencies, 
“ came from her, which was the retained 
“ menstrua. The next day, no less quantity 
“ of the same matter flowed upon taking out 
“ the pessary, which I had put in the day be- 
“ fore. After three or four days, she was 
“ easy, and soon after recovered, and with- 
“ in a year after was delivered of a healthy 
“ child. Her husband told us, that, tho’ 
“ lying with her at first (before this opera- 
“ tion) was painful to himself as well as to 
“ her, yet at last he had a more easy admis- 
“ sion, which could be no other way than in 
“ the meatus urinarius. It seems something 
“ uncommon,

[81]
“ uncommon, that her urinary passage should 
“ so dilate itself, as to let in the erected pe- 
“ nis, by no more than the force of an erec- 
“ tion could afford. This history evinces, 
“ that this woman’s hymen was not only a 
“ strong membrane, and could make resist- 
“ ance to that force which overcame the mea- 
“ tus urinarius, and sphincter of the bladder, 
“ which is considerably strong, but by ad- 
“ mitting of so great a dilatation, as to hang, 
“ out extra pudendum, shews, that the struc- 
“ ture of it is fibrous, and consequently ca- 
“ pable of great distentions. There was an- 
“ other young woman, who laboured under 
“ the same misfortune of having an obsti- 
“ nate hymen, insomuch, that her husband, 
“ though a healthful strong young man, could 
“ make no penetration; but she chose rather 
“ to have her marriage disanulled than in- 
“ dure the operation, being deterred by the 
“ shame of exposing her body, and the dis- 
“ courses that may be raised upon it; for that 
“ a lady’s being reviewed by the judge’s or- 
“ der at Paris, by the most noted physician 
“ and there, upon a contest about her 
“ virginity, gave occasion for their fans and 
“ snuff-boxes being painted afterwards with 
“ indecent postures.
These observations of Mr. Cowper are 
no way unnatural, but are supported by fre- 
quent experience; but I cannot give credit 
to Montius, when he tells us, that a wo- 
man, who had an uncommon large clitoris,
E5 but


[82]
but who, nevertheless, had brought forth seve- 
ral children, often ravished her own maid- 
servants, and more than once got them with 
child. This is somewhat similar to the ac- 
count we meet with in the Scottish trials of a 
young woman, who got her master’s daugh- 
ter with child, of which she was convicted, 
condemned, and executed. But we need not 
be surprized at such credulity and injustice, 
when we reflect how very lately innocent wo- 
men have been accused, convicted, and put 
to death for witchcraft. Our enlightened age 
should equally explode both these impositions, 
which might be well suited to the barbarous 
times of ignorance and superstition. 
From what has been said, let every fe- 
male consider the imminent danger to which 
they expose themselves, and the dreadful ac- 
cidents that arise from these unnatural and 
filthy practices, as besides all the horrors and 
diseases to which the male sex are exposed by 
self-pollution (and which they are required 
to peruse for their own advantage, as it would 
be unnecessary to repeat them here) they un- 
avoidably break down the barrier of virginity, 
which must be detected by their husband when- 
ever they marry; and indeed frequently oc- 
casion such extraordinary bearings down of 
the clitoris, as render them incapable of coition 
with them. It were, therefore, to be wished, 
that every woman, who is so viciously disposed 
as to defile herself, or let herself be defil- 
ed

[83]
ed by another, might meet with as obstinate 
a hymen as Mr. Cowper’s patient, a hymen 
inflexible to every unnatural instrument that 
might promise her the gratification of her 
lust.
E6 SEC- 

[84]
SECTION V. 
Of the disorders incident to the female sex, 
and the most approved methods of cure. 
AFTER what has been said concerning 
the filthy, shameful, and destructive prac- 
tices of the women, by themselves, or amongst 
each other, which occasion such a variety of 
evils and disorders, it were but justice to the 
sex to own, that, from their natural forma- 
tion and disposition, and the incidental casual- 
ties attending pregnancy and child-bearing, 
they are subject to many afflictions in various 
respects, analogous to those mentioned in the 
former section, and from which the men are 
entirely exempted; and therefore I think it 
necessary to explain myself upon these heads in 
this section. 
The whites are a soul excretion from the 
womb, commonly attendant upon weak wo- 
men, oftentimes after hard labour, sometimes 
during pregnancy, and frequently in a virgin 
state. This disorder is a distillation of a variety 
of corrupt humours through the womb, flow- 
ing from different parts of the body. This 
oozing is of many colours, sometimes black- 
ish, yellowish, geenish, reddish, and bluish. 
Having no periodical flux, as the regular men- 
sis, its returns are disorderly and uncertain. 
PHYSICIANS

[85]
PHYSCIANS attribute the cause of this dis- 
order sometimes to a general weakness or ca- 
cochymia; and sometimes to a partial debili- 
ty, as in the liver, which by the inability of 
the sanguinificative faculty, occasions a ge- 
neration of corrupt blood. In this case the 
matter is reddish, when the gall is remiss in its 
office, not drawing away the choleric super- 
fluities which are engendered in the liver. 
When the spleen does not sufficiently perform 
its office in cleansing the blood of the dregs 
and excrementitious parts, it then is blackish. 
Sometimes it is occasioned by catarrhs in the 
head, or from any other member that is in a 
disordered state. When the flowing is whit- 
ish, the cause resides in the reins or the sto- 
mach: if in the reins, it is occasioned by their 
being overheated, which causes the sperma- 
tic matter, by reason of its tenuity, to flow 
involuntarily: but when the stomach is the 
seat of the complaint, it is occasioned by crude 
and vitiated matter remaining there undi- 
gested, by reason of melancholy, or some 
stomachic complaint; and this vitiated matter 
is communicated to the womb by the liver, or 
instead of being appropriated to chyle. 
If this disorder be occasioned by the distil- 
lation of the brain, let the patient take syrup 
of betony, stæchas, and marjoram, and purge 
with pillococh. Take the juice of sage, hy- 
sop, betony, nexelle, with one drop of oil 
of cloves, and a little silk cotton, with which 
make napalia. Take elect, dianth, aromat. ro- 
sar,


[86]
sar. diambre diamoci dulcis, of each one 
dram; of nutmeg, half a dram; with 
sugar and betony water, make lozenges, 
which are to be taken night and morning. 
Half a dram of auriæ Alexandrinæ going to 
bed, will also be useful. 
In case the oozing is of a reddish colour, 
phlebotomy in the arm is proper; otherwise 
apply ligatures to the arms and shoulders. 
Galen prescribes a friction of honey to the 
upper parts. 
If the disorder proceed from crudities in 
the stomach, or from a cold disordered liver, 
take every morning a decoction of lignum sac- 
tum; and a purgation of pill, de agarico, de 
hermodact. de hiera diacolocynthid, fœdita 
agragrative. Take of elect. aromat. ros. two 
drams, citron pills dried, nutmeg, long- 
pepper, of each one scruple, diagalinga one 
dram, santali alba, ligni aloes, of each 
half a scruple, sugar six ounces, and with 
mint-water make lozenges of them, which 
are to be taken after meals. When the dis- 
order arises from the liver, and there is at the 
same time a repression of the stomach, eme- 
tics are eligible, and they may be composed 
of three drams of the elect of diaaru. Some 
physicians also prescribe the dieurical method, 
with phosolinum, opium., &c. 
When the oozing arises from melancho- 
lious, prepare with syrup of maidenhair, 
epithimum,


[87] 
epithimum, polipody, burrage, begloss, fu- 
metory, hart’s-tongue, and syrup bystanti- 
num, which must be prepared without vine- 
gar, otherwise it will rather increase the dis- 
order, than assist nature in its removal. The 
proper pills for purgation, are pilulæ eumariæ, 
pilulæ indæ, pilulæ de lap. lazuli, dasena, and 
confectio hameigh. Of stampt prunes take 
two ounces, senna one dram, epithimum, 
polipody, fumetory, of each one dram and 
an half, four dates one ounce, with endive 
water, make a decoction, take of it four 
ounces, to which add confectioni hamich 
three drams manna three drams, orelsi, pil. 
indat. phil. fætidarum, agarici trochiscati, 
one scruple each, lap. lazuli, five grains, with 
syrup of erithimum, make pills, one of which 
is to be taken hebdomedally. 
When the cause of the flux is choleric, 
prepare with syrup of endive, violets, succory, 
roses, and purge with mirabolans, manna, 
rhubarb, and cassia. Of rhubarb take two drams, 
anniseed one dram; cinnamon one scruple; 
infuse them in six ounces of prune broth; 
add to the straining of manna an ounce, to be 
taken secundem artem. Take of spiciecum
diatrion santalon, diatragacant. frig. diarrhod. 
abbatis, diaconit, of each one dram, sugar 
four ounces, and with plantain water make 
lozenges. 
But particularly let the womb be cleansed 
from corrupt matter, and be strengthened; 
for

[88]
for the cleansing whereof make injections of 
the decoction of betony, fetherfew, mug- 
wort, spikenard, bistort, mercury, sage, ad- 
ding thereto sugar, oil of sweet almonds, of 
each an ounce. The womb should be strength- 
ened with trochisks made in the following 
manner: take of myrrh, fetherfew, mug- 
wort, nutmegs, mace, amber, ligni aloes, 
storax, red roses, of each one ounce, with mu- 
cilage of tragacanth. The trochisks being thus 
prepared, cast them on the coals, and smother 
the womb therewith. Likewise fermentations 
for the womb may be used, made of red wine, 
after mastich, fine bole, balustia, and red roses 
have been decocted therein. The best is a 
dry regimen, this distemper being occasioned 
by phlegmatic and crude humours. Too 
much sleep is also pernicious; and, on the 
other hand, moderate exercise is eligible. 
I have been the more circumstantial in 
prescribing for the cure of this disorder, as it 
is more general than may be thought, and 
is, indeed, concomitant with a weak or over 
delicate constitution: therefore ladies of this 
complexion should pay the greatest attention 
to removing the complaint before it makes 
too great a progress. To this end, I would 
have every female who finds herself subject to 
this affliction examine strictly, whether or 
not her suspicions are well founded, and to 
keep the parts particularly clean, by washing 
with luke-warm water, at least every other 
day. Besides the satisfaction it must afford 
3 every

[89]
every female to know the real situation of her 
own body, and, if disordered, timely to re- 
medy it, there is nothing which is more 
productive of health in this respect; and, as a 
proof of it, an additional gratification will 
arise therefrom in the act of copulation, and 
it will greatly tend to the improvement of their 
complexion. The disorders relative to the 
monthly courses are so very analogous to the 
former, that many have called the whites the 
false courses, though, in fact, they arise from 
a different source. Nature has made provision 
for the nourishment of children during their 
recess in the womb of their mother, by that 
redundancy of blood which is natural to all 
women, and which flowing out at certain pe- 
riods of time, when they are not pregnant, 
are from thence called terms, and menses, 
from their monthly flux of excrementitious 
and unprofitable blood. As to this flux being 
excrementitious, is to be understood only with 
regard to the redundancy and overplus of it, 
as it is in no other way an excrement than 
with respect to quantity, being, in point of 
quality, as pure and incorrupt as any blood in 
the veins; and this appears by its final destina- 
tion, the propagation and conservation of 
mankind; as also by its generation, being the 
superfluity of the last aliment of the fleshy parts. 
These monthly purgations usually commence 
about the fourteenth year, and continue to the 
forty-fifth, but not without frequent intervening 
suppressions, which are sometimes natural, and 
sometimes morbific. They are natural in preg- 
nant women, and those who give suck; but 
when

[90] 
when morbific, they are occasioned by an in- 
terruption of that accustomary evacuation of 
blood which should monthly flow from the 
matrix, and which proceed from the matter 
being vitiated. The cause is, in this case, 
either internal or external: the internal cause 
either instrumental or material, in the blood, 
or in the womb. The blood may be faulty 
two ways, in quantity, or in quality: in 
quantity, when it is so consumed, that there is 
not an overplus left, as in viragoes, and all 
other virile women, who, through their heat 
and strength of nature, digest and consume all 
their best nourishment. The blood may also 
be consumed, and the terms suppressed by too 
much bleeding at the nose; likewise by a flux 
of the hemorrhoids, by a dysenteria, evacua- 
tions, chronical and continual disorders. And 
the matter may also be vicious in quality, as 
when sanguineous, phlegmatical, bilious, or 
melancholious; each of these, if they offend 
in grossness, will cause an obstruction in the 
veins. The defect may likewise, for various 
reasons, reside in the womb, as, by the nar- 
rowness of the veins and passages, by a post- 
humes, tumours, ulcers, and by over much 
cold and heat, the one vitiating the action, 
the other confirming the matter; also by an 
evil composition of the matter; likewise by an 
evil composition of the uterine parts, by the 
neck of the womb being turned aside, and 
sometimes, though but rarely, by a membrane 
or excrescence of flesh growing about the 
Womb. The external cause may be heat or 
dryness


[91}
dryness of the air, immoderate walking, great 
labour, violent motion, whereby the matter 
is so consumed, and the body is so exhausted, 
that there is no redundant blood remaining to 
be expelled; whence it is recorded of the Ama- 
zons, that being active, and always in mo- 
tion, they had little or no monthly fluxes. It 
may also be caused by cold, and most frequent- 
ly is so, the blood being thereby rendered vi- 
tious and gross, condensing and binding up the 
passages, that it cannot flow forth. If the 
suppression be natural, and caused by concep- 
tion, it may be known by drinking of honey 
and water after supper, going to bed; for if, 
after taking it, the woman feel a bearing pain 
about the navel, and the lower parts of the 
belly, it is a sign she hath conceived, and that 
the suppression is natural. If she does not find 
this effect from drinking of the honey and wa- 
ter, she may conclude it to be vitious, and 
should immediately endeavour to promote the 
return of the menses, in the manner hereafter 
prescribed; otherwise the efFects may be very 
dangerous, as this suppression may occasion 
swimmings, faintings, intermission of pulse, 
obstructions, chachexies, jaundice, dropsies, 
hardness of the spleen, epilepsies, apoplexies, 
phrensy, melancholy, &c. Evacuations are 
in this case proper; and therefore in the 
middle of the menstrual period, it will be pro- 
per to open the liver vein; and for the rever- 
sion of the humour two days after the usual 
evacuation, open the saphena vein of both 
feet; and if the repletion be not great, apply 
cupping

[92]
cupping glasses to the legs and thighs. After 
phlebotomy, the humours must be prepared, 
and made flexible with syrup of stœchas, hare- 
hound, hyssop, betony, maidenhair, mug- 
wort, and sumitory; then let a bath be made 
of rue, fetherfew, marjoram, savin, bay leaves, 
pennyroyal, camomile, and juniper berries. 
After which take of the leaves of nep, betony, 
succory, maidenhair, of each one handful, 
make a decoction, of which take three ounces; 
syrup of mugwort, succory, maidenhair, mix 
of each half an ounce; and when the patient 
comes out of the bath, let her drink it all; 
then purge with the following pill, de agaric, 
elephang. coch. fœtid. Galen, in this case, 
commends pilula de hiera cum colycintida, as 
being proper to purge the offending humour; 
they are calculated to open the passages of the 
womb. If the patient’s stomach be overcharg- 
ed, let her take a vomit; but let it be prepar- 
ed in such a manner, as to operate also as a 
cathartic, left the humours should be too much 
turned back, by working only upwards; 
wherefore take of trochisk of agaric two 
drams, infuse them in three ounces of oxi- 
mel, in which dissolve benedict. laxat. half an 
ounce, and of the electuary of diasarum one 
scruple, which is to be taken as a purgative. 
When the humour hath in this manner been 
purged, more efficacious and forcible reme- 
dies may be applied, such as the extract of 
mugwort one scruple and a half, musk ten 
grains, trochisks of myrrh one dram and an 
half, rinds of cassia, parsley-seed, castor, of 
each

[93] 
each one scruple, to be taken with the juice of 
smallage, or going to bed. The lower parts 
should also be administered to by fumigation, 
pessaries, unctions, injections, and insessions; 
make suffumigations of amber, galbanum, 
melhantum, bay-berries, mugwort, cinnamon, 
nutmegs, cloves, &c. make pessaries of figs, 
and the leaves of mercury, bruised, and rolled 
up with lint; make injections of the decocti- 
ons of mercury, betony, origin, mugwort, and 
figs, and inject it into the womb with a spunge. 
For unction, take ladant, oil of myrrh, of 
each two drams, oil of lillies, almonds, 
capers, camomile, of each half an ounce, and 
with wax make an unguent to anoint the 
place. The patient should also remain in a 
dry warm air; should not deep much; but, 
on the other hand, she should use moderate 
exercise, especially before meals, which should 
consist of attenuating food. 
The overflowing of the menses is a dis- 
order directly opposite to that which I have just 
been speaking of. This complaint is a sangui- 
neous excrement, consisting only of blood, 
and proceeding from the womb, and exceed- 
ing in time and quality. The cause of this 
overflowing is either external or internal. 
The external cause may be the heat of the 
air, the lifting or carrying heavy burthens, 
unnatural child-births, falls, &c. The in- 
ternal cause may be threefold; in the matter, 
instrument, or faculty. The matter, which is 
the blood, may be vitious two ways; first, in
quantity,

[94]
quantity, being so much, that the veins are 
not able to contain it. Secondly, in quality, 
being adust, sharp, or unconcocted. The 
instruments, that is to say, the veins, are 
faulty, by the dilatation of the orifice, which 
may be caused two ways, by the heat of the 
constitution, climate, or season, heating the 
blood, whereby the passages are dilated, and 
the faculty so much weakened, that it cannot 
retain the blood. Secondly, by falls, blows, 
violent motions, breaking of veins, &c. If 
it comes by the breaking of a vein, the body is 
sometimes cold, the blood flows forth on 
heaps, and that suddenly, accompanied with 
great pain. If it be occasioned by heat, the 
orifice of the veins being dilated, there is little 
or no pain attending it, yet the blood flows 
faster than it doth in an erosion, and not so fast 
as in a rupture. If it arise from an erosion, 
or sharpness of blood, she feels a great scald- 
ing in the passage; and in this case it differs 
from the other two, in its flowing not so 
suddenly nor so copiously as in those. If it be 
occasioned by the weakness of the womb, she 
has an aversion to copulation even in the very 
act. If it proceed from the blood, drop some 
of it on a cloth, and when it is dry, the qua- 
lity may be judged from the colour. When 
choleric, it will be yellowish; if melancholy, 
blackish; if phlegmatic, waterish and whitish. 
The cure of this complaint consists in three 
things; first, the repelling and carrying back 
the blood; secondly, the correcting and tak- 
ing away the fluxibility of the matter; and,
thirdly, 


[95]
thirdly, the corroborating the veins or facul- 
ties. In the first case, to promote a regression 
of the blood, phlebotomy in the arm will be 
useful, and such a quantity of blood may be 
taken away as the strength of the patient will 
permit, which, however, should not be done 
at once, but at different periods, the spirits 
being thereby less weakened, and the retrac- 
tion so much the greater. The cupping glass 
should be applied to the liver, that the rever- 
sion may be in the fountain, moderated with 
cathartics. Astrictorics are also necessary to 
correct the fluxibility of the matter. When it 
is occasioned by the acrimony of the blood, 
it should be considered whether the erosion be 
by salt phlegm, or adust colour: if by the 
first, prepare wormwood, rosin, citron peel, 
and succory, with syrup of violets; and the 
following purgative should also be taken; mi- 
rabolans, cherbul, half an ounce, trochics of 
agaric one dram, with which make a de- 
coction in plantain water, adding thereto sy- 
rup rosat. lax. three ounces to make a potion. 
When by adust colour, prepare the body 
with syrup of roses, myrtles, sorrel, and pur- 
slain, mixt with plantain water, knot-grass, 
and endive; and then the following purgative 
potion should be taken; rinds of myrabolans, 
and rhubarb, one dram each, cinnamon fif- 
teen grains, infused in endive water, with the 
straining pulp of tamarinds and cassia, half an 
ounce each, and the syrup of roses one ounce. 
If the blood be waterish and unconcocted, as it 
is in dropsical cases, and flow, by reason of its 
tenuity,


[96] 
tenuity, it will be necessary to draw off the 
water; and to which end it will be proper to 
purge with agaric, elaterium, and coloquinti- 
da. Sweating is also very proper in this case, 
as the offending matter is thereby taken away, 
and the motion of the blood is carried to the 
outward parts. For this purpose cardimom 
water, with mithridate, or the decoction of 
guaiacum, sassafras, and sarsaparilla, are very 
fit. The gum of guaicum is also a great su- 
dorific. If the blood flows from the breaking 
of a vein, without any evil quality of itself, 
strengtheners only should in this case be ap- 
plied; for which purpose a scruple of bole ar- 
moniac, a dram of treacle, half an ounce of 
conserve of roses, with syrup of myrtle, make 
an excellent electuary. In case the flux is of 
long continuance, two drams of mastich, a 
dram of olibani, and one tyoch de careble, 
with one scruple of balaustium, made into 
powder, and with the syrup of quinces formed 
into pills, will be salutary. 
THERE is another disorder attending the 
menses, which is their irregularity. When 
they come before their time, there is a de- 
praved excretion, which often supplies their 
place at the expected periods; and in this 
case they return twice a month. The cause 
in this case resides in the blood, which stirs up 
the expulsive faculty in the womb, and some- 
times in the whole body, and is frequently oc- 
casioned by the patient’s diet, which increasing 
the blood too much, renders it too sharp or too 
hot;

[97]
hot; and in case the retentive faculty of  
the womb be weak, and the expulsive faculty 
strong, and of a quick sense, they are brought 
forth the sooner by means of a fall, a blow, or 
some violent passion, which the person afflict- 
ed can account for. If it be occasioned by 
heat, thin and sharp humours, the whole bo- 
dy is disordered. The looseness of the vessels, 
and the weakness of the retentive faculty, is 
known from a moist and relaxed habit of body. 
It is, in this case, more troublesome than dan- 
gerous; but is pernicious to conception; and 
the cure is therefore necessary to all, but par- 
ticularly those who are desirous of propagating 
their species, the satisfaction resulting from 
which, few women are, indeed, willing to 
forego. If, therefore, they come too soon 
from the faculty, provoked by too great a 
plethory, phlebotomy, and a spare diet, should 
be used, with much exercise. If it arise from 
the sharpness of the blood, good diet and me- 
dicines are necessary, with bathing in iron- 
water. When it is occasioned by the reten- 
tive faculty, and the looseness of the vessels, 
gentle astringents are the properest. The 
courses may slow after their usual time, by 
reason of the thickness of the blood, the small- 
ness of the quantity, the streightness of the 
passage, or weakness of the expulsive faculties. 
If these causes should all concur, too much 
care cannot be taken to remove them speedily. 
If the blood does not abound in such a quan- 
tity as to excite nature to expel it, its purg- 
ing must necessarily be deferred till there be 
F enough;

[98]
enough; and if the blood be thick, the passage 
stopt, and the expulsive faculty weak, the 
menses must needs be out of order, and the 
purging of them retarded. To remove these 
complaints, then, if the quantity of blood be 
but small, she should live well as to diet, and 
take but little exercise. If the blood be thick 
and foul, it should be thinned, and the hu-
mours mixed therewith be evacuated: where- 
fore, it is proper to take purgatives after the 
courses, and to use calamints. Fumes, pessa- 
ries, and the application of cupping-glasses, 
without scarification, to the inside of the thighs, 
are also necessary. The legs should likewise 
be rubbed, the ancles scarified, and the feet 
held in warm water, four or five days before 
the courses come down. Proper applications 
are also necessary to be made to the pudendum, 
In order to provoke the flowing of the menses, 
some time before they are expected. A marri- 
ed woman cannot do better, in this case, than 
to excite her husband to perform pretty fre- 
quently conjugal duty. 
The last disorder which I shall mention, 
peculiar to the women, is the falling of the 
womb, which is not only extremely trouble- 
some, but is also a hindrance to conception. 
The womb will sometimes descend as low as 
the knees. This is occasioned by the liga- 
ments, which unite it to the other parts, being 
out of order. There are four ligaments, two 
above, broad and membranous, which come 
from the peritonæum, and two below, which 
are

[99]
are nervous, round, and hollow. The womb 
is aleo bound to the great vessels by veins and 
arteries, and to the back by nerves. The 
womb changes its place, when it is drawn an- 
other way; and when the ligaments are loose, 
its own weight bears it down. It is drawn 
on one side when the menstrui are hindered 
from flowing, and the veins and arteries, 
which go to the womb, are full. If there be 
a mole * on one side, the liver and spleen will 
cause it; the liver veins on the right side, and 
the spleen on the left, being more or less re- 
plenished. Some physicians are of opinion, 
that this disorder arises from the solution of the 
connection of the fibrous neck, and the parts 
adjacent. Be this as it may, with women in 
the dropsy, the falling of the womb is occasi- 
oned by the saltness of the water. When there 
is a little tumour, like the skin stretched 
* A mole, is a false conception, or lump of flesh, burthen- 
ing in the womb. Some are of opinion, that it is produced 
by the woman’s seed going into the womb without the 
man’s; but this can only mean, if any thing, that some of 
the ova have gained admittance into the womb, by mastur- 
bation, or some such filthy practice. Other physicians are 
of opinion, that it is engendered of the menstruous blood; 
but in this case it would follow, that maids, by having their 
courses stopt, would be subjest to this accident; but this has 
never yet been proved. The real cause of this carnous con-
ception proceeds from both the man and the woman; from 
corrupt and barren seed in the man, and from the menstruous 
blood in the woman, both mingled together in the cavity of 
the womb; and nature finding herself weak, yet endeavouring 
to maintain the perpetuity of her species, labours to bring
forth such a vicious conception rather than none; and, 
being incapable to produce a living creature, generates a 
lump of flesh. 
F2 within

[100]
within or without the pudendum, or a weight 
felt about the privities, these are symptoms of 
the falling of the womb. When there is a 
tumour like a goose’s egg, and a hole at the 
bottom, great pain is at first felt in the parts 
to which the womb is fastened; such as the 
loins, the bottom of the belly, and the os sa- 
crum, which is occasioned by the breaking or 
stretching of the ligaments; but the pain some 
time after abates, and an impediment in walk- 
ing succeeds. Blood will sometimes issue from 
the breach of the vessels, and the urine and ex- 
crements are no longer voided, in which a fe- 
ver and convulsion will ensue, which frequently 
prove of the most fatal tendency, more espe- 
cially if the patient be pregnant. This dis- 
order should be treated as follows; First, put 
up the womb, before the air alter it, or it be 
swollen or inflamed; for which purpose a cly- 
ster is necessary to remove the excrements. 
The patient should then be laid upon her back, 
with her legs asunder, her thighs raised up, 
and her head down, when the tumour should 
be thrust in, but without violence. In case 
it be swollen by alteration or cold, foment it 
with the decoction of mallows, althea, line, 
fenugreek, camomile-flowers, bay-berries, 
and anoint it with oil of lillies and hens 
grease. If there be an inflammation, it must 
not be thrust up, but frighted in, by placing 
a red hot iron before it, having first sprinkled 
upon it the powder of mastic and frankincense. 
When it is replaced, the patient should lie 
with her legs stretched one upon the other for 
eight

[101]
eight or ten days. A pessary of cork or spunge;
in the shape of a pear, dipped in sharp urine, or 
the juice of acacia, with powder of sanguis, 
galbanum, and bdellium, should be put into 
the womb. A cupping-glass, with a great steam, 
should be applied to the navel or paps, or to 
both kidneys; and the following plaister should 
be laid to the back: opoponix, two ounces, 
liquid storax, half an ounce, mastic, frankin- 
cense, pitch, and bole, two drams each, form- 
ed into a plaister with wax. Fomentations 
and astringents of bramble leaves, plantain, 
horse-tails, thistles, of each two handfuls; 
worm-seed, two pugils, and half an ounce of 
pomegranate flowers boiled in water; and an 
injection should also be used made as follows: 
comfrey-roots, an ounce, rupture-wort, two 
drams, yarrow, mugwort, of each half an 
ounce, boiled in red wine. The womb should 
be strengthened with hart’s-horn, bays, one 
dram of each, and myrrh half a dram, made 
into powder for two doses, which are to be 
given in sharp wines. Rollers and ligatures, 
as for a rupture, are proper to keep it in its 
place; and pessaries should be put into the 
bottom of the womb, in order to force it to 
remain in its replaced state. There are some 
physicians, it is true, who are of opinion, that 
they are prejudicial to conception; but the ma- 
jority recommend them, justly imagining, that 
they neither prevent conception, or occasion 
any injury whatever to the genital parts of the 
female; but, on the contrary, that they not 
only cure the disorder, but promote genera-
F3 tion 

[102] 
tion by their retentive influence. The pa- 
tient’s diet should be drying, astringent, and 
glutinous; such as quinces, pears, green- 
cheese, rice; and consequently red wine is 
the properest, avoiding all summer fruits. 
I FIND, in madam Fouquet’s collection of 
charitable remedies, the following receipt, 
which is stiled, a sovereign plaister for the dis- 
orders of the matrix, &c. 
Cerus, half a pound, minium, one 
pound, Genoa soap, ten ounces, oil of olives, 
two pounds. Put the minium and the cerus 
in a pan upon the fire; continue stirring the 
same, till they are well incorporated and united 
together; then cut the soap in small bits, and 
put it in piece by piece, keeping the contents 
of the pan continually stirring; let it do over 
a middling fire, till such time as it be- 
come grey, or a chesnut colour; take care 
that nothing boils over, whilst it is boiling, 
as these ingredients swell a good deal; and 
continue constantly stirring till it be boiled 
enough; when it is of a good consistence, 
take it off the fire, and stir it still it be cold, 
when rolls are to be made of it; and care 
should be taken, not to handle them with 
wet hands. 
When there is occasion to use this plaister, 
it must be spread upon linnen, or leather; but, 
if upon leather, care must be taken that it has 
no scent.
If

[103]
If the ligaments of the womb are relaxed, 
and a bearing down ensues, it should be ap- 
plied to the navel, the patient remaining in 
bed two days, and keeping it on, till such 
time as she be cured: it should, however, be 
taken off at the end of a fortnight, the place 
wiped, and another plaister put on, remaining 
without any bandage. 
If a woman, when brought to bed, has 
any difficulty of having the after-birth brought 
away, this plaister will be greatly efficacious 
in performing it, by being put upon the navel, 
and leaving it in the manner above prescribed. 
To which is added, there is a very illustrious 
example of a cure performed by the applica- 
tion of this plaister. 
If a lying-in woman, or any other, or a 
maid, has too great a flux of the menses, this 
is a sovereign remedy, by applying it to the 
navel, as above. 
If a woman, or a young girl, has not a 
sufficient flux of her monthly courses, or there 
is an entire suppression of them, this plaister 
should be used; and, in this case, it should be 
placed beneath the navel. 
F4 SEC-

[104]
SECTION VI. 
Of the most practical and approved me- 
thods of cure for the disorders incident 
to excessive venery, or self-pollution. 
HIPPOCRATES says, that when a 
patient has exhausted himself by too 
much indulgence, either of amorous pleasure, 
or even masturbation, and when he has those 
symptoms already described, we should apply 
fomentations all over his body; then give him 
an emetic; repeat it, in order to purge his 
head; then a purgative. “ The cure should 
“ be begun in spring. After the purgative, 
“ give him scummed, or ass’s milk; the cow 
“ milk for forty days. Whilst he drinks the 
“ milk, he should eat no meat; and at night 
“ he should take water gruel. After leaving 
“ off milk, he should eat the most tender 
“ meats, beginning with a small quantity on- 
“ ly. By this means he will recover his flesh. 
“ For a whole twelvemonth he should avoid 
“ every kind of debauchery, all venereal prac- 
“ tices, and every other immoderate exercise; 
“ and in his walks, he should equally avoid 
“ cold, and being in the sun.” 
Boerhaave says, that these disorders are 
always extremely difficult to cure, as they sel- 
dom make their appearance till such time as 
the

[105] 
the body is weakened, and remedies can be 
no longer efficacious. However, the follow- 
ing, he continues, are the most likely to suc- 
ceed. A dry regimen, consisting of birds, 
beef, mutton, veal, kid, roasted rather than 
boiled; a small quantity of good beer; a little 
wine of the strengthening sort. Then much 
exercise, gradually increased, should be used;
till the patient is fatigued; and this exercise 
should be taken fasting; afterwards frictions, 
with perfumed flannels, should take place, up- 
on the reins, the abdomen, the buttocks, and 
scrotum, regularly night and morning. And, 
lastly, half a dram of the following opiate 
should be taken every two hours in the day. 
℞. Terrœ japon. dr. 4. opopanac dr. 5. 
cort. peruv. dr. 6. cons. rosar. rubr. unc. 1. 
obiban dr. 11. succ acac. unc. ss. syrup. kerm. q. 
s. f. l.a. cond. with half an ounce of medical 
wine.
℞. Rad. cariophyll. ment. pœn. mar. aa. 
unc 1. cort. rad. cappar. tamarise. aa. unc 1. 
ss. lign. agalloch. veri unc 1. vin. gall. alb. 
lib. 6. f. l. a. vin. med. 
These prescriptions being regularly fol- 
lowed, the patient may, probably, be cured in 
about two months. 
HOFFMAN writes upon this subject,
“ That all remedies should be avoided that 
“ are not fit for weak persons, and which 
F5 “ may

[106]
“ may weaken a body already enervated; 
“ such are all astringents, those that are too 
“ cooling, saturnine, nitrous, and acid, and 
“ particularly narcotics; they are all prejudi- 
“ cial in cases of this nature, notwithstanding 
“ which they are very frequently used. The 
“ object in view, continues he, is to restore 
“ strength, and to give the fibres that tone 
“ which they have lost; therefore, warm vo- 
“ latile medicines, aromatics, such as have a 
“ strong and agreeable smell, are improper in 
“ this case; but mild aliments that tend to 
“ repair that nutritive gelatinous substance, 
“ which immoderate evacuations have de- 
“ stroyed, as beef, veal, and chicken broth, 
“ with a little wine, common spice, salt, 
“ nutmeg, and cloves. And it should be in 
“ general observed, that all remedies which 
“ promote perspiration, and animate the lan- 
“ guid tone of the fibres, will be of further 
“ assistance.” 
The following decoction and injection have 
been successfully used.
DECOCTION. 
Rx. Flor. succat. lamii. alb. mpl. 6. radic. 
usper et galang. aa. unc 2. rad. bistort. unc 1. 
rad. osmund. regal. unc 2. flor. ros. rubr. mpl. 
4. ichthyocoll. unc 2. 
Scissa. tus. mixt. cum aquœ quart. 8. ad 
quartœ part. evaporat. quoquant. A quart 
whereof to be taken daily. 
INJEC-

[107]
INJECTION. 
Rx. Saccari saturni, vitriol alb. alum, rup. 
aa dr. 1. aq. chalyb. fabror. pint1 1. ss. per 
dies decem igne arena digerantur. add spir. vin. 
camphr. cochl. 3. 
M. Stork is of opinion, that patients, in 
this situation, should be treated in the follow-
ing manner; “ First, they should be fed with 
“ nutritious broths; water gruel, rice, or 
“ barley, boiled in broth or milk, are also. 
“ very essential, care being taken not to load 
“ the stomach with them, but their use to be 
“ frequent. If the stomach should be so 
“ weak, as it sometimes happens, when the 
“ disorder has made great progress, that it 
“ cannot retain this sort of food, without be- 
“ ing greatly oppressed, the patient should
“ have a wet-nurse, and suck her breast. 
“ This has sometimes been attended with 
“ success in the most dangerous cases. The 
“ relaxed fibres are, in some measure, restor- 
“ ed to their tone, by the use of wine im- 
“ pregnated with steel, bark, and cinnamon. 
“ As soon as the patient has got strength 
“ enough to walk, it is very beneficial for him
“ to go into the open air, in a hilly coun-
“ try” 
The best meats are those that are roasted the like
by a slow fire, or gently boiled in their juice. 
They may consist of veal, young mutton, 
young beef, fowls, pidgeons, partridges, and 
F6 the

[108]
the like: and the best kind of aliment is 
milk. Such liquors should be refrained from 
as tend to increase weakness and relaxation, 
diminish the small digestive powers that re- 
main, and communicate acrimony to the hu- 
mours; warm water, coffee, and tea, should 
therefore be avoided. Spirituous liquors are 
also pernicious. The most salutary liquor is 
pure spring water, mixt with wine, and the 
best wines are those that are the most stoma- 
chic. Beer is not good; but mum may, in 
some degree, serve instead of wine, where the 
proper sort is wanting ; and chocolate is par- 
ticularly eligible, especially for breakfast. 
INHALATION, communicated from one 
person to another, may have its use, when 
the patient is particularly feeble. Capuaccio, 
the celebrated Italian professor, prescribed two 
nurses to a patient, between whom he was to 
lie, as well as suck their breasts; and he re- 
covered his strength and powers so wonder- 
fully, that, after some months, he impreg- 
nated them both, and thereby enabled them 
to continue administering his milk diet. His 
pupil, Forestus, was so well convinced of the 
utility of his master’s practice, that he con- 
stantly prescribed a healthy blooming nurse as 
a bed fellow, to every patient troubled with 
the tabis dorsalis. But the danger in this case 
is, that the patient should fancy himself 
more vigorous than he really is, and endea- 
vour too early to testify to his nurse the proofs 
of his recovery. A woman of prudence and 
experience


[109]
experience is, at least, therefore requisite;
and she should be entirely divested of any of 
those passions which might prove fatal to the 
patient, even after his recovery; for this last 
reason, a red haired, or very black, woman 
should never be chosen upon these occasions. 
The most approved remedies in this dis- 
order, are the cold bath, and the bark or 
quinquina used together. Their virtues are 
the same, and, being united, frequently pro- 
duce the most happy effects, even when every 
other application has failed. They invigo- 
rate, diminish the feverish and nervous heat; 
they calm the irregular motions produced by 
the spasmodic disposition of the nervous sys- 
tem; they fortify a weak stomach, and dissi-
pate its attendant complaints; they also restore 
lost appetite, promote digestion, and increase 
nutrition; they facilitate the operation of all 
the functions, and particularly perspiration, 
which renders them so efficacious in all catarr- 
hous and cutaneous disorders. They should, 
however, not be used, if the patient is afflict- 
ed with internal ulcerous abscesses, inflamma- 
tions, or obstructions. To these two reme- 
dies may be added steel, which is useful in all 
cases of weakness, and may be given either in 
substance or by infusion. For the same rea- 
son Spa water, as a strengthener, is much to 
be commended in this case. Bitters, gums, 
myrrh, and gentle aromatics, are proper; but 
the choice of these different remedies must de- 
pend upon circumstances, I have known the 
following

[110]
following pills and decoction to be taken  
with great success. 
PILLS. 
Rx. Myrrh. elect. unc ss. gum. galhan. extr. 
trisol. fibr. terr. japan. aa dr. 2. sir. cort.
aur. q. s. f. pil. gra. 3. 
DECOCTION. 
Rx. Cort. peruv. unc 2. cort, rad. capp. 
unc 1. cinnam. acut. dr. 2. limat. mart. in no-
doul. lax. unc ss. cum. oq. font. lib. 2. ss. l. a. f. 
decoct. 
The pills should be taken with broth, after  
breakfast, dinner, or supper, about seven 
at a time. 
If quinquina is taken, it is not necessary 
that the patient should confine himself to a 
milk diet, and when the wine is impregnated 
with bark, it does not prompt them to vomit 
when taken in the morning fasting; this is 
the proper time for it, and night for the taking 
of the milk. If the mineral waters are taken, 
it is necessary that some bottles of pure water 
should be taken before the milk is mixed with 
it. If the disorder be inveterate, it common- 
ly degenerates into a cacochymy, which it is 
necessary to remove, before the patient’s 
strength is endeavoured to be restored. Eva- 
cuants are, in this case, absolutely necessary, 
and are frequently very successful. If the pa- 
tient’s life is in danger, recourse must be had 
to

[111] 
to real cordials, such as Spanish wine, fresh 
eggs, succulent broths, and the like; and flan- 
nels, heated with treacle, are very efficacious 
when applied to the breast. In case of a fever, 
the patient should not be blooded, till such 
time as there is an indication, by the fulness 
and hardness of the pulse and it were better 
to he blooded twice, losing small quantities 
each time, than to part with much blood at 
one time. 
In a word, those medicines which are most 
immediately necessary are those which are 
ranged under the heads of balsamics and astrin- 
gents. By balsamic medicines, are meant 
those which comfort the nerves, strengthen 
the constitution, and thereby animate the pa- 
tient. Among these are flor. tilliœ lavendul.
rorismarin. pœoniœ. herb. thym. menth. vul- 
gar majoran culaminth. cort cinnamon canell 
alb. aurantior. siccati, fruct. nuc. moschat. of the 
animal class musk. The simple waters of cin- 
namon, orange peel, and common mint; the 
aq. aelexater. simple. the spirit of rosemary, the 
compound spirit of lavendar, sp. volat. aroma- 
tic. julep-e-moscho. The tincture of cinnamon,
and the essential oils of marjoram, spearmint, 
rosemary, lavendar, and cinnamon fyr. e cort. 
aurantior. coryophillor rubr. from whence 
many useful remedies may be formed, and
suited to various constitution and stages of 
affliction. 
AMONGST the class of astringents we may 
include, rad. bistort. formentille, &c. but what, 
as


[112]
as I have said before, deserves the preference 
to every other internal medicine, is the quin- 
quinilla, or Peruvian bark. 
OF the officinial compositions, may be 
reckoned conserv. prunellor. sylvestr. elixir. vi- 
triol. acid. the extract and simple tincture of 
the cort Peruv. tinct saturnia, syrup of quin- 
ces, lemons, &c. and amongst the grateful, 
cooling, and salutary fruits, may be reckoned 
oranges, cherries, rasberries, strawberries, 
grapes, currants, &c. but these are to be 
used with moderation, and not with a milk 
diet.
The external remedies must also be astrin- 
gent, such as the emplastr, roborant, which 
is to be applied to the loins. The testicles 
should also be suspended in a bag, or truss, 
when they hang too loose, which is common- 
ly the case in this situation; and the perinæ- 
um, the testicles, and the pubes, should be 
embrocated, upon going to bed, with vinegar, 
or cloths that have been steeped in verjuice, or 
vinegar should be laid on them all night. 
PREVIOUS to the administering of these 
remedies, and making of these applications, it 
is necessary that the stomach and bowels 
should be cleansed; and therefore an emetic 
and a dose are proper to be taken. There is 
seldom occasion for more than one emetic, as
the rest of the cure depends entirely on bra- 
cing medicines, and nervous ones interspersed 
with

[113]
with nourishing diet; therefore the whites of
eggs mixed, and afterwards the yokes, will ge- 
nerally be found salutary. Tea, as I have said 
before, is very pernicious; but to those who 
have accustomed themselves to drink in a morn- 
ing, or afternoon, it will be difficult immedi- 
ately to leave it off; therefore as a substitute 
may be requisite, and in this case nothing can 
be better than baum and mint, in every dish 
of which should be infused a tea spoonful of the 
balsamic mixture, ex cremor luct. vitell. ov. 
with a few drops of oil of cinnamon; and 
the stomach will thereby be greatly assisted in 
its functions. 
The following julep may be taken at any 
time on an empty stomach; and in case of 
costiveness, the chewing of a little rhubarb 
will remove it. 
JULEP. 
Rx. Ex. aq. alexiter. simp. aq. cinnamon. 
simp. menth, &c. with some drops of spir. la- 
vend. c. and tinct. saturnia. à p. e. of elex. vi- 
triol acid. vel. tinct. cort. peruviam. 
But as the cure of this disorder depends as 
much upon knowing what to avoid, as what 
to do, therefore, without a nice regularity of 
the non-naturals, medicines will have little or 
no effect; it is therefore necessary to consider 
the importance of the salubrity of the air; the 
diet, which should be analeptic and cooling; 
sleep 

[114]
sleep exercise; the secretions of the body; 
and the necessity of chearful company, and 
amusements. I shall, therefore, in this place 
set down what Dr. Lewis says upon these 
heads, being at once the most concise and per- 
tinent observations I have met with upon the 
subject 
“ No disease, says he, requires a greater 
“ regard to the non-naturals than the tabes 
“ dorsalis; its attacks are early, its progress 
“ slow, but sure; and it seems almost to be 
“ interwoven in the constitution before the 
“ patient discovers his danger; for the appe- 
“ tite is generally good [bene comedunt, says 
“ Hippocrates.) As the air is that element 
“ by which we live, move, and have our be- 
“ ing, the good and bad qualities of it ever 
“ stand foremost in a medical view. A clear 
“ and temperate air is universally known to 
“ be the best for continuing health; but cold 
“ rather than a hot air seems to contribute 
“ more to the recovering a thin hectical con- 
“ stitution; and a patient should habituate 
“ himself to be often in it. 
“ As to diet, every thing salted, spiced, 
“ or otherwise seasoned, and all spirituous 
“ and fermented liquors, of whatever kind,
“ ought to be religiously avoided. They ac- 
“ celerate the motion of the blood, and in- 
“ flame the body. Water (only Bristol wa- 
“ ter) mixed with a little old Rhenish wine, 
“ in the summer season; in the winter, red 
“ port should be made the common drink; 

[115]
“ and plain roasting or boiling is the best 
“ cookery for the animal diet of the patient. 
“ But among all the materials of food, there 
“ is not any thing more beneficial than milk *. 
“ I have known a pint, and with some two 
“ pints of milk, drunk in two draughts at 
“ half an hour’s distance, warm from the 
“ cow in the morning, and repeated in the 
“ afternoon, become a wonderful restorative. 
“ All the warmer months, it ought to be so 
“ used, and to be made as much as possible 
“ an ingredient in the other daily sustenance. 
“ Thus, chocolate made with milk, in such 
“ quantity as to pass easily off the stomach, is 
“ an excellent breakfast for a tabid consti- 
“ tion, I knew a child, twelve years old, 
“ in the last stage of a consumption, when 
“ given over by a physician, recovered by the 
“ mother's giving her chocolate only, in 
“ small quantities often repeated. Indeed it 
“ is an aliment that, for weak constitutions, 
“ cannot be too much recommended; and it 
“ may at any time be made to fit easy on the 
“ stomach, by diluting it with water. Be- 
“ sides chocolate, viper broth, broths prepar- 
“ ed with milk, rice, milk, and a variety of 
“ other combinations, known to every fami- 
“ ly, may be contrived to humour the palate 
“ of the patient. 
“ I have not known a single instance, 
“ where animal diet for dinner has done any 
* Purgato sursum et dorsum corpore, lac bubulum per 
quadraginta dies bibendum exhibeto, Burneti Hippocra- 
tes, p. 15. 
“ harm;

[116]
“ harm; yet it will be prudent to recom- 
“ mend such as is of easy digestion. Lamb, 
“ veal, young mutton, fowls, &c. well roast- 
“ ed or boiled, unattended with poignant 
“ sauces, and swallowed with equal quanti- 
“ ties of bread and roots together (more or 
“ less occasionally) cannot fail of producing 
“ laudable chyle and good nutriment, if well 
“ digested (the criterion whereby the quantity 
“ and quality of the meal are determined) 
“ and will do more service in recruiting lan- 
“ guid nature than medicine can. 
“ But with regard to supper, the patient 
“ is to be particularly cautioned. Nothing 
“ but milk, warmed before the fire, and a 
“ slice of thin toasted bread, can be allowed 
“ without detriment; and this ought to be 
“ taken two hours before bed-time; for sleep 
“ is a time of application, not for the pre- 
“ paration of the aliment. That nutrition 
“ may be carried on naturally, it is necessary 
“ that deep should be found and uninterrupt- 
“ ed; but nothing even in a state of health 
“ is a greater impediment to repose than a 
“ late or an animal supper, as the voluptuous 
“ can tell. If this be the case in general, 
“ to a person labouring under a tabes dorsalis, 
“ the avoiding such becomes indispensably 
“ necessary. Seminal emissions in the night 
“ draw after them all the other symptoms. 
“ Whether these are owing to venereal dreams 
“ or not, they certainly will not happen so 
“ often, if the mind, and its powers, are 
“ composed,

[117] 
“ composed, i.e. unconcerned in any animal 
“ actions; for the disturbance of the imagi- 
“ nation is thereby in a great measure cut off. 
“ This is a truth incontestable; for I have 
“ always found the patient to sleep more 
“ soundly, and to escape this evacuation 
“ more constantly, when he takes no supper 
“ at all. 
“ Sleep little, and in due season. If the 
“ dictates of nature be followed (and a phy- 
“ sician is nature’s minister) we should go ear- 
“ ly to bed, and rise early. In the night- 
“ season, the inclemency of the atomsphere is 
“ greatest, and our bodies, after the vigilance 
“ and labour of the day, then lead able to 
“ resist the impression. Perspiration, the 
“ most important of all the bodily discharges, 
“ goes on best in bed *. But it is absolutely 
“ necessary to forbid a patient, afflicted with 
“ the disease I am prescribing, to an indul- 
“ gence in bed in the morning. The more 
“ moderate the quantity of his sleep is, the 
“ sweeter and more invigorating will it be. 
“ Thus, if he lies down at ten o’clock (which 
“ hour he should never exceed) he ought to 
“ rise in the summer time at four or five, in 
“ the winter time at six or seven, otherwise 
“ he may observe as a general rule, to rise 
“ immediately upon awaking; for a second 
“ repose in the morning, however inclined 
* —diuturna enim parcior longe nocturne perspiratio,
sanctor. aphorism. explanat. auctore P. Nogues, f. 1. p. 35.
“ he


[118]
“ he may be to it, is almost always attended 
“ with dreams; and though this practice may 
“ be irksome at first, custom will make it fa- 
“ miliar and agreeable. 
“ MODERATE exercise must be used, espe- 
“ cially riding on horse back. That the air 
“ may be enjoyed to the best advantage, and 
“ that the diet of the patient may be thorough- 
“ ly digested, which will pave the way to a 
“ natural sleep, he ought to use as much ex- 
“ ercise as his strength will permit. Gentle 
“ walking, in the morning in the fields, if 
“ the season be favourable, otherwise at home, 
“ or playing at shuttle-cock, may serve for 
“ part; but the best kind of exercise is that 
“ of riding on horse-back. It is exercise 
“ without labour; and since the mind in the 
“ tabes dorsalis is to be relieved, as well as 
“ the body, the taking a long journey, by 
“ such daily portions as to avoid extraordi- 
“ nary weariness, whereby new objects will 
“ continually present, is surprisingly effica- 
“ cious; and, if the circumstances of the pa- 
“ tient will permit, ought ever to be recom- 
“ mended by his physician. 
“ THE secretions of the body are to be re- 
“ gulated, if out of order. Thus, smoaking 
“ tobacco is to be forbidden. The saliva was 
“ not by nature designed to be thus lavishly 
“ expended; and though some constitations 
“ may bear this evacuation, it cannot be al- 
“ lowed in the present case, since the solids
“ in

[119]
“ in general, being weak, the glans have 
“ patent orifices, and the fluids are thereby 
“ rendered liable to run off too fast. As to 
“ the rest of the secretions, the non-naturals 
“ being rightly observed, there is seldom any 
“ disorder in them. 
“ The patient should be entertained with 
“ chearful company. The last point we have 
“ to speak to on this head, is the passions. 
“ Physicians well know how important the 
“ regulation of them is; for between the 
“ mind and the body there is such a connec- 
“ tion, that the vital and animal actions ne- 
“ ver fail to affect one another. In the tabes 
“ dorsalis, the patient discovers exceeding 
“ grief and melancholy. Now, it is not 
“ enough that they are mitigated by remedy- 
“ ing the vice of these corporeal organs upon 
“ which they depend; every possible means 
“ of relief is to be sought after; and some as- 
“ sistance may be had by exciting the opposite 
“ passions. Thus mirthful company, and en- 
“ gaging diversions, &c. are known to take 
“ off the mind from gloomy thoughts and im- 
“ mense melancholy. Here the elegant vi- 
“ vacious harangues of the physician will do 
“ great service. But it must be observed here, 
“ that as the company of females is apt to ex- 
“ cite libidinous ideas, it ought, by all means, 
“ to be avoided. Study also is highly preju- 
“ dicial. The patient should never be left to 
“ himself; never suffered to read, nor have 
“ any time to reflect on his severe fortune; 
“ for

[120]
“ for all these oppress the nerves, sink the 
“ spirits, and obstruct the cure.”  
So far Dr. Lewis; and I shall conclude 
this section in the words of the celebrated Dr. 
Tissot, in his Treatise upon Masturbation. “ It 
“ would be useless to extend this piece any 
“ farther. I have endeavoured to omit no- 
“ thing that might open the eyes of young 
“ people to all the horrors of that abyss which 
“ they prepare for themselves. I have point- 
“ out the most proper means of removing 
“ those ills which they have drawn upon 
“ themselves; and I conclude by assuring, 
“ that some happy cures should not delude 
“ them. Those who are the best cured with 
“ difficulty recover their primitive vigour, 
“ and preserve tolerable health only by dint 
“ of managing it. Those who remain in a 
“ languid state, are ten-fold the number of 
“ those who are cured; and some examples 
“ of persons who are but little ailing, or of a 
“ vigorous constitution, which promoted their 
“ recovery, should not be considered as a ge- 
“ neral rule.”  
SEC-

[121]
SECTION VII. 
Of impotency in men, and barrenness in 
women; and the most efficacious remedies 
for their cure. 
THERE cannot, assuredly, be a more 
dreadful curse inflicted upon a man of a 
warm constitution, than the inability of pro- 
pagating his species. If he resides in a capital 
city, his senses must be incessantly importun- 
ed to make some unsuccessful effort to abate 
that desire, so naturally implanted in him, and 
which he is incapable of gratifying. If his 
constant residence be in the country, every 
bird and animal that salutes his mate recals 
to his mind the misery of his situation; and 
every blooming fair too frequently convinces 
him of his being a real, not a fabulous, Tan- 
talus. 
It is true, the fair sex do not labour under 
such immediate cruel grievances upon this ac- 
count, as being only the patient in the amo- 
rous constict. Barrenness does not prevent their 
receiving those balsamic tributes, which the 
potent part of the male creation are capable of 
paying them. It must, nevertheless, be a 
mortifying reflection for every married wo- 
man, in this state, to consider herself incapa- 
citated from propagating her species, and giv- 
G ing

[122]
ing that assistance in the nuptial association, 
which was its ultimate and great design. Be- 
sides, she must fall far short of those raptures 
which a fruitful woman is susceptible of, and 
can at most enjoy but a small portion of pro- 
creative bliss. 
Women, in some countries, are examined 
by matrons, before they are admitted to the 
nuptial bed; and those only that are pronoun- 
ced to be fruitful, are allowed to enter into 
the marriage-state; and I must own, that I 
see no reason, without custom be allowed one, 
where the ladies are made so free with, why 
the men should not undergo as strict an in- 
spection, especially if we consider, that when 
the defect is on the woman’s side, she may still 
be made use of, and give her husband at least 
momentary pleasure, if she be not impene- 
trable; whereas, if the defect be on the man’s 
side, she can find no relief, except it be in 
adultery, as it is impossible for him to com- 
municate any satisfaction to her, or expert to 
convey the seed into the womb, if his yard is 
incapable of erection; and this is the most 
certain symptom of impotency in man. 
BARRENNESS is, however, more common 
in women than in men, by reason of the ma- 
ny additional bodily infirmities to which their 
sex is liable, and which I have already enu- 
merated: to these may be added those causes 
that most frequently occasion it in men, 
namely

[123]
namely, too early and great an indulgence 
in venery or masturbation. 
It also sometimes happens, that impotency 
is occasioned in men by a deficiency and want 
of seed; and I think I cannot do better, than 
transcribe the great Boerhaave’s words upon 
this subject, in his treatise de Viribus Medi- 
camentorum. 
“ THIS chapter, says he, consists of such 
“ medicines as increase seed, and promote its 
“ secretion; but we are ignorant how the 
“ animalcules in the seed are generated. 
“ Leeuwenhoeck tells us, they are not to be 
“ found in any part of the body; but in the 
“ male sperm of all animals, which is sepa- 
“ rated in the testicles, and are like so many 
“ tadpoles, of a prodigious number, swimming 
“ every way in the seed, with incredible 
“ briskness and activity; that they are not to 
“ be found in the liquid of the prostatæ is 
“ evident from castrated animals. Now, 
“ there are four things which augment the 
“ seed: first, all such things as augment chyle, 
“ milk, and blood. Milk taken in large 
“ quantities is a great breeder of seed, and 
“ renders persons more salacious than wine or 
“ spices. Hence those who eat much of ve- 
“ getables, eggs, or milk, are much addicted 
“ to venery. Secondly, all medicines which 
“ convey a more abundant quantity of chy- 
“ lous blood towards those parts, where the 
“ genital liquid is prepared. To this purpose,
G2 “ fomen-


[124]
“ fomentations, bathings, frications, em- 
“ plastics, balsams, made of spices, are very 
“ conducive; as also, oil of rue, and eu- 
“ phorbium, plaisters of melilot; these will 
“ increase sufficiently the spermatic juice. 
“ The following things are much commend- 
“ ed by Italians as specifics, who are much 
“ admirers of such delicacies, viz. all bal- 
“ sams, emplastics, composed from sea 
“ southernwood, buffwort, calamint, sweet- 
“ sconted dittany of Crete, leveage, which 
“ are commended as salacious herbs; parsley, 
“ savine, savory, especially that of Crete;
“ thyme, wild thyme, nepenthe, wild mar- 
“ joram, as that of Crete, where animals are 
“ most salacious; pepper, eringo roots, hedge 
“ mustard, are great provocatives to venery; 
“ as are also all compounds from these herbs, 
“ made up in decoctions, potions, cataplasms, 
“ and ointments. Thirdly, such things as 
“ cause a vehement stimulation in the liquids; 
“ as all aromatics stimulate the nervous 
“ juices. Thus, onions, garlick, and leeks, 
“ are great incentives to lust, which is evi- 
“ dent from those persons who eat them fre- 
“ quently, as the Persians and Egyptians do, 
“ who are much given to venery, and are 
“ scarce satisfied with one woman. Hither be- 
“ long all aromatic gums. Thus we see hy- 
“ pocondriac people, to whom we have given 
“ them for resolving obstructions, by taking 
“ them often, become very salacious; as myrrh, 
“ aloes, galbanum, opponax, sagaperium,
“ tachamahae, bdellium, &c, also balsams,
“ as

[125]
“ as capavy, &c. if these be used too much, 
“ they will cause a priapism, and excite an 
“ abundant secretion of seed. Hither also be- 
“ long all natural salts, except nitre, all vo- 
“ latile salts, especially those that are oily, 
“ and oily spints, as of wine, which operate 
“ chiefly by stimulation, soaps, all diuretics, 
“ chiefly by water excepted, castoriam di- 
“ stilled, aromatic oils, which operate two 
“ ways, either by increasing motion, or by 
“ irritation. Fourthly, there are specific pro- 
“ vocatives to venery, which act upon bo- 
“ dies not fitly disposed, as feeds of dill, 
“ vetches, satyrion, concerning which see 
“ Diascorides, the brains of sparrows, and the 
“ stones of salacious animals, as of cocks, 
“ lambs, &c. are very much commended; as 
“ likewise, the glandules of animals, which 
“ are of a similar nature to the testicles, as 
“ those which grow in the asperia arteria of 
“ calves, all which are so beneficial, as they 
“ generate good chyle; ultiocinus, a small 
“ sea-fish, which, if eaten, is said to cause such 
“ an incitement to venery, as to induce a sa- 
“ tyriasis, or continual erection of the penis: 
“ but I am of opinion, that the effect doth 
“ not so much depend upon the fish, as upon 
“ those things which are taken with it; for 
“ it is generally eaten with pepper, salt, ga- 
“ langal, &c. A milk diet may be proper, 
“ because the generation of seed depends upon 
“ good chyle.”
G3 Besides


[126] 
BESIDES what is recommended in the 
above chapter from Boerhaave, the following 
prescription will be found very efficacious in 
all impotent cases: Take of the best palm 
sack six ounces, of jelly of hartshorn three 
ounces, essence of ambergrease ten drops, 
chocolate all nut half an ounce, black pepper, 
powdered, one scruple, essence of satyrion 
twenty drops, confection of alkermes one 
dram, essence of cantharides twelve drops, vo- 
latile salt of vipers ten grains, white sugar 
candy three drams; the chocolate and sugar 
candy must be dissolved in the sack over the 
fire, but it should not boil; and when it is 
cold, the other things are to be added, with 
the yokes of two eggs. They should be mix- 
ed very well together, and drank at one or 
more draughts, every morning at breakfast. 
The testicles should at the same time be anoint- 
ed with the following salutary balsam: take oil 
of mace, by expression, two drains, Peruvian 
balsam one dram, oil of nutmegs, oil of cloves, 
of each six drops, musk eight grains, civet 
ten grains, essence of cantharides, and essence 
of ambergrease, of each six drops; mix them 
well without the use of fire, and anoint the 
genitals therewith night and morning. The 
cold bath may also be used at the same time 
with great success. 
HAVING given this advice to the men, 
it is time we should attend the ladies. 
In

[127]
In the cure of barrenness, attention must 
be particularly paid to the cause; as this 
must be first removed, and then the womb 
strengthened, and the spirits of the seed en- 
livened by corroborating applications. 
If barrenness proceed from over much heat, 
let the patient use inwardly succory, endive, 
violets, water lillies, sorrel, and lettuce, with 
syrups and conserves made of the same; to 
which end, take conserves of borrage, violets, 
water lillies, of each one ounce; half an ounce 
of conserve of roses, diamargariton rigid, 
diatrion, santalon, of each half a dram, and 
with syrup of violets, or juice of citron, make 
an electuary. She should also take of endive, 
water lillies, borrage flowers, of each a hand- 
ful, rhubarb, mirobolans, of each three drams, 
and, with water, make a decoction; add to 
the straining the syrup laxative of violets, one 
ounce, syrup of cassia half an ounce, manna 
three drams; all which make into a potion; 
take of the syrup of mugwort one once, syrup 
of maidenhair two ounces, pulv. elect. trio- 
sant, and make all up into a julep; apply to 
the reins and privities fomentations of the juice 
of lettuce, violets, roses, mallows, vine leaves, 
and nightshade. She should also anoint her 
privities with the cooling ointment of galls. 
Baths are also good for her to fit in. The air 
she perspires should be clear; her garments 
thin; her food lettuce, endive, succory, and 
barley; but she should eat no hot meals, nor 
drink any strong wines. Repose, as well cor- 
G4 poreal

[128]
poreal as mental, is necessary for her; and she 
should use but little copulation. 
When barrenness is occasioned by the pre- 
dominancy of blood extinguishing the power 
of the seed, which may be known by her de- 
siring venery, and receiving no pleasure in the 
act of copulation, even at the critical instant 
of the man’s emission; by her courses being 
phlegmatic, thick, and slimy, and not flow- 
ing regularly; in this case she should take 
syrup of calamint, mugwort, betony, of each 
one ounce, water of pennyroyal, feverfew, hy- 
sop, sage, of each an ounce, made into a julep. 
She should also take every morning two spoon- 
fuls of cinnamon water, with one spoonful of 
mithridate. She should likewise take of oil of 
anniseed one scruple and a half, jasmini, diaca- 
lam, both diamosci, diagalang, of each one 
dram, sugar four ounces, made with water of 
cinnamon into lozenges, a dram and an half 
of which should be taken twice a day, two 
hours before meals. Cupping glasses should 
be fastened to her hips and belly, and she 
should take storax, calamint one ounce, mas- 
tick, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, lignum 
aloes, frankincese, of each half an ounce, 
musk ten grains, ambergrease half a scruple, 
and with those make them into a confection, 
to be divided into four parts, one whereof is 
to be formed into a pomum doratum to smell 
to, if she be not inclined to hysterics; the 
second should be made into a mass of pills, 
three of which should be taken every night; 
the third into a pessary, and put into the 


[129] 
womb; and the fourth into a fumigation for 
the matrix. 
WHEN barrenness is occasioned by the 
faculties of the womb being weakened, and 
the life of the seed suffocated by too much tu- 
midity flowing in those parts, she should, in, 
this case, take of betony, marjoram, mug- 
wort, pennyroyal, balm, of each one handful, 
root of asarum, fennel, elacampanes, of each 
two drams, anniseed, cumminseed, of each a 
dram, with a sufficient quantity of sugar and 
water, to form them into a syrup, three ounces 
of which are to be taken every morning. The 
following purgative pills are to be taken; of 
pill extid. two scruples, diagridion two grains, 
spec. de costore one scruple, which are to be 
made up into nine pills, with syrup of mug- 
wort. Take likewise spec. diagemmæ, diamo- 
sci, diambre, of each one dram, cinnamon one 
dram and a half, mace, cloves, nutmegs, of 
each half a dram, sugar six ounces, and with 
water of feverfew make them into lozenges, 
which are to be taken every morning. She 
should also take of the decoction of sarsaparilla, 
and virga anred, with a good quantity of sage, 
which is an herb of so much virtue, that Cor- 
nelius Agrippa honoured it with the title of 
sacra herba, or the holy herb; and Dodenæus, 
in his history of Plants, relates, that after a 
great plague had happened in Egypt, which 
had nearly depopulated the country, the sur- 
viving women were commanded to drink the 
juice of sage, that they might multiply the 
G5 faster.


[30]
faster. She should also anoint her genital 
parts with oil of anniseed and spikenard. Tro- 
chisks are also very beneficial in smothering the 
womb, which should be made as follows: she 
should take mace, nutmeg, cinnamon, storax, 
amber, of each one dram, cloves, labdani, of 
each half a dram, turpentine, a sufficient quan- 
tity; after which she should use an infusion to 
fit upon after her courses are gone, made in this 
manner; take the roots of valerian and ele- 
campane, of each one pound, of galingal 
three ounces, origans, lavendar, marjoram, 
betony, mugwort, bay leaves, calamint, of 
each three handfuls, prepared with water. 
In case barrenness arises from the dryness of 
the womb, consuming the matter of the seed, 
the patient should take every day almonds and 
goats milk, extracted with honey; she should 
eat frequently of the root satyrion, condited, 
and of the electuary of diasatyrion; she should 
likewise take three sheeps heads, and boil them 
till the flesh is Separated from the bone, then 
take of melilot, violets, camomile, of each a 
handful, and of fenugreek, linseed, and vale- 
rian root, of each a pound, and being de- 
cocted in the aforesaid broth, she should conti- 
nue fitting in it up to her navel, till it become 
cool; she should also take of deer’s suet half 
an ounce, cow’s marrow, styracis, liquidæ, of 
each a dram, oil of sweet almonds two ounces, 
and with silk or cotton make the same into a 
pessary, and inject oil of Sweet almonds and 
melted butter 
BARRENNESS

[131]
BARRENNESS may likewise be occasioned 
by remissness in the act of coition; for though 
there be no impediment on either side, yet if 
both sexes meet not in that act with equal vi- 
gour and desire, no conception can be the con- 
fequence of it. It frequently happens, that 
the man is too quick for the woman, or the 
woman too slow for the man; and therefore 
not being prepared to receive the seed with 
that delight which she ought, when it is emit- 
ted by the man, she discharges no ova, and the 
womb is no way benefited by the operation. 
In this case she should, before the act of co- 
ition, foment the pudendum with a decoction 
of betony, fage, hyson, and calamint, and 
also anoint the mouth and neck of the womb 
with musk and civet. The following appli- 
cation will also be very efficacious to strengthen 
the womb, as it is in this situation required: 
take of bay-berries, mastic, nutmeg, frankin- 
cense, cypress nuts, labdani, galbani, of each 
one drop, styracis, liquidæ, two scruples, cloves 
half a scruple, ambergrease two grains, musk
five grains, with which a bit of spikenard, a 
pessary should be made. Take also of red 
roses, frankincese, lapidis hematitis, of each 
half an ounce, sanguis draconis, fine bole, ma- 
stic, of each two drains, nutmeg and cloves, 
of each a dram, spikenard half a scruple, and 
with oil of wormwood make a plaister for the 
lower parts of the belly. She should also eat 
of the eringo roots condited, and take an in- 
jection of the juice of the roots of satyrion. 
She must use copulation soon after the menses 
are

[132]
are ceased, conception being then most apt to 
take place, as the womb is thirsty and dry,
and most inclinable to attract the seed, as well 
as retain it, by the roughness of its interior 
coat.
If these remedies and precautions are pro- 
perly attended to, it is not to be doubted but 
many families, who might soon be extinct for 
want of heirs, may be enabled to extend their 
lineage to the latest posterity. But every per- 
son (whether male or female) who proposes 
deriving any advantage from these rules, should 
cautiousty attend to one thing, which is, that 
they should not attempt to stimulate nature, 
when she is drained; for even if success were 
so far to crown their endeavours in this respect, 
their heirs must, being begot under these cir- 
cumstances, prove only a puny issue. A man 
who has laboured under any complaints of an 
impotent kind should remember, even after he 
has in some degree recovered his pristine vi- 
gour, that he cannot reasonably expect to get 
above one child a week; and therefore, I 
would recommend him to confine his em- 
braces to an hebdornedal indulgence; and his 
wife need not complain at this, as she will 
then receive them with much more gratifica- 
tion. Another point to be attended to, is the 
reciprocality of enjoyment; and a husband 
who is desirous of being the father of children, 
should be particularly curious in this respect, 
and not let any false modesty on his wife’s 
part conceal the real produce of his endea- 
vous;


[133]
vours; and as he may thereby keep an exact 
account, so he should never exceed, on his 
part, the number of times his wife has actually 
enjoyed coition. When there is a deficiency 
on her side, the fomentation prescribed above 
should be used with greater frequency, and in 
larger quantities, till such time as she has had 
her complete portion of bliss. 
SEC-

[134]
SECTION VIII. 
Of the propriety of AMOROUS PLEASURE. 
IF it were necessary to prove the utility of a 
natural intercourse between the sexes, our 
own very existence, and that of posterity, 
would be incontrovertible reasons. Neither 
found philosophy, or even holy writ itself, any 
way discountenances it; but, on the contra- 
ry, we are particularly commanded to increase 
and multiply. And if, indeed, these conside- 
rations, which are so cogent, were set aside, 
the happy union which it promotes and rivets,
the friendship it cements, and the inexpressible 
joy which it diffuses, would surely be suffici- 
ent argument to refute any impotent unnatu- 
ral attacks upon amorous pleasure, and we must, 
as long as we are susceptible of the power of 
beauty, agree with the poet, when he says, 
Love's the most tender passion of the mind, 
The softest refuge, innocence can find, 
The safe director of unguarded youth, 
Fraught with kind wishes, and secured hy truth. 
Heaven in our cup this drop hath thrown, 
To make the nauseous draught of life go down, 
With regard to our health, it is most certain- 
ly necessary to many constitutions; and tho’
I

[135]
I would chuse to give all the force to Mr
Skmeider’s reasoning it deserves, and allow that 
a great part of the semen is absorbed, and re- 
turns into the mass of blood; yet it is plain 
there would still remain too great a redundan- 
cy in strong robust men, if it were not carried 
off by some discharge, which is frequently in- 
voluntary: but surely these nocturnal emissi- 
ons are contrary to the design of nature, 
which plainly points out their proper destinat- 
ion, the support of the universal chain of ex- 
istence, a chain that is doubtless destroyed by 
this diversion of the course of inheritance; and 
all the sophistry in the world will never be able 
to evince, that the toleration of these evacua- 
tions is not equally destructive of the human 
species as self-pollution, since constitution and 
custom will instruct every man when these 
discharges will come about ; and therefore by 
not anticipating them, and directing them in- 
to their proper channel, he is instrumental in 
destroying the human species in the same pro- 
portion as he might have become a father, by 
marking the just application. 
The prejudice that is occasioned to the 
human frame, from an undue retention of 
the semen, is frequently of very dangerous 
consequence, as a plethora and cacochymy 
may ensue, occasioning pains in the head, pal- 
pitations of the heart, apoplexy, lethargy, 
spermatic fevers, according to the different 
temperaments and constitutions of the persons, 
who by such undue continence are the cause 
of

[136]
of so much harm to themselves, and rather 
than obey the dictates of unerring nature, 
chuse by a rigorous ascetic apathy to resist her 
motions, thereby counteracting that great 
command of the Creator, of which the mind 
is made conscious for the propagation of the 
human species; and, thus obstructing the ani- 
mal œconomy, justly incur the natural con- 
sequences of such premeditated violence offered 
to her laws. 
When man is arrived at the age which 
confers the faculty of procreating, the tender 
organs destined for its source become turgid 
by their fulness, and, by the pressure of their 
contained fluid, ad upon the nervous fibres 
with such inexplicable energy, as to promote 
the expression of their contents, by the grati- 
fication of the universal appetite; and when 
once the confined semen hath been ejected, it 
so far dilates the excretory ducts of the vesiculæ 
seminales, which confined it, as to render them 
unable at any time afterwards to restrain it, 
with sufficient restriction, to resist their pleni- 
tude, when the semen is collected in such 
measure as to impress the nervous fibrillæ of 
those parts, with such sensations as excite in 
the imagination a desire to venery; which in- 
tention naturally arises in the minds of all 
persons, even the most rigid Platonist, and 
presents them with phantasms too powerful 
for the frailty of their nature to chase away, 
or resolution sufficient to prevent gratifica- 
tion. Nor would it be proper, that these de- 
sires


[137]
desires should be entirely suppressed; for  
if every one could so far surmount his amorous 
passions, as to live in a perfect state of celi- 
bacy, and stand in no need of seminal evacua- 
tions, or have no reason to fear any disorders 
from its undue retention, creation would be 
at an end, and all the links of society which 
are cemented by the ties of consanguinity 
would be dissolved. 
MARRIAGE, as it is honourable in all 
countries, so it has been held in great esteem 
from the beginning of the world among all 
sorts and sects of people. The Romans, and 
especially the wife emperor Augustus, did 
what they could to encourage it. The Jews 
did the same. The Lacedemonians, at their 
festivals, would not admit of any single man; 
and if those who were unmarried ventured to 
come amongst them, they were, as soon as 
discovered, ordered to be whipped by the wo- 
men, as unprofitable members of the republic; 
nor were any but married men suffered to bear 
any office; so that throughout the world as 
an encouragement to matrimony, the married 
men were highly preferred, excused from go- 
ing to the wars for the first year after mar- 
riage, and in every thing had the advantage of 
those that were single. 
The virtues of celibacy, it is true, have 
been frequently cried up, as if there were 
something very extraordinary contained in 
them: and many persons have, doubtless, be- 
lieved,

[138]
lieved, that they have acted pursuant to the 
principles of religion, and the dictates of con- 
science, when they have supported this ridi- 
culous, irrational, and unnatural doctrine: 
but if we proceed to examine their reasons 
and arguments, we shall find them to be al- 
together fallacious, and contrary to the intent 
of Providence, law, justice, and religion; and 
I venture to lay it down as an infallible posi- 
tion, that whoever compels, or injoins the 
same in others, is not only guilty of a breach 
of the sixth commandment, which says, Thou 
shalt do no murder, but is likewise guilty as an 
accessory to the breach of divers other com- 
mandments, and a promoter of innumerable 
sins.
HENCE it plainly appears, that it is not the 
use, but the abuse, of coition that is criminal 
and dangerous; and for this reason, our law 
has wisely prescribed, that no man shall have 
more than one wife, though some men of ve- 
ry salacious complexions might plead in op- 
position, that the community and posterity are 
great sufferers by this regulation, as they are 
very capable of propagating their species 
more frequently than their wives are capable 
of being impregnated, and might particularly 
instance the time of their having their courses, 
and during their child-bearing; and to give 
this reasoning some colour, they might in- 
stance the Turks, and other heathenish na- 
tions, who are allowed as many wives as they 
can support, and who are very seldom known 
to

[139]
to be barren. But this would be opening a 
door for anarchy and confusion, would destroy 
all legitimacy and inheritance, and would be 
an inlet to vice and immorality. 
The great object most worthy of inquiry in 
this respect, is to know how far nature and 
inclination should be gratified, and how far  
restrained. Constitution, complexion, the cor- 
poreal and mental state and variations, are so 
many considerations to be taken in; and, after
all, it will be scarce practicable theore- 
tically to draw the line. Some men are trou- 
bled with priapisms and satyriasis’s; some 
women with the furor uterinus: to these it 
would be in vain to talk of reason, nature, 
health, or decency. They should be first 
treated as patients, before they are advised as 
men or women. Their disorders must be cured 
before they are pointed out the happy me- 
dium of gratification, the just calls of nature. 
Others there are of both sexes, whose weakly 
constitutions, from various causes, but none 
more than those I have already had occasion 
to mention, to whom coition would be as 
fatal as arsenic; and these should neither argue 
upon, nor think of, the subject. Women 
past forty-five, and men who have no longer 
those testimonies of virility, which clearly no- 
tify the propriety of amorous gratification, 
reed give themselves any concern upon the 
subject. But those batchelors and virgins still 
in the vigour of life, who, by abstinence, 
have brought on many disorders, the cause of 
which


[140]
which they are entirely ignorant of, cannot 
too soon lay aside their celibacy, and fly into 
each other’s arms, to their mutual benefit and 
delight. The first will find their lethargic, 
supine, and inert disposition, changed to gai- 
ly, cheerfulness, and activity. The females 
will no longer eat chalk, whiting, and such 
like things, but recover their complexion, their 
vivacity, and their good temper; for the green- 
sickness is nothing more than the want of a 
due circulation of the blood and juices, and a 
regular return of the menses. 
A CERTAIN physical writer says, “ The 
“ blood, by the superfetation of the seminal 
“ humour, unduly accumulated for want of 
“ sufficient room to circulate freely through 
“ the vessels, distends the size of the same be- 
“ yond their proper diameters, which conse- 
“ quently impairing their tonic motion, oc- 
“ casions an increase in the size of its moli- 
“ culæ, and of course a remora in the circu- 
“ lation, by reason of which the blood and 
“ humours become glewy and tenacious, and 
“ the whole habit bloated and cacochymic.”  
So that there is no reason to be surprized, 
that those who are abstemiously continent, 
should be affected with such disorders as natu- 
rally flow from these causes. 
On the other hand, though provident na- 
ture, for the continuation of mankind, has 
accompanied the business of generation with 
a sense the most exquisitely delightful, and 
therefore at the time of puberty, the passion 
of


[141]
of love begins to exert itself in consequence of 
a copious secretion of the semen, which, 
prompts to be discharged; yet if we attend to 
the consequences of venereal commerce at 
this time of life, we shall discover, that na- 
ture has not intended the seminal juice for that 
purpose only, since the act of coition, being 
too often repeated at that age, restrains the 
growth of the individual, and unnerves the 
man. That there is besides a benefit ac- 
cruing from it to the constitution, may be 
collected from an observation of those appear- 
ances that arises thereon at the time of puber- 
ty. Then it is that the hairs begin to shoot 
at the pubes, the beard grows, the voice al- 
ters to a graver tone, muscular strength is 
augmented, and a more sprightly comport- 
ment accompanies them, and that the cause of 
these appearances is the saccus genitalis absorb- 
ed by the lymphatic vessels, and reconveyed 
into the blood, there is no reason to doubt, 
after perusing what has been already said upon 
this subject. Even in more advanced life, too 
unlimited a gratification of venereal desires 
will enervate the most robust constitution. I 
have met with frequent examples of men, 
who, by condescending to their wives exces- 
sive letchery, have been, from strong athletic 
men, reduced to mere skeletons. A patient of 
mine, who was brought to death’s door, and 
whom I suspected of having been guilty of 
masturbation, acknowledged, that it was all 
occasioned by his wife, who was, when in 
bed, incessantly tickling and teasing him, to 
prompt him to indulge her insatiable appetite; 
2 and


[142]
and that she carried her obstinacy in this re- 
spect to so great a pitch, that when he was un- 
able or unwilling to repeat the task, she has, 
contrary to decency, become the agent, in- 
stead of the patient, and subverted all order and 
disposition. Another patient in nearly the 
same situation, but with a much greater and 
more constant gleet, informed me, that his 
wife, to whom he had been married several 
years; but being in the situation of Dr. Coop- 
er’s patient, that is, having an obstinate hy- 
men, and whom he could never penetrate with 
the stiffest erection, pretended so much fond- 
ness for him, and was so jealous left he should 
shed his seed upon any other object, that she 
constantly committed masturbation upon him 
every night; and even invented many devices 
to excite his lust, insomuch, that she at 
length brought him to so emaciated a state, 
that she could be no longer under any appre- 
bensions of his paying his devotions at any 
other altar to the Cyprian goddess; neverthe- 
less, habit had so gained upon her, that she 
persisted in her manual operations, and would 
certainly have put an end to his existence, if 
I had not immediately ordered him to quit her 
bed, if he valued life. 
THAT women should have very extrava- 
gant passions as well as men, is not to be won- 
dered at; but that any man should be so far 
hood-winked, as to let himself be thus im- 
posed upon, is somewhat extraordinary; yet 
the sequel of this narrative is still more sur-
prising. Upon my cautioning him against 
future


[143]
future insults of this sort, and advising him  
to prevail upon his wife to undergo a chirurgical 
operation, he undertook the task, and she sub- 
mitted: he recovered his health; she was soon 
after pregnant; and from the time that she 
tasted the grateful effects of his virility, she 
never afterwards misapplied it; but she was 
rather an œconomist in love, left she should 
be too easily deprived of the extatic sensations 
it communicated. 
The operation this lady underwent, doubt- 
less, gave him free access into her vagina, and 
thereby brought her clitoris and the glans of 
his penis into contact, as this is the seat of de- 
light in women. Hence it is called by Co- 
lumbus, amoris dulcedo, the sweetness of love; 
and by Boerhaave, estrum veneris, the sting of 
love, as the necessary and unavoidable friction 
of the penis against the clitoris, in the act of 
coition, causes those excessive ticklings and 
transporting itchings to each sex, that are not 
to be described so well as felt, and still greater 
on the woman’s side, when the discharge of the 
serous matter the woman sheds is more co- 
pious in the act, and at the summit of enjoy- 
ment; for as the penis in men, and especially 
the glans of it, fills, and is instated with spi- 
rits upon a vigorous erection, and still more so 
in the act of emission, so does the clitoris at 
the same time in the woman, and which, 
jointly together, reciprocally produce each to 
the other that inexpressible satisfaction that 
is diffused through all the animal functions; 
and which, if nature had not rendered so ex- 
tremely


[144]
tremely pleasing, what man, that divine ani- 
mal, born for the contemplation of heavenly 
things, would concern himself in so filthy a 
thing, as is the act of coition; and what wo- 
man, indued with modesty, would submit her- 
self to be exposed to man, and readily undergo 
the toil and danger of child-bearing, besides 
the anxiety and care of educating her children? 
But neither the filthiness of the act will deter 
men, nor the severe inconveniencies which 
great bellies often cause to women, nor the 
frequent extreme hazard of their lives when 
in labour, nor loss of beauty and shape, the 
most precious gifts they have, and which ren- 
der them amiable, and admired by all, as well 
as beloved by those who possess them, can or 
will either affright or deter them therefrom;
nor will any of them make that reflection, till 
after the act, or consider any thing before it, 
but the mutual pleasure they expect; and all 
who enjoy allow, that they receive inexpres- 
sible satisfaction by it. 
FROM what has been said, I think it is 
clearly proved, that amorous pleasure does not 
only dispense the highest pitch of sublunary 
bliss; that it is absolutely necessary for the 
propagation and continuation of the human 
species; but that it is indispensibly requisite 
for the preservation of health, in every male 
and female of a vigorous constitution. 
SEC-

[145]
SECTION IX. 
Upon the VENEREAL DISORDER.
TO the many maladies which arise from 
copulation, we must add that which fre- 
quently occurs by promiscuous coition, and 
which is generally known by the name of the 
French disorder. The French, however, ex- 
culpate themselves from being the original com- 
municators of this disease; and in France it is 
called the Neapolitan disease. Every country 
seems ashamed of having introduced this disor- 
der into Europe, where it was unknown before 
the discovery of America: so that Columbus, 
by finding out a new world, brought us home 
a distemper, which by many is thought to be 
more pernicious to our constitutions, than both 
the Americas are advantageous to our trade and 
navigation. 
The error which has prevailed with many, 
and even with some physical people, that the 
leprosy and the venereal disorder are of the same 
nature, and therefore conclude that it is of 
more ancient date in Europe, than is universally 
believed, may easily be refuted. I shall to this 
end quote the words of Andreas Laurentius 
upon the venereal disorder. He says, “ the 
“ leprosy is always attended with a roughness 
“ of the skin; the venereal disease with a 
“ smoothness. The leprosy never begins at 
“ the pudenda, the venereal disease always. 
“ In the leprosy the patient is not afflicted 
“ with any pains, whereas in the venereal 
H “ disease 

[146]
“ disease he is severely tortured with them. 
“ The skin of lepers becomes hard, black, and 
“ callous, which appearances in venereal pa- 
“ tients by no means occur. Leprous persons 
“ are salaceous, and subject to priapisms; while 
“ the others, on the contrary, have an aversion 
“ to women, as long as they are ill. In the 
“ leprosy, the hairs of the arm-pits and groins 
“ fall off with those of the head, which does 
“ not at all happen in the venereal disease. 
“ In short, the leprosy is incurable in its na- 
“ ture; but the other is not, even when it has 
“ been suffered to run on a long time.” To 
which may be subjoined, that the symptoms of 
the leprosy are heightened and increased by the 
use of guaiacum or mercurials; whereas the 
venereal disorder is infallibly cured by them, 
when properly administered. 
The physical writers of antiquity have una- 
nimously agreed that the leprosy was usually 
contracted by unwholesome diet, and not by 
copulative infection; and, on the contrary, the 
venereal disease is never contracted by any er- 
ror in diet, but generally by coition. Hence 
we may reasonably conclude, that these two 
disorders are quite different in cause, nature, 
and symptoms. 
The venereal disease was certainly never 
known in Europe till the year 1494, at the 
time when Charles VIII. of France laid siege to 
Naples. Columbus returned this year from 
Hispaniola to Spain, and imported it into 
Europe on board one of his ships, as many 
historical

[147] 
historical testimonies can vouch. Neverthe- 
less, there are plausible reasons for asserting 
that this disorder was generally known in 
Europe many years prior to this æra; and to 
give these arguments their full force, I shall 
quote the statutes of Jane, queen of the two 
Sicilies, and countess of Provence, for the re- 
gulation of the public stews established at 
Avignon in 1347. 
“ 1. ON the eighth of August, in the year 
“ 1347, our good queen Jane gave leave that 
“ a public brothel should be set up at Avig- 
“ non; and ordered that the wenches, who 
“ plyed there, should not walk the streets, but 
“ keep themselves confined within the bro- 
“ thel; and, by way of distinction, wear a 
“ red knot upon their left shoulders. 
“ 2. ITEM, If any girl has thus offended, 
“ and persists in her offence, that the Clavi- 
“ ger, or chief of the beadles, shall lead her 
“ through the city by beat of drum, a red 
“ knot hanging at her shoulder, back to the 
“ brothel, and shall prohibit her from walking 
“ abroad any more under penalty of being 
“ lashed privately for the first offence; and 
“ being whipped publickly, and turned out of 
“ the house, for the second. 
“ 3. OUR good queen orders that this brothel 
“ shall be erected in Broken-Bridge-Street, 
“ near the convent of the Augustine-Friars, 
“ as far as to Peter’s-gate; and that the en- 
“ trance shall be towards the street; and the 
H2 “ door


[148]
“ door locked, that no youth may have ad- 
“ mittance to the wenches, without leave from 
“ the abbess or governess, who is to be chosen 
“ every year by the directors. The abbess is 
“ to keep the key, and advice the young 
“ men she admits to make no disturbances, 
“ nor frighten the wenches; and to let them 
“ know that in case of misdemeanor they will 
“ not be suffered to go off securely, but be 
“ laid under confinement by the beadles. 
“ 4. The queen commands, that on every 
“ Saturday the women in the house be singly 
“ examined by the abbess and a surgeon ap- 
“ pointed by the directors; and if any of them 
“ has contracted any illness by their whoring, 
“ that they be separated from the rest, and 
“ not suffered to prostitute themselves, for 
“ fear the youth who have to do with them 
“ should contract their distemper. 
“ 5. If any of the wenches in the brothel 
“ prove with child, let the abbess take care to 
“ prevent a miscarriage, and give notice to the 
“ directors to make provision for the child. 
“ 6. Let the abbess diligently take care not 
“ to give admittance to any person into the 
“ brothel on the Friday and Saturday in pas- 
“ sion week, nor on the holiday of Easter, 
“ under the penalty of being dismissed and 
“ whipped. 
“ 7. The queen orders that the wenches ad- 
“ mitted into the brothel abstain from strife and 
“ envying,


[149] 
“ envying, from brawling and thieving, and 
“ that they live lovingly together like sisters; 
“ and in case any difference arise among them, 
“ that they refer it to the abbess, and abide 
“ by her judgment. 
“ 8. If any theft be committed, let the ab- 
“ bess amicably procure restitution to be made 
“ of such things as are stolen. And if the 
“ guilty person should refuse to do it, let her 
“ be lashed by the beadle in private; and if 
“ she fall a second time into the same fault, 
“ let her be whipped through the city by the 
“ common hangman. 
“ 9. Let the abbess admit no Jews into 
“ the brothel; and, if any one should find 
“ means through stealth to gain admittance, 
“ whipped publickly through the streets of the 
“ city.” 
There were also at this time public stews 
allowed in the principal cities of Italy, and 
even at Rome itself, under the walls of the 
pope’s palace: France also was furnished with 
them, particularly in Aquitaine: that at Thou- 
louse was endowed with several privileges by 
Charles VI. and VII. and in the reign of queen 
Elizabeth we find rules and ordinances were 
issued, bearing date in the year 1430, for the 
regulation of stews in London and the borough 
of Southwark, one of the articles whereof runs 
thus: Of those who keep women having a wicked 
infirmity, ordering under a severe penalty, that 
H3 no

[150] 
no stew-holder keep women wythin his hous that 
hath any sickness of brenning (burning). 
But justice must be done to queen Jane of 
Sicily, in owning that her statute seems to have 
been the best calculated for promoting the order 
and tranquillity of brothels: indeed historians 
insinuate that fire was naturally of a very lasci- 
vious disposition, and by turning her mind this 
way, she was mistress of the subject, and there- 
fore capable of displaying her genius upon it. 
As soon as the venereal disorder began to make 
such ravages as it did, when, first introduced 
into Europe, these brothels also began to de- 
cline, as the expence attending the cure of the 
whores, infected with this disease, frequently 
exceeded the profits arising from their prosti- 
tution : so that the lady abbesses at length 
and become virtuous ma-
trons by necessity. 
THIS alone should be a sufficient proof that 
the venereal disorder was unknown in Europe 
before the period I have mentioned; but the 
celebrated Astruc’s observations upon queen 
Jane’s statutes will set this matter in a still 
clearer light. 
He says that those who are of opinion that 
this disorder then existed “ should prove that 
“ there were then no other disorders, besides 
“ what are now called venereal, that could 
“ possibly be contracted by harlots from their 
“ prostitution, or by them be communicated 
“ to such persons as had to do with them.
“ For 

[151]
“ For otherwise it is more rational to inter- 
“ pret this article of such diseases as were 
“ then commonly to be met with, than to 
“ argue from thence against the express testi- 
“ mony of all authors, that the venereal 
“ disease was at that time as well known, as 
“ it is at present. 
“ The argument, therefore, they draw 
“ from hence is inconclusive, unless they can 
“ first prove, that this fourth article cannot be 
“ understood of any other diseases, than such 
“ as are now called venereal (which I am sure 
“ is not to be done,) and must fall to the 
“ ground, if it once can be proved that there 
“ were other diseases, besides the present ve- 
“ nereal disorders, which were then abso- 
“ lutely unknown, arising from a promiscu- 
“ ous and immoderate use of venery, and be- 
“ ing once contracted, were capable of being 
“ communicated to such as conversed with 
“ them, of which consequently this article 
“ ought to be understood. 
“ For, 1st. from the frequency of coition, 
“ women are subject to fissures of the puden- 
“ dum, and superficial exulcerations of the 
“ vagina; nor in a promiscuous and immode- 
“ rate use of venery can the female organs 
“ avoid being considerably hurt by the vehe- 
“ ment and repeated action of the male, espe- 
“ cially in such women, as from their youth, 
“ and the delicacy of their frame, have their 
“ solid parts of weaker and more lax contex- 
“ ture; or such as have not the womb firmly 
H4 “ fixed

[152]
“ fixed in its proper seat, but naturally disposed 
“ to bear down into the vagina; or have to 
“ do with very large men, or whose semen is 
“ acrid; or such as are not careful to cleanse 
“ and wash away the seed of different persons 
“ collected, but suffer it to lie and corrupt, 
“ &c. And as common wenches are most 
“ exposed to these dangers, it is plain they 
“ must formerly have most frequently con- 
“ tracted these disorders; and these when 
“ once contracted must have grown worse 
“ and worse, either from the repetition of the 
“ same cause, or the negligence natural to 
“ whores; and at length have been com- 
“ municated to such as had to do with them, 
“ in like manner as the itch, herpes, &c, are 
“ propagated by infection; whence arose in 
“ men inflammations of the penis, miliary 
“ eruptions, pustules, ulcers upon the surface 
“ of the glans, and round the prepuce. And, 
“ 2dly. Lewd women, if frequently lain 
“ with, in case of any native imbecility in 
“ the womb, are liable to a copious flux of a 
“ soul, sharp, fœtid matter, to ulcers in the 
“ womb; and sometimes (which is still worse) 
“ to a cancer. For, from too frequent coi- 
“ tion, there must arise irregular stagnations 
“ both of the blood and lymph; by which 
“ means either the uterine glands being too 
“ much relaxed, the fluor albus follows; or 
“ the fibres being lacerated, an ulcer is formed; 
“ or the lymph being obstructed, a scirrhus is 
“ produced, which often degenerates into a 
“ cancer. To these disorders, therefore
“ common

[153]
“ common women must ever have been ex- 
“ posed; and from hence through the acri- 
“ mony of the corrupt humour oozing from 
“ the womb, they must have given divers 
“ distempers to such persons as lay with them; 
“ and in particular have caused inflammations 
“ of the glands, prepuce, and yard, miliary 
“ eruptions, pustules, ulcers, &c. such as 
“ have been described by the authors, who 
“ lived before the first breaking out of the 
“ venereal disease. 
“ 3dly. It appears that such women as had 
“ to do with lepers were for the most part 
“ affected with an erysipelatous inflammation 
“ of the vagina and urethra, with a violent 
“ troublesome dysuria, then called by the 
“ name of burning; and that the men who 
“ lay with persons thus infected, or even with 
“ found women, who had not washed them- 
“ selves since they had lain with a leper, for 
“ the most part suffered the same disorder, 
“ contracted as it were by infection. There 
“ was, therefore, a distemper so long as the 
“ leprosy subsisted, which might be con- 
“ tracted by whores from coition, and be 
“ communicated by them to such as had ve- 
“ nereal intercourse with them; which for- 
“ merly, indeed, could not but frequently 
“ occur; but upon the disappearing of the 
“ leprosy, likewise disappeared, as it was in no 
“ respect the same as the venereal gonorrhæa.” 
HAVING thus settled the origin of this dis- 
order, and its first appearance in Europe, I 
“ shall

[154]shall now consider the manner in which it is con- 
tracted, its nature, symptoms, and cure. 
This disorder is communicated either by 
generation, or infection: by generation, when 
transmitted by the parents to the child, whilst 
the body of the embrio is formed; by infec- 
tion in the act of coition between an injured 
and a found person. The fœtus may also be 
infected after being formed, if the mother con- 
tract the disease during her pregnancy. But 
this disorder is never communicated by con- 
tagious air; and though some physicians have 
imagined it may be caught by interventive 
subjects, this opinion is now exploded. It 
is thought, however, that the venereal disease 
may be contracted by a found man lying with 
a found woman, in case she has lately per- 
formed the act of coition with a man infected, 
and has not washed the inside of her parts, 
since this first connexion; as the remains of 
the putrid semen adhering to the vagina, may 
infect the glans of the penis. 
It may be communicated by the breasts of 
a distempered nurse to a found child; as the 
infected milk must soon corrupt the ten- 
der body of the child; and, on the contrary, 
a diseased child sucking the breast of a found 
nurse, may communicate by the saliva this 
disorder to the nurse. 
It may be communicated by lascivious kissing 
the mouth, when either party is affected with 
any venereal ulcers on the inside of the mouth. 
Lying


[155]
LYING in the same bed with an infected 
person, without coition, may communicate 
it, when either party hath any cutaneous dis- 
order arising from the venereal disease; upon 
the principal of exhalation and inhalation. 
It may also be contracted by handling 
the infected parts; as by examining vene- 
real ulcers with a finger, or performing the 
midwife’s office towards an infected woman, 
especially if the surgeon’s finger, or the mid- 
wife’s hands, have any wound or fissure, by 
which the poison may be more easily imbibed. 
The two first:of these ways of receiving 
the contagion, are so well confirmed, by many 
and positive experiments, that they cannot 
be doubted; but the three latter, though 
highly probably, and supported by authori- 
ties, may, perhaps, still be questioned. 
The venereal poison consists of certain 
seeds of morbisic matter, which being in- 
troduced into a found body, in the smallest 
quantity, and by sensible passages, and gra- 
dually increasing in size, form, and force, 
at length corrupt the whole mass of humours. 
This poison creates an inflammation upon the 
parts which it affects. In a gonorrhæa the 
urethra, the prostatæ, and the visiculæ semi- 
nales, in men, are inflamed; and in women, 
the vagina, the pudendum, the prostatæ, and 
the glandulæ Cowperianæ. Chancres in men 
are occasioned by an inflammation of the glans, 
the frænum, and the præpuce; and in women 
in

[156] 
in the pterygia, the carunculæ myrtiformes, 
and other parts of the pudendum. In the 
case of a bubo, the inguinal glands are in- 
flamed, and in that of a node the periosteum. 
In a word, whatever part of the body is seized 
with the virus becomes inflamed; this poison 
being so disposed, that it condenses and crisps 
the membranous stamina of the parts it pene- 
trates, whereby the extremities of the vessels 
interspersed are constringed, and the blood is 
forced from its usual course into the conti- 
guous lymphatic vessels, and causes an inflam- 
mation. When this poison is not timely ex- 
tirpated, it by degrees corrodes, exulcerates, 
and preys upon the parts it has inflamed; and 
thence arise indurations, schirrhous, and cal- 
lous humours. 
The symptoms of a gonorrhæa, (or clap)
which is the most customary stage of the ve- 
nereal disorder, contracted by coition, gene- 
rally appear, in four, eight, or twelve days, 
after the infection is caught; when a small 
quantity of an oily, lymphatic, viscid serum 
oozes through the urethra, producing a plea- 
sant sensation, and gluing up the orifice of 
the passage. The extremity of the urethra 
becomes red and hot, and opens wider than 
common. At first the parts of generation 
have an uncommon titulation, at the time of 
making water more particularly, which daily 
approaches nearer to pain. As the disorder in- 
creases, a tension, rigidity, and induration of 
the penis takes place, with a greater discharge 
of a seminal humour, the difficulty of urine 
in-

[157]
increasmg, with great sharpness like the  
pricking of pins.—The penis sometimes becomes 
distorted and bent, especially in the time of 
erection, which is called a chordee, and the 
humour flowing is of different colours, but ge- 
nerally a yellow, tinged with green, and some- 
times purulent: in others it is ash-coloured, 
resembling matter streaked with blood. 
In females, a few days after having received 
the infection, their parts are unusually moist, 
and an itching heat every day comes nearer to 
pain: when their complaints are arrived at 
their height, the insertion of the penis is scarely 
to be supported. They have also a difficulty 
and scalding in making water; but not so 
much as the men: but the oozing matter is 
very near the same in both. 
RECEIPTS for a Gonorrhæa. 
ꝶ. Lignorum guaiaci & sassafras ana ℥ij. 
Radic. chinœ & sarsaparilla ana ℥jβ.
Antimonii crudi crassiusculè triti & nodulo in- 
clusi ℥iβ. 
Ligna & radices incidantur, & infunduntur om- 
nia tepide per noctem in aquœ fontana ℔viii. 
deinde bulliant moderate ignœ ad tertiœ partis 
consumptionem, addenda finem coctionis. 
Follicul. Jennœ ℥β. 
Radicis liquoritiæ rosæ ℥i. 
Colatura servetur ad usum ter in die usurpanda 
ad ℥viii. mane jejune ventriculo, harâ quintâ vel 
sexta pomeridiana, & ante decubitum.
ANOTHER

[158]
Another, which, it is said, will cure a go- 
norrhæa, in three days, taken as an injection. 
Rx. Aquœ plantagin ℥viii, quibus dissolve 
draconis mitigati, hoc est mercurii sublimati,
dulcis, in alkool redacti ℥ij.
Argitentur simul, & liquoris illius turbidi & 
tepidi ℥i, syphore eburneo, in urethram injicia-
tur ter in die. 
The first, I should, however, rather re- 
commend, as these speedy cures are seldom 
effectual. 
A BUBO is a swelling or tumour in the 
groin, which may be either brought to a 
head or dispersed. In the first case a chirur- 
gical operation must be performed; in the 
latter the patient must be confined to his 
chamber during the whole time of his cure, to 
avoid the danger of being exposed to the air. 
CHANCRES are ulcers arising from impure 
venery, and are generally situated in men upon 
the internal surface of the prepuce, or the back 
or sides of the glands; most frequently upon 
the corona or frænum of the glands; some- 
times too upon the extremity of the duct of 
the urethra. In women frequently upon the 
internal surface of the labia pudendi; often 
upon the clitoris, the root of the clitoris, or 
on the prepuce, with which the clitoris is co- 
vered, upon the nymphæ, carunculæ myrti- 
formes, and vagina; and sometimes upon the 
extremity of the urethra. 
3 WHEN

[159] 
WHEN the prepuce is swelled, it some- 
times so strictly embraces the glans, that it 
can by no means be drawn back; in this 
state it is called by the Greek name phimo- 
sis, that is to say a ligature; but sometimes 
it is so corrugated, and tightened behind the 
corona glands, that it cannot by any art be 
brought forwards; and this state of it, which 
is contrary to the former, is called paraphimo- 
sis; that is to say, a ligature tied round. This 
state of the penis is generally accompanied 
with watery bladders upon the margin of the 
surface, which are called crystallines. 
THESE are the most customary symptoms 
of the first stages of the venereal disorder. I 
have, however, ventured to give receipts only 
for a gonorrhæa, unaccompanied with any of 
these latter symptoms, as where a surgeon's 
assistance is absolutely necessary; or where the 
intricacy of the case may baffle the most skil- 
fu! of the faculty, it would be ridiculous to 
point out such theoretical cures, as may not 
entirely suit one patient in ten. For the 
same reason, I have no occasion to enter 
upon the confirmed pox, as it is most usually 
preceded by some or all of these symptoms. 
A PREVENTATIVE remedy would be of 
more real service to the world, and especially 
the rising generation, than volumes written 
upon the subject: after the disorder is imbibed. 
To this end I shall communicate an easy por- 
table application, which has never been known 
to fail; and which it is to be hoped will annihi- 
late


[160]
late the use of those filthy bladders, commonly 
called machines. 
BEFORE coition rub the nut of the penis, 
glans, and inside of the prepuce with common 
mercurial unguent; remain no longer in the 
act of enjoyment than you have absolute occa- 
sion for; but upon retiring, wash your penis 
well with warm water, or your own, if you 
can conveniently make it, and apply the mer- 
curial unguent as before. 
This recipe was used last war in Germany 
by a skilful surgeon, who recommended it to 
the company he had the care of; and during 
the whole campaign, not one of the men re- 
ceived any infection, notwithstanding their 
corps were very famous for the number of wo- 
men belonging to them. 
In common gonorrhæas, it may with cer- 
tainty be depended upon; in confirmed or 
worse cases it is not recommended. What has 
been said upon the nature, and manner of 
communicating this disorder, should also be 
considered; as it appears that it may be im- 
bibed without copulation. 
FINIS. 


























A 
TREATISE 
UPON THE 
FORMATION
OF THE 
HUMAN SPECIES, &c. 



A 
TREATISE 
UPON THE 
FORMATION 
OF THE 
HUMAN SPECIES; 
The DISORDERS incident to PROCREA- 
TION in Men and Women; 
The Evils arising from the Abuse of the 
Genital Faculties.
WITH 
The most approved and efficacious Methods of 
Cure, illustrated with a Variety of Cases 
and Examples. 
By JAMES FLEMING, 
Hospital-Surgeon and Man-Midwife. 
LONDON: 
Printed M. Thrush, at the King’s-Arms, in 
Salisbury-Court, Fleet-Street. 
MDCCLXVII. 



CONTENTS. 
Introduction, 
Page ix. 
SECTION I. 
Of the formation of the human species;— 
specifying the structure and design of the 
genital parts in men and women;—the 
manner of conception, and the most pro- 
bable means of producing it.—1 
SECTION II. 
Of venereal excesses;—displaying the dan- 
gerous conseqences resulting from an un- 
limited gratification of amorous delights; 
—the utility and importance of the semen 
to the whole mass, illustrated from the 
best writers, ancient and modern.—13
2 SEC-

CONTENTS. 
SECTION III. 
Of the baneful effects of self-pollution in the 
male-sex;—shewing that this practice is 
much more fatal than even venereal ex- 
cesses in a natural way, supported by phy- 
sical reasons, and evident deductions, 
with many recent examples, and extraor- 
dinary cases.—Page 35 
SECTION IV. 
Of the dreadful consequences of self-pollu- 
tion, and the gratification of the Sapphic 
passion in the female-sex, containing the 
origin and progress of this passion, and its 
fatal effects, exemplified in many living 
instances;—also same very curious, uncom- 
mon, and original cases, that have lately 
fallen under the observation of the author, 
at some hospitals in this metropolis, and 
elsewhere; with Dr. Quincey's account of 
two young ladies in a convent, who were 
supposed to have changed their sex by this 
abominable practice, &c. &c.—54 
SEC-

CONTENTS. 
SECTION V. 
Of the disorders incident to the female-sex, 
and their most approved methods of cure; 
mamely, the whites; the suppression of 
the menses; the overflowing of the men- 
ses; the irregularity of the menses; the 
menses; the falling of the womb. 
Page 84
SECTION VI. 
Of the most practical and approved methods 
of cure of the disorders incident to ex- 
cessive venery, or self-pollution, from Hip- 
pocrates, Boerhaave, Hoffman, Stork, 
Capuacico, Lewis, Tissot, &c. &c. 
104
SECTION VII. 
Of impotency in men, and barrenness in wo- 
men, and the most efficacious remedies for 
their cure, containing some curious remarks 
upon these disorders, and how far the 
consequences extend in the two sexes re- 
spectively, 

CONTENTS. 
spectively, with Boerhaave's opinion 
with respect to the cure of impotency, 
and some approved receipts for the same. 
—The best manner of treating barrenness 
in women, divided under its different 
causes, &c. &c.—Page 121 
SECTION VIII 
Of the propriety of amorous pleasure, where- 
in this subject is morally and physically 
considered, shewing in what cases the in- 
dulgence of this passion is allowable, and 
how far it is pernicious or beneficial to 
health.—134. 
SECTION IX. 
Of the venereal disorder, tracing its ori- 
gin; approved recipes for its cure; and 
a preventative remedy.—145. 
INTRO-

INTRODUCTION. 
IF the editor of the following perform- 
ance thought any apology necessary 
for laying it before the public, he would 
enter upon his defence, by acknowledg- 
ing his crime; which is neither more nor 
less, than that of exploding ignorance, and 
revealing the knowledge of human nature: 
but he flatters himself, that we live in too 
liberal an age, to discountenance any at- 
tempts to communicate real instruction; 
and surely none is more important than 
that of being acquainted with our own 
formation, and the source of our animation. 
It is that which should first occupy our 
thoughts, ere we endeavoured to im- 
prove our understandings by foreign or 
remote studies; for it is almost impossible 
to arrive at any degree of excellence in 
the various branches of science, without 
having an intimate acquaintance with that
b being,


x INTRODUCTION. 
being, who is thus busied in the pursuit; 
and yet many there are, who have at- 
tempted to reach the utmost pinacle of 
learning, without having bestowed one 
thought upon the nature of their own ex- 
istence. 
If curiosity, or the allurements of 
knowledge, no way interfered in this de- 
sign, a still more cogent reason should 
urge us to the task; a reason whose ob- 
ject is the basis of all happiness, all case, 
all contentment, all tranquillity; and this 
is nothing less than our Health, with- 
out which riches, science, beauty, are 
idle, insignificant, and useless. We have 
no relish for what we cannot enjoy; and 
if bodily health is wanting, nothing in 
this sublunary state can dispense a mo- 
ment’s real satisfaction. 
To this end, then, it is necessary, that 
wc should consider the nature of our for- 
mation; by what means we came into 
this world; how far our creation might 
have injured the health of our parents; 
the

xi INTRODUCTION. 
the proper use of those generative powers 
with which we are endued, to add our 
mite to the increase of the general stock 
of individuals, and the proper methods 
of curing such disorders as are incidental 
to this pursuit, or the still more fatal 
complaints arising from the abuse of these 
faculties. 
In order to render this work of gene- 
ral utility, and to remove the disgust of 
a dry and tedious study, I have selected 
what has been said by the most elegant as 
well as learned writers of antiquity upon 
these heads; nor have I omitted aught 
that appeared to me pertinent or illustrat- 
ing offered by the modern literati; so 
that this may be considered as an epitome 
Of every thing essential that has been 
written upon these subjects, digested and 
methodized, with obervations and re- 
marks, in the compass of a pocket volume
It may, perhaps, be objected by some 
over-scrupulous critics, that the nature of 
b2 the

xii INTRODUCTION. 
the plan must necessarily create a variety 
of amorous ideas, which, for the benefit 
of the rising generation, had better be 
suppressed than illustrated. 
To this I answer, That the design of 
this work is not to excite lascivious 
thoughts, but to consider ourselves phi- 
losophically as we are; to point out the 
danger of too much indulgence even in 
natural passions, and the still more dire- 
ful consequences of addicting ourselves to 
unnatural ones. If it were necessary, I 
could, in my defence, quote the sacred 
writers, and the fathers of the church, 
who have treated upon these very subjects, 
even in living languages; and I shall en- 
deavour to suppress any indecent expres- 
sions, as far as the nature of the perform- 
ance will allow: wherefore, I hope, in- 
stead of incurring the censure, to meet the 
approbation of sensible and virtuous men. 
This work would have been incom- 
plete, had I not been somewhat particu- 
lar in displaying the filthiness and danger 
of


xiii INTRODUCTION. 
of a crime, that I am afraid the youth of 
the present age are but too guilty of; a 
crime that is pregnant with manifold evils, 
not only to the culprit, but which he 
transmits to posterity; a crime that is 
destructive of our very being, and anni- 
hilates creation. A mirror, to view these 
direful ills, could not be held in too 
strong a light; the picture cannot be too 
highly coloured, that every one whom it 
pourtrays may shudder at his own resem- 
blance. 
IT is a melancholy reflection, that even 
the softer sex, the lovely part of the crea- 
tion, are not exempt from the imputation. 
Nay, if we may credit the satyrists of an- 
tiquity, and particularly Juvenal, they 
complicated the crime: 
Lenonum ancillas posita, Laufella cerona 
Provocate, et tollit pendentis primæ coxæ, 
Ipsa Medulline frictum crisantis adorat. 
Palmam inter dominas virtue natalibus 
œquat.
Such 

xiv INTRODUCTION. 
Such are his words. How many Lau- 
fellas and Medullinas are still in being, 
the number of antiquated maids and 
misses of three-score, more evidently 
prove than any other calculation to be 
framed. 
This vice, then, cannot be too severe- 
ly combated, too publickly exposed; and 
if those who are addicted to it do not, 
after perusing the following sheets, blush, 
tremble, and repent, they are devoid of 
shame, sense, and reflection: they are ir- 
reclaimable, and unworthy of attention. 
But many, I hope, there are, who have 
been unwarily prompted to give way to 
so shameful a practice, who need only see 
it represented in a just light, to shudder 
at their guilt; and these penitents are de- 
serving of regard. For such have I point- 
ed out a proper cure for those disorders, 
which they may have brought upon them- 
selves by their former folly. But let not 
those who have long habituated them- 
selves to this vice, flatter themselves with 
a speedy, or any relief, without they pre- 
viously

xv INTRODUCTION. 
viously eradicate every thought tending 
to this unclean desire. 
The disorders solely incident to the 
female sex, form another part of this- 
work, in which the most approved and 
efficacious remedies are pointed out; 
whereby every lady may, in these cases, 
see her own situation, and, by following 
such prescriptions as are there laid down, 
be restored to her pristine health, with- 
out being obliged to reveal her complaint 
to any one of the faculty. It would be 
needless, in this place, to point out the 
many inconveniencies that have slowed 
from the sex’s ignorance of the real na- 
ture of their disorders; and we too well 
know there are numbers, who, through 
misjudged modesty, will not let a man 
approach them even in labour, when in 
the greatest danger: if so, how many 
may have been lost for want of proper 
instruction in cases though not so vio- 
lent, yet equally fatal, when neglected. 
This

xvi INTRODUCTION. 
THIS part, therefore, will, I imagine, 
sufficiently recommend itself to the fair 
sex, without my expatiating any farther 
upon its utility. 
I HAVE also set apart a section for the 
venereal disorder, in which I have traced 
its origin, nature, symptoms, and method 
of communication; with receipts for such 
stages of it, as patients may rely upon 
themselves for the cure: to which I have 
subjoined a preventative remedy, that will 
doubtless be efficacious in most common 
cases. 
UPON the whole, this work, though 
small, may be considered as an useful and 
instructive treatise upon physiology and 
medicine; and will, the editor flatters 
himself, claim a precedence before many 
voluminous productions, equally prolix 
and unentertaining. 
SEC-


[1] 
SECTION I. 
Of the formation of the human species. 
THE knowledge of ourselves is, doubt- 
less, the most essential and rational in- 
quiry of human beings, and, therefore, 
every attempt to unfold the secrets of nature in 
our formation, must meet with the approbation 
of all those who are desirous of having the veil 
of ignorance drawn aside, that providence and 
reason may appear in all their splendor, to the 
eye of every beholder. 
To compass this effectually, it will be ne- 
cessary to consult the structure of males and fe- 
males in their genital parts, and the cause of 
that proneness to copulation, which is the ori- 
ginal source of generation, and consequently 
the perpetuation of the human species. 
Man, the noblest and most rational animal 
in the creation, is formed of so delicate, so 
nice a mechanism, that any the smallest inter- 
ruption to the most minute operation of the 
corporeal system, in some degree discomposes 
the whole frame; and as perfection is no where 
to be met with in this sublunary sphere, so in 
B man

[2]
man there is constantly some, though, per- 
haps, small impediment to complete health. 
Cold or heat, moisture or drought, must alter- 
nately affect the circulation of his blood, the 
digestive powers of his stomach, &c. &c. and 
as these are more or less diverted, the body is 
impaired. The great art of the materia medica 
is to restore these, when disturbed, to the 
nearest point of perfection they can attain. 
In this treatise, I must, however, confine 
myself to the revolutions of the corporeal frame, 
so far as they are influenced by the act of copu- 
lation. To launch into a detail of all the va- 
rious affections of the human body, with their 
causes and consequences, would lead me far be- 
yond my present design, which is, as I have 
specified in the title page. To investigate the 
formation of the human species; the disorders 
incident to procreation in men and women; 
the evils arising from the abuse of the genital 
faculties, and set forth the most approved me- 
thods of cure. 
In entering upon the first part of my plan, 
which is the formation of the human species, I 
must consider the structure and design of those 
parts in each sex, which are immediately in- 
strumental in this operation. 
The principal organ of generation in man 
is placed obvious to the sight, and sensible to 
the touch; and, by reason of its pendent state, 
disposed for the act of coition, is called by the 
Latins,

[3] 
Latins, penis; the most decent translation of 
which, in English, is the yard, though it vul- 
garly bears another name. When erect, its 
shape is long, though its length is very diffe- 
rent in various men; in some it does not pro- 
ject above three inches from the belly, in others 
four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and even 
ten inches; but the latter size is very scarce. 
It is roundish, and the upper side rather flattish, 
consisting of skin, tendons, veins, arteries, and 
sinews. Its situation is over the os pubis, be- 
ing destined for two very different operations, 
namely, the conducting of the seed into the 
matrix of the woman in the act of copulation, 
and to void a superabundance of urine from 
the bladder. To this end, it internally con- 
sists of two nervous bodies, the septem, the 
urethra, the glans, the muscles, and the ves- 
sels. The two nervous bodies are so called, 
from their being surrounded with a thick, white, 
nervous membrane; yet their interior substance 
is spongy, consisting chiefly of nervous fibres, 
arteries, and veins, interspersed. The cause 
of its erection is its plenitude of spirituous agi- 
tated blood; and consequently a defect of erec- 
tion arises from a deficiency of this supply. The 
contents of the septem is white, sinewy, and ner- 
vous, being destined for the support of the ure- 
thra and side ligaments. The urethra, which 
is the common channel for the seed and urine, 
is in substance loose and soft, thick and sinewy. 
It hath three holes, the two smaller of which 
receive the seed from the vesiculœ seminales; the 
center one, and largest, is the aperture for the 
B2 urine,

[4]
urine, being seated at the neck of the bladder, 
The glans are at the extremity of the yard, 
and are susceptible of the nicest sensations, be- 
ing covered by nothing but a thin membrane. 
The prepuce, or covering, which the Jews cir- 
cumcise, in some men covers almost the whole 
nut of the yard, and in others very little of it; 
and this generally depends upom the state of the 
frænum, which in many is broke or cut. The 
muscles, which are four in number, consist of 
fleshy fibres: the use of the shortest and thickest 
of these fibres, is to extend the yard, and put 
it into a state of erection; wherefore they de- 
rive their name of erectors. The office of the 
two longer and thinner, is to stretch the lower 
part of the urethra in the time of evacuation, 
and are therefore stiled accelerators. The vessels 
consist of veins, arteries, and nerves, some vi- 
sible, and some invisible. 
The testicles, or reservoirs of seed, come 
next under consideration. They are situated 
at the bottom of the abdomen, behind the yard. 
The internal skin, which covers them, is called 
the scrotum, and the internal the membrana 
carnosa. The epididymaides are joined to 
the testicles, from whence arise the vasa defe- 
rentia, or ejaculatoria, which, upon approach- 
ing the neck of the bladder, deposit the semen 
in the seminal vessels, which resemble bunches 
of grapes; and hence is the seed thrown into the 
urethra in the act of coition. The prostate 
glans, which are situated near to them, and 
unite the neck of the bladder, are about the 
size

[5]
size of a common walnut. Hence issues a saline 
glutinous humour, which preserves the urethra 
from the bad effects of the acrimony of the 
semen, as well as that of the urine. There are 
also two vessels, which conduct the blood to the 
testes, where it is elaborated into semen; and 
these are called arteria spermaticœ; and the two 
spermatic veins carry off the superabundant 
blood from the testes. 
Having thus set forth the parts of genera- 
tion in men, those of women come next under 
our consideration. 
The lips of the orifice, seated between the 
thighs, are called the labiœ; and the adjacent 
parts, covered with hair at the age of puberty, 
are called pudenda. Such is the external ap- 
pearance; the internal consists of the nymphœ, 
which appear upon opening the labiæ, and are 
composed of soft spongy flesh, resembling, in 
form and colour, a cock’s comb, receiving, in 
the act of generation, the man’s yard between, 
having, in their center, the clitoris, which is 
the seat of bliss in women, and which I shall 
persently describe. The little buttons, in the 
shape of berries, which close the orifice of the 
neck of the bladder, and, by their swelling, in- 
crease the titillation and exquisite sense in 
the act of copulation, also serve to prevent 
any involuntary discharge of urine, which the 
nymphæ give vent to. We now come to the 
clitoris, which greatly resembles a man’s penis, 
and by its erection and friction in contact with 
B3 the


[6] 
the yard, the woman receives the highest de- 
light. This part is replete with a spongy and 
black matter within, like unto the side liga- 
ments of the yard, which it so much resembles, 
exciting lust, and communicating delight in 
the act of generation, this being the great in- 
centive to venery in females; and the amo- 
rous passion is therefore generally proportioned 
to the size of their clitoris. Its uncommon and 
extraordinary protuberance, I shall have occa- 
sion to mention in another place, and to as- 
sign the most obvious causes for this phæno- 
menon. It rises from the os pubis, having its 
head covered with a very thin membrane, 
where there is an orifice; but it is not perfo- 
rated. The urinary passage is seated over the 
neck of the womb, and under the clitoris. 
This passage is secured from cold, or any 
other violent attacks, in the act of copulation, 
by the largest and uppermost of the four fleshy 
buttons, which is seated before, and closes it. 
The lips of the womb now make their appear- 
ance. The neck or channel is seated between 
the four buttons, and the inner bone of the 
womb, which receives the yard like a sword- 
sheath. It is so constructed, that it may be 
easily and agreeably extended in the act of co- 
pulation, being of a spongy nature; and there 
being in this concavity various foliages, or cir- 
cular plaits, made by wrinkled tunicles, it re- 
sembles a blown rose, in those who have still 
their virginity; but it loses this appearance by 
frequent coition, becoming smooth, and at 
length grisly and hard. The hymen, or clu- 
strum virginale, closes the neck of the womb, 
which

[7]
which is occasionally supplied with a large 
quantity of spirits from different veins and ar- 
teries that there concenter, in order to be di- 
lated; and they retain the yard with additional 
vigour, being capable of receiving in general 
one of eight inches in length. Upon the first 
entrance of the pudendum, there are two 
small arteries, which, being pressed by the pe- 
nis in the act of coition, furnish a humour that 
communicates an additional sensation of plea- 
sure to the woman. 
These parts may be considered as so many 
instruments and channels for conveying the 
seed into the womb, which I shall now more 
particularly consider. It is situated in the lower 
parts of the hypogastrion, adjoining to its 
neck, and is seated between the bladder and the 
streight-gut, whereby it is prevented from be- 
ing displaced, though it is capable of contrac- 
tion or dilatation, as occasions require. Its form 
is circular, resembling in some measure a 
gourd, lessening and growing more acute to- 
wards the extremity, united by its own liga- 
ments, and its neck by its proper substance, 
and certain membranes that fasten it to the 
sharebone and the os sacrum. Its size is various 
in different women, and more particularly in 
those who have borne children from those who 
have not. The preparatory vessels are the 
same in number and origin with women as 
with men; their size and manner of insertion 
constituting all the difference. They are shorter 
in women than in men, the testicles of a 
B4 woman


[8]
woman being seated within the belly, and re- 
quiring a shorter passage to communicate their 
contents; but, on the other hand, have more 
intricate foliages than in man, that the liquor 
may be properly elaborated. These prepara- 
tory vessels are not united as in men, before 
they arrive at the stones; but are divided into 
two branches, the greater of which only passes 
to the stones, and the lesser to the fecundated 
egg, this being properly conception. The 
immediate use of these vessels is to convey the 
blood to the testicles, part whereof is employed 
in their nutrition, and the production of those 
little bladders in every respect resembling eggs, 
through which the vasa præparentiæ run, and 
are obliterated in them. Each testicle in a 
woman contains about twenty eggs, one 
of which being impregnated by the most 
spirituous parts of the male-seed in the act of 
copulation, descends through the oviducts into 
the womb, where it is nourished, and becomes 
a human being. The figure of these ova is not 
perfectly round, but somewhat flat on the sides, 
and their lower parts are oval; but in their up- 
per part, where they have communication 
with the blood vessels, they are covered with 
a single membrane, in order to facilitate the 
conveyance of a proper degree of heat. 
Such then are the general structures of the 
parts of generation in the two sexes. There 
are doubtless many uncommon forms in these 
organs, which may at once astonish, and in 
some degree puzzle the greatest philosophers 
to


[9] 
to account for them; but these excursions of 
nature are not so frequent in the males as in 
the females, which I shall in the sequel endea- 
vour to explain, as well as the too frequent 
cause husbands have to complain, that their 
wives do not bring with them their virginity 
to the marriage-bed, even though they never 
had before any commerce with the male sex. 
When it is considered, that a maidenhead, or 
virginity, consists in nothing more than that 
membranous substance called the hymem, resem- 
bling the bud of a rose half blown, and which 
is destroyed by the first act of copulation, or 
the insertion of any inflexible substance, we 
may easily conclude, that many females have 
got their own maidenheads long before they 
knew a man. The hymen, or clustrum vir- 
ginale, being a thin membrane interwoven 
with fleshy fibres, and having an orifice in the 
center, through which the menses flow, and 
wherein the top of a little finger may be easily 
at first inserted, which, being repeated, and 
the fore finger afterwards supplying its place, 
these practices, within a short time, destroy 
the zone of chastity, as it is emphatically cal- 
led. In some countries marriage is void, 
Unless the bride, upon her wedding-night, gives 
proper testimonials of her having been endow- 
ed with it at the time of her marriage. This 
evidence consists of the effusion of blood upon 
the rupture of the hymenean membrane. Some 
females consider the narrowness of their vagi- 
na as a sufficient proof of their maidenhead; 
but age, disposition of body, and other cir-
B5 cumstances,

[10]
cumstances, either constitute or destroy it. In 
general, it may, indeed, be allowed, that wo- 
men who have frequently indulged and grati- 
fied their amorous desires by copulation, are 
not so streight as those who have had but little 
commerce this way; but this is no positive 
proof of virginity, as artifice may impose a 
substitute for the reality, and astringent medi- 
cines supply the place of continence. 
As the original intent of copulation was, 
doubtless, more to propagate our species, than 
to gratify any carnal appetite, we should, to at- 
tain the desired end, pursue the necessary means; 
when, therefore, our design is to impregnate our 
wives, we should previously dispose them to 
receive our caresses with the most unseigned 
joy. We should invigorate them with nutri- 
tious food, and an agreeable quantity of gene- 
rous wine; and if their desires seem still more 
backward than ours, we should excite them 
by tender and amorous dalliance; for all our 
effects will prove ineffectual, unless they meet 
our embraces with equal delight, and we are 
both critically and instantaneously happy: there- 
fore when we find the parts in women cold and 
inanimate, the clitoris in a flimsy state, and 
no expressions of exquisite sensation upon our 
embrace, it were better to restrain from con- 
summation, as, in all probability, it will be 
the loss of the discharge of valuable seed, with- 
out the profit of reaping the least harvest from 
its being sown; but when delight sparkles in 
her eye, when every thrust seems to commu- 
nicate

[11]
nicate new joy, when you meet the clitoris In 
its greatest extension, and most perfect erec- 
tion, delectably throbbing with the extatic 
friction, in contact with the glans of the pe- 
nis, then you cannot too much exert yourself, 
till, by pushing onward to the goal of felicity, 
inarticulate, though expressive, ejaculations, 
plainly indicate the tumult of her soul, in the 
amazing sensations of a deluge of happiness; 
or, as the poet so finely expresses it. 
Bodies mingling, sexes blending.— 
Who shall most he lost contending. 
Then hold her off, and gaze—then with new rage 
Clasp her, till your conscious limbs presage 
Torrents of joy, which all their banks overflow. 
So lost, so blest, as you but then can know. 
The first emanations of reciprocal bliss be- 
ing ended, it requires prudence and considera- 
tion to know when it is proper to withdraw 
from the field of delight, left you should, by 
too early a retreat, lose the victory you have 
gained in favour of generation. To speak 
without a figure, by unsheathing your yard too 
soon, you make way for the air to penetrate 
the womb, and the cold, so untimely commu- 
nicated, may be of the most fatal consequence: 
therefore you should remain in the same pos- 
ture, and, as far as possible, in the same union, 
till such time as you may conclude, that the 
matrix is closed, which naturally takes place 
soon after it has received the active principle, 
B6 in

[12] 
in order to form a conception; when you may 
safely withdraw, and leave the lady to her re- 
pose. 
THESE cautions being taken, and the fe- 
male ovum having been impregnated, by the 
male semen, at the crisis of copulation, and 
then made its descent into the womb, nothing 
is now necessary, but its being gradually and 
regularly nourished, till it becomes a fœtus; 
and this is GENERATION. 
SECTION

[13]
SECTION II. 
Of venereal excesses. 
THE greatest physician of antiquity, who 
has transmitted his name to us with the 
highest renown, and who will be read and ad- 
mired whilst letters and science retain their in- 
fluence, has described the ills that are occasi- 
oned by the abuse of amorous pleasures, under 
the title of Tabes Dorsalis. Hippocrates says, 
that this disorder arises from some defect in the 
spinal marrow. Young married people, and 
those of a lascivious disposition, are particularly 
afflicted with it, They have no fever, and, 
though they eat well, they fall away, and be- 
come consumptive. They feel as if a sting or 
stitch descended from the head, along the spi- 
nal marrow. Every time they go to stool, or 
have occasion to urine, they shed a great quanti- 
ty of thin seminal liquor. They are incapable of 
procreation, and frequently dream of the act 
of coition. Walking particularly in rugged 
paths puts them out of breath, and weakens 
them, occasioning a heaviness in the head, and 
noise in the ears, which are succeeded by a vi- 
olent fever that terminates their days. Such 
are the words of Hippocrates, which corre- 
spond with what Aetius says upon the same 
subject. Young people have the air and ap- 
pearance of old age. They become pale, effe- 
minate, benumbed, lazy, stupid, and even 
imbecile: 

[14]
imbecile:their bodies are curved, and their 
legs are unable to perform their functions; 
they have an utter distaste, and, for every 
thing, are totally incapacitated; many be- 
come paralytic. The stomach is disordered, 
all the body is weakened, paleness, bodily de- 
cay, and emaciation succeed, These opinions 
are supported by Turpius, that celebrated bur- 
gomaster and physician of Amsterdam: these 
are his words: “ The spinal marrow does 
“ not only waste, but the body and mind both 
“ equally languish, and the man perishes a 
“ miserable victim. Samuel Vesputius was 
“ seized with a flux of humour extremely 
“ sharp, which immediately affected the hind 
“ part of the head, and the nape of the neck, 
“ from whence it communicated to the spinal 
“ marrow, the loins, the buttocks, and the 
“ articulation of the thigh, which made this 
“ unfortunate man suffer such excruciating 
“ pain, that his countenance was entirely dis- 
“ torted, and he was seized with a slow fever, 
“ which by degrees consumed him, but not so 
“ fast as he desired; and he was in such a si- 
“ tuation, that he frequently invoked death 
“ before he snatched him from his misery.” 
To these opinions, we shall add that of the 
celebrated Gabius, in his Pathological and Me- 
dicinal Institutes : “ An immediate emission 
“ of feed is not only prejudicial, by reason of 
“ the loss of a most useful humour, hut like- 
“ wise by a repetition of the convulsive mo- 
“ tion by which it is discharged; for the 
“ highest pleasure is followed by an universal 
4 “ resolution

[15] 
“ resolution of the natural powers, which can- 
“ not frequently take place without exerva- 
“ tion. Besides, the more the strainers of the 
“ body are drained, the more humour they 
“ draw to them from the other parts; and the 
“ juices being thus conveyed to the genitals, 
“ the other parts are impoverished. Hence it 
“ is, that from excessive venery arise lassitude, 
“ weakness, numbness, a feeble gait, head 
“ aches, convulsions of all the senses, but espe- 
“ cially of the sight, and dulness of hearing, 
“ an idiot look, a feverish circulation, exsicca- 
“ tion, leanness, a consumption of the lungs 
“ and back, and effeminacy: these evils are 
“ increased, and become incurable, by reason 
“ of a perpetual itch for pleasure, which the 
“ mind at last contracts, as well as the body; 
“ and from whence it follows, that they have 
“ obscene dreams in sleep, and that the prone 
“ parts upon every the slightest occasion have 
“ a tendency to stiffen, and the quantity of 
“ replaced semen, however small, becomes a 
“ burthen and a stimulus; which semen will 
“ be discharged from the relaxed cells, by the 
“ very slightest efforts, and even without any 
“ effort at all. Thus it is, that these excesses 
“ brings such perdition upon the flower of our 
“ youth.” 
SUCH then are the sentiments of these great 
men at different periods, upon the consequence 
of too violent seminal emissions; and to illu- 
strate what has been premised, it will be ne- 
cessary to pay some attention to the importance 
of

[16]
of this liquor, with respect to the well-being 
of the whole human machine. 
It may with truth be said, that our bodies 
are in a continual state of decay: to repair this 
waste, nature has furnished us with nutrition, 
by the assistance of aliments; but whenever 
this supply is wanting, our frame must neces- 
sarily decay much faster, and more quickly 
sink into a state of extreme debility and mortal 
weakness. Too copious evacuations are the 
most frequent causes of this defect; for our 
bodies are so constructed, that for these ali- 
ments to acquire the degree of preparation ne- 
cessary for the reparation, a certain quantity of 
humours must be ready prepared, and con- 
stantly at hand. If this condition is wanting, 
the digestion and concoction of the aliments are 
imperfect, and the more imperfect in propor- 
tion, as the deficient humour happens to be of 
a more elaborate kind, or of greater importance 
in the animal œconomy. 
The seminal liquor has so great an influx 
ence upon the corporeal powers, and upon 
perfect digestion, which repairs them, that 
physicians of all ages have been unanimously 
of opinion, that the loss of an ounce of this 
humour would weaken more than that of for- 
ty ounces of blood. An idea may be formed 
of its importance, by observing the effect it 
produces as soon as it begins to be formed; the 
voice, the physiognomy, the features of the 
face change; the beard grows, and the body 
often

[17]
often takes another appearance, because the 
muscles acquire a thickness and firmness, which 
form a sensible difference between the body of 
an adult person, and that of a youth not yet 
arrived at the age of puberty. These changes 
are prevented by destroying the organ which 
serves to secrete the liquor that produces it; and 
Boerhaave observed, that the amputation of the 
testicles, at the age of verility, made the beard 
fall, and effeminated the voice. 
There are humours, such as perspiration, 
which quit the body the moment they are se- 
parated from the circulating vessels. There 
are others, such as urine, which after this re- 
paration are retained for a certain time in the 
reservoirs destined for that purpose, and from 
whence they do not issue till they are collected 
in a sufficient quantity, to excite an irritation 
upon these reservoirs, which mechanically 
causes them to empty. There are a third sort. 
Which are secreted and retained in the manner 
of the second, in reservoirs, not with the design 
of being completely evacuated, but to acquire 
in these reservoirs a degree of perfection which 
qualifies them for fresh functions, when they 
return into the mass of humours. Such, 
amongst others, is the genital liquor. Being 
separated in the testicles, it passes from this in 
a pretty long canal into the vesiculœ seminales, 
is continually resorbed by the vessels adapted 
for that purpose, and are gradually restored to 
the mass of humours. Many evidences might 
be produced to demonstrate this fact: amongst 
others,

[18] 
others, for instance, the secretion of the semi- 
nal liquor in a healthy man, is constantly made 
in the testicles: it repairs to the reservoirs, the 
limits of which are very confined, and cannot, 
perhaps, contain all that is secreted in a day; 
there are, nevertheless, some continent men, 
who have no evacuations of this kind for ma- 
ny months: in these it must, therefore, return 
into the vessels of circulation, which is greatly 
facilitated by the structure of the organs, 
which assists in the secretion of this humour, 
in conveying it into the proper channel, and 
in preserving it. The veins are there much 
more considerable than the arteries, and in a 
proportion not to be found elsewhere. And 
supposing, according to some modern opi- 
nions, * that no other than the lymphatic 
veins absorb, the genital parts are equally suit- 
ed to a considerable absorption, as the vessels 
of this kind are there very numerous. 
Though Galen was unacquainted with the 
mechanism of the semen, he was not ignorant 
that the humours were enriched by its being 
retained ; for he says every part is full of it 
with those who refrain from any commerce 
with women; but those who frequently give 
way to this intercourse, are quite deficient of 
this humour. He then enters into a curious 
disquisition, in order to ascertain how small a 
quantity of this liquor can communicate in- 
finite strength to the body; and concludes. 
* Vide, Dr. Munro junior, De Vasis Lymphaticis. Dr. 
Hunter, the Medical Commentaries, &c.
that 

[19]
that it has excellent virtue, and may, there- 
fore, very speedily convey some of its power to 
all parts of the corporeal machine; and that as 
small causes often produce great effects, he 
thinks it is no way surprizing, that the testicles 
should furnish liquor proper to circulate fresh 
vigour over all the body, as the brain produces 
many motions and sensations, and the heart 
communicates the power of beating to the ar- 
teries. To this may be properly added what 
the great professor Haller says upon the same 
subject. His words are: “ The semen is kept 
“ in the vesiculœ seminales until the man makes 
“ use of it, or nocturnal emissions deprive him 
“ of it. During this period, the quantity that 
“ is then confined excites him to acts of ve- 
“ nery; but the greater part of this seed, 
“ which is the most volatile and odoriferous, 
“ as well as the strongest, is absorbed into the 
“ blood, and then produces upon its return 
“ very surprising changes; it makes the beard, 
“ hair, and nails grow; it changes the voice 
“ and manners; for age does not produce 
“ those changes in animals; it is the semen 
“ only that performs these operations, as we 
“ find eunuchs are not susceptible of them." 
This liquor is a stimulus or provocative, 
which irritates the parts it touches, as its pow- 
erful scent, and the manifest irritation it com- 
municates to the organs of generation, plainly 
evince. These sharp particles being then in- 
cessantly absorbed and reunited with the hu- 
mours, they create a gentle, though constant 
stimulus


[20]
stimulus in the vessels, which thereby more 
forcibly contract, and more easily act upon the 
fluids; hence circulation is quickened, nutri- 
tion performed with greater regularity, and 
every other animal function becomes more 
perfect. 
This being the case, eunuchs must ncces- 
sarily be in many respects defective in their 
animal œconomy; but if they are incapable of 
the advantages that are derived from the ab- 
sorption of this liquor, they are, on the other 
hand, not deprived of that precious part of the 
blood which is allotted for semen; and of 
course they are not liable to those changes 
which are occasioned by the prepared seminal 
liquor; nor are they exposed to those disorders 
which arise from the privation of this humour 
unprepared. When the first is not separated, 
the animal machine will be deficient in those 
succours which it derives from the prepared 
semen, without being liable to the alterations 
which depend thereupon; but this can in no 
respect weaken; if, on the one hand, it gains 
nothing, so, on the other, it loses nothing: 
the body of an eunuch may, therefore, in this 
respect be considered in a state of childhood. 
To what has been here said upon this subject, 
the observations of the celebrated professor 
Skmeider of Leipsic, will be no improper sup- 
plement. 
“ Whilst

[21]
“ Whilst I have been some times medi-
“ tating on various natural subjects, says this 
“ professor, such as the human body, the 
“ structure of it, its motion, its humours, and 
“ the like, I imagined that, amongst other 
“ things, the genital liquor well deserved to 
“ be carefully examined; and by inquiring 
“ into the nature, the constitutive parts, the 
“ vessels, receptacles, and secretion of it, I 
“ have recollected some things concerning its 
“ motion; not that which is ejaculatory, and 
“ excited in coition, or by another filthy ti- 
“ tillation; nor yet its own private and in- 
“ testine motion, which, that it must have, 
“ we are pretty sure of, from the spirituous 
“ and sulphureous particles it abounds with; 
“ but the motion I mean is a progressive one, 
“ from its receptacles back again into the mass 
“ of the blood; and several circumstances 
“ have induced me to believe and assert, that 
“ there really is such a motion, till such time 
“ as the contrary shall be plainly and evident- 
“ ly demonstrated to me. To get some light in 
“ this matter, I perused various authors, both 
“ ancient and moderen, philological as well as 
“ anatomical, but to little or no purpose; for 
“ I have been scarce able to find any thing in 
“ them concerning this progressive or circu- 
“ latory motion, except in Hippocrates, in his 
“ book de Genitura; by whole words we may 
“ conclude he was of this opinion, as he says. 
“ As soon as there is seed made, the flesh and out- 
“ ward skin become more porous, and the little 
“ veins are more opened than they were before;
“ but

[22]
“ but those who are yet in their childhood, or else 
“ eunuchs, have, for that reason, no hair either 
“ on the pubes or chin, and are all over smooth, 
“ because no pussage being yet made for the seed, 
“ the outward superficies are no where rarefied; 
“ for the passage to the seed, as I said a little 
“ before, is stopped up. 
“ From these words it is evident, that Hip- 
“ pocrates has made mention of this progress 
“ of the seed into the blood and body; whilst 
“ he asserts, that by this same seed the flesh 
“ and outward skin are rarefied, that the beard 
“ and hair on the pubes might come through, 
“ because then there is a passage made for 
“ the seed, which, before the years of pu- 
“ berty, and in eunuchs, is yet stopped up. 
“ Rolfinch just hints at it, and at the same 
“ time denies the circulation of the seed, as 
“ will appear from his words: The ostentatious 
“ name of circulation, says he, gives no rest to 
“ the curious; the semen seems neither to circulate 
“ within nor without the testicles; the vigour 
“ which the testicles add to the body ought not to 
“ be aseribed to their hulk, but to their power; 
“ yet I will not deny, but that some seminal atoms 
“ may be mixed with the blood, from the remain- 
“ der of what serves for the nutrition of the tes- 
“ ticles, and which is received back into the veins. 
“ That these words intimate a regress of the 
“ seed into the blood, is undeniable; but they 
“ are not strong enough, and a few atoms are 
“ not sufficient to procure the body mettle, 
“ and add strength and vigour to it; and it 
“ must

[23]
“ must not be a small quantity of them that 
“ would be able to have that effect Tauvry, 
“ speaking of the use of the seed, in regard to 
“ the body it is made in, and considering it 
“ on account of the visible effects it has upon 
“ the body, comes, without doubt, into the 
“ opinion of its circulatory motion. I shall 
“ transcribe the passage entire, it is worth 
“ reading, and runs thus; “ Nobody doubts, 
“ but that we owe our origin to the seed, and that 
“ whilst it regenerates us in other beings very like 
“ ourselves, it renders us as it were immortal. 
“ But it is more difficult to trace and know the 
“ uase it is of to the subject itself in which it is 
“ produced; yet we see it gives us a certain de- 
“ gree of perfections strength, and vigour; be- 
“ cause eunuchs, womens and those who, by ex- 
“ cessive venery, are enervated, are, like chil- 
“ drens dastardly and imperfect; for the same 
“ reason it produces a beards, ond makes the 
“ voice of a deeper sound; and as between eunuch 
“ and woman, there is no other difference, than 
“ what relates to the production of this liquids, 
“ it is very probabks that this same liquid, re- 
“ turning into the mass of the bloods is the cause 
“ of these remarkable effects." 
These are the words and arguments of our 
author, to which I shall add my own reasons, 
to confirm this opinion. The first and most 
cogent is the smallness of the seminal bags, and 
continual and daily afflux into them. That 
they are small, we are convinced by our eyes; 
they are not three inches in length, and 
hardly

[24]
hardly one inch in breadth and thickness, tho’ 
on one side they are commonly somewhat big- 
ger than they are on the other. Now, let 
any one well consider the smallness of these 
vessels, and the daily influx of seed into them, 
which nobody can deny, unless he denies like- 
wise, against all reason and experience, the cir- 
culation of the blood, the undoubted cause of 
secretion of all humours in the body, whether 
good or bad. Now let, I say, any one well 
consider the continual increase of seed, and 
the smallness of the seminal bags, that are no 
ways capable of receiving and containing such 
a quantity of seed as may be made in seven or 
eight weeks (I will say nothing of many years) 
and so long till a man lawfully cohabits with a 
woman. As these things then are incompa- 
tible, it is necessary that the semen should be 
carried off again to the mass of the blood or the 
body, for the reasons already alledged by 
Tauvry, and others that may be given. The 
change that is likewise observed in the tempe- 
rament of the body after castration, is a cor- 
roborating evidence of the progressive motion 
of the semen; for it is manifest, that animals, 
after their testicles are taken away, grow fat- 
ter, are more languid, and less courageous. 
It is likewise, amongst other things, to be ob- 
served, that in eunuchs the hair of the beard 
and privities does not fall off before castration; 
and that if it is not on the chin, and other 
parts, it never will appear as upon those who 
have not undergone this operation. The pri- 
vation of virility likewise changes the voice.
which

[25]
which becomes more sharp after it. It is re- 
ported of stags that are fit for copulation, that 
if immediately after the shedding of their horns, 
which fall off every year, they are deprived of 
the powers of procreation, no new horns will 
grow in future. This motion of the seed is more- 
over proved from the rank smell and taste of 
some beasts, and the flesh of others; as also 
the stated periods on which their desire of co- 
pulation returns. What becomes of all the 
seed? Where is it hid when those animals do 
not couple with their females? Therefore to 
say that no secretion of semen is made, is 
speaking against all reason and experience. Or- 
gans are set apart for that secretion, which, ac- 
cording to the laws of nature, are constantly 
employed in their office. There is the matter, 
or arterial blood, from which the seed is sepa- 
ted. We are likewise taught by experience 
the presence of the seed in animals at all times. 
Whenever an animal is diffected, the seed- 
bags will appear turgid with recent seed. I 
am, moreover, of opinion, that if the semen 
did not circulate in the body, it would be ut- 
terly impossible for unmarried men to abstain 
from fornication, by reason of the continual 
increase of seed, and the incessant irritations 
it would occasion to abominable lust; not to 
mention the various and most dangerous dis- 
orders such a superabundance of semen would 
create, if the quantity could not be any way 
diminished, except by copulation. It is true, 
that a man may disturb and spoil the motion 
the seed, by excesses in diet, and various 
C meats


[26]
meats and liquors, that either augment the 
quantity of liquor too much, or render it 
sharp, or else obstruct the vessels, and so 
cause a corruption and stagnation of the seed, 
and an acrimony contracted from thence, 
ought sometimes to be reckoned amongst the 
morbific causes of a furor uterinus, priapism, 
and satyriasis. This is evident from what 
is often observed in woman troubled with 
the furor uterinus; namely, that upon rub- 
bing the pudenda with musk or amber- 
grease, or giving them clysters of the same na- 
ture, great quantities of spermatic liquor are 
discharged, with immediate relief to the pati- 
ent. From what has been said, I think it is 
manifest, that the seed, from its vessels, re- 
turns into the blood, and from that again into 
them. But where is the passage through which 
it is conveyed? This, I confess, we know 
little of; but then our want of knowledge is 
no reason we should deny there is such a pas- 
sage. Our ignorance and diffidence cannot 
take away the truth and reality of things. Tell 
me, pray, which way is it that, from an epyema 
in the thorax, an imposthume in the abdomen, 
or an inflammation in the pleura, lungs, &c. 
the purulent matter is carried to the urinary 
passages, the guts, or the mouth? We see 
that in a pleurisy, the matter is most common- 
ly discharged at the mouth; but then at other 
times we likewise find, that it is brought away 
with the urine, or the excrements. Nay, what 
is still more surprising, several hard substances 
that had been swallowed, such as pins, &c.
3 have

[27] 
have been brought away through the urinary 
passages with the urine, as we have had several 
examples, attested by persons of worth and 
credit, Miscell. I. C. 4. II. D. 10. III. P. 
m. 4. and act. euditer, Mens. August. Anni. 
1712. Which way could these things get to 
the urinary vessels? That the blood carried 
them with it, through the arteries, veins, and 
capillary vessels, is very difficult to conceive. 
Let any one who understands anatomy weigh 
and consider the curious progress, and many 
crooked windings the chyle is forced to make 
in its passage from the stomach to the blood. 
Let him consider, moreover, the various 
windings and capillary vessels through which 
the blood circulates, and compare it to those 
hard substances, and then judge, whether they 
can easily be carried to the secretary organs of 
the urine, and with the same facility be sepa- 
rated from the blood, as the urine is, without 
wounding the vessels. The above mentioned 
Tauvry is of opinion, that the seed through 
the pores of the veins goes back into the mass 
of blood, which regress he conceives to be 
in this manner: The seed, says he, in- 
cluded within its vessels ferments, and, by 
continuing there, acquires a constitution it 
was not before endowed with; that is, it gets 
more motion, and is more subtilized; so that 
returning into the mass of blood, it there 
brings forth those alterations, which it could 
not have produced, unless it had been rectified 
and exalted in the seminal vessels. When these 
vessels are once filled, and more seminal mat- 
C2 ter


[28]
ter comes to them, that which is contained in 
them is forced by degrees to go off into the 
pores of the veins, and circulating with the 
blood, by its glutinous quality, in a manner, 
involves and with-holds the spirits, and hinders 
the dissipation of them. This is the reason that 
in the act of coition great quantities of this 
oily substance are, by repetition, exhausted, 
the spirits evaporated; and from this principle 
arises the debility of those who are destitute of 
this liquor. Mr. Boyle is of the same opinion. 
As to myself, I believe that the seed being at- 
tenuated and subtilized in the testicles and se- 
minal vessels, returns by the lymphatic vessels, 
which, together with the vasa deferentia, ascends 
into the abdomen, and then they discharge 
their lympha in the chyliferous vessels; and 
that after this manner it is carried again into 
the chyle and blood, to the great benefit of the 
whole body. I heartily wish, that the most 
skilful anatomists, and philological writers of 
the greatest penetration, would make further 
inquiry into this affair, the certain knowledge 
of which would be of great utility. 
From these observations, I think it is clear- 
ly proved, that the superabundant semen is ab- 
sorbed by the lymphatic vessels into the body, 
where it communicates fresh circulation and 
vigour, and disperses strength and power to 
every part of the body. If then this liquor 
is of such eminent importance to the pro- 
per functions of the whole machine, let us 
consider what may be the effects of too great a 
discharge

[29]
discharge of it. Aetius has handed down to
us a description of the ills that are produced 
by too great an emission of the semen: 
“ Young people, says he, have the air and 
“ appearance of old age; they become pale, 
“ effeminate, benumbed, lazy, base, stupid, 
“ and even imbecile; their bodies become 
“ bent, their legs are not able to carry them; 
“ they have an utter distaste for every thing, 
“ are totally incapacitated, and many become 
“ paralytic;” and he therefore includes amo- 
rous pleasures among the number of the six 
causes which occasion the palsy. Galen ob- 
serves, that the same causes occasion disorders 
of the brain, and of the nerves, and destroy 
the powers; and he tells us, that a patient under 
his care for a violent disorder, not being per- 
fectly recovered, died the same night that he 
Paid the conjugal tribute to his wife. And 
Pliny, the naturalist, informs us, that Corne- 
lius Gallus, the ancient prætor, and Titus 
Etherius, the Roman knight, died in the very 
act of coition. Sanctorius, who has examin- 
ed with the greatest attention all the causes 
which actuate our bodies, has observed, after 
Aetius,that this weakens the stomach, de- 
stroys digestion, obstructs that insensible per- 
spiration, the irregularity of which produces 
the most fatal consequences, occasions the li- 
ver and reins to be overheated, gives a dispo- 
sition for the stone in the kidneys, and usually 
occasions the loss of, or weakens, the sight.
Lommius, in his Commentaries upon Celsus, 
observes, that frequent emissions of the seed re- 
C3 lax,

[30]
lax, dry up, weaken, enervate, and produce 
a croud of evils, such as apoplexies, lethar-
gies, epilepsies, faintings, the loss of sight, tre- 
mors, palsy, spasm, and every species of the 
most racking gout. Schelaumer says, that too 
great a dissipation of the animal spirits weakens 
the stomach, destroys the appetite, and nutri- 
tion no longer taking place, the motion of the 
heart is weakened, all the parts languish, and 
an epilepsy succeeds. Salmuth has seen a learn- 
ed man of a splenetic cast go mad; and another 
man, whose brain was so dried up, that it was 
heard to rattle in the pericranium; and both 
these disorders were occasioned by excesses of 
the same nature. And the author of Memoirs 
of Curious Naturalists (De Cur 2. ann. 5. ap- 
pend. obs. 88. p. 56) says, that he himself 
has seen a man of 59 years of age, who, three 
weeks after his marriage with a young woman, 
fell suddenly blind, and died at the end of four 
months, which he attributed to the excessive 
libidinous disposition of the wife, and the too 
frequent gratification of the husband. The ce- 
lebrated Hoffman tells us (in his De morbis ex- 
nimia venere) that a young man of 18 years of 
age, who had frequent connections with a ser- 
vant girl, was on a sudden seized with a 
weakness, and a general tremor in all his 
limbs; his face became red, and his pulse ve- 
ry weak. He was relieved from this state in 
an hour’s time; but an incessent languor con- 
tinued upon him. The same fit frequently re- 
turned, and threw him into great agonies, 
which, at the end of eight days, occasioned a 
contractions

[31]
contraction and tumour in the right arm, with 
a pain in his right elbow, which was greatly 
encreased. The disorder continued increasing 
for a long time, notwithstanding many reme- 
dies were prescribed. At length, however, 
the doctor performed a cure upon this patient. 
Boerhaave says, that the loss of too much se- 
men occasions lassitude, debilitates, and renders 
exercise difficult; it causes convulsions, ema- 
ciation, and pains in the membrane of the 
brain; it deadens the senses, and particularly 
the sight; gives rise to a dorsal consumption, 
and various other disorders, which are connect- 
ed with these. He also says, that he had seen 
a patient, whose disorder began by lassitude, 
and a weakness in all parts of the body, parti- 
cularly towards the loins; it was attended 
with an involuntary motion of the tendons, 
periodical spasms, and bodily decay, info- 
much, as to destroy the whole corporeal 
frame; he felt a pain even in the membrane 
of the brain, a pain which patients call a dry 
burning heat, and which incessantly affected 
the most noble parts. And he says, that he 
has likewise seen a young man afflicted with a 
dorsal consumption, who, though he was fre- 
quently cautioned not to give way to amorous 
pleasures, nevertheless so far yielded to their 
impulse, that his body, before his death, was 
quite deformed, and the fleshy substance which 
appears above the spinal apophyses of the loins, 
was intirely wasted; and that even the brain 
was in some measure consumed. 
C4 Coition

[32]
Coition brings on epileptical fits, in those 
who are subject to them; and to this cause 
Van Swieten attributes the great oppression the 
patients suffer, if the fits are frequent. Doctor 
Didier knew a merchant of Montpellier, who 
never made any sacrifices to Venus, without 
having a fit of epilepsy. Galen furnishes us 
with a similar instance, as well as Henry Van 
Steers. Van Swieten knew a man, who was 
troubled with the epilepsy, who had a fit upon 
his wedding-night. Hoffman was acquainted 
with a very lascivous woman, who usually had 
a fit of epilepsy after each add of venery. Boer- 
haave observes, that in the heat of venery, all 
the nerves are affected, oftentimes even mor- 
tally; and gives an example of a woman, 
who, every time she performed the act of co- 
ition, fell into a pretty long sincope; and an- 
other of a man, who died the very first time 
he copulated with a woman, the spasm being 
so violent, that it brought on a general palsy. 
And Monsieur Savage has given us a very ex- 
traordinary instance of a man, who was seized 
with a spasm in the very middle of enjoyment, 
whereby his whole body became stiff, he lost 
all sensation and memory, and the fit continu- 
ed upon him for twelve years, A few years 
since, a handsome young woman, of a very las- 
civious disposition, bordering upon the furor 
uterinus, could not be completely gratified 
with the successive attacks of seven dragoons, 
who were quartered at Ipswich. Though each 
of the assailants had quite exhausted himself in 
her service, she would willingly have met with 
another



[33] 
another lover the same evening; but being in 
this disappointed, she went to her own bed, 
and the next morning was found almost speech- 
less, bathed in her own blood, which gushed 
from the matrix. I saw her in this condition, 
and prescribed what I thought would have 
been of some service to her; but she expired 
before the application could be made. 
THUS we find, that excessive indulgence 
in amorous pleasures does not only produce 
languishing disorders, but frequently acute and 
violent disorders; and it constantly impedes 
the cure of complaints derived from another 
source. Hoffman, after speaking of the dan- 
gerous effects of amorous pleasure, for those 
who labour under wounds, considers those 
risks which persons run, by adicting them- 
selves to it, who are afflicted with fevers. Up- 
on this occasion, he quotes an observation of Fa- 
bricius de Hilden, who says, that a man hav- 
ing copulated with a woman the tenth day of 
a pleurisy, which had terminated the seventh, 
by abundant perspiration, he was seized with a 
violent fever, and immediate trembling, and 
died on the thirteenth day. He also relates, 
that a man of a gouty disposition, much adict- 
ed to women and wine, who fancying himself 
cured of a pleurisy, was, immediately after co- 
ition, seized with a violent trembling all over 
his body, extreme flushings in his face, with 
all the symptoms of the disorder which he 
thought he had got rid of; but which returned 
with much greater violence than at first, and 
C5 he

[34]
he was in far greater danger. He also men- 
tions a man, who never yielded to venereal 
excesses, without having an intermitting fever 
for several days. Bartholus takes notice of a 
young bridegroom, who, the day after his 
nuptials, was seized with a violent fever, 
occasioned by his conjugal excesses, which 
brought on a great dejection of spirits, accom- 
panied with faintings, risings in the stomach, 
immediate drought, light-headedness, and in- 
capacity of sleeping, and much uneasiness. And 
Monsieur Chesneau tells us, he has seen a 
young married couple, who, the first week of 
their nuptials, were seized with a violent in- 
cessant fever, accompanied with flushings in 
their faces, which were greatly bloated, and 
one of them had a violent pain at the crupper; 
and they fell martyrs to lust before the end of 
the first month. 
If such fatal accidents are produced by the 
excessive indulgence of amorous passions in a 
natural and legal way, still more baneful ef- 
fects must flow from the gratification of them 
in an unnatural and illegal manner, which I
shall illustrate in the succeeding chapters. 
SEC-

[35]
SECTION III. 
Of the baneful effects of self-pollution in 
the male-sex. 
WE have already seen the concurrent testi- 
monies of the most eminent ancient 
and modern physicians, with regard to the fa- 
tal consequences of excessive indulgence in 
amorous pleasure in a natural way; the sub- 
jest of this section is the consideration of the 
still more direful effects of seminal discharges 
in an unnatural way; for, as a celebrated phi- 
lologist observes, “ The loss of too great a 
“ quantity of semen in the natural manner, is 
“ attended with very dangerous consequences; 
“ but they are still more dreadful, when the 
“ same quantity has been dissipated in an un- 
“ natural manner; for the accidents which 
“ happen to those who waste themselves in a 
“ natural way are very terrible; but those 
“ which are occasioned by self-pollution are 
“ still more shocking.” 
It would, indeed, be of little consequence, 
in a physical sense, whether this evacuation 
was occasioned by either of the methods I have 
mentioned, if they were alike pernicious; but 
the manner is in this respect equal to the sub- 
stance. Sanctorius points out to us the cause 
of the peculiar evils arising from self-pollution:
C6 “ He

[36] 
“ He says, moderate coition is useful, when 
“ nature sollicits for it: when it is sollicited 
“ by the imagination, it weakens all the fa- 
“ culties, and particularly the memory.” This 
may be very clearly explained; when we are 
in a state of health, we have no amorous de- 
sires, but when the vesiculœ seminales are re- 
plete with a quantity of liquor, which has ac- 
quired such a degree of thickness, as to render 
its return into the mass of blood difficult; and 
in these circumstances, when an evacuation 
takes place, we may be partly certain, that 
the corporeal frame will not thereby suffer any 
sensible diminution of strength. But such is the 
structure of the genital organs, that they are 
actuated, and the succeeding desires are ani- 
mated, not only by the presence of the super- 
abundant seminal humour, but also by the ima- 
gination, which having great influence upon 
these parts, may, by being occupied with las- 
civious ideas, give them such a disposition, as 
to create these desires, the gratification where- 
of is the more pernicious, in proportion as it 
is unnecessary to the welfare of the body. 
These organs, like the others, are never pro- 
perly actuated, but when nature stimulates 
them: for example, the want of food and 
drink, is indicated by hunger and thirst; and 
excesses in either respect are prejudicial, by 
enfeebling the body. The necessity of going 
to stool, and voiding urine, is signified by cer- 
tain physical conditions; but a bad habit may 
so far pervert the constitution of the organs, 
that the necessity of these evacuations may no 
longer

[37]
longer depend upon the quantity of matter to 
be evacuated. We subject ourselves to want, 
without being in want; and this is precisely 
the case of those who addict themselves to self- 
pollution. Imagination and custom, not na- 
ture and reason, prompt them to the filthy 
practice. Nature is drained of one of her most 
essential humours, and which she so visibly 
points out the application of for her own sup- 
port, and the perpetuation of the human spe- 
cies. Habit will nevertheless in time so far 
pervert nature, that, in consequence of that 
law of animal œconomy, whereby humours 
are attracted by irritation, there will be a con- 
tinual conflux of humours upon these parts: 
for, as Hippocrates observes, when a man ha- 
bituates himself to seminal emissions, the ves- 
sels that are therein employed, are unnecessa- 
rily dilated, and the semen is by that means 
more abundantly attracted. Not only the bo- 
dy, but the mind, is contaminated; for no 
sooner has this uncleanness fixed its empire in 
the heart, but from that time it pursues the 
man every where, and never relinquishes its 
dominion. Even upon the most serious and 
awful occasions, he will find himself transport- 
ed with lustful conceptions and desires, which 
incessantly pursue him, and occupy his imagi- 
nation. The self-polluter, entirely devoted 
to this filthy meditation, is liable, upon that 
account, to the same disorders, as the meta- 
physician, or the mathematician, whose at- 
tention is engrossed by a single object; and it 
is universally allowed, that nothing debilitates 
the


[38]
the faculties more than the mind being eon- 
stantly engaged upon the same subject; for 
that part of the brain which is then occupied 
makes an effort, similar to that of a mussle, 
which has been for a long time greatly extend- 
ed; this occasions such a continued motion in 
the part as cannot be stopt, or such a fixed 
attention, that the idea cannot be changed. 
Self-polluters are under the same predicament, 
or else they are completely incapacitated; so 
that when their faculties are not entirely de- 
stroyed, they are afflicted with all the disor- 
ders incident to the brain, the hypocondria, 
epilepsy, catalepsy, insensibility, imbecility, 
nervous disorders, &c. &c. 
These very disorders, when thus produ- 
ced, are an additional incentive to their cause, 
as the patient flatters himself with momentary 
relief, from the gratification of a disposition 
that perpetually engages his attention; and 
therefore he daily and hourly encreases his mi- 
sery, and saps the very effence of existence. 
If to this we add the difficulty that fre- 
quently attends the gratification of amorous 
passions in a natural way, the expence that 
necessarily attends it, and the risk with regard 
to infection, which serve as so many damps 
to the pursuit, a young man that is dependant, 
having but a small income, and his character 
to preserve, will frequently surmount his de- 
sires, be they ever so inordinate; but when 
once he habituates himself to a self-gratifica- 
tion,

[39]
tion, the means are so easy, the method so 
cheap, and the danger so latent, that every 
time he finds an impulse he creates an oppor- 
tunity, till at length the generative organs be- 
ing incessantly irritated, a perpetual stimulus 
is brought on, independant of any external 
cause; so that if there were no more danger to 
be apprehended at first from emissions of this 
kind, than those in the natural way, the train 
of evils produced by this habit, and the mind 
being debauched, must demonstrate their fa- 
tal tendency: but still more cogent reasons are 
to be given, why seminal discharges this way 
are more destructive than in copulation. 
The frequency of erection, though im- 
perfect, which this disposition excites, greatly 
diminishes the strength of self-polluters. All 
parts in a state of extention exhaust the 
powers: the spirits that are conveyed thither 
in greater quantities, and of course dissipated, 
are wanted in the performance of other func- 
tions, which is therefore only imperfectly 
done: these concurrent causes are attended 
with very dangerous effects. Self-polluters are 
also afflicted with a kind of palsy in the organs 
of generation, which brings on impotency, 
through a defect in erection, and a simple 
gonorrhæa, by reason of the relaxed parts 
suffering the real semen to escape as soon as se- 
creted, together with an afflux of that humour 
which the prostatæ separate. In short, all the 
internal membrane of the urethra acquires a 
catarrhous

[40]
catarrhous disposition, which excites a running 
similar to the fluor albus in women. 
The devotees to self-pollution act in such 
direct opposition to nature, and all the ties of 
society, that they very richly deserve the ac- 
cumulated evils incident to their shameful prac- 
tice. I might carry this observation much 
farther in a theological and moral point of 
view; but I shall confine myself in this treatise 
merely to physical causes and effects, as I do 
not attempt to write for the emoliariation of 
manners, but for the preservation and recovery 
of health. They are of such a selfish and mer- 
cenary disposition, that, unwilling to partici- 
pate their bliss with the amiable part of the 
creation, they are justly and reciprocally de- 
barred from that joy which the heart is sensible 
of, and which should be nicely distinguished 
from that voluptuousness, solely corporeal, 
which man enjoys in common with animals, 
and from which it is completely distinct. This 
joy aids digestion, animates circulation, acce- 
lerates all the functions, restores strength, and 
supports it. If this is found to unite with the 
pleasures of love, it contributes to repair, and 
even to restore, what they stole by force; and 
observation proves it. Sanctorius says upon 
this subject, “ After excessive coition with a 
“ woman that is beloved, a man is not sen- 
“ sible of the lassitude which should follow this 
“ excess, because the joy which the soul feels 
“ encreases the strength of the heart, favours 
“ the functions, and repairs what was lost." 
Beauty

[41]Beauty has charms which dilate our hearts, 
and multiply our spirits. This much is, how- 
ever, certain, that nature alots more felicity to 
those joys procured in her proper channel, than 
in those which are repugnant and destructive to 
her. 
Again, there are innumerable pores spread 
over the surface of the human body, which are 
plainly the emunctories or channels of discharge 
for vitiated redundant, or, in short, perspir- 
able matter. There also exists on the surface 
of the body a resorbent faculty. Every instant 
half the pores of the skin exhale a very subtile 
humour that is of greater consequence than all 
our other evacuations. At the same time another 
kind of pores receive part of the fluids which 
surround us, and communicate them to the 
vessels. It is demonstrable, that in some cases 
this inhalation is very important. In robust 
people, the exhalation is greater than in weak 
persons; and contrarywise, the inhalation in 
these is more considerable, and the perspiration 
of healthy people contains something nutritious 
and strengthening, which being inhaled by an- 
other invigorates him. From these observa- 
tions we may deduce, how the young female 
who lay with David increased his strength; 
how other aged men have been assistted in the 
same manner; and consequently why it 
weakens the healthy person, who loses with- 
out receiving, or rather who receives weak 
exhalations, corrupt and putrid, which are pre- 
judicial to her constitution. In the act of co- 
ition,

[42] 
ition, this perspiration is probably more ani- 
mated and spiritual than at any other time. It 
is a real loss which is sustained, and which 
takes place in whatever manner the sperm is 
emitted, as it depends upon the agitation 
which attends it. In copulation it is recipro- 
cal, and the one inhales what the other ex- 
hales. This mutual exchange is endubitably 
evinced, when proper attention is paid to these 
operations. A certain modern professor says, 
that he saw, not long since, a man, who 
was not afflicted with any kind of gonorrhæa, 
or any cutaneous venereal symptoms, commu- 
nicate the venereal disorder to a woman, wrho, 
at the same instant, gave him the itch in ex- 
change. This may serve as a corroborating 
proof of this mutual loss and gain in the act of 
coition; and though the example might, in 
ludicrous hands, be turned against the argu- 
ment, it certainly evinces, that where there 
is no infection communicated on either side, 
the nutritious absorption may counterbalance 
the loss by perspiration. 
THESE are the reasons why seminal dis- 
charges by manual friction, are more pernici- 
ous in their consequences, than in the natural 
act of coition. And if this were not sufficient- 
ly proved by the foregoing reasons, the block- 
ing spectacles of masturbation, the horrid vic- 
tims of self-pollution might be brought forth to 
display the dreadful effects peculiar to this 
filthy and abominable practice; and indeed it 
is

[43]
is a duty owing to the public, to hold up the 
minor of Onania. 
The examples I shall now give are well 
authenticated by the best writers upon the sub- 
ject; and it will therefore be needless to 
trouble the reader with references or quota- 
tion marks. 
The general evils which all practitioners, 
who have written upon this subject, agree in, 
are thus specified: the intellectual facul- 
ties are weakened; loss of memory ensues, the 
ideas are clouded, the patients sometimes fall 
into slight madness, they have an incessant 
irksome uneasiness, continual anguish, and so 
keen a remorse of conscience, that they fre- 
quently shed tears; they are subject to verti- 
goes; all their senses, and particularly sight 
and hearing, are weakened; their sleep, if 
they can obtain any, is disturbed with fright- 
ful dreams; the powers of their body decay; 
the growth of such as abandon themselves to 
those abominable practices, before it is accom- 
plished, is greatly prevented; some cannot 
sleep at all, others are in a perpetual state of 
drowsiness; they are all affected with hypocon- 
driac or hysteric complaints, and are overcome 
with the accidents that accompany those grie- 
vous disorders, melancholy, sighing, tears, 
palpitations, suffocations, and faintings; some 
emit a calcarious saliva; coughs, slow fevers, 
and consumptions, are chastisements which 
others meet with in their own crimes. The 
most

[44]
most acute pains form another object of pa- 
tients complaints; some are thus affected in 
their heads, others in their breasts, stomach, 
and intestines; others have external rheuma- 
tic pains, aching numbness in all parts of their 
body, when they are slighly pressed; pimples, 
do not only appear in the face, being one of 
the most common symptoms, but also suppu- 
rating blisters upon the nose, the breast, and 
the thighs, and painful itchings in the same 
parts. Some patients complain even of fleshy 
excrescences upon their foreheads. The or- 
gans of generation also participate of that mi- 
sery whereof they are the primary causes. Ma- 
ny patients are incapable of erection, others 
discharge the semen upon the slightest titillation, 
and the most feeble erection, or in the efforts 
they make when at stool. Many are affected 
with a constant gonorrhæa, which entirely 
destroys their powers, and the discharge re- 
sembles fœtid matter, or mucus. Others are 
tormented with painful priapisms, dysuriœ, 
stranguries, heat of urine, and a difficulty of 
rendering it, which greatly torments many pa- 
tients. Some have painful tumours upon their 
testicles, penis, bladder, and spermatic cord; so 
that either the impracticability of coition, or 
a depravation of the genital liquor, render every 
one impotent, who has given way to this 
practice for any length of time. Moreover, 
the functions of the intestines are sometimes 
very much disordered; and some patients com- 
plain very much of stubborn constipations,. 
others of the hemorrhoids, or of the running of
a fœtid


[45] 
a fœtid matter from the fundament, and some 
with diarrhæas immediately after the crime, 
&c. &c. Such are the general disorders and 
evils produced by this filthy practice; and I 
shall now illustrate them with such examples 
as I have either been an eye-witness of, or 
such as are sufficiently vouched for by men of 
veracity and judgment. 
ONE patient, who had been married some 
years, and was the father of several children, 
having, nevertheless, addicted himself to this 
filthy practice, to avoid impregnating his wife, 
who was of a very prolific disposition, and 
who had agreed with him to be mutual assist- 
ants to each other in this manual operation, 
applied to me in a very deplorable state. He 
had an incessant seminal running or gleet, vio- 
lent pains in his back and breast, was very 
faint and weak, as well by this continual 
draining, as from a total suppression of appetite, 
loathing every kind of food, and incapable of 
retaining any thing upon his stomach. This 
brought on a violent dejection of spirits, which 
terminated in a kind of hypocondria, accom- 
panied with cold sweats; and notwithstanding 
all the remedies that were prescribed for him, 
by reason of his incapacity to take them, he 
died a martyr to this abominable practice. 
ANOTHER patient, who had addicted him- 
self to masturbation frequently from his tender 
years, had a nob of flesh, resembling a wen, 
growing upon his forehead; his face was co-
vered

[46]
vered with pimples; his nose sore and full  
of eruptions; his legs and thighs fallen away, 
and scarce able to support him; he was also 
afflicted with violent pains in his head and 
back, and frequent tremors all over his body; 
his hand shook to that degree, that he was in- 
capable of carrying a glass of wine, or any 
other liquor to his mouth without spilling, 
and though he had been a very skilful penman, 
he was incapable of writing his name. This 
patient, having discontinued his abominable 
practice, has in some degree recovered his 
strength; his face is not near so frightful, and 
the tremor of his hand has so much subsided, 
that I have lately had a letter written by him 
very prettily. 
A YOUTH, who had not yet attained his 
sixteenth year, devoted himself with such rage 
to masturbation, that at length, instead of se- 
men, he brought forth nothing but blood, the 
emission of which was soon followed with ex- 
cessive pain, and an inflammation of all the or- 
gans of generation. Emollient cataplasms were 
ordered him, which produced the desired ef- 
fect; but he soon after died of the small pox; 
and there is much reason to believe, that the 
shocks which he gave to his constitution by 
the abominable practice of self-pollution, great- 
ly tended to render the disorder so fatal. 
ANOTHER young patient was afflicted with 
that total stiffness mentioned by Boerhaave; 
his neck was first seized with it, then the spine,  
which

[47]
which gradually communicated it to all the 
members. Some time before his death, he 
could bear no other posture than lying on his 
belly in bed, being incapable of moving either 
bis hands or feet, or indeed of any other kind 
of motion, and unable to take any other ali- 
ment than what was put into his mouth. He 
existed some weeks in this dreadful situation, 
and died, or rather went out, like a snuff of a 
candle, without being sensible of pain. 
A PATIENT who had the misfortune in his 
juvenile days, being but then between eight 
and ten years of age, to contract this perni- 
cious habit, soon destroyed his constitution; 
but he was lately afflicted in a most extraordi- 
nary manner; his nerves were extremely weak, 
his hands devoid of strength, incessantly trem- 
bling, and in a state of perpetual perspiration; 
be had violent qualms of the stomach, pains in 
bis arms and legs, which sometimes commu- 
nicated to his veins and breast. He was trou- 
bled with coughing, his eyes were sunk, and 
always weak; he had a violent appetite, yet 
greatly fell away, and had a very bad aspect as 
to physiognomy. This patient, nevertheless, 
having taken the remedies, and followed the 
regimen prescribed, recovered his health and 
vigour, and is now in perfect health. 
ANOTHER patient, who gave way to this 
Pernicious practice, had his nervous system 
greatly affected, which was accompanied with 
weakness, uneasiness, weariness, and anxiety; 
he

{48]
he was exhausted by an almost incessant flux 
of semen; his face had a cadaverous appear- 
ance; weakness rendered every kind of mo- 
tion difficult to him; his legs were so feeble, 
that he could scarce stand upright upon them, 
and he did not dare stir out of his bed-room; 
his digestive powers were in so bad a state, that 
he voided his food three or four hours after 
having swallowed it, in its original state, and 
as if his stomach had the instant before receiv- 
ed it; he was greatly afflicted with phlegm, 
and expectoration greatly exhausted him. His 
weakness and want of resolution to discontinue 
the shocking practice, rendered it impossible to 
perform a cure upon him. 
ANOTHER patient, in the prime of his life, 
who, in the dawn of manhood, contracted a 
detestable habit, had his head very much con- 
fused, and was greatly subject to vertigoes, 
which made him apprehensive of the apo- 
plexy, wherefore he had recourse to phlebo- 
tomy; but the physician who prescribed it 
was soon convinced of his error. His breast 
was oppressed, which occasioned a confined 
respiration: he had frequent pains in his sto- 
mach, and by turns his whole body was af- 
fected; he had interrupted and uneasy sleep at 
night, and his spirits were no way recruited by 
it; he was also troubled with frequent itch- 
ings, was very pale, and had pains in his eyes, 
which were extremely weak, his skin appear- 
ed jaundiced, and his whole body was meta- 
morphosed; he died soon after. 
A

[49]
A YOUTH about seventeen devoted him- 
self to this filthy and seducing practice, when 
he was in a perfect state of health. His rage 
was so great for self-pollution, that he would 
sometimes repeat the act three or four times 
in one day, and a slight insensibility always pre- 
ceded and succeeded the ejaculation, which 
was also attended with a convulsive motion in 
the extending muscles of the head, and a swel- 
ling of the neck. Some months after he had 
addicted himself to this practice, he was very 
feeble every time he was guilty of it; he ne- 
vertheless persisted till he was brought to 
death's door; and the evil had made so great 
a progress, that it was out of the power of 
medicine to administer him any relief. In 
this condition the organs of generation were 
so easily irritated, and were so weak, that his 
semen flowed from him involuntarily upon the 
slightest erection, By this means, being daily 
more and more weakened, he was now afflict- 
ed with an habitual spasm, which had not hi- 
therto affected him but in the very act, and 
discontinued afterwards. But this fit now 
continued upon him for twelve or fourteen 
hours, and which brought on such violent 
pains in the neck, that he could not be pre- 
vented from making the most hideous outcries. 
During these periods, he was incapable of swal- 
lowing any food; so that his weakness and 
misery daily increased; and he languished in 
this state for several months, towards the end 
of which, before he died, he resembled a 
corpse, more than a living man, calling forth 
D an 


[50]
an infectious stench, and aqueous palish blood 
issuing from his nose, slaver constantly flowing 
from his mouth, and, being troubled with a 
diarrhæa, he voided his excrements in the bed, 
without knowing it. The disorder of his mind 
was equally shocking as that of his body; his 
memory was entirely destroyed, destitute of 
ideas, and consequently of the ability of com- 
paring any the most simple; wherefore he be- 
came void of reflection, and was insensible to 
every thing but pain, and which was very vi- 
olent upon the periodial return of the spasm. 
Here we shall leave this unhappy person, as 
his condition was too horrid to be reflected on 
without terror, and as death at length, his 
only consolation, came to his relief. 
BESIDES these examples, Mr. Limmer- 
man acquaints us, that a man about twenty- 
three years of age was greatly troubled with 
an epilepsy, from having much infeebled him- 
self by self-pollution. Every time he had a se- 
minal emission, he fell into a perfect fit of 
epilepsy, and afterwards pains in the reins and 
about the coccyx: nevertheless, he could not 
refrain from this practice; for having, after 
he received some benefit from the doctor’s ad- 
vice, returned again to his former infamous 
practice, he was at length seized with the fits 
whilst walking in the streets; and he was 
found dead in his chamber, having fallen out 
of bed, bathed in his own blood. Mr. Mieg 
of Basil, in Switzerland, tells us, that the son 
of a merchant in that city, died at the age of 
fourteen,

[51] 
fourteen, after having baffled the skill of all 
the Helvetic physicians; his disorder was con- 
vulsions, and a sort of epilepsy, which derived 
its source from self-pollution. And the celebrat- 
ed Hoffman informs us of a young man, who, 
at the age of fifteen, having given way to self- 
pollution, which he continued till he was near 
twenty-three, was at that time afflicted with 
such a weakness in his eyes and head, that the 
former were often troubled with violent spasms 
at the time of ejaculation: that when he was 
willing to pay more than common attention to 
any thing, a kind of stupor, similar to intoxi- 
cation, succeeded; the pupil of the eye was 
greatly dilated, and he suffered exquisite tor- 
ture in that part; he involuntarily shed tears, 
and a large quantity of whitish matter collect- 
ed itself in the corners of his eyes, which were 
thereby rendered very painful. 
A MARRIED man applied to me, who ac- 
knowledged, that, in his youth, having much 
defiled himself by selt-pollution, he had 
brought on a running, which the cold bath, 
and many other remedies, did not remove; 
that in this situation no one suspected him of 
labouring under any bodily complaint, but his 
doctor, as he was fresh coloured, and natu- 
rally robust; and that meeting with a young 
lady, whose beauty enamoured him, he paid 
his addresses to her, and soon gained her con- 
sent. He had, however, some mortifying re- 
flections concerning his disorder; but being in 
hopes of a cure, and dreading the loss of his 
D2 mistress, 


[52]
mistress, if he had deferred the union, which 
he earnestly wished for, they were married. It 
was near four months after the ceremony that 
he applied to me, when he acknowledged, 
that he had been as yet unable to consummate 
his nuptials; for that he had a seminal dis- 
charge before a perfect erection; and that all 
endeavours, after the first attempt, only pro- 
duced a further loss of semen, without com- 
municating any strength to the penis: that he 
at first attributed this to the over-fondness he 
had for his wife, and that delicacy which 
sometimes throws a check upon a man in his 
highest vigour; and he therefore resolved to 
surmount what he then thought false modesty, 
by drinking a bottle extraordinary; but this, 
so far from remedying the evil, did but increase 
it; for he could procure no kind of erec- 
tion, and his seed came away as soon as he 
touched her nature. He was the more morti- 
fied at his disagreeable situation, as he believed 
his wife had made complaints to her mother, 
who had dropped some hints of a divorce, the 
thoughts of which tortured his soul more than 
the loss of life, fortune, and every thing else 
that was dear to him. This gentleman being 
naturally of a strong constitution, and having 
in every respect (except pollution) lived regu- 
larly and soberly, I performed a cure upon him 
in about five months; and a short time after 
he came to me with rapture, to tell me that 
his wife was pregnant.
THESE



[53]
These examples will be sufficient to evince 
the shocking effects of this baneful practice in 
the male sex; evils that are not solely confined 
to the body, but communicate their influence 
to the mind, which is hereby overwhelmed 
with anguish, melancholy, and despair, an in- 
capacity of business or even recreation, a dis- 
relish to all the comforts and solace of this life, 
and more particularly the female sex, whom 
at length they consider with horror, from a 
consciousness of having injured them in a most 
essential and irreparable manner. With these 
torturing reflections, and this incessant self- 
reproach, they appear as monuments of grief 
and misery, and lucky are those who do not 
terminate so shocking a career with even sui- 
cide, after having been the indirect destroyer 
of many others.
D3 SECTION

[54]
SECTION IV. 
Of the dreadful consequences of self-pol-
lution, and the gratification of the SAP- 
PHIC PASSION in the female sex. 
SORRY I am to be obliged to say, that 
the tender sex, the most amiable part of 
the creation, those for whom we are animated 
to glory, danger, and every enterprise which 
we think will recommend us to their regard; I
say, these desirable objects, who should meet us 
with mutual and warm embraces, and render 
our passions and our loves congenial, have 
their minds as well as bodies fequently ener- 
vated by shameful practices, which they think 
are entirely hidden from the world; but which 
are but too plainly depicted in their counte- 
nances, and by their frigid relish for genuine 
love, and their unnatural distaste to the male 
part of creation, for whom they were by Pro- 
vidence destined; for their bodies are by these 
filthy practices not only so weakened and ema- 
ciated, that they are often rendered barren, 
and thereby greatly prejudice society and po- 
sterity; but they at length contract an uncon- 
querable habit of this kind of gratification, 
which is always so ready at hand, and which 
they fancy they indulge themselves, without the 
danger of child-bearing, the loss of reputation. 
or

[55]
or the loss of health. In this they greatly 
deceive themselves; for the evil consequences 
of such practices are infinitely more dreadful 
than any of the dangers which terrify them 
from natural enjoyment. 
This ’tis true is a tender point to treat up- 
on; and it may be urged in their defence, that 
strong passions, a naturally amorous constitu- 
tion, the sight of accidental rencounters be- 
tween animals in the streets or fields, which 
may render their natural stimulations some- 
what inordinate, and scarce controulable, are 
great palliatives for what they may think an in- 
nocent amusement. Add to this their parents 
and relations, who have the care of them, do 
not consider how early these natural operations 
take place; that if they are thinking of a hus- 
band for a daughter, they are consulting rather 
the force of his pocket, than the strength of 
his constitution, and the risk a young woman 
runs in having any intercourse with a man be- 
fore marriage. It were to be wished, that pa- 
rents would consult the real happiness of their 
children, and not attempt to curb those de- 
sires that are laudable when directed in a pro- 
per channel, but rather endeavour to promote 
their gratification as far as they are reasonable. 
To this end, it would be prudent to provide a 
proper husband for a daughter as soon as she is 
marriageable, instead of letting her languish 
till she is five or six and twenty in hopes of a 
good match. Mothers should not attempt to 
persuade their daughters that they are mere 
D4 children

[56]
children, when they are as capable of being 
mothers as themselves, with no other view 
than that their real age may not be guessed at 
or discovered. Such artifices as these are con- 
stantly detected; and it would be much more 
to their credit to be young grandmothers than 
old coquettes. 
In England, and other northern climates, 
females do not attain the age of maturity so 
early as in more southern latitudes; so that in 
some parts of Asia women are almost past child 
bearing as early as some of cold constitutions 
in the northern parts of America have little 
more than attained the age of puberty. But 
in general females in England are capable of 
child-bearing about fifteen; and this is testi- 
fied by the downy marks of puberty upon their 
privities, the projection of their breasts, and 
their monthly purgations. Many have these 
signs upon them at thirteen and fourteen; and 
could therefore increase the number of our 
progeny from that time, till about the age of 
forty-five, which is the period when women 
in this part of the world usually discontinue 
having their menses, and are past child-bear- 
ing. It must therefore be very impolitic for 
a state to prevent a female being able to dis- 
pose of her person in wedlock till she become 
twenty-one, since, it is plain, she might in that 
time have produced six or seven subjects, the 
number of which constitute the most permanent 
riches, prosperity, and security of a king-
dom.
THUS


[57] 
THUS much I have said to palliate, if pos- 
sible, any errors in the conduct of the ladies, 
whose advocate I would willingly be upon 
every occasion; but let not any female imagine, 
that the most elaborate eloquence can ever ex- 
cuse their pursuing this abominable practice, 
which is the more baneful, as it may be said 
to be contagious, a single sinner, in this re- 
spect, having frequently corrupted a whole se- 
minary of, before, virtuous girls. 
THE dangers attending this practice are so 
various and dreadful, that they cannot be paint- 
ed in too lively colours; for even the instru- 
ment of gratification is sometimes as fatal as 
the future effects of repeated indulgence. To 
explain what I mean in this respect, I shall 
relate a fact of which I was an eye-witness, 
and could, if necessary, be attested by several 
other gentlemen of the faculty, as well as 
nurses, and other persons who are acquainted 
with the event. A young female, about the 
age of fourteen, who belonged to a certain 
laudable charity, a little north of St. Paul’s, 
but was not perceived to have so much of the 
woman about her as she really had (otherwise 
she would not have remained there) was 
brought into the sick ward whilst I attended, 
when she made excessive complaints of being 
in violent pain towards her back and loins, 
and which the nurse who attended her attri- 
buted to the stone in her bladder. I told her, 
I must examine her, which she seemed much, 
averse to, and it was with the utmost difficul-
D5 ty 


[58]
ty I could prevail upon her to let me make 
an inspection; but her bashfulness was at length 
conquered by her pain. Upon examining the 
pudendum, which bore the external marks of 
puberty, I found the lips much distended, and 
inflamed; and upon penetrating my finger, I 
felt something of a hard substance, which I at 
first imagined to be the clitoris in a state of 
more than common tension. I now told her, 
that I believed she had been guilty of some 
practices that had been very pernicious to her, 
and intreated her to tell me the truth. Upon 
thrusting against this opposing part, I found I 
greatly increased her pain, and I was convin- 
ced that she had forced something up the va- 
gina, from whence she could not withdraw it. 
I now begged her to tell me what it was, when 
she frankly told me, that she had been playing 
with a carrot, which had broke just at the time 
of ejaculation. She also owned, she had been 
frequently guilty of the practice, but had hi- 
therto escaped from such an accident. It was 
with great difficulty that I was able to extract 
it, and not without putting her to the most ex- 
cruciating pain. At length, however, I re- 
leased her, and brought out the thin end of a 
middle sized carrot, about five inches long. 
This fact requires no comment to show to 
what a pitch of mortifying shame, as well as 
torture, such acts as these frequently expose 
that sex, whom we are inclined to believe 
equally innocent, delicate, and chaste. 
In

[59]
In other respects, the danger to which wo- 
men expose themselves by this filthy practice, 
are very analagous to those which the men are 
liable to from this filthy practice. The hu- 
mour which is lost by females is not, it is true, 
so elaborate as the male semen, and may not 
therefore enfeeble the body so speedily; but 
when they are guilty of excesses, their nervous 
system being weaker than ours, and naturally 
more liable to spasms, the accidents arising 
therefrom are still more evident; they are also 
exposed to hysterical fits, and dreadful vapours;
to incurable jaundices; to violent cramps in 
the stomach and back; to acute pains in the 
nose; to the fluor albus, the accretion whereof 
is a continual source of the most smarting pain, 
to descents and ulcerations of the matrix, and 
to all the infirmities which these disorders bring 
on; to the furor uterinus, which at once de- 
prives them of decency and reason, and brings 
them to a level with the most lascivious brutes, 
a state in which they cannot long exist, as 
their vices and crimes, when arrived at this 
pitch, must soon terminate their days, though 
not their ignominy. 
A PRETTY woman, in the best state of 
health, who addicts herself to self-pollution, will 
find her charms presently decay, her eyes will 
become languid and dead, her complexion will 
fade, her body will fall away, and in a short 
time, if she perseveres in the practice, from 
an agreeable and  desirable object, she will 
become not only tasteless to the men, but even 
D6 disgustful

[60] 
disgustful to herself; and if it be true, as Ro- 
chefoucault says, That the last sighs of a fine 
woman are more for the loss of her beauty 
than her life, she will have the disagreeable 
task of anticipating this mortification in the 
very prime of youth. We are told by all the 
professors, who have written upon this sub- 
ject, that young people of either sex who ad- 
dict themselves to it will fall away and dimi- 
nish, instead of increase in their growth; and 
we often find young people of both sexes, but 
particularly females, who, being well made at 
the age of ten or twelve, become afterwards 
crooked, by the bending and weakness of the 
spine. 
I HAVE already mentioned the disgust that 
is created by this practice to natural pleasures, 
and it is still stronger in females than in our 
sex; for women, who have habituated them- 
selves to this practice, are always indifferent 
to the lawful duties of the conjugal bed, even 
when their inclinations and power still remain; 
and this indifference does not only induce ma- 
ny females to embrace a life of celibacy, but 
accompanies others that have been prevailed 
upon to enter upon the marriage-state; and 
we have the testimonies of many females, that 
this practice had gained so complete a domi- 
nion over their senses, that they detested the 
lawful means of assuaging the lusts of the flesh. 
A MARRIED woman made her case known, 
through the channel of her midwife, to a gen- 
tleman

[61]
tleman of the faculty, nearly as follows: When 
I was a young girl of between fifteen and six- 
teen, at the boarding-school, being enticed by 
some of my school-fellows, and particularly 
my bed-fellow, I began to penetrate those 
parts, which should never have been explor- 
ed but by a husband. This practice I stuck 
to till I was run away with by the musick-master 
at eighteen. It were needless to enumerate 
the difficulties I met with till my relations 
were reconciled to the match. Sufficient it is 
to say, I had four children by my husband in 
three years, two being twins; but they all 
died, and also my husband soon after. I was 
in state of widowhood for three years, and 
then I married with the approbation of my re- 
lations. Before this union, I found all my 
girlish inclinations come upon me, and not 
daring to risk any connection with a man, I 
repeated my boarding-school practice with 
such violence (particularly just before and after 
my monthly courses) that I made myself vio- 
lently force, and brought on such a bearing 
down of the womb, that it was with much 
difficulty I could walk. These complaints 
have increased since my last marriage; and, 
though four years have elapsed from that pe- 
riod, I have not been once pregnant. I have 
been prevailed upon by my husband to under- 
go a physician’s inspection; when he said, that 
my womb was very weak and slippery, and he 
was afraid I should never have any more children. 
He, however, prescribed the Bath water, and 
injections; but they have been of no service. 
I am


[62]
I am now really weakened by a white run- 
ning, which is very considerable, and with the 
bearing down, which frequently is very great, 
and occasions a continual pain in my womb, 
and in my back, whereby I am greatly fallen 
away; and what is remarkable, I have no 
manner of inclination for the act of procrea- 
tion, and very little or no pleasure in the act; 
which I am inclined to believe is as much the 
reason as any other of my incapacity of bear- 
ing children. I have, nevertheless, a good 
stomach, and sleep very well; and therefore 
it appears to me the more extraordinary, that 
I who used to be so amorous, and, to say the 
truth, so excessively desirous of conversing with 
my first husband in this way, should have no 
inclination in this respect to my present hus- 
band, notwithstanding I have a great regard 
for him. 
ANOTHER female, upon being much im- 
portuned by a man-midwife of eminence who 
visited her, at her husband’s request, at length- 
acknowledged, that she had commenced the 
filthy practice of self-pollution very young, and 
persevered in it till the time of her marriage, 
which took place when she was about twenty 
years of age: that she had always been very 
pale from the age of puberty, though before 
she had a fresh complexio; and that from a 
good state of health, she became very weakly, 
and never had her menses but four times till 
she was married; after which she still conti- 
nued her filthy practice, having much more 
gratification

[63] 
gratification in it than in her husband's em- 
braces, though he was a young vigorous man, 
and remarkably calculated to please the fair 
sex; that she had been equally a stranger to 
her courses and pregnancy, and was constant- 
ly ailing in other respects. Upon examining, 
her womb, she was found to have a continual 
oozing, and a great bearing down. 
A short time since, a young woman,, 
about seventeen years old, who had hitherto 
enjoyed a good state of health, was seized 
with an astonishing weakness; her powers 
daily diminished; in the day-time she was 
constantly overcome with drowsiness, and was 
at night unable to sleep; she lost her appetite, 
and a dropsical swelling spread all over her bo- 
dy. She consulted a skilful surgeon, who, af- 
ter he found that her menses were regular, sus- 
pected self-pollution. The effect of the first 
question he put to her confirmed the justness 
of his suspicion, and the patient then acknow- 
ledged it. 
A MARRIED woman, aged about forty- 
seven years, consulted a physician for barren- 
ness, from a laxness of muscular fibres of the 
vagina and uterus; but examining the case, 
and suspecting both from the character she 
bore, and from what she herself said, that it 
was not owing to any insufficiency in the hus- 
band, whom she publicly complained of, but 
to her own insatiable lust; for it plainly ap- 
peared her case was owing to friction: where-
fore,

[64]
fore, considering her age, and the little hopes 
of success upon such a patient, he refused 
meddling. 
A FEMALE patient of nineteen was of a 
sanguine complexion, and a hot and lustful 
temperament, which, overcoming the virtuous 
principles she had in her youth imbibed, was 
prompted to abuse herself by self-pollution. She 
had continued in this practice from the age of 
fourteen, not without frequent intervals of 
remorse at her unclean desires, never imagin- 
ing, however, that there was any sin or dan- 
ger in the act; but shuddered at the thoughts 
of a discovery, in case of marriage, from her 
husband, as she had not only broke away all 
the badge of virginity; but her womb was as 
much distended as if she had borne several chil- 
dren, by reason of the largeness of the instru- 
ments with which she used latterly to gratify 
her lust; and the more she followed the 
practice, the more her desires were heighten- 
ed. She was at length brought to a most 
shocking state, by nervous disorders, and par- 
ticularly those of the womb; in which state 
she applied to an eminent surgeon; but, alas!
she was so violently affected with a furor ute- 
rinus, that she would implore every man she 
met to asswage her lust, not only in obscene 
terms, but even by the most indecent actions; 
and her very surgeon, upon examining the 
parts, excited such violent sensations, that she 
could not restrain from importuning him to 
commit the act of coition ; but he not com- 
plying

[65]
plying with her request, she had recourse to 
self-pollution, which had such an effect upon 
the ovaria, that she shed some of the ova. In 
this condition she remained near four years, 
at the end of which time she died raving in 
one of those lascivious fits. Her body was af- 
terwards opened by some skilful surgeons, 
when the glans of the clitoris, or female pre- 
puce, which is the chief seat of pleasure in 
woman, was much larger than the natural 
size, and was invested with a sharp corroding 
watery humour, which they imagined must 
in that part itch to a prodigious degree, and 
create the insufferable titillation and desire: 
and they were also of opinion, that the acri- 
monious humour with which that part was af- 
fected had been attracted thither, by the fre- 
quent operations to gratify her lubidinous de- 
sires. She was naturally very handsome, and 
might have been an ornament to her sex, if 
she had not given way to this unnatural prac- 
tice; for it was this alone that brought on all 
her complaints. 
Another female patient, who had, in her 
early days, addicted herself to this abominable 
custom, was at length reduced to such a state, 
that when she leaned upon her elbows, or 
nsed any strength with her hands, they were 
quite benumbed, and her fingers would catch 
and draw up like the cramp. Her stomach 
appeared outwardly swelled, and she had vio- 
lent pains in it, which often made her feel as 
if she would choak, and made her seem as if
she

[66]
she was sore from her navel to her throat. She 
had racking pains in her back, between her 
loins, and under her shoulders. If she offer- 
ed to pull herself up, all her bones would 
snap, which might be heard standing near her. 
If at any time she turned her head on one side, 
or offered to talk much, it greatly hurt her.
The hollow of her stomach, and under her 
shoulders, seemed inwardly swelled, and fulL 
of pain. Her hands were seldom warm, and 
the bones of her insteps at night were much 
swelled, and very painful. After sleeping, 
she awoke with great numbness in her arms; 
and if she happened to be on her back, with 
a great pain in her heels. When she wanted 
to walk, she was ready to swoon with the 
numbness in her loins, pain in her back and 
stomach. Her shoulders sometimes seemed as 
if they were stuck full of pins; and it was 
with much difficulty she could move either of 
her hands to her head, which made her be- 
lieve she had strained something within her. 
Towards the evening, she had prodigious 
flushings in the face, which made her head 
beat as if full of pulses, whereby her eyes were 
greatly weakened, and her sight much im- 
paired. When she awoke in a morning, she 
was very dry, and her tongue very white, 
with great inward heat and drought, and much 
inclined to vomit, and sick fits, accompanied 
with giddiness. She was very apprehensive of 
an ulcer in her womb, or kidnies, as she had 
violent pains in these parts. This, upon ex- 
amination, appeared to be the case; and she 
soon

[67]
soon after fell a martyr to her lustful and un- 
natural indulgences. 
In the course of these examples, the reader 
must have observed, that female invention is 
more prolific than man’s, even in sin; and 
that though self-pollution in the male sex has 
scarce ever been known to be practised any 
otherwise than by manual friction, female sin- 
ners have, avowedly, made use of various fo- 
reign instruments to gratify their inordinate 
lusts: but besides these applications, it is well 
known, that there is another species of pollu- 
tion among the females, which may be call- 
ed clitorical, the origin of which may be tra- 
ced so far back as the time of the second 
Sappho, and from her derives its name of the
Sapphic passion. Some women are by nature, 
but more by vicious practices, so formed, as to 
have some resemblance to man: this has given 
rise to the erroneous opinion, which, in some 
degree, still prevails, that there are such be- 
ings as hermophrodites. The uncommon size 
of a part, which is naturally very small, and 
whereupon Monsieur Tronchin has furnished 
us a very elaborate description, is the case of 
those supposed phenomena, and the shameful 
abuse of the part, in this respect, all the evil. 
There may have been some females, who, per- 
haps, thought themselves more than women, 
and glorying in the functions of a double sex,
usurped the province of men. Others may, 
perhaps, have been prompted, by curiosity, to 
the same kind of essays; but most votaries to the 
Sapphic


[68]
Sapphic passion are those, who, by frequent 
and violent self-pollution, have forced nature 
out of her common path; and lust being ge- 
nerated by lust, their inordinate desires can- 
not be gratified, but by still more unnatural 
practices. 
I have seen a letter, written by a young 
lady of only eighteen, who had many mental 
endowments, learning, and naturally a great 
share of beauty, wherein she relates the cause 
and progress of her crimes and disorders: she 
says, “ To be ingenuous, I had been guilty of 
“ this nasty practice (meaning self-pollution) 
“ from the time I was twelve years old. A 
“ young female servant at my father’s, who 
“ was of an amorous complexion, yet dread- 
“ ing any commerce with the men, first 
“ taught it me. Frequent, and almost in- 
“ cessant repetition, at length produced such 
“ a bearing down of my womb as greatly 
“ terrified me; but Sally appeased my fears, 
“ by telling me, that she had been in the 
“ same state, and it went away again; and 
“ now, she said, we might act like man and 
“ wife, and that there would be full as much 
“ pleasure as if we were really so. But I soon 
“ became so weak, that I could not walk, 
“ and in a short time I had such violent pains 
“ in my back, my womb, and particularly 
“ the offending part, which continues still 
“ to hang out, notwithstanding what Sally 
“ said, that I am afraid I shall never be well 
“ again. But what terrifies more than all is. 
“ that

[69] 
“ that my father has taken pains to get a 
“ husband for me, imagining, I believe, my 
“ paleness and weakness are occasioned by 
“ my being kept from man; and a young 
“ gentleman of fortune is now paying his ad- 
“ dresses to me: I am frighted out of my wits 
“ at the discovery he will make the first: 
“ night; and, indeed, I would rather be 
“ with Sally than the handsomest man in 
“ England, &c. &c. &c.” 
THUS we find, that the danger of this kind 
of pollution is not less than that of the other 
sorts of masturbation: the effect are, indeed, 
equally shocking, as all these paths lead to ema- 
ciation, languor, pain, and even death: but 
this last species deserves the greater attention, 
as it is now so common, and there are many 
women who are known to love girls with as 
much fondness as ever did the most passionate 
of men, and conceive the most poignant jea- 
lousy, when they were addressed by the male 
sex, upon the subject of love or tender dalli- 
ance. 
I SHALL make no apology for transcribing 
here that part of Dr Quincy’s translation 
of Carr’s Medicinal Epistles, relative to two 
nuns, who were reported to have changed 
their sex, being so pertinent and illustrative to 
the subject under, consideration. 
“ I SHOULD blush, perhaps, from too 
“ much modesty, to concern myself in a sto- 
“ ry

[70]
“ ry that is not a very chaste one, had not a 
“ professor of divinity given it to the world 
“ in print, and a college of cardinals inquired 
“ into it. This gives me some assurance, and 
“ guards me from any imputations of indecen- 
“ cy. I shall therefore not write any thing 
“ out of wantonness, or omit any thing ma- 
“ terial upon the account of modesty. It is 
“ an unhappiness, that you have fixed upon 
“ me to account for so unnatural a phenome- 
“ non in nature. You would greatly have 
“ obliged the learned world, had you prevail- 
“ ed upon the Honourable Mr. Boyle, who 
“ is a finished philosopher, to have under- 
“ taken this work, though I am not, indeed, 
“ without hopes, that as soon as this strange 
“ story is related to him, he will think it 
“ worth his skilful inquiry; for such is his 
“ consummate learning, and which will be 
“ to his eternal honour, such are his inclina- 
“ tions to instruct others, that he will be pro- 
“ voked not to suffer such an extraordinary 
“ case, to escape the notice of the ablest phi- 
“ losopher. 
“ You acquaint me in your letter, that it 
“ is reported at Rome, that two nuns, in a 
“ monastery, were changed in such a man- 
“ ner, as to be suspected of virility. The re- 
“ port reached the pope’s ears, who, upon 
“ such an extraordinary occasion, ordered 
“ some cardinals to inquire into the truth of 
“ it. After their search, they affirmed, that 
“ the nuns were grown in such a manner, as 
“ to

[71]
“ to have changed their sex; in testimony of 
“ which you say, the cardinals commanded 
“ them to be expelled the monastery; and 
“ that, at that time, they had changed 
“ their dress, and took upon themselves the 
“ employ of men. 
“ I wonder what could induce his ho- 
“ liness to commit the inspection of that affair 
“ to his cardinals, who are no way conversant 
“ in the difference of sexes. It is true, in- 
“ deed, that the reputation of their integrity 
“ would prevent all manner of suspicion as to 
“ their report; but yet their unspotted chasti- 
“ ty, joined with shame and modesty, could 
“ never suffer them to make such a nice in- 
“ quiry, as the nature of such a thing de- 
“ manded. 
“ Persons who read this account may, 
“ perhaps, be divided into different opinions, 
“ and both of them wrong. Some who have 
“ a considence in the integrity of the cardi- 
“ nals may not, upon that account, disbe- 
“ lieve it; but, as it exceeds the wonted 
“ bounds of nature, take it for a miracle. 
“ Others may wholly disbelieve it, as it so 
“ far exceeds the reach of nature, that, as 
“ miracles are ceased, it must be impossible; 
“ and as they are under no obligation to dis- 
“ believe impossibilities, so they will not be- 
“ lieve this. 
“ I would

[72] 
“ I WOULD satisfy both these kinds of 
“ readers, and by you I doubt not, in such 
“ intricacies, it will be well taken, that I 
“ have endeavoured to do my best. The one, 
“ that the excursion of nature, which you 
“ call a change of sex, is no way to be ac- 
“ counted an impossibility, from the structure 
“ of the parts of generation: and the other, 
“ that such a wonderful phænomenon does not 
“ exceed the bounds of nature, nor is it so 
“ unfrequent as to deserve to be reckoned a 
“ miracle. He must be a stranger to the power 
“ of nature, who thinks she cannot do some- 
“ times, what she thinks not fit to do often. 
“ WHOSEVER thinks these two nuns 
“ have changed their sex, is under a mistake; 
“ all that gives any ground for such an opini- 
“ on is the uncommon increase of the cli- 
“ toris, which, as it is used to frequent irri- 
“ tations, thrusts out, and enlarges its de- 
“ mensions, not unlike to a human penis. I 
“ am unwilling to be so censorious with rela- 
“ tion to these nuns, who profess a severer 
“ way of living, and a more constant attend- 
“ ance at their devotion, as to suspect their 
“ lasciviousness should prompt them to an un- 
“ usal exercise of those parts, by which they 
“ might increase their bulk, according to Mar- 
“ tial, 
“ Mentiturque virum prodigiosa venut,
“ because there are instances of the same in 
“ infants themselves, who cannot be supposed 
“ guilty of such wanton practices. 
“ Nor

[73]
“ Nor can I be of opinion, that these per- 
“ sons were men from the first; because if 
“ they had counterfeited their habits to gratify 
“ their lust in such a place, there would have 
“ happened some discoveries of it, which there 
“ has not done; and therefore no such thing 
“ ought to be suspected. Besides, such a con- 
“ jecture cannot take place, when we con- 
“ sider their breasts are like those of other wo- 
“ men, and were so at their admistion into 
“ the convent, and continue so still. 
“ THE inquisitive Regneur de Graef, in 
“ his book upon the female organs, upon the 
“ head de clitoriæ, takes notice of the clitoris 
“ of an infant to come so near the member of 
“ virility in the other sex, as to deceive the 
“ nurse, and the more skilful gossips, who 
“ took it for a male child, and in its baptism 
“ named it accordingly; and that the mistake 
“ was not detected till after its death, upon 
“ an accurate defection of the body, of which, 
“ the same author gives an account. 
“ The clitoris, in some adult persons, is 
“ seen to hang out beyond the labiœ, or 
“ the openings of the thighs. There is a di- 
“ stemper called furor uterinus, which some- 
“ times arises from this cause, that in walk- 
“ ing, or other exercise, the clitoris is rub- 
“ bed by the cloaths, and excites such extra- 
“ vagant desires as puts them out of all shame 
“ and modesty, and stimulates them to a de- 
“ gree of madness to venereal embraces. 
E THIS 


[74]
“ This uncommon growth of the clitoris is 
“ so frequent in some eastern countries, that 
“ the more skilful surgeons have found out a 
“ method of amputating it, and to take it 
“ away from a person about to marry, left it 
“ should be a hindrance in coition; nor is 
“ the reason for such a growth very difficult 
“ to be assigned: first, Because the fury of 
“ lust wonderfully distends the nerves and ar- 
“ teries, and particularly, above any other 
“ parts, blows up those organs with spirits 
“ and heat. Upon coition, real or imagina- 
“ ry, those of a man are blown up and ex- 
“ tended by a plentiful influx of blood 
“ and animal spirits, from the titillation 
“ which attends it, as if nature was pro- 
“ digal in her care for a supply of those parts. 
“ Secondly, The cavity of the part wherein 
“ it is situated (as if it were not to be con- 
“ fined to narrow bounds, which would hin- 
“ der its increase) facilitates its growth; and 
“ as it is placed where there is room enough, 
“ it can enlarge itself on every side, whereby 
“ its vessels are prolonged, and receive nou- 
“ rishiment on all parts. 
“ Upon a comparison of the male and fe- 
“ male organs, you will not find them to dif- 
“ fer so much as you at first imagined, ex- 
“ cepting that those of a man are thrown out 
“ with a more vigorous heat; whereas those 
“ of a woman, by a defect in that respect, are 
“ only to be perceived inwardly. The cli- 
“ toris of a woman, upon turning out, would 
2 “ resemble

[75] 
“ resemble a scrotum, and the two ovaries an- 
“ nexed to the sides of its bottom, with what 
“ they include, would make up the number 
“ of the testicles. The clitoris is shaped like 
“ a penis; it has the same source of pleasure, 
“ stretches out, and relaxes in the same man- 
“ ner again; it also ends in a gland, but wants 
“ a cavity; which is no wonder, because it 
“ does not serve for the discharge of any thing, 
“ as it oozes out its contents more conveni- 
“ ently into the aperture of the neck of the 
“ bladder: but was that aperture to be closed, 
“ as it is in men, then, in an erection, it 
“ would necessarily find some other out-let 
“ towards the end of its gland; for the ves- 
“ sels of all kinds are first formed by the im- 
“ pulse of some circulating flux; where the 
“ flux is obstructed, it forms a cell, and ves- 
“ sels where it circulates. 
“ In our first formation, when the genital 
“ parts hardly exceed the point of a needle, 
“ difference of sex depends upon very 
“ nice circumstances; but when persons are 
“ grown up, it is the most difficult thing in 
“ he world, to believe there can be a thorough 
“ change from one sex to the other, as the 
“ poets relate of Teresia: but there is more 
“ reason to think, that the largeness of the
“ clitoris, by its likeness to a human pe- 
“ nis might deceive the inquirers into this 
“ matter; or that they were men from the 
“ first formation; but that the genital parts, 
“ by some defect in the first rudiments, not 
E2 “ obtain

[76]
“ obtaining a due protrusion, upon the in- 
“ crease of strength and venereal titillation, 
“ broke forth, and seemed to grow afresh. 
“ We have frequent instances of nature's 
“ excursions in those parts. There is a very 
“ remarkable story of a child born some time 
“ since, in a village near the mountain called 
“ Grandvaux, in France, in all other respects 
“ like other children, who bad those parts 
“ which distinguish its sex perfectly like a 
“ man; the pubes were grown over with 
“ thick hair, and he frequently had all the 
“ motions of lasciviousness, with an erection 
“ for coition, especially when waking from 
“ sleep, and, before he was two years old, his 
“ parents were advised not to suffer him to 
“ be with his sisters or maids, left that should 
“ happen at two years of age, which Hi- 
“ eronymus wondered at in twelve or thir- 
“ teen. 
“ NATURE refuses to be circumscribed in
“ her operations, but she has never been known 
“ to make such excursions as this must have
“ been; we ought therefore to stand in won- 
“ der at her great regularity, because of our 
“ inability in following her through all her 
“ works. 
FROM hence It may plainly be adduced,
that these religious young ladies had some avo- 
cations from their prayers of a more sensual 
nature; and I think there can no doubt re-
main 


[77]
main of their frequent gratisications of the 
Sapphic passion. It is true, that some wo- 
men have naturally a greater protusion of the 
clitoris than others; but scarce any were ever 
known to have the projection and erection of 
this part so far resemble a penis, as not only 
to be capable of the act of coition, but even 
to be pronounced of the male sex. The an- 
tients called these women fricatrices and subi- 
gatrices; and modern times have produced 
instances in Romish countries, of punishments 
having been inflicted for this abuse of na- 
ture. The Arabians have still more refined 
notion upon this head; and in Creophagi 
they actually circumcise the women thus 
afflicted, by cutting away a certain apophosis 
of musculous skin, that descends from the su- 
perior parts of the matrix, and is subject to 
erection in the act of coition. We are told 
by Lusitanus, that a very pious virgin had 
a very propended clitoris, which so pro- 
voked her to venery, by its only unavoidable 
friction against her linen and thighs as she 
moved, that gave her great trouble and af- 
fliction; insomuch, that, with the consent 
of her parents, this physician was applied to, 
in order to make an amputation of it, which, 
he adds, was accordingly performed. 
ACCORDING to some ancient histories of 
France, there was people who inhabited near 
Languedoc, the females of which had most 
amazing clitorises, insomuch, that they could 
perform either the man or the woman’s part 
E3 in

[78] 
in the act of coition, and communicated near- 
ly as much pleasure to the female, who was in 
this respect the patient, as a male agent; in 
consequence of which laws were framed to 
leave them to their choice, in which capacity 
they would act; but having once chosen, 
they were liable to severe punishments if they 
introduced any variety in their copulative ope- 
rations. Modern writers tell us, that upon 
the confines of the mouth of the river Missis- 
sippi, whose source is in the gulph of Mexico, 
there is a people similar to these females. I 
cannot, however, assent to these phenomena, 
till such time as I have further conviction of 
their reality, or better authority than the re- 
ports of these writers to credit their exist- 
ence. 
But upon the principles already set forth, 
the propension of this part may be accounted 
for; so that when Plauterius, a physician, tells 
us, that he had seen a woman have a clitoris 
hang out as long as a goose neck; or when 
Plempius relates, that one Helena lay with se- 
veral women, and actually gained the virgini- 
ty of many maids; these relations are not so 
incredible. The following story is also very 
well attested by several French physicians: 
“ A certain young lady at Toulose had a re- 
“ laxation of the vagina, resembling a man's 
“ penis, and some asserted that she used it in 
“ that way, it being six inches in length, and 
“ four in circumference in the middle, where 
“ it was very hard. It gradually increased 
“ from


[79]
“ from her childhood. She was examined 
“ by the physicians of that city, who were 
“ unanimously of opinion, that it was a real 
“ penis; whereupon the town magistrates 
“ ordered her to wear the dress of a man. In 
“ this habit she came to Paris, but thought 
“ proper to throw off the male dress, in order 
“ to gain admission into a nunnery, where she 
“ spent the remainder of her days. 
I shall make no comment upon the pro- 
priety of admitting a person of her form and 
disposition into a seminary of this nature, or 
the danger of her inspiring many (before) vir- 
tuous nuns with the most lascivious desires. 
Had the account of the two holy sisters, who 
Were supposed to have changed their sex, not 
been wrote long before this affair happened, I 
should have been inclined to believe that this 
young lady was one of them ; however, it 
seems, that a soft chin, and a female dress, 
will find admission into these religious socie- 
ties; if so, and such ladies as this, are receiv- 
ed, I cannot imagine there would be any great 
difficulty for a young men with but little 
beard to gain admission, as he might, probab- 
ly, if necessary, more easily conceal the part 
that might preclude him, than this young lady 
could its resemblance. 
Mr. COWPER, the surgeon, furnishes us 
with the following case of a woman, whose 
husband could never make any penetration, 
when he endeavoured to cohabit with her, but 
E4 into

[80]
into the urinary passage, vagina being so 
uncommonly closed, that he could not, with 
the most vigorous erection, gain admission 
with his penis. 
“ I was called upon to a married woman 
“ about twenty years of age, whose lower 
“ belly was distended as if with child. Upon 
“ examining the pudendum, I found the 
“ hymen altogether impervious, and driven 
“ out beyond the labia pudendi, in such a 
“ manner, that, at first sight, it appeared not 
“ unlike a prolapsus uteri. In the upper part, 
“ towards the clitoris, we found the orifice 
“ of the meatus urinarius, or urinary passage, 
“ very open, and its sides extended not un- 
“ like the anus, or cloaca of a cock, that, 
“ without any difficulty, I could put up my 
“ finger into the bladder of urine. On divid- 
“ ing the hymen, at least a gallon of grumous 
“ blood, of divers colours and consistencies, 
“ came from her, which was the retained 
“ menstrua. The next day, no less quantity 
“ of the same matter flowed upon taking out 
“ the pessary, which I had put in the day be- 
“ fore. After three or four days, she was 
“ easy, and soon after recovered, and with- 
“ in a year after was delivered of a healthy 
“ child. Her husband told us, that, tho’ 
“ lying with her at first (before this opera- 
“ tion) was painful to himself as well as to 
“ her, yet at last he had a more easy admis- 
“ sion, which could be no other way than in 
“ the meatus urinarius. It seems something 
“ uncommon,

[81]
“ uncommon, that her urinary passage should 
“ so dilate itself, as to let in the erected pe- 
“ nis, by no more than the force of an erec- 
“ tion could afford. This history evinces, 
“ that this woman’s hymen was not only a 
“ strong membrane, and could make resist- 
“ ance to that force which overcame the mea- 
“ tus urinarius, and sphincter of the bladder, 
“ which is considerably strong, but by ad- 
“ mitting of so great a dilatation, as to hang, 
“ out extra pudendum, shews, that the struc- 
“ ture of it is fibrous, and consequently ca- 
“ pable of great distentions. There was an- 
“ other young woman, who laboured under 
“ the same misfortune of having an obsti- 
“ nate hymen, insomuch, that her husband, 
“ though a healthful strong young man, could 
“ make no penetration; but she chose rather 
“ to have her marriage disanulled than in- 
“ dure the operation, being deterred by the 
“ shame of exposing her body, and the dis- 
“ courses that may be raised upon it; for that 
“ a lady’s being reviewed by the judge’s or- 
“ der at Paris, by the most noted physician 
“ and there, upon a contest about her 
“ virginity, gave occasion for their fans and 
“ snuff-boxes being painted afterwards with 
“ indecent postures.
These observations of Mr. Cowper are 
no way unnatural, but are supported by fre- 
quent experience; but I cannot give credit 
to Montius, when he tells us, that a wo- 
man, who had an uncommon large clitoris,
E5 but


[82]
but who, nevertheless, had brought forth seve- 
ral children, often ravished her own maid- 
servants, and more than once got them with 
child. This is somewhat similar to the ac- 
count we meet with in the Scottish trials of a 
young woman, who got her master’s daugh- 
ter with child, of which she was convicted, 
condemned, and executed. But we need not 
be surprized at such credulity and injustice, 
when we reflect how very lately innocent wo- 
men have been accused, convicted, and put 
to death for witchcraft. Our enlightened age 
should equally explode both these impositions, 
which might be well suited to the barbarous 
times of ignorance and superstition. 
From what has been said, let every fe- 
male consider the imminent danger to which 
they expose themselves, and the dreadful ac- 
cidents that arise from these unnatural and 
filthy practices, as besides all the horrors and 
diseases to which the male sex are exposed by 
self-pollution (and which they are required 
to peruse for their own advantage, as it would 
be unnecessary to repeat them here) they un- 
avoidably break down the barrier of virginity, 
which must be detected by their husband when- 
ever they marry; and indeed frequently oc- 
casion such extraordinary bearings down of 
the clitoris, as render them incapable of coition 
with them. It were, therefore, to be wished, 
that every woman, who is so viciously disposed 
as to defile herself, or let herself be defil- 
ed

[83]
ed by another, might meet with as obstinate 
a hymen as Mr. Cowper’s patient, a hymen 
inflexible to every unnatural instrument that 
might promise her the gratification of her 
lust.
E6 SEC- 

[84]
SECTION V. 
Of the disorders incident to the female sex, 
and the most approved methods of cure. 
AFTER what has been said concerning 
the filthy, shameful, and destructive prac- 
tices of the women, by themselves, or amongst 
each other, which occasion such a variety of 
evils and disorders, it were but justice to the 
sex to own, that, from their natural forma- 
tion and disposition, and the incidental casual- 
ties attending pregnancy and child-bearing, 
they are subject to many afflictions in various 
respects, analogous to those mentioned in the 
former section, and from which the men are 
entirely exempted; and therefore I think it 
necessary to explain myself upon these heads in 
this section. 
The whites are a soul excretion from the 
womb, commonly attendant upon weak wo- 
men, oftentimes after hard labour, sometimes 
during pregnancy, and frequently in a virgin 
state. This disorder is a distillation of a variety 
of corrupt humours through the womb, flow- 
ing from different parts of the body. This 
oozing is of many colours, sometimes black- 
ish, yellowish, geenish, reddish, and bluish. 
Having no periodical flux, as the regular men- 
sis, its returns are disorderly and uncertain. 
PHYSICIANS

[85]
PHYSCIANS attribute the cause of this dis- 
order sometimes to a general weakness or ca- 
cochymia; and sometimes to a partial debili- 
ty, as in the liver, which by the inability of 
the sanguinificative faculty, occasions a ge- 
neration of corrupt blood. In this case the 
matter is reddish, when the gall is remiss in its 
office, not drawing away the choleric super- 
fluities which are engendered in the liver. 
When the spleen does not sufficiently perform 
its office in cleansing the blood of the dregs 
and excrementitious parts, it then is blackish. 
Sometimes it is occasioned by catarrhs in the 
head, or from any other member that is in a 
disordered state. When the flowing is whit- 
ish, the cause resides in the reins or the sto- 
mach: if in the reins, it is occasioned by their 
being overheated, which causes the sperma- 
tic matter, by reason of its tenuity, to flow 
involuntarily: but when the stomach is the 
seat of the complaint, it is occasioned by crude 
and vitiated matter remaining there undi- 
gested, by reason of melancholy, or some 
stomachic complaint; and this vitiated matter 
is communicated to the womb by the liver, or 
instead of being appropriated to chyle. 
If this disorder be occasioned by the distil- 
lation of the brain, let the patient take syrup 
of betony, stæchas, and marjoram, and purge 
with pillococh. Take the juice of sage, hy- 
sop, betony, nexelle, with one drop of oil 
of cloves, and a little silk cotton, with which 
make napalia. Take elect, dianth, aromat. ro- 
sar,


[86]
sar. diambre diamoci dulcis, of each one 
dram; of nutmeg, half a dram; with 
sugar and betony water, make lozenges, 
which are to be taken night and morning. 
Half a dram of auriæ Alexandrinæ going to 
bed, will also be useful. 
In case the oozing is of a reddish colour, 
phlebotomy in the arm is proper; otherwise 
apply ligatures to the arms and shoulders. 
Galen prescribes a friction of honey to the 
upper parts. 
If the disorder proceed from crudities in 
the stomach, or from a cold disordered liver, 
take every morning a decoction of lignum sac- 
tum; and a purgation of pill, de agarico, de 
hermodact. de hiera diacolocynthid, fœdita 
agragrative. Take of elect. aromat. ros. two 
drams, citron pills dried, nutmeg, long- 
pepper, of each one scruple, diagalinga one 
dram, santali alba, ligni aloes, of each 
half a scruple, sugar six ounces, and with 
mint-water make lozenges of them, which 
are to be taken after meals. When the dis- 
order arises from the liver, and there is at the 
same time a repression of the stomach, eme- 
tics are eligible, and they may be composed 
of three drams of the elect of diaaru. Some 
physicians also prescribe the dieurical method, 
with phosolinum, opium., &c. 
When the oozing arises from melancho- 
lious, prepare with syrup of maidenhair, 
epithimum,


[87] 
epithimum, polipody, burrage, begloss, fu- 
metory, hart’s-tongue, and syrup bystanti- 
num, which must be prepared without vine- 
gar, otherwise it will rather increase the dis- 
order, than assist nature in its removal. The 
proper pills for purgation, are pilulæ eumariæ, 
pilulæ indæ, pilulæ de lap. lazuli, dasena, and 
confectio hameigh. Of stampt prunes take 
two ounces, senna one dram, epithimum, 
polipody, fumetory, of each one dram and 
an half, four dates one ounce, with endive 
water, make a decoction, take of it four 
ounces, to which add confectioni hamich 
three drams manna three drams, orelsi, pil. 
indat. phil. fætidarum, agarici trochiscati, 
one scruple each, lap. lazuli, five grains, with 
syrup of erithimum, make pills, one of which 
is to be taken hebdomedally. 
When the cause of the flux is choleric, 
prepare with syrup of endive, violets, succory, 
roses, and purge with mirabolans, manna, 
rhubarb, and cassia. Of rhubarb take two drams, 
anniseed one dram; cinnamon one scruple; 
infuse them in six ounces of prune broth; 
add to the straining of manna an ounce, to be 
taken secundem artem. Take of spiciecum
diatrion santalon, diatragacant. frig. diarrhod. 
abbatis, diaconit, of each one dram, sugar 
four ounces, and with plantain water make 
lozenges. 
But particularly let the womb be cleansed 
from corrupt matter, and be strengthened; 
for

[88]
for the cleansing whereof make injections of 
the decoction of betony, fetherfew, mug- 
wort, spikenard, bistort, mercury, sage, ad- 
ding thereto sugar, oil of sweet almonds, of 
each an ounce. The womb should be strength- 
ened with trochisks made in the following 
manner: take of myrrh, fetherfew, mug- 
wort, nutmegs, mace, amber, ligni aloes, 
storax, red roses, of each one ounce, with mu- 
cilage of tragacanth. The trochisks being thus 
prepared, cast them on the coals, and smother 
the womb therewith. Likewise fermentations 
for the womb may be used, made of red wine, 
after mastich, fine bole, balustia, and red roses 
have been decocted therein. The best is a 
dry regimen, this distemper being occasioned 
by phlegmatic and crude humours. Too 
much sleep is also pernicious; and, on the 
other hand, moderate exercise is eligible. 
I have been the more circumstantial in 
prescribing for the cure of this disorder, as it 
is more general than may be thought, and 
is, indeed, concomitant with a weak or over 
delicate constitution: therefore ladies of this 
complexion should pay the greatest attention 
to removing the complaint before it makes 
too great a progress. To this end, I would 
have every female who finds herself subject to 
this affliction examine strictly, whether or 
not her suspicions are well founded, and to 
keep the parts particularly clean, by washing 
with luke-warm water, at least every other 
day. Besides the satisfaction it must afford 
3 every

[89]
every female to know the real situation of her 
own body, and, if disordered, timely to re- 
medy it, there is nothing which is more 
productive of health in this respect; and, as a 
proof of it, an additional gratification will 
arise therefrom in the act of copulation, and 
it will greatly tend to the improvement of their 
complexion. The disorders relative to the 
monthly courses are so very analogous to the 
former, that many have called the whites the 
false courses, though, in fact, they arise from 
a different source. Nature has made provision 
for the nourishment of children during their 
recess in the womb of their mother, by that 
redundancy of blood which is natural to all 
women, and which flowing out at certain pe- 
riods of time, when they are not pregnant, 
are from thence called terms, and menses, 
from their monthly flux of excrementitious 
and unprofitable blood. As to this flux being 
excrementitious, is to be understood only with 
regard to the redundancy and overplus of it, 
as it is in no other way an excrement than 
with respect to quantity, being, in point of 
quality, as pure and incorrupt as any blood in 
the veins; and this appears by its final destina- 
tion, the propagation and conservation of 
mankind; as also by its generation, being the 
superfluity of the last aliment of the fleshy parts. 
These monthly purgations usually commence 
about the fourteenth year, and continue to the 
forty-fifth, but not without frequent intervening 
suppressions, which are sometimes natural, and 
sometimes morbific. They are natural in preg- 
nant women, and those who give suck; but 
when

[90] 
when morbific, they are occasioned by an in- 
terruption of that accustomary evacuation of 
blood which should monthly flow from the 
matrix, and which proceed from the matter 
being vitiated. The cause is, in this case, 
either internal or external: the internal cause 
either instrumental or material, in the blood, 
or in the womb. The blood may be faulty 
two ways, in quantity, or in quality: in 
quantity, when it is so consumed, that there is 
not an overplus left, as in viragoes, and all 
other virile women, who, through their heat 
and strength of nature, digest and consume all 
their best nourishment. The blood may also 
be consumed, and the terms suppressed by too 
much bleeding at the nose; likewise by a flux 
of the hemorrhoids, by a dysenteria, evacua- 
tions, chronical and continual disorders. And 
the matter may also be vicious in quality, as 
when sanguineous, phlegmatical, bilious, or 
melancholious; each of these, if they offend 
in grossness, will cause an obstruction in the 
veins. The defect may likewise, for various 
reasons, reside in the womb, as, by the nar- 
rowness of the veins and passages, by a post- 
humes, tumours, ulcers, and by over much 
cold and heat, the one vitiating the action, 
the other confirming the matter; also by an 
evil composition of the matter; likewise by an 
evil composition of the uterine parts, by the 
neck of the womb being turned aside, and 
sometimes, though but rarely, by a membrane 
or excrescence of flesh growing about the 
Womb. The external cause may be heat or 
dryness


[91}
dryness of the air, immoderate walking, great 
labour, violent motion, whereby the matter 
is so consumed, and the body is so exhausted, 
that there is no redundant blood remaining to 
be expelled; whence it is recorded of the Ama- 
zons, that being active, and always in mo- 
tion, they had little or no monthly fluxes. It 
may also be caused by cold, and most frequent- 
ly is so, the blood being thereby rendered vi- 
tious and gross, condensing and binding up the 
passages, that it cannot flow forth. If the 
suppression be natural, and caused by concep- 
tion, it may be known by drinking of honey 
and water after supper, going to bed; for if, 
after taking it, the woman feel a bearing pain 
about the navel, and the lower parts of the 
belly, it is a sign she hath conceived, and that 
the suppression is natural. If she does not find 
this effect from drinking of the honey and wa- 
ter, she may conclude it to be vitious, and 
should immediately endeavour to promote the 
return of the menses, in the manner hereafter 
prescribed; otherwise the efFects may be very 
dangerous, as this suppression may occasion 
swimmings, faintings, intermission of pulse, 
obstructions, chachexies, jaundice, dropsies, 
hardness of the spleen, epilepsies, apoplexies, 
phrensy, melancholy, &c. Evacuations are 
in this case proper; and therefore in the 
middle of the menstrual period, it will be pro- 
per to open the liver vein; and for the rever- 
sion of the humour two days after the usual 
evacuation, open the saphena vein of both 
feet; and if the repletion be not great, apply 
cupping

[92]
cupping glasses to the legs and thighs. After 
phlebotomy, the humours must be prepared, 
and made flexible with syrup of stœchas, hare- 
hound, hyssop, betony, maidenhair, mug- 
wort, and sumitory; then let a bath be made 
of rue, fetherfew, marjoram, savin, bay leaves, 
pennyroyal, camomile, and juniper berries. 
After which take of the leaves of nep, betony, 
succory, maidenhair, of each one handful, 
make a decoction, of which take three ounces; 
syrup of mugwort, succory, maidenhair, mix 
of each half an ounce; and when the patient 
comes out of the bath, let her drink it all; 
then purge with the following pill, de agaric, 
elephang. coch. fœtid. Galen, in this case, 
commends pilula de hiera cum colycintida, as 
being proper to purge the offending humour; 
they are calculated to open the passages of the 
womb. If the patient’s stomach be overcharg- 
ed, let her take a vomit; but let it be prepar- 
ed in such a manner, as to operate also as a 
cathartic, left the humours should be too much 
turned back, by working only upwards; 
wherefore take of trochisk of agaric two 
drams, infuse them in three ounces of oxi- 
mel, in which dissolve benedict. laxat. half an 
ounce, and of the electuary of diasarum one 
scruple, which is to be taken as a purgative. 
When the humour hath in this manner been 
purged, more efficacious and forcible reme- 
dies may be applied, such as the extract of 
mugwort one scruple and a half, musk ten 
grains, trochisks of myrrh one dram and an 
half, rinds of cassia, parsley-seed, castor, of 
each

[93] 
each one scruple, to be taken with the juice of 
smallage, or going to bed. The lower parts 
should also be administered to by fumigation, 
pessaries, unctions, injections, and insessions; 
make suffumigations of amber, galbanum, 
melhantum, bay-berries, mugwort, cinnamon, 
nutmegs, cloves, &c. make pessaries of figs, 
and the leaves of mercury, bruised, and rolled 
up with lint; make injections of the decocti- 
ons of mercury, betony, origin, mugwort, and 
figs, and inject it into the womb with a spunge. 
For unction, take ladant, oil of myrrh, of 
each two drams, oil of lillies, almonds, 
capers, camomile, of each half an ounce, and 
with wax make an unguent to anoint the 
place. The patient should also remain in a 
dry warm air; should not deep much; but, 
on the other hand, she should use moderate 
exercise, especially before meals, which should 
consist of attenuating food. 
The overflowing of the menses is a dis- 
order directly opposite to that which I have just 
been speaking of. This complaint is a sangui- 
neous excrement, consisting only of blood, 
and proceeding from the womb, and exceed- 
ing in time and quality. The cause of this 
overflowing is either external or internal. 
The external cause may be the heat of the 
air, the lifting or carrying heavy burthens, 
unnatural child-births, falls, &c. The in- 
ternal cause may be threefold; in the matter, 
instrument, or faculty. The matter, which is 
the blood, may be vitious two ways; first, in
quantity,

[94]
quantity, being so much, that the veins are 
not able to contain it. Secondly, in quality, 
being adust, sharp, or unconcocted. The 
instruments, that is to say, the veins, are 
faulty, by the dilatation of the orifice, which 
may be caused two ways, by the heat of the 
constitution, climate, or season, heating the 
blood, whereby the passages are dilated, and 
the faculty so much weakened, that it cannot 
retain the blood. Secondly, by falls, blows, 
violent motions, breaking of veins, &c. If 
it comes by the breaking of a vein, the body is 
sometimes cold, the blood flows forth on 
heaps, and that suddenly, accompanied with 
great pain. If it be occasioned by heat, the 
orifice of the veins being dilated, there is little 
or no pain attending it, yet the blood flows 
faster than it doth in an erosion, and not so fast 
as in a rupture. If it arise from an erosion, 
or sharpness of blood, she feels a great scald- 
ing in the passage; and in this case it differs 
from the other two, in its flowing not so 
suddenly nor so copiously as in those. If it be 
occasioned by the weakness of the womb, she 
has an aversion to copulation even in the very 
act. If it proceed from the blood, drop some 
of it on a cloth, and when it is dry, the qua- 
lity may be judged from the colour. When 
choleric, it will be yellowish; if melancholy, 
blackish; if phlegmatic, waterish and whitish. 
The cure of this complaint consists in three 
things; first, the repelling and carrying back 
the blood; secondly, the correcting and tak- 
ing away the fluxibility of the matter; and,
thirdly, 


[95]
thirdly, the corroborating the veins or facul- 
ties. In the first case, to promote a regression 
of the blood, phlebotomy in the arm will be 
useful, and such a quantity of blood may be 
taken away as the strength of the patient will 
permit, which, however, should not be done 
at once, but at different periods, the spirits 
being thereby less weakened, and the retrac- 
tion so much the greater. The cupping glass 
should be applied to the liver, that the rever- 
sion may be in the fountain, moderated with 
cathartics. Astrictorics are also necessary to 
correct the fluxibility of the matter. When it 
is occasioned by the acrimony of the blood, 
it should be considered whether the erosion be 
by salt phlegm, or adust colour: if by the 
first, prepare wormwood, rosin, citron peel, 
and succory, with syrup of violets; and the 
following purgative should also be taken; mi- 
rabolans, cherbul, half an ounce, trochics of 
agaric one dram, with which make a de- 
coction in plantain water, adding thereto sy- 
rup rosat. lax. three ounces to make a potion. 
When by adust colour, prepare the body 
with syrup of roses, myrtles, sorrel, and pur- 
slain, mixt with plantain water, knot-grass, 
and endive; and then the following purgative 
potion should be taken; rinds of myrabolans, 
and rhubarb, one dram each, cinnamon fif- 
teen grains, infused in endive water, with the 
straining pulp of tamarinds and cassia, half an 
ounce each, and the syrup of roses one ounce. 
If the blood be waterish and unconcocted, as it 
is in dropsical cases, and flow, by reason of its 
tenuity,


[96] 
tenuity, it will be necessary to draw off the 
water; and to which end it will be proper to 
purge with agaric, elaterium, and coloquinti- 
da. Sweating is also very proper in this case, 
as the offending matter is thereby taken away, 
and the motion of the blood is carried to the 
outward parts. For this purpose cardimom 
water, with mithridate, or the decoction of 
guaiacum, sassafras, and sarsaparilla, are very 
fit. The gum of guaicum is also a great su- 
dorific. If the blood flows from the breaking 
of a vein, without any evil quality of itself, 
strengtheners only should in this case be ap- 
plied; for which purpose a scruple of bole ar- 
moniac, a dram of treacle, half an ounce of 
conserve of roses, with syrup of myrtle, make 
an excellent electuary. In case the flux is of 
long continuance, two drams of mastich, a 
dram of olibani, and one tyoch de careble, 
with one scruple of balaustium, made into 
powder, and with the syrup of quinces formed 
into pills, will be salutary. 
THERE is another disorder attending the 
menses, which is their irregularity. When 
they come before their time, there is a de- 
praved excretion, which often supplies their 
place at the expected periods; and in this 
case they return twice a month. The cause 
in this case resides in the blood, which stirs up 
the expulsive faculty in the womb, and some- 
times in the whole body, and is frequently oc- 
casioned by the patient’s diet, which increasing 
the blood too much, renders it too sharp or too 
hot;

[97]
hot; and in case the retentive faculty of  
the womb be weak, and the expulsive faculty 
strong, and of a quick sense, they are brought 
forth the sooner by means of a fall, a blow, or 
some violent passion, which the person afflict- 
ed can account for. If it be occasioned by 
heat, thin and sharp humours, the whole bo- 
dy is disordered. The looseness of the vessels, 
and the weakness of the retentive faculty, is 
known from a moist and relaxed habit of body. 
It is, in this case, more troublesome than dan- 
gerous; but is pernicious to conception; and 
the cure is therefore necessary to all, but par- 
ticularly those who are desirous of propagating 
their species, the satisfaction resulting from 
which, few women are, indeed, willing to 
forego. If, therefore, they come too soon 
from the faculty, provoked by too great a 
plethory, phlebotomy, and a spare diet, should 
be used, with much exercise. If it arise from 
the sharpness of the blood, good diet and me- 
dicines are necessary, with bathing in iron- 
water. When it is occasioned by the reten- 
tive faculty, and the looseness of the vessels, 
gentle astringents are the properest. The 
courses may slow after their usual time, by 
reason of the thickness of the blood, the small- 
ness of the quantity, the streightness of the 
passage, or weakness of the expulsive faculties. 
If these causes should all concur, too much 
care cannot be taken to remove them speedily. 
If the blood does not abound in such a quan- 
tity as to excite nature to expel it, its purg- 
ing must necessarily be deferred till there be 
F enough;

[98]
enough; and if the blood be thick, the passage 
stopt, and the expulsive faculty weak, the 
menses must needs be out of order, and the 
purging of them retarded. To remove these 
complaints, then, if the quantity of blood be 
but small, she should live well as to diet, and 
take but little exercise. If the blood be thick 
and foul, it should be thinned, and the hu-
mours mixed therewith be evacuated: where- 
fore, it is proper to take purgatives after the 
courses, and to use calamints. Fumes, pessa- 
ries, and the application of cupping-glasses, 
without scarification, to the inside of the thighs, 
are also necessary. The legs should likewise 
be rubbed, the ancles scarified, and the feet 
held in warm water, four or five days before 
the courses come down. Proper applications 
are also necessary to be made to the pudendum, 
In order to provoke the flowing of the menses, 
some time before they are expected. A marri- 
ed woman cannot do better, in this case, than 
to excite her husband to perform pretty fre- 
quently conjugal duty. 
The last disorder which I shall mention, 
peculiar to the women, is the falling of the 
womb, which is not only extremely trouble- 
some, but is also a hindrance to conception. 
The womb will sometimes descend as low as 
the knees. This is occasioned by the liga- 
ments, which unite it to the other parts, being 
out of order. There are four ligaments, two 
above, broad and membranous, which come 
from the peritonæum, and two below, which 
are

[99]
are nervous, round, and hollow. The womb 
is aleo bound to the great vessels by veins and 
arteries, and to the back by nerves. The 
womb changes its place, when it is drawn an- 
other way; and when the ligaments are loose, 
its own weight bears it down. It is drawn 
on one side when the menstrui are hindered 
from flowing, and the veins and arteries, 
which go to the womb, are full. If there be 
a mole * on one side, the liver and spleen will 
cause it; the liver veins on the right side, and 
the spleen on the left, being more or less re- 
plenished. Some physicians are of opinion, 
that this disorder arises from the solution of the 
connection of the fibrous neck, and the parts 
adjacent. Be this as it may, with women in 
the dropsy, the falling of the womb is occasi- 
oned by the saltness of the water. When there 
is a little tumour, like the skin stretched 
* A mole, is a false conception, or lump of flesh, burthen- 
ing in the womb. Some are of opinion, that it is produced 
by the woman’s seed going into the womb without the 
man’s; but this can only mean, if any thing, that some of 
the ova have gained admittance into the womb, by mastur- 
bation, or some such filthy practice. Other physicians are 
of opinion, that it is engendered of the menstruous blood; 
but in this case it would follow, that maids, by having their 
courses stopt, would be subjest to this accident; but this has 
never yet been proved. The real cause of this carnous con-
ception proceeds from both the man and the woman; from 
corrupt and barren seed in the man, and from the menstruous 
blood in the woman, both mingled together in the cavity of 
the womb; and nature finding herself weak, yet endeavouring 
to maintain the perpetuity of her species, labours to bring
forth such a vicious conception rather than none; and, 
being incapable to produce a living creature, generates a 
lump of flesh. 
F2 within

[100]
within or without the pudendum, or a weight 
felt about the privities, these are symptoms of 
the falling of the womb. When there is a 
tumour like a goose’s egg, and a hole at the 
bottom, great pain is at first felt in the parts 
to which the womb is fastened; such as the 
loins, the bottom of the belly, and the os sa- 
crum, which is occasioned by the breaking or 
stretching of the ligaments; but the pain some 
time after abates, and an impediment in walk- 
ing succeeds. Blood will sometimes issue from 
the breach of the vessels, and the urine and ex- 
crements are no longer voided, in which a fe- 
ver and convulsion will ensue, which frequently 
prove of the most fatal tendency, more espe- 
cially if the patient be pregnant. This dis- 
order should be treated as follows; First, put 
up the womb, before the air alter it, or it be 
swollen or inflamed; for which purpose a cly- 
ster is necessary to remove the excrements. 
The patient should then be laid upon her back, 
with her legs asunder, her thighs raised up, 
and her head down, when the tumour should 
be thrust in, but without violence. In case 
it be swollen by alteration or cold, foment it 
with the decoction of mallows, althea, line, 
fenugreek, camomile-flowers, bay-berries, 
and anoint it with oil of lillies and hens 
grease. If there be an inflammation, it must 
not be thrust up, but frighted in, by placing 
a red hot iron before it, having first sprinkled 
upon it the powder of mastic and frankincense. 
When it is replaced, the patient should lie 
with her legs stretched one upon the other for 
eight

[101]
eight or ten days. A pessary of cork or spunge;
in the shape of a pear, dipped in sharp urine, or 
the juice of acacia, with powder of sanguis, 
galbanum, and bdellium, should be put into 
the womb. A cupping-glass, with a great steam, 
should be applied to the navel or paps, or to 
both kidneys; and the following plaister should 
be laid to the back: opoponix, two ounces, 
liquid storax, half an ounce, mastic, frankin- 
cense, pitch, and bole, two drams each, form- 
ed into a plaister with wax. Fomentations 
and astringents of bramble leaves, plantain, 
horse-tails, thistles, of each two handfuls; 
worm-seed, two pugils, and half an ounce of 
pomegranate flowers boiled in water; and an 
injection should also be used made as follows: 
comfrey-roots, an ounce, rupture-wort, two 
drams, yarrow, mugwort, of each half an 
ounce, boiled in red wine. The womb should 
be strengthened with hart’s-horn, bays, one 
dram of each, and myrrh half a dram, made 
into powder for two doses, which are to be 
given in sharp wines. Rollers and ligatures, 
as for a rupture, are proper to keep it in its 
place; and pessaries should be put into the 
bottom of the womb, in order to force it to 
remain in its replaced state. There are some 
physicians, it is true, who are of opinion, that 
they are prejudicial to conception; but the ma- 
jority recommend them, justly imagining, that 
they neither prevent conception, or occasion 
any injury whatever to the genital parts of the 
female; but, on the contrary, that they not 
only cure the disorder, but promote genera-
F3 tion 

[102] 
tion by their retentive influence. The pa- 
tient’s diet should be drying, astringent, and 
glutinous; such as quinces, pears, green- 
cheese, rice; and consequently red wine is 
the properest, avoiding all summer fruits. 
I FIND, in madam Fouquet’s collection of 
charitable remedies, the following receipt, 
which is stiled, a sovereign plaister for the dis- 
orders of the matrix, &c. 
Cerus, half a pound, minium, one 
pound, Genoa soap, ten ounces, oil of olives, 
two pounds. Put the minium and the cerus 
in a pan upon the fire; continue stirring the 
same, till they are well incorporated and united 
together; then cut the soap in small bits, and 
put it in piece by piece, keeping the contents 
of the pan continually stirring; let it do over 
a middling fire, till such time as it be- 
come grey, or a chesnut colour; take care 
that nothing boils over, whilst it is boiling, 
as these ingredients swell a good deal; and 
continue constantly stirring till it be boiled 
enough; when it is of a good consistence, 
take it off the fire, and stir it still it be cold, 
when rolls are to be made of it; and care 
should be taken, not to handle them with 
wet hands. 
When there is occasion to use this plaister, 
it must be spread upon linnen, or leather; but, 
if upon leather, care must be taken that it has 
no scent.
If

[103]
If the ligaments of the womb are relaxed, 
and a bearing down ensues, it should be ap- 
plied to the navel, the patient remaining in 
bed two days, and keeping it on, till such 
time as she be cured: it should, however, be 
taken off at the end of a fortnight, the place 
wiped, and another plaister put on, remaining 
without any bandage. 
If a woman, when brought to bed, has 
any difficulty of having the after-birth brought 
away, this plaister will be greatly efficacious 
in performing it, by being put upon the navel, 
and leaving it in the manner above prescribed. 
To which is added, there is a very illustrious 
example of a cure performed by the applica- 
tion of this plaister. 
If a lying-in woman, or any other, or a 
maid, has too great a flux of the menses, this 
is a sovereign remedy, by applying it to the 
navel, as above. 
If a woman, or a young girl, has not a 
sufficient flux of her monthly courses, or there 
is an entire suppression of them, this plaister 
should be used; and, in this case, it should be 
placed beneath the navel. 
F4 SEC-

[104]
SECTION VI. 
Of the most practical and approved me- 
thods of cure for the disorders incident 
to excessive venery, or self-pollution. 
HIPPOCRATES says, that when a 
patient has exhausted himself by too 
much indulgence, either of amorous pleasure, 
or even masturbation, and when he has those 
symptoms already described, we should apply 
fomentations all over his body; then give him 
an emetic; repeat it, in order to purge his 
head; then a purgative. “ The cure should 
“ be begun in spring. After the purgative, 
“ give him scummed, or ass’s milk; the cow 
“ milk for forty days. Whilst he drinks the 
“ milk, he should eat no meat; and at night 
“ he should take water gruel. After leaving 
“ off milk, he should eat the most tender 
“ meats, beginning with a small quantity on- 
“ ly. By this means he will recover his flesh. 
“ For a whole twelvemonth he should avoid 
“ every kind of debauchery, all venereal prac- 
“ tices, and every other immoderate exercise; 
“ and in his walks, he should equally avoid 
“ cold, and being in the sun.” 
Boerhaave says, that these disorders are 
always extremely difficult to cure, as they sel- 
dom make their appearance till such time as 
the

[105] 
the body is weakened, and remedies can be 
no longer efficacious. However, the follow- 
ing, he continues, are the most likely to suc- 
ceed. A dry regimen, consisting of birds, 
beef, mutton, veal, kid, roasted rather than 
boiled; a small quantity of good beer; a little 
wine of the strengthening sort. Then much 
exercise, gradually increased, should be used;
till the patient is fatigued; and this exercise 
should be taken fasting; afterwards frictions, 
with perfumed flannels, should take place, up- 
on the reins, the abdomen, the buttocks, and 
scrotum, regularly night and morning. And, 
lastly, half a dram of the following opiate 
should be taken every two hours in the day. 
℞. Terrœ japon. dr. 4. opopanac dr. 5. 
cort. peruv. dr. 6. cons. rosar. rubr. unc. 1. 
obiban dr. 11. succ acac. unc. ss. syrup. kerm. q. 
s. f. l.a. cond. with half an ounce of medical 
wine.
℞. Rad. cariophyll. ment. pœn. mar. aa. 
unc 1. cort. rad. cappar. tamarise. aa. unc 1. 
ss. lign. agalloch. veri unc 1. vin. gall. alb. 
lib. 6. f. l. a. vin. med. 
These prescriptions being regularly fol- 
lowed, the patient may, probably, be cured in 
about two months. 
HOFFMAN writes upon this subject,
“ That all remedies should be avoided that 
“ are not fit for weak persons, and which 
F5 “ may

[106]
“ may weaken a body already enervated; 
“ such are all astringents, those that are too 
“ cooling, saturnine, nitrous, and acid, and 
“ particularly narcotics; they are all prejudi- 
“ cial in cases of this nature, notwithstanding 
“ which they are very frequently used. The 
“ object in view, continues he, is to restore 
“ strength, and to give the fibres that tone 
“ which they have lost; therefore, warm vo- 
“ latile medicines, aromatics, such as have a 
“ strong and agreeable smell, are improper in 
“ this case; but mild aliments that tend to 
“ repair that nutritive gelatinous substance, 
“ which immoderate evacuations have de- 
“ stroyed, as beef, veal, and chicken broth, 
“ with a little wine, common spice, salt, 
“ nutmeg, and cloves. And it should be in 
“ general observed, that all remedies which 
“ promote perspiration, and animate the lan- 
“ guid tone of the fibres, will be of further 
“ assistance.” 
The following decoction and injection have 
been successfully used.
DECOCTION. 
Rx. Flor. succat. lamii. alb. mpl. 6. radic. 
usper et galang. aa. unc 2. rad. bistort. unc 1. 
rad. osmund. regal. unc 2. flor. ros. rubr. mpl. 
4. ichthyocoll. unc 2. 
Scissa. tus. mixt. cum aquœ quart. 8. ad 
quartœ part. evaporat. quoquant. A quart 
whereof to be taken daily. 
INJEC-

[107]
INJECTION. 
Rx. Saccari saturni, vitriol alb. alum, rup. 
aa dr. 1. aq. chalyb. fabror. pint1 1. ss. per 
dies decem igne arena digerantur. add spir. vin. 
camphr. cochl. 3. 
M. Stork is of opinion, that patients, in 
this situation, should be treated in the follow-
ing manner; “ First, they should be fed with 
“ nutritious broths; water gruel, rice, or 
“ barley, boiled in broth or milk, are also. 
“ very essential, care being taken not to load 
“ the stomach with them, but their use to be 
“ frequent. If the stomach should be so 
“ weak, as it sometimes happens, when the 
“ disorder has made great progress, that it 
“ cannot retain this sort of food, without be- 
“ ing greatly oppressed, the patient should
“ have a wet-nurse, and suck her breast. 
“ This has sometimes been attended with 
“ success in the most dangerous cases. The 
“ relaxed fibres are, in some measure, restor- 
“ ed to their tone, by the use of wine im- 
“ pregnated with steel, bark, and cinnamon. 
“ As soon as the patient has got strength 
“ enough to walk, it is very beneficial for him
“ to go into the open air, in a hilly coun-
“ try” 
The best meats are those that are roasted the like
by a slow fire, or gently boiled in their juice. 
They may consist of veal, young mutton, 
young beef, fowls, pidgeons, partridges, and 
F6 the

[108]
the like: and the best kind of aliment is 
milk. Such liquors should be refrained from 
as tend to increase weakness and relaxation, 
diminish the small digestive powers that re- 
main, and communicate acrimony to the hu- 
mours; warm water, coffee, and tea, should 
therefore be avoided. Spirituous liquors are 
also pernicious. The most salutary liquor is 
pure spring water, mixt with wine, and the 
best wines are those that are the most stoma- 
chic. Beer is not good; but mum may, in 
some degree, serve instead of wine, where the 
proper sort is wanting ; and chocolate is par- 
ticularly eligible, especially for breakfast. 
INHALATION, communicated from one 
person to another, may have its use, when 
the patient is particularly feeble. Capuaccio, 
the celebrated Italian professor, prescribed two 
nurses to a patient, between whom he was to 
lie, as well as suck their breasts; and he re- 
covered his strength and powers so wonder- 
fully, that, after some months, he impreg- 
nated them both, and thereby enabled them 
to continue administering his milk diet. His 
pupil, Forestus, was so well convinced of the 
utility of his master’s practice, that he con- 
stantly prescribed a healthy blooming nurse as 
a bed fellow, to every patient troubled with 
the tabis dorsalis. But the danger in this case 
is, that the patient should fancy himself 
more vigorous than he really is, and endea- 
vour too early to testify to his nurse the proofs 
of his recovery. A woman of prudence and 
experience


[109]
experience is, at least, therefore requisite;
and she should be entirely divested of any of 
those passions which might prove fatal to the 
patient, even after his recovery; for this last 
reason, a red haired, or very black, woman 
should never be chosen upon these occasions. 
The most approved remedies in this dis- 
order, are the cold bath, and the bark or 
quinquina used together. Their virtues are 
the same, and, being united, frequently pro- 
duce the most happy effects, even when every 
other application has failed. They invigo- 
rate, diminish the feverish and nervous heat; 
they calm the irregular motions produced by 
the spasmodic disposition of the nervous sys- 
tem; they fortify a weak stomach, and dissi-
pate its attendant complaints; they also restore 
lost appetite, promote digestion, and increase 
nutrition; they facilitate the operation of all 
the functions, and particularly perspiration, 
which renders them so efficacious in all catarr- 
hous and cutaneous disorders. They should, 
however, not be used, if the patient is afflict- 
ed with internal ulcerous abscesses, inflamma- 
tions, or obstructions. To these two reme- 
dies may be added steel, which is useful in all 
cases of weakness, and may be given either in 
substance or by infusion. For the same rea- 
son Spa water, as a strengthener, is much to 
be commended in this case. Bitters, gums, 
myrrh, and gentle aromatics, are proper; but 
the choice of these different remedies must de- 
pend upon circumstances, I have known the 
following

[110]
following pills and decoction to be taken  
with great success. 
PILLS. 
Rx. Myrrh. elect. unc ss. gum. galhan. extr. 
trisol. fibr. terr. japan. aa dr. 2. sir. cort.
aur. q. s. f. pil. gra. 3. 
DECOCTION. 
Rx. Cort. peruv. unc 2. cort, rad. capp. 
unc 1. cinnam. acut. dr. 2. limat. mart. in no-
doul. lax. unc ss. cum. oq. font. lib. 2. ss. l. a. f. 
decoct. 
The pills should be taken with broth, after  
breakfast, dinner, or supper, about seven 
at a time. 
If quinquina is taken, it is not necessary 
that the patient should confine himself to a 
milk diet, and when the wine is impregnated 
with bark, it does not prompt them to vomit 
when taken in the morning fasting; this is 
the proper time for it, and night for the taking 
of the milk. If the mineral waters are taken, 
it is necessary that some bottles of pure water 
should be taken before the milk is mixed with 
it. If the disorder be inveterate, it common- 
ly degenerates into a cacochymy, which it is 
necessary to remove, before the patient’s 
strength is endeavoured to be restored. Eva- 
cuants are, in this case, absolutely necessary, 
and are frequently very successful. If the pa- 
tient’s life is in danger, recourse must be had 
to

[111] 
to real cordials, such as Spanish wine, fresh 
eggs, succulent broths, and the like; and flan- 
nels, heated with treacle, are very efficacious 
when applied to the breast. In case of a fever, 
the patient should not be blooded, till such 
time as there is an indication, by the fulness 
and hardness of the pulse and it were better 
to he blooded twice, losing small quantities 
each time, than to part with much blood at 
one time. 
In a word, those medicines which are most 
immediately necessary are those which are 
ranged under the heads of balsamics and astrin- 
gents. By balsamic medicines, are meant 
those which comfort the nerves, strengthen 
the constitution, and thereby animate the pa- 
tient. Among these are flor. tilliœ lavendul.
rorismarin. pœoniœ. herb. thym. menth. vul- 
gar majoran culaminth. cort cinnamon canell 
alb. aurantior. siccati, fruct. nuc. moschat. of the 
animal class musk. The simple waters of cin- 
namon, orange peel, and common mint; the 
aq. aelexater. simple. the spirit of rosemary, the 
compound spirit of lavendar, sp. volat. aroma- 
tic. julep-e-moscho. The tincture of cinnamon,
and the essential oils of marjoram, spearmint, 
rosemary, lavendar, and cinnamon fyr. e cort. 
aurantior. coryophillor rubr. from whence 
many useful remedies may be formed, and
suited to various constitution and stages of 
affliction. 
AMONGST the class of astringents we may 
include, rad. bistort. formentille, &c. but what, 
as


[112]
as I have said before, deserves the preference 
to every other internal medicine, is the quin- 
quinilla, or Peruvian bark. 
OF the officinial compositions, may be 
reckoned conserv. prunellor. sylvestr. elixir. vi- 
triol. acid. the extract and simple tincture of 
the cort Peruv. tinct saturnia, syrup of quin- 
ces, lemons, &c. and amongst the grateful, 
cooling, and salutary fruits, may be reckoned 
oranges, cherries, rasberries, strawberries, 
grapes, currants, &c. but these are to be 
used with moderation, and not with a milk 
diet.
The external remedies must also be astrin- 
gent, such as the emplastr, roborant, which 
is to be applied to the loins. The testicles 
should also be suspended in a bag, or truss, 
when they hang too loose, which is common- 
ly the case in this situation; and the perinæ- 
um, the testicles, and the pubes, should be 
embrocated, upon going to bed, with vinegar, 
or cloths that have been steeped in verjuice, or 
vinegar should be laid on them all night. 
PREVIOUS to the administering of these 
remedies, and making of these applications, it 
is necessary that the stomach and bowels 
should be cleansed; and therefore an emetic 
and a dose are proper to be taken. There is 
seldom occasion for more than one emetic, as
the rest of the cure depends entirely on bra- 
cing medicines, and nervous ones interspersed 
with

[113]
with nourishing diet; therefore the whites of
eggs mixed, and afterwards the yokes, will ge- 
nerally be found salutary. Tea, as I have said 
before, is very pernicious; but to those who 
have accustomed themselves to drink in a morn- 
ing, or afternoon, it will be difficult immedi- 
ately to leave it off; therefore as a substitute 
may be requisite, and in this case nothing can 
be better than baum and mint, in every dish 
of which should be infused a tea spoonful of the 
balsamic mixture, ex cremor luct. vitell. ov. 
with a few drops of oil of cinnamon; and 
the stomach will thereby be greatly assisted in 
its functions. 
The following julep may be taken at any 
time on an empty stomach; and in case of 
costiveness, the chewing of a little rhubarb 
will remove it. 
JULEP. 
Rx. Ex. aq. alexiter. simp. aq. cinnamon. 
simp. menth, &c. with some drops of spir. la- 
vend. c. and tinct. saturnia. à p. e. of elex. vi- 
triol acid. vel. tinct. cort. peruviam. 
But as the cure of this disorder depends as 
much upon knowing what to avoid, as what 
to do, therefore, without a nice regularity of 
the non-naturals, medicines will have little or 
no effect; it is therefore necessary to consider 
the importance of the salubrity of the air; the 
diet, which should be analeptic and cooling; 
sleep 

[114]
sleep exercise; the secretions of the body; 
and the necessity of chearful company, and 
amusements. I shall, therefore, in this place 
set down what Dr. Lewis says upon these 
heads, being at once the most concise and per- 
tinent observations I have met with upon the 
subject 
“ No disease, says he, requires a greater 
“ regard to the non-naturals than the tabes 
“ dorsalis; its attacks are early, its progress 
“ slow, but sure; and it seems almost to be 
“ interwoven in the constitution before the 
“ patient discovers his danger; for the appe- 
“ tite is generally good [bene comedunt, says 
“ Hippocrates.) As the air is that element 
“ by which we live, move, and have our be- 
“ ing, the good and bad qualities of it ever 
“ stand foremost in a medical view. A clear 
“ and temperate air is universally known to 
“ be the best for continuing health; but cold 
“ rather than a hot air seems to contribute 
“ more to the recovering a thin hectical con- 
“ stitution; and a patient should habituate 
“ himself to be often in it. 
“ As to diet, every thing salted, spiced, 
“ or otherwise seasoned, and all spirituous 
“ and fermented liquors, of whatever kind,
“ ought to be religiously avoided. They ac- 
“ celerate the motion of the blood, and in- 
“ flame the body. Water (only Bristol wa- 
“ ter) mixed with a little old Rhenish wine, 
“ in the summer season; in the winter, red 
“ port should be made the common drink; 

[115]
“ and plain roasting or boiling is the best 
“ cookery for the animal diet of the patient. 
“ But among all the materials of food, there 
“ is not any thing more beneficial than milk *. 
“ I have known a pint, and with some two 
“ pints of milk, drunk in two draughts at 
“ half an hour’s distance, warm from the 
“ cow in the morning, and repeated in the 
“ afternoon, become a wonderful restorative. 
“ All the warmer months, it ought to be so 
“ used, and to be made as much as possible 
“ an ingredient in the other daily sustenance. 
“ Thus, chocolate made with milk, in such 
“ quantity as to pass easily off the stomach, is 
“ an excellent breakfast for a tabid consti- 
“ tion, I knew a child, twelve years old, 
“ in the last stage of a consumption, when 
“ given over by a physician, recovered by the 
“ mother's giving her chocolate only, in 
“ small quantities often repeated. Indeed it 
“ is an aliment that, for weak constitutions, 
“ cannot be too much recommended; and it 
“ may at any time be made to fit easy on the 
“ stomach, by diluting it with water. Be- 
“ sides chocolate, viper broth, broths prepar- 
“ ed with milk, rice, milk, and a variety of 
“ other combinations, known to every fami- 
“ ly, may be contrived to humour the palate 
“ of the patient. 
“ I have not known a single instance, 
“ where animal diet for dinner has done any 
* Purgato sursum et dorsum corpore, lac bubulum per 
quadraginta dies bibendum exhibeto, Burneti Hippocra- 
tes, p. 15. 
“ harm;

[116]
“ harm; yet it will be prudent to recom- 
“ mend such as is of easy digestion. Lamb, 
“ veal, young mutton, fowls, &c. well roast- 
“ ed or boiled, unattended with poignant 
“ sauces, and swallowed with equal quanti- 
“ ties of bread and roots together (more or 
“ less occasionally) cannot fail of producing 
“ laudable chyle and good nutriment, if well 
“ digested (the criterion whereby the quantity 
“ and quality of the meal are determined) 
“ and will do more service in recruiting lan- 
“ guid nature than medicine can. 
“ But with regard to supper, the patient 
“ is to be particularly cautioned. Nothing 
“ but milk, warmed before the fire, and a 
“ slice of thin toasted bread, can be allowed 
“ without detriment; and this ought to be 
“ taken two hours before bed-time; for sleep 
“ is a time of application, not for the pre- 
“ paration of the aliment. That nutrition 
“ may be carried on naturally, it is necessary 
“ that deep should be found and uninterrupt- 
“ ed; but nothing even in a state of health 
“ is a greater impediment to repose than a 
“ late or an animal supper, as the voluptuous 
“ can tell. If this be the case in general, 
“ to a person labouring under a tabes dorsalis, 
“ the avoiding such becomes indispensably 
“ necessary. Seminal emissions in the night 
“ draw after them all the other symptoms. 
“ Whether these are owing to venereal dreams 
“ or not, they certainly will not happen so 
“ often, if the mind, and its powers, are 
“ composed,

[117] 
“ composed, i.e. unconcerned in any animal 
“ actions; for the disturbance of the imagi- 
“ nation is thereby in a great measure cut off. 
“ This is a truth incontestable; for I have 
“ always found the patient to sleep more 
“ soundly, and to escape this evacuation 
“ more constantly, when he takes no supper 
“ at all. 
“ Sleep little, and in due season. If the 
“ dictates of nature be followed (and a phy- 
“ sician is nature’s minister) we should go ear- 
“ ly to bed, and rise early. In the night- 
“ season, the inclemency of the atomsphere is 
“ greatest, and our bodies, after the vigilance 
“ and labour of the day, then lead able to 
“ resist the impression. Perspiration, the 
“ most important of all the bodily discharges, 
“ goes on best in bed *. But it is absolutely 
“ necessary to forbid a patient, afflicted with 
“ the disease I am prescribing, to an indul- 
“ gence in bed in the morning. The more 
“ moderate the quantity of his sleep is, the 
“ sweeter and more invigorating will it be. 
“ Thus, if he lies down at ten o’clock (which 
“ hour he should never exceed) he ought to 
“ rise in the summer time at four or five, in 
“ the winter time at six or seven, otherwise 
“ he may observe as a general rule, to rise 
“ immediately upon awaking; for a second 
“ repose in the morning, however inclined 
* —diuturna enim parcior longe nocturne perspiratio,
sanctor. aphorism. explanat. auctore P. Nogues, f. 1. p. 35.
“ he


[118]
“ he may be to it, is almost always attended 
“ with dreams; and though this practice may 
“ be irksome at first, custom will make it fa- 
“ miliar and agreeable. 
“ MODERATE exercise must be used, espe- 
“ cially riding on horse back. That the air 
“ may be enjoyed to the best advantage, and 
“ that the diet of the patient may be thorough- 
“ ly digested, which will pave the way to a 
“ natural sleep, he ought to use as much ex- 
“ ercise as his strength will permit. Gentle 
“ walking, in the morning in the fields, if 
“ the season be favourable, otherwise at home, 
“ or playing at shuttle-cock, may serve for 
“ part; but the best kind of exercise is that 
“ of riding on horse-back. It is exercise 
“ without labour; and since the mind in the 
“ tabes dorsalis is to be relieved, as well as 
“ the body, the taking a long journey, by 
“ such daily portions as to avoid extraordi- 
“ nary weariness, whereby new objects will 
“ continually present, is surprisingly effica- 
“ cious; and, if the circumstances of the pa- 
“ tient will permit, ought ever to be recom- 
“ mended by his physician. 
“ THE secretions of the body are to be re- 
“ gulated, if out of order. Thus, smoaking 
“ tobacco is to be forbidden. The saliva was 
“ not by nature designed to be thus lavishly 
“ expended; and though some constitations 
“ may bear this evacuation, it cannot be al- 
“ lowed in the present case, since the solids
“ in

[119]
“ in general, being weak, the glans have 
“ patent orifices, and the fluids are thereby 
“ rendered liable to run off too fast. As to 
“ the rest of the secretions, the non-naturals 
“ being rightly observed, there is seldom any 
“ disorder in them. 
“ The patient should be entertained with 
“ chearful company. The last point we have 
“ to speak to on this head, is the passions. 
“ Physicians well know how important the 
“ regulation of them is; for between the 
“ mind and the body there is such a connec- 
“ tion, that the vital and animal actions ne- 
“ ver fail to affect one another. In the tabes 
“ dorsalis, the patient discovers exceeding 
“ grief and melancholy. Now, it is not 
“ enough that they are mitigated by remedy- 
“ ing the vice of these corporeal organs upon 
“ which they depend; every possible means 
“ of relief is to be sought after; and some as- 
“ sistance may be had by exciting the opposite 
“ passions. Thus mirthful company, and en- 
“ gaging diversions, &c. are known to take 
“ off the mind from gloomy thoughts and im- 
“ mense melancholy. Here the elegant vi- 
“ vacious harangues of the physician will do 
“ great service. But it must be observed here, 
“ that as the company of females is apt to ex- 
“ cite libidinous ideas, it ought, by all means, 
“ to be avoided. Study also is highly preju- 
“ dicial. The patient should never be left to 
“ himself; never suffered to read, nor have 
“ any time to reflect on his severe fortune; 
“ for

[120]
“ for all these oppress the nerves, sink the 
“ spirits, and obstruct the cure.”  
So far Dr. Lewis; and I shall conclude 
this section in the words of the celebrated Dr. 
Tissot, in his Treatise upon Masturbation. “ It 
“ would be useless to extend this piece any 
“ farther. I have endeavoured to omit no- 
“ thing that might open the eyes of young 
“ people to all the horrors of that abyss which 
“ they prepare for themselves. I have point- 
“ out the most proper means of removing 
“ those ills which they have drawn upon 
“ themselves; and I conclude by assuring, 
“ that some happy cures should not delude 
“ them. Those who are the best cured with 
“ difficulty recover their primitive vigour, 
“ and preserve tolerable health only by dint 
“ of managing it. Those who remain in a 
“ languid state, are ten-fold the number of 
“ those who are cured; and some examples 
“ of persons who are but little ailing, or of a 
“ vigorous constitution, which promoted their 
“ recovery, should not be considered as a ge- 
“ neral rule.”  
SEC-

[121]
SECTION VII. 
Of impotency in men, and barrenness in 
women; and the most efficacious remedies 
for their cure. 
THERE cannot, assuredly, be a more 
dreadful curse inflicted upon a man of a 
warm constitution, than the inability of pro- 
pagating his species. If he resides in a capital 
city, his senses must be incessantly importun- 
ed to make some unsuccessful effort to abate 
that desire, so naturally implanted in him, and 
which he is incapable of gratifying. If his 
constant residence be in the country, every 
bird and animal that salutes his mate recals 
to his mind the misery of his situation; and 
every blooming fair too frequently convinces 
him of his being a real, not a fabulous, Tan- 
talus. 
It is true, the fair sex do not labour under 
such immediate cruel grievances upon this ac- 
count, as being only the patient in the amo- 
rous constict. Barrenness does not prevent their 
receiving those balsamic tributes, which the 
potent part of the male creation are capable of 
paying them. It must, nevertheless, be a 
mortifying reflection for every married wo- 
man, in this state, to consider herself incapa- 
citated from propagating her species, and giv- 
G ing

[122]
ing that assistance in the nuptial association, 
which was its ultimate and great design. Be- 
sides, she must fall far short of those raptures 
which a fruitful woman is susceptible of, and 
can at most enjoy but a small portion of pro- 
creative bliss. 
Women, in some countries, are examined 
by matrons, before they are admitted to the 
nuptial bed; and those only that are pronoun- 
ced to be fruitful, are allowed to enter into 
the marriage-state; and I must own, that I 
see no reason, without custom be allowed one, 
where the ladies are made so free with, why 
the men should not undergo as strict an in- 
spection, especially if we consider, that when 
the defect is on the woman’s side, she may still 
be made use of, and give her husband at least 
momentary pleasure, if she be not impene- 
trable; whereas, if the defect be on the man’s 
side, she can find no relief, except it be in 
adultery, as it is impossible for him to com- 
municate any satisfaction to her, or expert to 
convey the seed into the womb, if his yard is 
incapable of erection; and this is the most 
certain symptom of impotency in man. 
BARRENNESS is, however, more common 
in women than in men, by reason of the ma- 
ny additional bodily infirmities to which their 
sex is liable, and which I have already enu- 
merated: to these may be added those causes 
that most frequently occasion it in men, 
namely

[123]
namely, too early and great an indulgence 
in venery or masturbation. 
It also sometimes happens, that impotency 
is occasioned in men by a deficiency and want 
of seed; and I think I cannot do better, than 
transcribe the great Boerhaave’s words upon 
this subject, in his treatise de Viribus Medi- 
camentorum. 
“ THIS chapter, says he, consists of such 
“ medicines as increase seed, and promote its 
“ secretion; but we are ignorant how the 
“ animalcules in the seed are generated. 
“ Leeuwenhoeck tells us, they are not to be 
“ found in any part of the body; but in the 
“ male sperm of all animals, which is sepa- 
“ rated in the testicles, and are like so many 
“ tadpoles, of a prodigious number, swimming 
“ every way in the seed, with incredible 
“ briskness and activity; that they are not to 
“ be found in the liquid of the prostatæ is 
“ evident from castrated animals. Now, 
“ there are four things which augment the 
“ seed: first, all such things as augment chyle, 
“ milk, and blood. Milk taken in large 
“ quantities is a great breeder of seed, and 
“ renders persons more salacious than wine or 
“ spices. Hence those who eat much of ve- 
“ getables, eggs, or milk, are much addicted 
“ to venery. Secondly, all medicines which 
“ convey a more abundant quantity of chy- 
“ lous blood towards those parts, where the 
“ genital liquid is prepared. To this purpose,
G2 “ fomen-


[124]
“ fomentations, bathings, frications, em- 
“ plastics, balsams, made of spices, are very 
“ conducive; as also, oil of rue, and eu- 
“ phorbium, plaisters of melilot; these will 
“ increase sufficiently the spermatic juice. 
“ The following things are much commend- 
“ ed by Italians as specifics, who are much 
“ admirers of such delicacies, viz. all bal- 
“ sams, emplastics, composed from sea 
“ southernwood, buffwort, calamint, sweet- 
“ sconted dittany of Crete, leveage, which 
“ are commended as salacious herbs; parsley, 
“ savine, savory, especially that of Crete;
“ thyme, wild thyme, nepenthe, wild mar- 
“ joram, as that of Crete, where animals are 
“ most salacious; pepper, eringo roots, hedge 
“ mustard, are great provocatives to venery; 
“ as are also all compounds from these herbs, 
“ made up in decoctions, potions, cataplasms, 
“ and ointments. Thirdly, such things as 
“ cause a vehement stimulation in the liquids; 
“ as all aromatics stimulate the nervous 
“ juices. Thus, onions, garlick, and leeks, 
“ are great incentives to lust, which is evi- 
“ dent from those persons who eat them fre- 
“ quently, as the Persians and Egyptians do, 
“ who are much given to venery, and are 
“ scarce satisfied with one woman. Hither be- 
“ long all aromatic gums. Thus we see hy- 
“ pocondriac people, to whom we have given 
“ them for resolving obstructions, by taking 
“ them often, become very salacious; as myrrh, 
“ aloes, galbanum, opponax, sagaperium,
“ tachamahae, bdellium, &c, also balsams,
“ as

[125]
“ as capavy, &c. if these be used too much, 
“ they will cause a priapism, and excite an 
“ abundant secretion of seed. Hither also be- 
“ long all natural salts, except nitre, all vo- 
“ latile salts, especially those that are oily, 
“ and oily spints, as of wine, which operate 
“ chiefly by stimulation, soaps, all diuretics, 
“ chiefly by water excepted, castoriam di- 
“ stilled, aromatic oils, which operate two 
“ ways, either by increasing motion, or by 
“ irritation. Fourthly, there are specific pro- 
“ vocatives to venery, which act upon bo- 
“ dies not fitly disposed, as feeds of dill, 
“ vetches, satyrion, concerning which see 
“ Diascorides, the brains of sparrows, and the 
“ stones of salacious animals, as of cocks, 
“ lambs, &c. are very much commended; as 
“ likewise, the glandules of animals, which 
“ are of a similar nature to the testicles, as 
“ those which grow in the asperia arteria of 
“ calves, all which are so beneficial, as they 
“ generate good chyle; ultiocinus, a small 
“ sea-fish, which, if eaten, is said to cause such 
“ an incitement to venery, as to induce a sa- 
“ tyriasis, or continual erection of the penis: 
“ but I am of opinion, that the effect doth 
“ not so much depend upon the fish, as upon 
“ those things which are taken with it; for 
“ it is generally eaten with pepper, salt, ga- 
“ langal, &c. A milk diet may be proper, 
“ because the generation of seed depends upon 
“ good chyle.”
G3 Besides


[126] 
BESIDES what is recommended in the 
above chapter from Boerhaave, the following 
prescription will be found very efficacious in 
all impotent cases: Take of the best palm 
sack six ounces, of jelly of hartshorn three 
ounces, essence of ambergrease ten drops, 
chocolate all nut half an ounce, black pepper, 
powdered, one scruple, essence of satyrion 
twenty drops, confection of alkermes one 
dram, essence of cantharides twelve drops, vo- 
latile salt of vipers ten grains, white sugar 
candy three drams; the chocolate and sugar 
candy must be dissolved in the sack over the 
fire, but it should not boil; and when it is 
cold, the other things are to be added, with 
the yokes of two eggs. They should be mix- 
ed very well together, and drank at one or 
more draughts, every morning at breakfast. 
The testicles should at the same time be anoint- 
ed with the following salutary balsam: take oil 
of mace, by expression, two drains, Peruvian 
balsam one dram, oil of nutmegs, oil of cloves, 
of each six drops, musk eight grains, civet 
ten grains, essence of cantharides, and essence 
of ambergrease, of each six drops; mix them 
well without the use of fire, and anoint the 
genitals therewith night and morning. The 
cold bath may also be used at the same time 
with great success. 
HAVING given this advice to the men, 
it is time we should attend the ladies. 
In

[127]
In the cure of barrenness, attention must 
be particularly paid to the cause; as this 
must be first removed, and then the womb 
strengthened, and the spirits of the seed en- 
livened by corroborating applications. 
If barrenness proceed from over much heat, 
let the patient use inwardly succory, endive, 
violets, water lillies, sorrel, and lettuce, with 
syrups and conserves made of the same; to 
which end, take conserves of borrage, violets, 
water lillies, of each one ounce; half an ounce 
of conserve of roses, diamargariton rigid, 
diatrion, santalon, of each half a dram, and 
with syrup of violets, or juice of citron, make 
an electuary. She should also take of endive, 
water lillies, borrage flowers, of each a hand- 
ful, rhubarb, mirobolans, of each three drams, 
and, with water, make a decoction; add to 
the straining the syrup laxative of violets, one 
ounce, syrup of cassia half an ounce, manna 
three drams; all which make into a potion; 
take of the syrup of mugwort one once, syrup 
of maidenhair two ounces, pulv. elect. trio- 
sant, and make all up into a julep; apply to 
the reins and privities fomentations of the juice 
of lettuce, violets, roses, mallows, vine leaves, 
and nightshade. She should also anoint her 
privities with the cooling ointment of galls. 
Baths are also good for her to fit in. The air 
she perspires should be clear; her garments 
thin; her food lettuce, endive, succory, and 
barley; but she should eat no hot meals, nor 
drink any strong wines. Repose, as well cor- 
G4 poreal

[128]
poreal as mental, is necessary for her; and she 
should use but little copulation. 
When barrenness is occasioned by the pre- 
dominancy of blood extinguishing the power 
of the seed, which may be known by her de- 
siring venery, and receiving no pleasure in the 
act of copulation, even at the critical instant 
of the man’s emission; by her courses being 
phlegmatic, thick, and slimy, and not flow- 
ing regularly; in this case she should take 
syrup of calamint, mugwort, betony, of each 
one ounce, water of pennyroyal, feverfew, hy- 
sop, sage, of each an ounce, made into a julep. 
She should also take every morning two spoon- 
fuls of cinnamon water, with one spoonful of 
mithridate. She should likewise take of oil of 
anniseed one scruple and a half, jasmini, diaca- 
lam, both diamosci, diagalang, of each one 
dram, sugar four ounces, made with water of 
cinnamon into lozenges, a dram and an half 
of which should be taken twice a day, two 
hours before meals. Cupping glasses should 
be fastened to her hips and belly, and she 
should take storax, calamint one ounce, mas- 
tick, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, lignum 
aloes, frankincese, of each half an ounce, 
musk ten grains, ambergrease half a scruple, 
and with those make them into a confection, 
to be divided into four parts, one whereof is 
to be formed into a pomum doratum to smell 
to, if she be not inclined to hysterics; the 
second should be made into a mass of pills, 
three of which should be taken every night; 
the third into a pessary, and put into the 


[129] 
womb; and the fourth into a fumigation for 
the matrix. 
WHEN barrenness is occasioned by the 
faculties of the womb being weakened, and 
the life of the seed suffocated by too much tu- 
midity flowing in those parts, she should, in, 
this case, take of betony, marjoram, mug- 
wort, pennyroyal, balm, of each one handful, 
root of asarum, fennel, elacampanes, of each 
two drams, anniseed, cumminseed, of each a 
dram, with a sufficient quantity of sugar and 
water, to form them into a syrup, three ounces 
of which are to be taken every morning. The 
following purgative pills are to be taken; of 
pill extid. two scruples, diagridion two grains, 
spec. de costore one scruple, which are to be 
made up into nine pills, with syrup of mug- 
wort. Take likewise spec. diagemmæ, diamo- 
sci, diambre, of each one dram, cinnamon one 
dram and a half, mace, cloves, nutmegs, of 
each half a dram, sugar six ounces, and with 
water of feverfew make them into lozenges, 
which are to be taken every morning. She 
should also take of the decoction of sarsaparilla, 
and virga anred, with a good quantity of sage, 
which is an herb of so much virtue, that Cor- 
nelius Agrippa honoured it with the title of 
sacra herba, or the holy herb; and Dodenæus, 
in his history of Plants, relates, that after a 
great plague had happened in Egypt, which 
had nearly depopulated the country, the sur- 
viving women were commanded to drink the 
juice of sage, that they might multiply the 
G5 faster.


[30]
faster. She should also anoint her genital 
parts with oil of anniseed and spikenard. Tro- 
chisks are also very beneficial in smothering the 
womb, which should be made as follows: she 
should take mace, nutmeg, cinnamon, storax, 
amber, of each one dram, cloves, labdani, of 
each half a dram, turpentine, a sufficient quan- 
tity; after which she should use an infusion to 
fit upon after her courses are gone, made in this 
manner; take the roots of valerian and ele- 
campane, of each one pound, of galingal 
three ounces, origans, lavendar, marjoram, 
betony, mugwort, bay leaves, calamint, of 
each three handfuls, prepared with water. 
In case barrenness arises from the dryness of 
the womb, consuming the matter of the seed, 
the patient should take every day almonds and 
goats milk, extracted with honey; she should 
eat frequently of the root satyrion, condited, 
and of the electuary of diasatyrion; she should 
likewise take three sheeps heads, and boil them 
till the flesh is Separated from the bone, then 
take of melilot, violets, camomile, of each a 
handful, and of fenugreek, linseed, and vale- 
rian root, of each a pound, and being de- 
cocted in the aforesaid broth, she should conti- 
nue fitting in it up to her navel, till it become 
cool; she should also take of deer’s suet half 
an ounce, cow’s marrow, styracis, liquidæ, of 
each a dram, oil of sweet almonds two ounces, 
and with silk or cotton make the same into a 
pessary, and inject oil of Sweet almonds and 
melted butter 
BARRENNESS

[131]
BARRENNESS may likewise be occasioned 
by remissness in the act of coition; for though 
there be no impediment on either side, yet if 
both sexes meet not in that act with equal vi- 
gour and desire, no conception can be the con- 
fequence of it. It frequently happens, that 
the man is too quick for the woman, or the 
woman too slow for the man; and therefore 
not being prepared to receive the seed with 
that delight which she ought, when it is emit- 
ted by the man, she discharges no ova, and the 
womb is no way benefited by the operation. 
In this case she should, before the act of co- 
ition, foment the pudendum with a decoction 
of betony, fage, hyson, and calamint, and 
also anoint the mouth and neck of the womb 
with musk and civet. The following appli- 
cation will also be very efficacious to strengthen 
the womb, as it is in this situation required: 
take of bay-berries, mastic, nutmeg, frankin- 
cense, cypress nuts, labdani, galbani, of each 
one drop, styracis, liquidæ, two scruples, cloves 
half a scruple, ambergrease two grains, musk
five grains, with which a bit of spikenard, a 
pessary should be made. Take also of red 
roses, frankincese, lapidis hematitis, of each 
half an ounce, sanguis draconis, fine bole, ma- 
stic, of each two drains, nutmeg and cloves, 
of each a dram, spikenard half a scruple, and 
with oil of wormwood make a plaister for the 
lower parts of the belly. She should also eat 
of the eringo roots condited, and take an in- 
jection of the juice of the roots of satyrion. 
She must use copulation soon after the menses 
are

[132]
are ceased, conception being then most apt to 
take place, as the womb is thirsty and dry,
and most inclinable to attract the seed, as well 
as retain it, by the roughness of its interior 
coat.
If these remedies and precautions are pro- 
perly attended to, it is not to be doubted but 
many families, who might soon be extinct for 
want of heirs, may be enabled to extend their 
lineage to the latest posterity. But every per- 
son (whether male or female) who proposes 
deriving any advantage from these rules, should 
cautiousty attend to one thing, which is, that 
they should not attempt to stimulate nature, 
when she is drained; for even if success were 
so far to crown their endeavours in this respect, 
their heirs must, being begot under these cir- 
cumstances, prove only a puny issue. A man 
who has laboured under any complaints of an 
impotent kind should remember, even after he 
has in some degree recovered his pristine vi- 
gour, that he cannot reasonably expect to get 
above one child a week; and therefore, I 
would recommend him to confine his em- 
braces to an hebdornedal indulgence; and his 
wife need not complain at this, as she will 
then receive them with much more gratifica- 
tion. Another point to be attended to, is the 
reciprocality of enjoyment; and a husband 
who is desirous of being the father of children, 
should be particularly curious in this respect, 
and not let any false modesty on his wife’s 
part conceal the real produce of his endea- 
vous;


[133]
vours; and as he may thereby keep an exact 
account, so he should never exceed, on his 
part, the number of times his wife has actually 
enjoyed coition. When there is a deficiency 
on her side, the fomentation prescribed above 
should be used with greater frequency, and in 
larger quantities, till such time as she has had 
her complete portion of bliss. 
SEC-

[134]
SECTION VIII. 
Of the propriety of AMOROUS PLEASURE. 
IF it were necessary to prove the utility of a 
natural intercourse between the sexes, our 
own very existence, and that of posterity, 
would be incontrovertible reasons. Neither 
found philosophy, or even holy writ itself, any 
way discountenances it; but, on the contra- 
ry, we are particularly commanded to increase 
and multiply. And if, indeed, these conside- 
rations, which are so cogent, were set aside, 
the happy union which it promotes and rivets,
the friendship it cements, and the inexpressible 
joy which it diffuses, would surely be suffici- 
ent argument to refute any impotent unnatu- 
ral attacks upon amorous pleasure, and we must, 
as long as we are susceptible of the power of 
beauty, agree with the poet, when he says, 
Love's the most tender passion of the mind, 
The softest refuge, innocence can find, 
The safe director of unguarded youth, 
Fraught with kind wishes, and secured hy truth. 
Heaven in our cup this drop hath thrown, 
To make the nauseous draught of life go down, 
With regard to our health, it is most certain- 
ly necessary to many constitutions; and tho’
I

[135]
I would chuse to give all the force to Mr
Skmeider’s reasoning it deserves, and allow that 
a great part of the semen is absorbed, and re- 
turns into the mass of blood; yet it is plain 
there would still remain too great a redundan- 
cy in strong robust men, if it were not carried 
off by some discharge, which is frequently in- 
voluntary: but surely these nocturnal emissi- 
ons are contrary to the design of nature, 
which plainly points out their proper destinat- 
ion, the support of the universal chain of ex- 
istence, a chain that is doubtless destroyed by 
this diversion of the course of inheritance; and 
all the sophistry in the world will never be able 
to evince, that the toleration of these evacua- 
tions is not equally destructive of the human 
species as self-pollution, since constitution and 
custom will instruct every man when these 
discharges will come about ; and therefore by 
not anticipating them, and directing them in- 
to their proper channel, he is instrumental in 
destroying the human species in the same pro- 
portion as he might have become a father, by 
marking the just application. 
The prejudice that is occasioned to the 
human frame, from an undue retention of 
the semen, is frequently of very dangerous 
consequence, as a plethora and cacochymy 
may ensue, occasioning pains in the head, pal- 
pitations of the heart, apoplexy, lethargy, 
spermatic fevers, according to the different 
temperaments and constitutions of the persons, 
who by such undue continence are the cause 
of

[136]
of so much harm to themselves, and rather 
than obey the dictates of unerring nature, 
chuse by a rigorous ascetic apathy to resist her 
motions, thereby counteracting that great 
command of the Creator, of which the mind 
is made conscious for the propagation of the 
human species; and, thus obstructing the ani- 
mal œconomy, justly incur the natural con- 
sequences of such premeditated violence offered 
to her laws. 
When man is arrived at the age which 
confers the faculty of procreating, the tender 
organs destined for its source become turgid 
by their fulness, and, by the pressure of their 
contained fluid, ad upon the nervous fibres 
with such inexplicable energy, as to promote 
the expression of their contents, by the grati- 
fication of the universal appetite; and when 
once the confined semen hath been ejected, it 
so far dilates the excretory ducts of the vesiculæ 
seminales, which confined it, as to render them 
unable at any time afterwards to restrain it, 
with sufficient restriction, to resist their pleni- 
tude, when the semen is collected in such 
measure as to impress the nervous fibrillæ of 
those parts, with such sensations as excite in 
the imagination a desire to venery; which in- 
tention naturally arises in the minds of all 
persons, even the most rigid Platonist, and 
presents them with phantasms too powerful 
for the frailty of their nature to chase away, 
or resolution sufficient to prevent gratifica- 
tion. Nor would it be proper, that these de- 
sires


[137]
desires should be entirely suppressed; for  
if every one could so far surmount his amorous 
passions, as to live in a perfect state of celi- 
bacy, and stand in no need of seminal evacua- 
tions, or have no reason to fear any disorders 
from its undue retention, creation would be 
at an end, and all the links of society which 
are cemented by the ties of consanguinity 
would be dissolved. 
MARRIAGE, as it is honourable in all 
countries, so it has been held in great esteem 
from the beginning of the world among all 
sorts and sects of people. The Romans, and 
especially the wife emperor Augustus, did 
what they could to encourage it. The Jews 
did the same. The Lacedemonians, at their 
festivals, would not admit of any single man; 
and if those who were unmarried ventured to 
come amongst them, they were, as soon as 
discovered, ordered to be whipped by the wo- 
men, as unprofitable members of the republic; 
nor were any but married men suffered to bear 
any office; so that throughout the world as 
an encouragement to matrimony, the married 
men were highly preferred, excused from go- 
ing to the wars for the first year after mar- 
riage, and in every thing had the advantage of 
those that were single. 
The virtues of celibacy, it is true, have 
been frequently cried up, as if there were 
something very extraordinary contained in 
them: and many persons have, doubtless, be- 
lieved,

[138]
lieved, that they have acted pursuant to the 
principles of religion, and the dictates of con- 
science, when they have supported this ridi- 
culous, irrational, and unnatural doctrine: 
but if we proceed to examine their reasons 
and arguments, we shall find them to be al- 
together fallacious, and contrary to the intent 
of Providence, law, justice, and religion; and 
I venture to lay it down as an infallible posi- 
tion, that whoever compels, or injoins the 
same in others, is not only guilty of a breach 
of the sixth commandment, which says, Thou 
shalt do no murder, but is likewise guilty as an 
accessory to the breach of divers other com- 
mandments, and a promoter of innumerable 
sins.
HENCE it plainly appears, that it is not the 
use, but the abuse, of coition that is criminal 
and dangerous; and for this reason, our law 
has wisely prescribed, that no man shall have 
more than one wife, though some men of ve- 
ry salacious complexions might plead in op- 
position, that the community and posterity are 
great sufferers by this regulation, as they are 
very capable of propagating their species 
more frequently than their wives are capable 
of being impregnated, and might particularly 
instance the time of their having their courses, 
and during their child-bearing; and to give 
this reasoning some colour, they might in- 
stance the Turks, and other heathenish na- 
tions, who are allowed as many wives as they 
can support, and who are very seldom known 
to

[139]
to be barren. But this would be opening a 
door for anarchy and confusion, would destroy 
all legitimacy and inheritance, and would be 
an inlet to vice and immorality. 
The great object most worthy of inquiry in 
this respect, is to know how far nature and 
inclination should be gratified, and how far  
restrained. Constitution, complexion, the cor- 
poreal and mental state and variations, are so 
many considerations to be taken in; and, after
all, it will be scarce practicable theore- 
tically to draw the line. Some men are trou- 
bled with priapisms and satyriasis’s; some 
women with the furor uterinus: to these it 
would be in vain to talk of reason, nature, 
health, or decency. They should be first 
treated as patients, before they are advised as 
men or women. Their disorders must be cured 
before they are pointed out the happy me- 
dium of gratification, the just calls of nature. 
Others there are of both sexes, whose weakly 
constitutions, from various causes, but none 
more than those I have already had occasion 
to mention, to whom coition would be as 
fatal as arsenic; and these should neither argue 
upon, nor think of, the subject. Women 
past forty-five, and men who have no longer 
those testimonies of virility, which clearly no- 
tify the propriety of amorous gratification, 
reed give themselves any concern upon the 
subject. But those batchelors and virgins still 
in the vigour of life, who, by abstinence, 
have brought on many disorders, the cause of 
which


[140]
which they are entirely ignorant of, cannot 
too soon lay aside their celibacy, and fly into 
each other’s arms, to their mutual benefit and 
delight. The first will find their lethargic, 
supine, and inert disposition, changed to gai- 
ly, cheerfulness, and activity. The females 
will no longer eat chalk, whiting, and such 
like things, but recover their complexion, their 
vivacity, and their good temper; for the green- 
sickness is nothing more than the want of a 
due circulation of the blood and juices, and a 
regular return of the menses. 
A CERTAIN physical writer says, “ The 
“ blood, by the superfetation of the seminal 
“ humour, unduly accumulated for want of 
“ sufficient room to circulate freely through 
“ the vessels, distends the size of the same be- 
“ yond their proper diameters, which conse- 
“ quently impairing their tonic motion, oc- 
“ casions an increase in the size of its moli- 
“ culæ, and of course a remora in the circu- 
“ lation, by reason of which the blood and 
“ humours become glewy and tenacious, and 
“ the whole habit bloated and cacochymic.”  
So that there is no reason to be surprized, 
that those who are abstemiously continent, 
should be affected with such disorders as natu- 
rally flow from these causes. 
On the other hand, though provident na- 
ture, for the continuation of mankind, has 
accompanied the business of generation with 
a sense the most exquisitely delightful, and 
therefore at the time of puberty, the passion 
of


[141]
of love begins to exert itself in consequence of 
a copious secretion of the semen, which, 
prompts to be discharged; yet if we attend to 
the consequences of venereal commerce at 
this time of life, we shall discover, that na- 
ture has not intended the seminal juice for that 
purpose only, since the act of coition, being 
too often repeated at that age, restrains the 
growth of the individual, and unnerves the 
man. That there is besides a benefit ac- 
cruing from it to the constitution, may be 
collected from an observation of those appear- 
ances that arises thereon at the time of puber- 
ty. Then it is that the hairs begin to shoot 
at the pubes, the beard grows, the voice al- 
ters to a graver tone, muscular strength is 
augmented, and a more sprightly comport- 
ment accompanies them, and that the cause of 
these appearances is the saccus genitalis absorb- 
ed by the lymphatic vessels, and reconveyed 
into the blood, there is no reason to doubt, 
after perusing what has been already said upon 
this subject. Even in more advanced life, too 
unlimited a gratification of venereal desires 
will enervate the most robust constitution. I 
have met with frequent examples of men, 
who, by condescending to their wives exces- 
sive letchery, have been, from strong athletic 
men, reduced to mere skeletons. A patient of 
mine, who was brought to death’s door, and 
whom I suspected of having been guilty of 
masturbation, acknowledged, that it was all 
occasioned by his wife, who was, when in 
bed, incessantly tickling and teasing him, to 
prompt him to indulge her insatiable appetite; 
2 and


[142]
and that she carried her obstinacy in this re- 
spect to so great a pitch, that when he was un- 
able or unwilling to repeat the task, she has, 
contrary to decency, become the agent, in- 
stead of the patient, and subverted all order and 
disposition. Another patient in nearly the 
same situation, but with a much greater and 
more constant gleet, informed me, that his 
wife, to whom he had been married several 
years; but being in the situation of Dr. Coop- 
er’s patient, that is, having an obstinate hy- 
men, and whom he could never penetrate with 
the stiffest erection, pretended so much fond- 
ness for him, and was so jealous left he should 
shed his seed upon any other object, that she 
constantly committed masturbation upon him 
every night; and even invented many devices 
to excite his lust, insomuch, that she at 
length brought him to so emaciated a state, 
that she could be no longer under any appre- 
bensions of his paying his devotions at any 
other altar to the Cyprian goddess; neverthe- 
less, habit had so gained upon her, that she 
persisted in her manual operations, and would 
certainly have put an end to his existence, if 
I had not immediately ordered him to quit her 
bed, if he valued life. 
THAT women should have very extrava- 
gant passions as well as men, is not to be won- 
dered at; but that any man should be so far 
hood-winked, as to let himself be thus im- 
posed upon, is somewhat extraordinary; yet 
the sequel of this narrative is still more sur-
prising. Upon my cautioning him against 
future


[143]
future insults of this sort, and advising him  
to prevail upon his wife to undergo a chirurgical 
operation, he undertook the task, and she sub- 
mitted: he recovered his health; she was soon 
after pregnant; and from the time that she 
tasted the grateful effects of his virility, she 
never afterwards misapplied it; but she was 
rather an œconomist in love, left she should 
be too easily deprived of the extatic sensations 
it communicated. 
The operation this lady underwent, doubt- 
less, gave him free access into her vagina, and 
thereby brought her clitoris and the glans of 
his penis into contact, as this is the seat of de- 
light in women. Hence it is called by Co- 
lumbus, amoris dulcedo, the sweetness of love; 
and by Boerhaave, estrum veneris, the sting of 
love, as the necessary and unavoidable friction 
of the penis against the clitoris, in the act of 
coition, causes those excessive ticklings and 
transporting itchings to each sex, that are not 
to be described so well as felt, and still greater 
on the woman’s side, when the discharge of the 
serous matter the woman sheds is more co- 
pious in the act, and at the summit of enjoy- 
ment; for as the penis in men, and especially 
the glans of it, fills, and is instated with spi- 
rits upon a vigorous erection, and still more so 
in the act of emission, so does the clitoris at 
the same time in the woman, and which, 
jointly together, reciprocally produce each to 
the other that inexpressible satisfaction that 
is diffused through all the animal functions; 
and which, if nature had not rendered so ex- 
tremely


[144]
tremely pleasing, what man, that divine ani- 
mal, born for the contemplation of heavenly 
things, would concern himself in so filthy a 
thing, as is the act of coition; and what wo- 
man, indued with modesty, would submit her- 
self to be exposed to man, and readily undergo 
the toil and danger of child-bearing, besides 
the anxiety and care of educating her children? 
But neither the filthiness of the act will deter 
men, nor the severe inconveniencies which 
great bellies often cause to women, nor the 
frequent extreme hazard of their lives when 
in labour, nor loss of beauty and shape, the 
most precious gifts they have, and which ren- 
der them amiable, and admired by all, as well 
as beloved by those who possess them, can or 
will either affright or deter them therefrom;
nor will any of them make that reflection, till 
after the act, or consider any thing before it, 
but the mutual pleasure they expect; and all 
who enjoy allow, that they receive inexpres- 
sible satisfaction by it. 
FROM what has been said, I think it is 
clearly proved, that amorous pleasure does not 
only dispense the highest pitch of sublunary 
bliss; that it is absolutely necessary for the 
propagation and continuation of the human 
species; but that it is indispensibly requisite 
for the preservation of health, in every male 
and female of a vigorous constitution. 
SEC-

[145]
SECTION IX. 
Upon the VENEREAL DISORDER.
TO the many maladies which arise from 
copulation, we must add that which fre- 
quently occurs by promiscuous coition, and 
which is generally known by the name of the 
French disorder. The French, however, ex- 
culpate themselves from being the original com- 
municators of this disease; and in France it is 
called the Neapolitan disease. Every country 
seems ashamed of having introduced this disor- 
der into Europe, where it was unknown before 
the discovery of America: so that Columbus, 
by finding out a new world, brought us home 
a distemper, which by many is thought to be 
more pernicious to our constitutions, than both 
the Americas are advantageous to our trade and 
navigation. 
The error which has prevailed with many, 
and even with some physical people, that the 
leprosy and the venereal disorder are of the same 
nature, and therefore conclude that it is of 
more ancient date in Europe, than is universally 
believed, may easily be refuted. I shall to this 
end quote the words of Andreas Laurentius 
upon the venereal disorder. He says, “ the 
“ leprosy is always attended with a roughness 
“ of the skin; the venereal disease with a 
“ smoothness. The leprosy never begins at 
“ the pudenda, the venereal disease always. 
“ In the leprosy the patient is not afflicted 
“ with any pains, whereas in the venereal 
H “ disease 

[146]
“ disease he is severely tortured with them. 
“ The skin of lepers becomes hard, black, and 
“ callous, which appearances in venereal pa- 
“ tients by no means occur. Leprous persons 
“ are salaceous, and subject to priapisms; while 
“ the others, on the contrary, have an aversion 
“ to women, as long as they are ill. In the 
“ leprosy, the hairs of the arm-pits and groins 
“ fall off with those of the head, which does 
“ not at all happen in the venereal disease. 
“ In short, the leprosy is incurable in its na- 
“ ture; but the other is not, even when it has 
“ been suffered to run on a long time.” To 
which may be subjoined, that the symptoms of 
the leprosy are heightened and increased by the 
use of guaiacum or mercurials; whereas the 
venereal disorder is infallibly cured by them, 
when properly administered. 
The physical writers of antiquity have una- 
nimously agreed that the leprosy was usually 
contracted by unwholesome diet, and not by 
copulative infection; and, on the contrary, the 
venereal disease is never contracted by any er- 
ror in diet, but generally by coition. Hence 
we may reasonably conclude, that these two 
disorders are quite different in cause, nature, 
and symptoms. 
The venereal disease was certainly never 
known in Europe till the year 1494, at the 
time when Charles VIII. of France laid siege to 
Naples. Columbus returned this year from 
Hispaniola to Spain, and imported it into 
Europe on board one of his ships, as many 
historical

[147] 
historical testimonies can vouch. Neverthe- 
less, there are plausible reasons for asserting 
that this disorder was generally known in 
Europe many years prior to this æra; and to 
give these arguments their full force, I shall 
quote the statutes of Jane, queen of the two 
Sicilies, and countess of Provence, for the re- 
gulation of the public stews established at 
Avignon in 1347. 
“ 1. ON the eighth of August, in the year 
“ 1347, our good queen Jane gave leave that 
“ a public brothel should be set up at Avig- 
“ non; and ordered that the wenches, who 
“ plyed there, should not walk the streets, but 
“ keep themselves confined within the bro- 
“ thel; and, by way of distinction, wear a 
“ red knot upon their left shoulders. 
“ 2. ITEM, If any girl has thus offended, 
“ and persists in her offence, that the Clavi- 
“ ger, or chief of the beadles, shall lead her 
“ through the city by beat of drum, a red 
“ knot hanging at her shoulder, back to the 
“ brothel, and shall prohibit her from walking 
“ abroad any more under penalty of being 
“ lashed privately for the first offence; and 
“ being whipped publickly, and turned out of 
“ the house, for the second. 
“ 3. OUR good queen orders that this brothel 
“ shall be erected in Broken-Bridge-Street, 
“ near the convent of the Augustine-Friars, 
“ as far as to Peter’s-gate; and that the en- 
“ trance shall be towards the street; and the 
H2 “ door


[148]
“ door locked, that no youth may have ad- 
“ mittance to the wenches, without leave from 
“ the abbess or governess, who is to be chosen 
“ every year by the directors. The abbess is 
“ to keep the key, and advice the young 
“ men she admits to make no disturbances, 
“ nor frighten the wenches; and to let them 
“ know that in case of misdemeanor they will 
“ not be suffered to go off securely, but be 
“ laid under confinement by the beadles. 
“ 4. The queen commands, that on every 
“ Saturday the women in the house be singly 
“ examined by the abbess and a surgeon ap- 
“ pointed by the directors; and if any of them 
“ has contracted any illness by their whoring, 
“ that they be separated from the rest, and 
“ not suffered to prostitute themselves, for 
“ fear the youth who have to do with them 
“ should contract their distemper. 
“ 5. If any of the wenches in the brothel 
“ prove with child, let the abbess take care to 
“ prevent a miscarriage, and give notice to the 
“ directors to make provision for the child. 
“ 6. Let the abbess diligently take care not 
“ to give admittance to any person into the 
“ brothel on the Friday and Saturday in pas- 
“ sion week, nor on the holiday of Easter, 
“ under the penalty of being dismissed and 
“ whipped. 
“ 7. The queen orders that the wenches ad- 
“ mitted into the brothel abstain from strife and 
“ envying,


[149] 
“ envying, from brawling and thieving, and 
“ that they live lovingly together like sisters; 
“ and in case any difference arise among them, 
“ that they refer it to the abbess, and abide 
“ by her judgment. 
“ 8. If any theft be committed, let the ab- 
“ bess amicably procure restitution to be made 
“ of such things as are stolen. And if the 
“ guilty person should refuse to do it, let her 
“ be lashed by the beadle in private; and if 
“ she fall a second time into the same fault, 
“ let her be whipped through the city by the 
“ common hangman. 
“ 9. Let the abbess admit no Jews into 
“ the brothel; and, if any one should find 
“ means through stealth to gain admittance, 
“ whipped publickly through the streets of the 
“ city.” 
There were also at this time public stews 
allowed in the principal cities of Italy, and 
even at Rome itself, under the walls of the 
pope’s palace: France also was furnished with 
them, particularly in Aquitaine: that at Thou- 
louse was endowed with several privileges by 
Charles VI. and VII. and in the reign of queen 
Elizabeth we find rules and ordinances were 
issued, bearing date in the year 1430, for the 
regulation of stews in London and the borough 
of Southwark, one of the articles whereof runs 
thus: Of those who keep women having a wicked 
infirmity, ordering under a severe penalty, that 
H3 no

[150] 
no stew-holder keep women wythin his hous that 
hath any sickness of brenning (burning). 
But justice must be done to queen Jane of 
Sicily, in owning that her statute seems to have 
been the best calculated for promoting the order 
and tranquillity of brothels: indeed historians 
insinuate that fire was naturally of a very lasci- 
vious disposition, and by turning her mind this 
way, she was mistress of the subject, and there- 
fore capable of displaying her genius upon it. 
As soon as the venereal disorder began to make 
such ravages as it did, when, first introduced 
into Europe, these brothels also began to de- 
cline, as the expence attending the cure of the 
whores, infected with this disease, frequently 
exceeded the profits arising from their prosti- 
tution : so that the lady abbesses at length 
and become virtuous ma-
trons by necessity. 
THIS alone should be a sufficient proof that 
the venereal disorder was unknown in Europe 
before the period I have mentioned; but the 
celebrated Astruc’s observations upon queen 
Jane’s statutes will set this matter in a still 
clearer light. 
He says that those who are of opinion that 
this disorder then existed “ should prove that 
“ there were then no other disorders, besides 
“ what are now called venereal, that could 
“ possibly be contracted by harlots from their 
“ prostitution, or by them be communicated 
“ to such persons as had to do with them.
“ For 

[151]
“ For otherwise it is more rational to inter- 
“ pret this article of such diseases as were 
“ then commonly to be met with, than to 
“ argue from thence against the express testi- 
“ mony of all authors, that the venereal 
“ disease was at that time as well known, as 
“ it is at present. 
“ The argument, therefore, they draw 
“ from hence is inconclusive, unless they can 
“ first prove, that this fourth article cannot be 
“ understood of any other diseases, than such 
“ as are now called venereal (which I am sure 
“ is not to be done,) and must fall to the 
“ ground, if it once can be proved that there 
“ were other diseases, besides the present ve- 
“ nereal disorders, which were then abso- 
“ lutely unknown, arising from a promiscu- 
“ ous and immoderate use of venery, and be- 
“ ing once contracted, were capable of being 
“ communicated to such as conversed with 
“ them, of which consequently this article 
“ ought to be understood. 
“ For, 1st. from the frequency of coition, 
“ women are subject to fissures of the puden- 
“ dum, and superficial exulcerations of the 
“ vagina; nor in a promiscuous and immode- 
“ rate use of venery can the female organs 
“ avoid being considerably hurt by the vehe- 
“ ment and repeated action of the male, espe- 
“ cially in such women, as from their youth, 
“ and the delicacy of their frame, have their 
“ solid parts of weaker and more lax contex- 
“ ture; or such as have not the womb firmly 
H4 “ fixed

[152]
“ fixed in its proper seat, but naturally disposed 
“ to bear down into the vagina; or have to 
“ do with very large men, or whose semen is 
“ acrid; or such as are not careful to cleanse 
“ and wash away the seed of different persons 
“ collected, but suffer it to lie and corrupt, 
“ &c. And as common wenches are most 
“ exposed to these dangers, it is plain they 
“ must formerly have most frequently con- 
“ tracted these disorders; and these when 
“ once contracted must have grown worse 
“ and worse, either from the repetition of the 
“ same cause, or the negligence natural to 
“ whores; and at length have been com- 
“ municated to such as had to do with them, 
“ in like manner as the itch, herpes, &c, are 
“ propagated by infection; whence arose in 
“ men inflammations of the penis, miliary 
“ eruptions, pustules, ulcers upon the surface 
“ of the glans, and round the prepuce. And, 
“ 2dly. Lewd women, if frequently lain 
“ with, in case of any native imbecility in 
“ the womb, are liable to a copious flux of a 
“ soul, sharp, fœtid matter, to ulcers in the 
“ womb; and sometimes (which is still worse) 
“ to a cancer. For, from too frequent coi- 
“ tion, there must arise irregular stagnations 
“ both of the blood and lymph; by which 
“ means either the uterine glands being too 
“ much relaxed, the fluor albus follows; or 
“ the fibres being lacerated, an ulcer is formed; 
“ or the lymph being obstructed, a scirrhus is 
“ produced, which often degenerates into a 
“ cancer. To these disorders, therefore
“ common

[153]
“ common women must ever have been ex- 
“ posed; and from hence through the acri- 
“ mony of the corrupt humour oozing from 
“ the womb, they must have given divers 
“ distempers to such persons as lay with them; 
“ and in particular have caused inflammations 
“ of the glands, prepuce, and yard, miliary 
“ eruptions, pustules, ulcers, &c. such as 
“ have been described by the authors, who 
“ lived before the first breaking out of the 
“ venereal disease. 
“ 3dly. It appears that such women as had 
“ to do with lepers were for the most part 
“ affected with an erysipelatous inflammation 
“ of the vagina and urethra, with a violent 
“ troublesome dysuria, then called by the 
“ name of burning; and that the men who 
“ lay with persons thus infected, or even with 
“ found women, who had not washed them- 
“ selves since they had lain with a leper, for 
“ the most part suffered the same disorder, 
“ contracted as it were by infection. There 
“ was, therefore, a distemper so long as the 
“ leprosy subsisted, which might be con- 
“ tracted by whores from coition, and be 
“ communicated by them to such as had ve- 
“ nereal intercourse with them; which for- 
“ merly, indeed, could not but frequently 
“ occur; but upon the disappearing of the 
“ leprosy, likewise disappeared, as it was in no 
“ respect the same as the venereal gonorrhæa.” 
HAVING thus settled the origin of this dis- 
order, and its first appearance in Europe, I 
“ shall

[154]shall now consider the manner in which it is con- 
tracted, its nature, symptoms, and cure. 
This disorder is communicated either by 
generation, or infection: by generation, when 
transmitted by the parents to the child, whilst 
the body of the embrio is formed; by infec- 
tion in the act of coition between an injured 
and a found person. The fœtus may also be 
infected after being formed, if the mother con- 
tract the disease during her pregnancy. But 
this disorder is never communicated by con- 
tagious air; and though some physicians have 
imagined it may be caught by interventive 
subjects, this opinion is now exploded. It 
is thought, however, that the venereal disease 
may be contracted by a found man lying with 
a found woman, in case she has lately per- 
formed the act of coition with a man infected, 
and has not washed the inside of her parts, 
since this first connexion; as the remains of 
the putrid semen adhering to the vagina, may 
infect the glans of the penis. 
It may be communicated by the breasts of 
a distempered nurse to a found child; as the 
infected milk must soon corrupt the ten- 
der body of the child; and, on the contrary, 
a diseased child sucking the breast of a found 
nurse, may communicate by the saliva this 
disorder to the nurse. 
It may be communicated by lascivious kissing 
the mouth, when either party is affected with 
any venereal ulcers on the inside of the mouth. 
Lying


[155]
LYING in the same bed with an infected 
person, without coition, may communicate 
it, when either party hath any cutaneous dis- 
order arising from the venereal disease; upon 
the principal of exhalation and inhalation. 
It may also be contracted by handling 
the infected parts; as by examining vene- 
real ulcers with a finger, or performing the 
midwife’s office towards an infected woman, 
especially if the surgeon’s finger, or the mid- 
wife’s hands, have any wound or fissure, by 
which the poison may be more easily imbibed. 
The two first:of these ways of receiving 
the contagion, are so well confirmed, by many 
and positive experiments, that they cannot 
be doubted; but the three latter, though 
highly probably, and supported by authori- 
ties, may, perhaps, still be questioned. 
The venereal poison consists of certain 
seeds of morbisic matter, which being in- 
troduced into a found body, in the smallest 
quantity, and by sensible passages, and gra- 
dually increasing in size, form, and force, 
at length corrupt the whole mass of humours. 
This poison creates an inflammation upon the 
parts which it affects. In a gonorrhæa the 
urethra, the prostatæ, and the visiculæ semi- 
nales, in men, are inflamed; and in women, 
the vagina, the pudendum, the prostatæ, and 
the glandulæ Cowperianæ. Chancres in men 
are occasioned by an inflammation of the glans, 
the frænum, and the præpuce; and in women 
in

[156] 
in the pterygia, the carunculæ myrtiformes, 
and other parts of the pudendum. In the 
case of a bubo, the inguinal glands are in- 
flamed, and in that of a node the periosteum. 
In a word, whatever part of the body is seized 
with the virus becomes inflamed; this poison 
being so disposed, that it condenses and crisps 
the membranous stamina of the parts it pene- 
trates, whereby the extremities of the vessels 
interspersed are constringed, and the blood is 
forced from its usual course into the conti- 
guous lymphatic vessels, and causes an inflam- 
mation. When this poison is not timely ex- 
tirpated, it by degrees corrodes, exulcerates, 
and preys upon the parts it has inflamed; and 
thence arise indurations, schirrhous, and cal- 
lous humours. 
The symptoms of a gonorrhæa, (or clap)
which is the most customary stage of the ve- 
nereal disorder, contracted by coition, gene- 
rally appear, in four, eight, or twelve days, 
after the infection is caught; when a small 
quantity of an oily, lymphatic, viscid serum 
oozes through the urethra, producing a plea- 
sant sensation, and gluing up the orifice of 
the passage. The extremity of the urethra 
becomes red and hot, and opens wider than 
common. At first the parts of generation 
have an uncommon titulation, at the time of 
making water more particularly, which daily 
approaches nearer to pain. As the disorder in- 
creases, a tension, rigidity, and induration of 
the penis takes place, with a greater discharge 
of a seminal humour, the difficulty of urine 
in-

[157]
increasmg, with great sharpness like the  
pricking of pins.—The penis sometimes becomes 
distorted and bent, especially in the time of 
erection, which is called a chordee, and the 
humour flowing is of different colours, but ge- 
nerally a yellow, tinged with green, and some- 
times purulent: in others it is ash-coloured, 
resembling matter streaked with blood. 
In females, a few days after having received 
the infection, their parts are unusually moist, 
and an itching heat every day comes nearer to 
pain: when their complaints are arrived at 
their height, the insertion of the penis is scarely 
to be supported. They have also a difficulty 
and scalding in making water; but not so 
much as the men: but the oozing matter is 
very near the same in both. 
RECEIPTS for a Gonorrhæa. 
ꝶ. Lignorum guaiaci & sassafras ana ℥ij. 
Radic. chinœ & sarsaparilla ana ℥jβ.
Antimonii crudi crassiusculè triti & nodulo in- 
clusi ℥iβ. 
Ligna & radices incidantur, & infunduntur om- 
nia tepide per noctem in aquœ fontana ℔viii. 
deinde bulliant moderate ignœ ad tertiœ partis 
consumptionem, addenda finem coctionis. 
Follicul. Jennœ ℥β. 
Radicis liquoritiæ rosæ ℥i. 
Colatura servetur ad usum ter in die usurpanda 
ad ℥viii. mane jejune ventriculo, harâ quintâ vel 
sexta pomeridiana, & ante decubitum.
ANOTHER

[158]
Another, which, it is said, will cure a go- 
norrhæa, in three days, taken as an injection. 
Rx. Aquœ plantagin ℥viii, quibus dissolve 
draconis mitigati, hoc est mercurii sublimati,
dulcis, in alkool redacti ℥ij.
Argitentur simul, & liquoris illius turbidi & 
tepidi ℥i, syphore eburneo, in urethram injicia-
tur ter in die. 
The first, I should, however, rather re- 
commend, as these speedy cures are seldom 
effectual. 
A BUBO is a swelling or tumour in the 
groin, which may be either brought to a 
head or dispersed. In the first case a chirur- 
gical operation must be performed; in the 
latter the patient must be confined to his 
chamber during the whole time of his cure, to 
avoid the danger of being exposed to the air. 
CHANCRES are ulcers arising from impure 
venery, and are generally situated in men upon 
the internal surface of the prepuce, or the back 
or sides of the glands; most frequently upon 
the corona or frænum of the glands; some- 
times too upon the extremity of the duct of 
the urethra. In women frequently upon the 
internal surface of the labia pudendi; often 
upon the clitoris, the root of the clitoris, or 
on the prepuce, with which the clitoris is co- 
vered, upon the nymphæ, carunculæ myrti- 
formes, and vagina; and sometimes upon the 
extremity of the urethra. 
3 WHEN

[159] 
WHEN the prepuce is swelled, it some- 
times so strictly embraces the glans, that it 
can by no means be drawn back; in this 
state it is called by the Greek name phimo- 
sis, that is to say a ligature; but sometimes 
it is so corrugated, and tightened behind the 
corona glands, that it cannot by any art be 
brought forwards; and this state of it, which 
is contrary to the former, is called paraphimo- 
sis; that is to say, a ligature tied round. This 
state of the penis is generally accompanied 
with watery bladders upon the margin of the 
surface, which are called crystallines. 
THESE are the most customary symptoms 
of the first stages of the venereal disorder. I 
have, however, ventured to give receipts only 
for a gonorrhæa, unaccompanied with any of 
these latter symptoms, as where a surgeon's 
assistance is absolutely necessary; or where the 
intricacy of the case may baffle the most skil- 
fu! of the faculty, it would be ridiculous to 
point out such theoretical cures, as may not 
entirely suit one patient in ten. For the 
same reason, I have no occasion to enter 
upon the confirmed pox, as it is most usually 
preceded by some or all of these symptoms. 
A PREVENTATIVE remedy would be of 
more real service to the world, and especially 
the rising generation, than volumes written 
upon the subject: after the disorder is imbibed. 
To this end I shall communicate an easy por- 
table application, which has never been known 
to fail; and which it is to be hoped will annihi- 
late


[160]
late the use of those filthy bladders, commonly 
called machines. 
BEFORE coition rub the nut of the penis, 
glans, and inside of the prepuce with common 
mercurial unguent; remain no longer in the 
act of enjoyment than you have absolute occa- 
sion for; but upon retiring, wash your penis 
well with warm water, or your own, if you 
can conveniently make it, and apply the mer- 
curial unguent as before. 
This recipe was used last war in Germany 
by a skilful surgeon, who recommended it to 
the company he had the care of; and during 
the whole campaign, not one of the men re- 
ceived any infection, notwithstanding their 
corps were very famous for the number of wo- 
men belonging to them. 
In common gonorrhæas, it may with cer- 
tainty be depended upon; in confirmed or 
worse cases it is not recommended. What has 
been said upon the nature, and manner of 
communicating this disorder, should also be 
considered; as it appears that it may be im- 
bibed without copulation. 
FINIS.