DR. BATE'S TRUE Marriage Guidk, A TREATISE FOR THE MARRIED AND MARRIAGEABLE, BOTH MALE AND FEMALE, Containing Information and Salutary Hints for Evftryone, BY DR. J. w, bate:, 323-325 Dearborn Street, CHICAGO. J 1 lopyri^hS hy Fred R Bate. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/drbatestruemarri01bate INTRODUCTION. In this little book I have endeavored to giv<* some of the leading impediments to marriage, their na- ture and effects. Pains have been taken to make it plain even to the most common understanding, and above all to make it useful: and it is sincerely hoped that the young man or woman who peruses this work, will rise from it with a better heart. I have made the diseases of the sexual organs of both sexes and such complaints as arise more im- mediately from a disorganization of the generative system, whether constitutional or acquired, my par- ticular study for the past twenty-seven years. My experience in the treatment of cases of this charac- ter, in all their varied forms and phases, enables me to speak confidently and truthfully upon the sub- ject. When persons of either sex are about enter- ing into matrimony they ought to subject themselves to a thorough examination to see if they are in a condition to exercise the marital functions; the easy cares of married life are sometimes disturbed by the suspension of those blessings which consummate the nuptial wreath, arising from a variety of causes " INTRODUCTION. [treated of in the following pages,] which renders the generative powers weak and impotent, yet they can be strengthened and deficient energy improved into functional power; and the suffering community of either sex, especially those entering into matri- monial life, ought to read this book carefully and attentively, and avail themselves of the advice there- in offered. It is quite unnecessary to make any apology for publishing a book ot this nature. The importance of the subject on which it treats is recognized by the pulpit and by the press; by the learned and the unlearned; by the medical profession and by their patients. I do not hesitate to assert, that the les- sons taught by this little book will prove of great value to all who study them in a proper spirit. The laws of the Creator are absolute and unchanging; it is impossible to do evil or to violate those laws without evil effects resulting. If you would be hap- py, you must be healthy; and if you would enjoy health you must study the unchanging laws that govern it. Many of the fatal diseases to which man is subject arise from passions unrestrained and vic- ious indulgences. ' 'The solitary vice of Self-Pollu- tion," says Dr. Woodward, "spreads desolation through the land.' When we see the miserable victims of an insidi- ous and unsuspected disease slowly but steadily emaciating; when we view a series of phenomena faintly and indistinctly characteristic of a great var- iety of disorders, such as consumption, wasting away, PHYSIOLOGY OF MARRIAGE. Physiology of Marriage. The sacred ordinance of marriage emanates from the Deity, by whom we are enjoined to ''increase and multiply," — hence it is considered honorable amongst all men, and should not be entered upon carelessly or wantonly, nor without duly considering the causes for which it was originally ordained. Mar- riage was introduced by the Divine Creator, in the time of man's primitive innocence, as the means of his happiness and the perpetuation of his race. Its influence extends from individuals to kingdoms, and to the whole world. Jeremy Taylor calls it: "the mother of the world, which preserves cities, and fills cities, churches and even heaven itself, " It is the primitive source of morals and society, the nurse of virtue and patriotism, the stay and support of gov- ernments. In a word, no other social institution exercises so profound an influence on the well-being of societ)\ The obligations of marriage are mutual and imperative; if any deception is practiced, those culpable will, sooner or later, receive punishment in the disappointment of their pleasures, the loss of their health and the remorse of their own reflections. It unfortunately happens in the present artificial state of society that many men are unable to marry before middle life, perhaps after a youth spent in 10 PHYSIOLOGY OF MARRIAGE. more or less dissipation, — perhaps after having ac- quired the seeds of disease and impotence. Then the question arises: Is such a man capable of procreating healthy children, or of satisfying those desires im- planted by nature in the most modest and vir- tuous of women, not less strongly than in man him- self? The consciousness of deficiency must cause any man to feel abashed, and he can offer no excuse but what must tend to lessen the love and respect of his wife. Ignorance of a density unequalled, of an ob- stinacy unparalleled, long prevailed on the topics which control most completely the fitness of men and women in wedlock. There are certain stages of injured health capable, by early and skillful treat- ment, of thorough and speedy cure; but which, if neglected or injudiciously dealt with, render aught but disgust and misery in marriage a thing humanly impossible. No man is so likely to be jealous as the one who is conscious that his wife has just reason for complaint; and no woman is so likely to go astray as one who is tantalized by the abortive toying of an im- potent husband. We admit nothiug can justify a wife in proving false to the marriage vow, and nothing can ever after restore her to the position of a virtuous woman; but cases frequently occur where much might be urged in extenuation, and where he who is considered the injured husband is, in reality, more guilty than his wife. Women were formed to com- plete the well-being of man, and those who abstain from intercourse with them are rarely either happy or healthy. Marriage constitutes the bond of ?ociety. PHYSIOLOGY OF MARRIAGE. 11 ai?d the respect paid to its ordinances afford the best test of the moral condition of a civilized people; but where generative weakness exists, let not the un- happy sufferer augment his own misery by the sacri- fice of one from whom he can expect nothing but dislike, reproaches and contempt, and whose happi- ness may be marred. It may be safely affirmed that a difference of temperament between married persons is conducive not only to mutual affection, but to fer- tility. Nature appears to desire marriages between different families and nations, because such crossings of the various races improve and invigorate the species. Humboldt and others have observed that the offspring of Europeans and Ethiopians are pecu- liarly robust and active. From numerous observations of a similar nature, he argues that the best mode of eradicating hereditary diseases, gout, scrofula, con- sumption, epilepsy, madness, etc., in their early tendency, is by the commixture of the species in inter marriage which prevents the transmission of disease to the next generation. The mental weakness, as well as mean appearance of some of the European royal families, is strongly confirmatory of the truth of these principles. Walker, in his admirable and interesting work "On Intermarriage," proves beyond the possibility of cavil, that insanity, idiocy, and numerous physical ailments occur four times above the average in the offspring of "family mar- riages." When persisted in for some generations the race usually becomes extinct. Nor is this confined ffc PHYSIOLOGY OF MARRIAGE. to man alone — the rule extends from man downward through the whole realm of animated nature. That the happiness of married life may in a great measure be secured or defeated by attention to, 01 neglect of, what lies in our power previous to its con- summation, is as true as that there are duties obliga- tory alike upon man and wife after marriage. If a man has made a hasty or thoughtless selection, the fault is assuredly his own. Although it cannot be doubted that warm and mutual affection is an essen- tial condition to married felicity, it must be remem- bered that passion is a false and treacherous guide, when not founded on well-merited and well-defined respect. It is often inquired: what is the proper age to enter the marriage state? and the question is one that is difficult to answer. Much depends upon indi- vidual health and temperament; but as a general rule, we find the happiest unions, and also the most fruitful, when the man marries from the age of twenty-five to thirty-five, and the woman is from five to seven years younger. Di . Samuel Johnson ob- serves: "Those who marry at an advanced age will probably escape the encroachment of their children; but, in diminution of this advantage, they are likely to leave them, ignorant and helpless, to a guardian's mercy; or, if that should not happen, they must at least go out to the world, before they see those they love best either wise or great." It is quite certain, that on young women marriage will frequently have a most beneficial effect. Hysteria, Nervousness, Ir PHYSIOLOGY OF MARRIAGE. 13 regularity, sometimes even Consumption, are known to disappear after marriage. In reference also to the male sex, it is quite certain that, independently of many morbid affections and habits which marriage removes, it augments the energy of the system, of the blood vessels; the distended arteries, pulsating with greater force, transmit warmth and animation throughout the body; the muscles become more vig- orous, the step more elastic, the voice firmer, every physical attribute of humanity becomes boldly de- veloped. Marriage, however, is not altogether made up of "sighs and wreathed smiles;" though it has its devotions, it has also its obligations; and the divine command, "increase and multiply," can only be obeyed by those in full possession of mental and bodily vigor. Even under the most favorable cir- cumstances of youth and vigor, it is necessary to warn the newly married couple of the danger of excessive indulgence which injures the health of woman, and, by causing many painful diseases, soon renders inter- course utterly repugnant. It also prevents or impairs the offspring — for whatever enfeebles or diseases the sexual organs must of necessity have that effect. Temperance in the connubial embrace, as in all other things, is the medium which w r e should ob- serve and recommend. We earnestly advise all who contemplate entering the marriage state to take advice from a thoroughly qualified practitioner, as to whether there is anything to be set right before the marriage is consummated. Much misery, perchance innocent lives, may be 14 PHYSIOLOGY OF MARRIAGE. spared by attending to this obvious and easy duty. Sometimes an old venereal contamination may be lin- gering in the blood. Careful examination and an- alysis will decide; and treatment for two or three weeks may prevent long years of unhappiness. In concluding this part of my subject, I may be allowed to observe that it is right and useful that all men should know that there are principles of person- al management which cannot be violated without the incurring of grievous penalties; it is right that they should know when wisdom and regret succeed the heyday of inconsiderate self-indulgence, how these penalties may be mitigated and how the sting of their remorse may ultimately be removed. The most absurd of all emotions is that of despair. Let the sufferer remember that there is scarcely any de- gree of weakness or functional derangement to which the timely aid s>f science cannot apply a cure. 'Eogarth's Lines of Beauty, ' {Male form.) No. 2. Vertical Section of Bladder, Penis and Urethra, ORGANS OP GENERATION. 17 Organs of Generation. In order that the reader may fully understand all* the parts of this work, it is necessary that he should be made acquainted with the anatomy of the organs or parts which are necessary to reproduction and gen- erally called sexual organs. It will be my endeavor to convey this knowledge in plain, concise and un- technical language. After a short consideration of the structure of the parts, I shall, in the same brief manner, proceed to consideration of the physiology or functions, when in a state of health; that is to say, the use of each part engaged in the generative act will be explained. • The genital organs in the male consist of the penis, scrotum, testicles, urethra, (or canal through which the urine, etc., pass,) the vesiculae seminales (or seed vessels) and the prostate gland. The penis or organ of penetration is covered for the most part with common- skin, but the nut or head, called gla?is penis, in the adult is generally bare, the skin only either covering it in part or leaving it en- tirely free. That portion of skin which in children covers the glans or head is called the prepuce, and is attached to it behind by a bridle or frenum. Nearly in the centre of the glans is the opening of the ure- thra, It is not necessary here to describe minutely the 18 ORGANS OF GENERATION. structure of the penis. Suffice is to say that a por> tion of it. consists of cells almost like a sponge, called corpus spongiosum or erectile tissue, and that it is the rush of blood into them that causes distention or erection of the part. The scrotum or bag is situated at the root of the penis, between it and the seat, and is formed of folds of loose skin, externally, is generally of a dark color in part covered with hair, and is divided into portions, by a seam running up its centre. This bag contains the testicles, one on each side of the seam. The testicles, which are contained in the scrotum after birth, are in the earlier months of life, when yet within the womb, situated in the belly near the kidney, but some short time before the child is born, descend and enter the scrotum. This does not how- ever, always happen, for we find persons in boyhood and even in manhood who apparently have but one or perhaps no testicles to be felt in the scrotum. This does not argue an absence of these organs, but only that they have not made their way into the bag. A person so situated therefore, has as much virile I power as one whose testicles are in the scrotum. The testicles are of an oval shape, rather flat on each side, and suspended by a ligament or cord on the back part, called the spermatic cord. They are covered by a membrane [within the scrotum] and consist of a soft gray, pulpy substance which if al- lowed to float in water, can be drawn out in thin strips, to the length sometimes of two or three feet. TWs is the body of the gland which secretes the No. J. The Bladder and Urethr* la id open. Seen from above. OkGANS OF GENERATION. 21 semen; all these strings, or more properly, tubes, at length unite and form a duct or passage, the vas def- erens for the semen, which they convey to the vesic* ulae semznales, or seed vessels. The Urethra is the canal which proceeds from the bladder at lower part of the penis to its extremity. It conveys the urine from the bladder, the semen and prostatic fluid are also ejected through it its length is from seven and a half to ten inches. Into it, open the vessels which convey the semen, to be ejected from it in the act of copulation. About an inch or an inch and a half from the mouth or opening of the urethra on its lower part, is a small cavity which is the seat of the well-known and troublesome disease gonorrhea. The vesiculae seminales, (seed vessels; are two small bags at the base of the bladder, from whence they extend to the base of the prostate gland; their length is about two inches, their breadth is only three or four lines, they contain the semen, when secreted by the testicles. The front portion of each seminal vesicle ends in a narrow tube which unites with the vas deferens, the tube from the testicles thus making a common passage or duct, called the ejaculatory duct which opens into the urethra and through which the semen, etc. , flows. The prostate gland is of the shape of a chestnut and surrounds a part of the neck of the bladder, and it is only mentioned here from its secreting a fluid which mixes with the semen in the act of coition. 22 ORGANS OF GENERATION. The organs of generation in the female are divided into the external or copulative, and the internal or formative. The external organ consists of the mons veneris, the vulva pudenda, or labia major a, or large lips, the clitoris, the labia minora, or lesser lips; the hymen and the vagina. The internal organs are the uterus or womb, the fallopian tubes, and the ovaria. The mons veneris is the part in front which is cov- ered with hair and slightly elevated by a cushion of fat underneath the skin. It is immediately above the proper or external organs of generation, and hence has been called mons veneris or the ven- ernal or venus hill. Immediately below it are the labia majora, or the larger lips; near the mons they are thick and fleshy, but gradually become thin as they descend. They are united above the mons ve- neris, and this union is called the superior or upper commissure; in their descent they are slightly sep- arated, but again unite on the perineum just above the seat. This union is called the fourchette or fork; externally the labia are covered more or less with hair; internally they are lined by a delicate mucous membrane, like that of the inside of the lips. Be- neath the upper commissure and within the lips is the clitoris or female penis. This body resembles a small male penis, and like it is capable of erection, but not of emission. From the clitoris descends two folds of membrane, called the labia minora nymphae or lesser lips, they are not unlike in appearance, a No, 4. Section 0/ Female Pelvis ; showing position of Viscera. Hogarth's "lanes *f£taut** ORGANS OF GENERATION. 2b cock's comb, but are of a paler color. They join or are lost, as it is allied, on the interior of the labia majora. The inner surface of these labia is a continuation of the vagina. Between these lips and at the upper part and just below the clitoris is the meatus urinarius or entrance to the urethra ; its situation is marked by a depression or dimple, but as it is not an organ of generation in the female, no further notice of it is requisite. The hymen, or maiden-head, is a thin, crescent shaped fold of the lining membrane of the large labia, and is placed at the lower part of the vagina and is also attached to its sides. There is at the upper part a portion of the membrane wanting, or rather a space left for the purpose, permitting the menses or monthly discharge to have exit. When the hymen has been ruptured by coition or destroyed by other means, in its place are found several small round bodies which are called carunculae nytti- formes, from some fancied resemblance they bear to myrtle berries. The vagina: the orifice of the vagina is about an inch below the clitoris and within the large lips. In the virgin state the hymen in a great measure closes it ; the vagina is surrounded at its entrance by a muscle which gives it the power of contraction in a circular manner. It is a membrane and dilatable tube much wider at its upper part than at the lower; it extends from the vulva or lips to the neck of the womb, and is about four inches in length, but is of 26 ORGANS OF GENERATION. greater length on the lower than upper part, owing to its being curved. It is very elastic and hence capable of great dilation. It is lined by mucous membrane which is so placed as to form a large num- ber of folds, these folds are most perceptible in the virgin state or in those who have not borne children. In women who have had many children they are in a great degree obliterated. The lower or more exter- nal part of the vagina is surrounded by erectile tis- sue, the upper part is nearly free from it. Within the vagina are a number of glands for the purpose of secreting mucus to lubricate the lining membrane. The perineum, which is the space between the lower juncture of the larger labia and the funda- ment, is sometimes classed with the organs of gen- eration, but it is only so inasmuch as the vagina runs on the inside of it. INTERNAL FEMALE ORGANS OF GENERATION. The uterus, or womb, is situated at the upper part of the vagina, into which its mouth and neck pro- ject; the vagina surrounds and is attached to the body of the womb ; the womb lies between the blad- der and lower bowel, it is kept in its place by four ligaments, two called broad and two called round. It is divided into four parts, viz : the fundus, or upper and broad part, the body, the neck and mouth. The neck as already observed, projects into the upper part of the vagina. The body tapers gradually from the fundus to the neck. At the upper part of the ORGANS OF GENERATION. 29 body where it joins the fundus are two angles into which the fallopian tubes are inserted (the fundus is the broad and upper.) The size of the unimpreg- nated womb is about three inches long and two broad at its upper part, but only one below ; it is composed of muscular structure which admits of much distention or rapid growth, so as to contain and allow the growth of the foetus ; the internal cavity of the womb is also triangular and divided into equal halves by two raised lines which run along its back and front. At its upper corners or angles there are two small holes which lead to the fallopian tubes. The cavity of the unimpregnated womb is about three inches by half an inch; the weight ot a virgin's womb is not above an ounce. The fallopian tubes (so called from the discoverer Fallopius) are attached to the angles of the womb by a portion which is nervous and cord-like; the other end of the fallopian tubes is broad and fringed and attached to the ovarium. This fringed portion has also a fissure or opening into which the ovum is received on its liberation from the ovarium, and hence carried along the tube to the womb. They have from the circumstance of carrying the ovum been considered by some anatomists as the excre- tory ducts or tubes of the ovaria. This tube is of very small diameter where it enters the womb, so small indeed that a bristle will hardly enter it. The ovaria or egg-receptacles (sometimes called fe- male testes, and perhaps not inaptly), the seminal SO ORGANS OF GENERATION, glands of women are two small oval bodies; they are compressed and somewhat irregular in their shape, and rough on the surface, and are enclosed in the folds of the broad ligaments of the uterus. They are fixed to the angles of th? womb by their fibrous cords which descend from the lower edge. The ovarium is enclosed in a thin cover, where an ova is divided, it appears a firm, but a vascular sub- stance, in which are a number of sitUvU vesicles, the ovula or eggs of Graaf, and for this reason called ovula Graafiana. PHYSIOLOGY OF THE ORGANS OF GENHVATION. At the age of puberty, which is in thk v country about from fifteen to eighteen years of a£e in the male, and from thirteen to sixteen in the female — great changes take place in the appearance, voice, etc. , as well as in the organs of generation them- selves ; before this time the external and distinctive difference between the two sexes are not well marked, there is the same shrill tone of voice, the same del- icate, soft and smooth skin, and the same lightness of figure in each sex ; but no sooner does the age of puberty arrive, and the organs of procreation begin to be developed, than we find the great changes taking place. In the male, the voice becomes rougher, beard and whiskers appear, and hair appears on the genitals, the chest and shoulders enlarge, the mind and body are increased in vigor and endurance of fatigue, and there is also more courage and resolution; the testi- cles now secrete semen, and there is a desire for se^' No. 6, The Testis in Situ. The Tunica Vaginalis having been laid open. ORGANS OF GENERATION. 33 ual intercourse. In the female, the changes at pu- berty are of equal importance ; there is an increased roundness and fullness of all the limbs, the bones of the pelvis are enlarged to form the hips, the breasts increase in size, the sexual organs are more perfect- ly developed, there is hair upon the pubis and mons veneris, the monthly evacuation is established; she is conscious now of being a woman, and becomes more reserved in her manners to, and yet more de- sirous of attracting the attention of the other sex. The general anatomy of the organs employed in procreation has already been considered ; it therefore only remains to take notice of the use or physiology of each particular part ; and for this purpose I will commence with the testicles. They, it will be re- membered, are contained within the scrotum ; it is their office to secrete from the extremities or termi- nate branches of the arteries with which they are freely supplied, a certain fluid, called semen, which is the vivific agent of the male. This, when secreted is carried to the vesiculae seminales by a duct or pas- sage called the vas deferens; in these it is supposed by many authors, though denied by John Hunter, to remain until it is required for the purpose of im- pregnation, and when this is the case it is projected into the urethra through a passage called the ductus communis, together with a secretion from the pros- tate gland, and with it and other glandular secre- tions thrown up from the urethra into the receiving prgan of the female. S4 ORGANS OF GENERATION. The prostate gland secretes a white, o] 1 aque and viscid fluid, which is discharged by ten ">r twelve openings into the urethra, and mingles in the bulb of the urethra with the semen, and with it is ejected in the act of coition ; the only use of this fluid ap- pears to be that of diluting the semen, and hence causing it to be spread over a larger surface. The urethra, which commences at the bladder and ends at the glans penis, is the passage through which the urine flows, and which receives in its bulb the semen, etc. , and hence conveys these mixed secretions into the vagina. The penis is capable of consideftble elongation and rigidity, from the rush of blood into its cells when desire is excited, and, from this cause, is well fitted for the purpose of penetrating to such a dis- tance into the female organs, as to prevent the loss of the semen and facilitate its conveyance to the ovum, which it is destined to fecundate ; the semen, etc., is expelled with considerable force by certain muscles of the penis called ejaculators. From the delicate texture of the covering of the glans, and its being well sup- lied with nerves, it is in a great measure the seat of pleasure in the male during the act of coition. The semen is heavier than water, is of a peculiai smell, like that of a bone when filed, astringent and alkaline ; it has in it a great number of animalculae, which, however, cannot be seen without the aid of a powerful microscope ; the form and size of these liv- ing beings differ in different animals. According to No. 7. Vertical Section of the Testicle, to show tht arrangement of the Ducts. ORGANS OF GENERATION. 37 some medical writers these minute animalculae are present only in the semen of persons whose genera- tive organs are unimpaired by self abuse, and hence considered by them the criterion of judging of the capability of the male to impregnate the ovum of the female. Dr. Wagner observes: ''The semi- al granules are colorless bodies, with dark outlines, round and somewhat flattened in shape, and meas- uring from one three-hundredth to one five-hun- dredth of a line in diameter, and in length scarcely surpassing one-fiftieth of a line . ' ' The limits and design of this work will not per- mit the author to dwell longer on these curious an- imalculae, etc. , but should the reader ' wish for fur- ther information on this interesting subject, he may consult the works of Dr. Wagner, of the University of Gottingen, Prevost, Rostock, and A. Thompson (Cyclopedia of Anatomy, &c, Art. Generation, page 460) in the present day, and also the elder ones of Lieuwenhok, who first described the.M, and Nailer Spallanzani. The organs of procreation in the female are more complicated and elaborate than c'lose of the male, the latter having only to cjiv ey the semen to such a situation in the fem^e \\ may readily fecun- date the ovum; this arc soon accomplished; but the female organs ar :,ot only designed to receive semen, for they h? te a long series of processes to perform which requiie a great length of titoe; they receive and convey the seminal fluid to the ovaria. 38 ORGANS OF GENERATION. the impregnated ovum is to be carried into the womb; it is to be there nourished and elaborated until it becomes a perfect child, and finally, the fe- male organs bring it forth at the period appointed by nature, a living, sentient being. These processes require, as already observed, a considerable period of time, and work many wonderful changes in the female; we cannot, therefore, be surprised, that organs destined for such important functions, should be in some measures complex. When considering the Physiology of the man, I commenced with the testes. I will therefore, in my description of those of the female, commence with the organs, which are by many considered analagous to them, vis: the Ovaria or Egg Vessels. The Ovaria are two in number, one on each side; they contain in each from fifteen to twenty Graafian vesicles, (so called from the first describer, Graaf, ) or eggs; these vesicles, which are furnished with an outward covering called the Ovists t are filled with a yellow viscid matter, something like "white of egg." These vesicles are the germ of the future embryo; the use, then, of the ovarium, is to contain the seed of the future being. They are connected to the womb by the fallopian tubes , whose mouths have the power when under the influence of venereal excitement, at particular times, of attaching themselves to the ova- rium, and grasping it firmly; they receive from the ovarium the little vesicle or egg, and convey it to the womb by a worm-like motion. fo. 8. Base of the Bladder with the Vas Deferens ana Vesiculae Seminales. ORGANS OF GENERATION 41 The Uterus, or Womb, wh?ch 1 ias been likened to the nest of a bird, is for the purpose of receiving the embryo, and nourishing it until i* becomes a perfect foetus or child; this it does by the means of its blood vessels, which, however, do not ^o directly to the child, but pass through, or rather form a substance, called placenta, and from it the bfood required to form the child is conveyed to ar d from it, by a series of vessels, called the umbilical cord, which en- ters the child's body at the navel. The womb, too, besides the mere nourishing the *hild, is endowed with the power, at the proper perici, of expelling it by means of its muscular contraction, into the vagi- na, and hence to the world. Trr* womb also se- cretes the peculiar fluid called the menses or cata- menia, which is discharged generally about every lunar month, but in some lemales more frequently, in some less frequently. This fluid, which is like blood in appearance, does not like blood, coagulate, and is to all intents a secretion from the lining membrane of the womb; it is from six to eight oun- ces in quantity and the discharge lasts three, four and six days; and is evacuated drop by drop. Most Physiologists suppose this fluid to be for the pur- pose of preparing the womb, and other parts, for conception; others suppose it to be for the purpose of allaying sexual desire; the former supposition is most likely correct, for we find the menses >ease when imnregnation takes place, rwri Wr- ASemethy 42 ORGANS OF GENERATION. asserts the latter is equally true; this discharge is also absent when the process of suckling is going on. The Vagina is the canal leading from the outer or external parts to the mouth of the womb, it is for the purpose of receiving the male organ; its ex- ternal opening is surrounded by erectile tissues, which is supposed to add to the pleasure of the fe- male in sexual intercourse; through this canal pas- ses the infant in its transit from the womb to the world, and it also conveys the menstrual secretion. The Clitoris, capable of erection like the male pe- nis, is the organ of pleasure in woman during the act of coition. The Labia minotce or Nymphce, which proceed from the above, most likely add to the woman's pleasure, and they also help to give a proper direc- tion to the stream of urine, as it flows from the urethra of the female. The Hymen. — To this membrane no particular use is given, though by many persons it is consid- ered the padlock or safeguard of virginity; that such is not always the fact, the author will prove in the course of discussion. The External or larger lips, do not play any par- ticular part; they very likely add to the pleasure of both male and female, and by their softness, thick- ness, and being covered with hair, prevent injury to the more tender parts below. Theories of Generation. — So many have been the theories of generation, that at the end of the seven- teenth century, Drelincourt had collected from ORGANS OF GENERATION. it t>Ts rious authors, no less a number than two hundred and sixty -two, which he pronounced "groundless hypotheses," and Blumenbach, the celebrated Ger- man physiologist, when commenting on Drelincourt, says: "there is nothing more certain than that his own theory formed the two hundred and §\yity -third." It would not be possible to examine all these; we must content ourselves with a few of the more prominent. Haller has divided these theories into classes, viz : the Spermatists, who suppose the offspring to pro- ceed entirely from the male; the Ovists, who suppose it to proceed from the female, and the Syngenesists, who consider it to be the product of both male and female. Again, one class of Ovists suppose the germ of the perfect animal to exist in the ovum, but in- visible until it is expanded, unfolded or evolved; this is the theory of evolution. Another class suppose it to be merely formed from dimorphous or shape- less materials at the moment it makes its appearance in the ovum or egg; this is the theory oiEpigenesis. The most modern doctrine is that of Epigenesis, promulgated by Casper Wolfe, in 1759. Harvey and Malpighi ascribe the foetus principally to the female, and Wolff described a successive production of organs, of the formation of which, previously, there was no trace, and showed, also, that after parts are formed, they experience many most important changes in shape and structure, before they arrive at perfection; this theory of superformation of parts is considered to be much more probable than that of evolution of pre-existing germs, and is, in a great measure, borne 44 ORGANS OF GENERATION. out by the microscopic observations of Meckel, Baer, Rathke, Serres, Roland, Dutroche, Prevost, Dumas, and a host of other observers of the present day; but of this, as of the former theory, evolution, I may ask if it is true, what becomes of the mules? It is known that the lion and tiger may prove prolific with each other, as do the horse and the ass, and the hybrid shows the marks and nature of both par- ents; it is not, therefore, possible in all cases, that the rudiments are entirely supplied by the female. Of the manner of impregnation: — Much difference of opinion is expressed as to when and where the ovulum is impregnated; nine times out of ten the semen, there is little doubt, is received by the womb; and hence carried by the Fallopian tubes to the ovar- ium itself. Ruysch says he ''examined the body of a woman struck dead by a dagger in the act of adult- ery, and tound the semen in the Fallopian tubes," and, when there, it comes in contact with the ovulum, which is in proper state for fecundation; the vesicle or ovulum, then bursts; and the ovum, which it now is called, is carried into the womb, as already described, leaving a mark behind, (which is called a corpus lut- euni) and becomes the embryo. Such is the ordinary manner in which conception is achieved, but there are many exceptions to the rule; it may, and has happened, that conception has taken place when it was impossible for the male organ to penetrate the va- gina of the female. It seems, therefore, likely that the lining membrane of the vagina, or even of the labia, may in some cases, be capable of absorbing a portion ORGANS OF GENERATION. 45 of semen, sufficient to cause impregnation, or that even the aura of it may be sufficient to do so. In the generality of women who have had connec- tion, the hymen is broken; the large labia more or less separated and flaccid, the color of the lining membrane is paler than in the virgin state; the ent- rance of the vagina more parted, and its rugae (folds) in a measure destroyed, and the bridle or fourchette, especially if they have borne children, is wanting. Though the former is the general appearance in the virgin, and the latter in those who have had sexual intercourse, yet it does not follow, from the absence of the hymen, or flaccidity of the labia, etc., that a woman is unchaste; accident or disease may, and often does, destroy the hymen, and some have it absorbed in infancy; flaccidity of the lips, and non- rigidity of the vagina are not unfrequently produced by disease. A woman may, on the other hand, have the hymen perfect, or a very small and contracted vagina, and yet have had frequent sexual intercourse. A case is related by Parent du Chatelet, (see his work on Pros- titution in Paris,) of two young women summoning a person before the magistrates for calling them pros- titutes, and demanding a medical examination to disprove the point; the medical men gave it in their favor, and }^et on further inquiry, they were found to have been on the town for a considerable period. A Professor of Anatomy relates an instance of the body of a woman, upwards of fifty years of age, being brought into the dissecting room of the London Uni- 46 EFFECTS OF MARRIAGE. versity, in which the hymen was perfect, yet this, woman had been on the town since the age of fifteen. If any of my readers marry and do not find the hymen, let them not be uneasy, if their wife is of good moral feelings and of honest parentage; its ab- sence is no sign of lost chastity. THE EFFECTS OF MARRIAGE UPON HEALTH AND DISEASE. Marriage being the natural state of adult age, there can be no question that it is in many cases the means of preserving health and prolonging life. Hufeland, the celebrated German says: "There is not one instance of a bachelor having attained to great age. This observation seems as applicable to the female as the male sex; and hence it would ap- pear that a certain exercise of the power of genera- tion is favorable to longevity; it forms an addition to the vital power, and this power of procreati?ig others seems to be in the most intimate proportion to that oj regeneration and restoring o?ie's self." — but a certain regularity and moderation are requisite in the em- ployment of it; and marriage is the only means by which these can be preserved. "Marriage, "he goes on to say in another chapter, ' 'moderates and regulates enjoyment." That' sameness which deters the liber- tine from marriage, is highly healthful and necessary, for it prevents that irritation occasioned by continual change of objects, and which is, therefore, more weakening. It is like plain simple food, compared with that which is compounded and luxurious; the former not only promotes moderation, but also long- EFFECTS OF MARRIAGE. 47 evity . ' ' Daily observation shows us more old peo- ple, in proportion, of course, who have been married than those who have remained single. Marriage also has, if we may believe a late writer, much power in preventing the worst of crimes, self-murder. Forbes Winslow, in his Anatomy of Suicide, says: "it has been satisfactorily ascertained that two-thirds of those who destroy themselves are unmarried' ' —does not this prove that marriage tends greatly to the prevention of mental disease, for I am charitable enough to suppose that no man would dare, uncalled for, to rush into the presence of his Maker, were it not in a state, however temporary, of insanity ? Marriage then has considerable effect in preserving mind and body in a state of health; it remains now to show its effect upon disease. The effects of marriage, or to consider it merely in the light of sexual connection, on disease are more clearly shown in reference to the gentle sex, than to man — for man, to his shame be it said, is generally more or less a libertine; but womaa, whom the customs and well being of society trammel in this particular, suffers much from what may be called the want of fulfilling her destiny on earth, viz: the bearing and nourishing of children. I shall not enter into a particular detail of the disease in which matrimony is of service, but content myself with a general consideration of the subject. The peculiar derangement of the general health, in which there is much languor, loss of appetite, wast- ing of the body, greenish color of tke skin* and $8 EFFECTS OF MARRIAGE. many other appearances which lead bystanders to fear consumption, is often cured by marriage,, as are most of the forms of nervous and hysteric diseases ; j how often do we see the pale, fragile, sickly girl, who appears to have no life in her, shoot into the fine healthy woman soon after marriage ? Again, do we not often see the beautiful young woman, after she passes a certain age, gradually sink in form, shape and feature, the breasts becoming flat, the limbs less rounded, and the features sharp and prom- inent, losing, as it were, the characteristics of her sex, and becoming before the proper time an old woman, or in other words an old maid, and why is this ? Because that part of her system which should have been employed upon the formation of new be- ings has been idle, or rather been allowed to pre}) upon her very vitals. Marriage, pregnancy and the nursing of children are the proper offices of woman, and when these functions are not performed, disease, premature old age, acidity of temper and compara- tively a short life may be looked for ; there are many exceptions, it is true, but exceptions only prove a general rule. To man, also, the exercise of the generative functions is as important as to woman, and marriage is the proper sphere for such exercise; any other leads to its abuse, which is fraught with evils greater than absolute continence, which will be described in another part of this work. CAUSES WHICH INFLUENCE FECUNDITY AND INFECUNDITY. In this paragraph I shall glance at the general causes of fecundity and its reverse; they are aliment, CAUSES OF FECUNDITY AND INFECUNDITY. 49 occupation and climate. The want cf sufficient food, there is no question, is often a cause of infecundity; so much so that famine has been known to decrease the number of births by nearly one-half; M. Villerme states that in the year 1817, one of great scarcity in the east of France, the births diminished one-half the ordinary number; on the other hand, too much food, or of too stimulating a description, is not favorable to fecundity, as may be verified by observing the smaller number of children the wealthy have than the poor. Sedentary occupations, by producing de- rangement of the general health, are likely to de- crease fecundity. Climate and season seem to exert considerable power. I find the greater bulk of pro- geny to be in cold or temperate climates. The in- habitants of Russia, Iceland, &c, are prolific, while the inhabitants of Spain, Peru, Turkey, &c, have but few children. Some warm climates, however, ap- pear to be favorable to fecundity, as Africa and Hgypt ; many women who went to the latter place with the French army bore children there, though they were sterile in France. The fecundity of the women of Egypt has been attributed to the use of the waters of the Nile, and so far has this been believed, that the bottled water of that river has been brought into Europe, and eagerly bought by the childless, in hope that it would have the effect of removing their sterility; the equality of the temperature of Egypt, however, solves the problem of the superior fecund- ity of the women, without attributing supernatural powers to the waters of the Nile. The same things 50 CAUSES OF FECUNDITY AND INFECUNDITY which cause marsh miasm, viz: heat, moisture and decaying vegetable matter, is a considerable enemy co fecundity. Season, it appears, exerts some influ- ence; M. Villerme says that the six months of the year in which there are most births, occur in the fol- lowing order : February, March, January, April, No- vember and September ; these refer the conceptions to May, June, April, July, February and March. Blundell also says, ' 'though it may be denied that the human female has periodical aptitude (for im- pregnation), I think there is something genial in the spring season, and we all know that of vernal months, May, perhaps, is the one which may put in the fair- est claim to be the emblem of the blooming virgin." Food, occupation and climate, though they have an effect on the number of children, or, in other words, on the fecundity of women, do not render them sterile, or the male impotent, nor do they act so strongly as do the particular causes to be pointed out in the next chapter. Good and sufficient food, active occupation, with- out over- fatigue, a temperate or cool climate, are fa- vorable to the natural increase of population. Fam- ine, sedentary habits, hot or very variable climate, are unfavorable to the increase of mankind, and not so much from any increase in the number of deaths, but in the want of an adequate number of births. It has been stated that the habit of using intoxicating liquors ro excess is a cause of failure in the genera- tive func tions as well as being a likely means ofpro- cjucnig offspring of a lower order of intellect and oi CAUSES OF FECUNDITY AND INFBCUNDITY. 51 but slight physical strength. Combe relates a case, taken from the Phrenological Journal, of a woman who was intoxicated, being impregnated by a drunken man; the result of this connection was an idiot; and he attributes the want of intellect in the children, in many cases, to the intoxication of the' parents. Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy, remarks : "If a drunken man gets a child, it will never likely have a good brain." I think I have myself known one or two instances where an addic- tion to the use of spirituous liquors to excess on the part of the woman has prevented the conception of children. I say I think this was the reason oi their sterility, because previous to their intemperate habits they were fecund, and afterwards unfruitful. PUBERTY AND ITS DISEASES. There are a number of causes which influence the chances of fecundity, or otherwise, which are pres- ent before marriage, and which should be taken into consideration before either sex should enter into that estate. Though not the most important, I will first lake into consideration the proper age for marriage, with the evils which arise from too early marriages, and also too late ones. The proper age for marriage varies in different countries ; as in warm climates, adult age is soon arrived at, and consequently, decay is socner expected than in cold ones. In our own country, according to the law, the proper age for marriage is twenty-one in the male and about eight- een in the temale ; but it is generally believed by 52 CAUSES OF FECXXDITY AND INFECUNDITY. medical men to be too young, if the persons about to marry are desirous of having healthy children, and of preserving themselves in good health to old age, and this because at those ages they have not arrived at their full growth and vigor; therefore, the procreation of children on the part of the male, and the bearing of them on the part of the female, is Very likely to stop the further development of their powers, and to undermine their constitutions in such manner that old age cannot be looked for except pre- maturely. There can be no doubt that the best age for marriage in man is from twenty-five to thirty, and in woman from twenty-one to twenty-five. Each sex at these ages are in full possession of all their faculties, bodily and mental, and are in the best sit- uations for having healthy children without injury to themselves. Thousands of both sexes have been brought prematurely to the grave from permitting themselves to become boy -fathers and girl-mothers. But be it recollected that when marriage at an early age is spoken of as injurious to the constitution, promiscuous or illicit intercourse is very much worse. When I speak of a man not marrying until twenty- five, I mean that until that time he should really live in a state of celibacy. Very late marriages are, perhaps, more conducive to health than premature ones, for old men procreate much more healthy children than very young ones ; but it is also at- tended with disadvantages ; it is not likely, if the parent is far advanced in years, that he will see his offspring grow to maturity. It has sometimes hap- Causes of fecundity and ineecundity. 58 pened that the excitement and disturbance to the nervous system on the wedding night has been so great in the male that death has taken place in the act of copulation. Females should not marry late in life, without they are past the age of child-bearing ; for, from dis- use, the parts concerned in parturition have become rigid and unfit for the transit of the foetus, and it has happened that women who have married at for- ty have either lost their lives or suffered most dread- fully in giving birth to their infant, which in most cases is still-born. Women generally do not have children after the age of forty-five, but many con- tinue to bear children long after that period, and it is nearly as difficult to fix a time when a woman could not possibly have a child as to say when a man could not get one. The proper subjects for marriage are those who have arrived at full adult age, are of sound consti- tution, not affected with hereditary disease, as scrof- ula, madness, consumption, gout, &c. , who have led a temperate life, have not been guilty of a certain degrading and secret vice, too prevalent it is to be feared in the present day, aud, above all, who are not tainted by the venereal poison, and who in other respects enjoy sound health. It would be well for future generations if none were permitted to marry but those of good constitutions, not only in themselves, but by descent ; thus a healthy, vigorous generation would be secured, and disease almost banished from the world in the course of a few years b4 CAUSES Or I uc; 'Mm 1 \ AM) IN FECUNDITY. In choosing a partner for life, some attention should be paid to the size of the partners as regards stature, bulk, &e., as well as other things. It is evident, if a very tall and stout man should marry a small and delicate woman, the chance is the children are also large; so much so, it may be, that she can- not be delivered without the aid of instruments, and perhaps not even then without the loss of life; do we not often see this happen to the female dog, who has had connection w T ith one of her species much larger than herself? And that which happens to the lower class of animals is much more likely to occur in the highest form, from the peculiar forma- tion of the pelvis in the latter. There may be great disproportion, too in the sexual organs; this, of course, cannot be discovered before marriage, there- fore cannot be guarded against. This disproportion is sometimes so very considerable that instead of a woman receiving pleasure she suffers positive agony from the embraces of her husband, and dreads his approach as the worst of tortures; in this case, all that the husband can do is to have patience, and by kindness and caresses endeavor to remove that sen- sation of fear, which most effectually increases the rigidity and prevents the dilation of the parts; let him be gentle and refrain from frequent connection; let him bear in mind that should his wife have a child this defect, in all probability, w r ould be re- moved, and his love be more easily gratified. Marriage between persons of very different ages should not be allowed, because they lead to vice and CAUSKvS OF FECUNDITY AND INFKCUNDlTY. 55 tinhappiness, as well as the propagation of unhealthy, puny offspring, should there be any. The young man who marries an old woman, from inclination, is a fool; from interest, a knave; in either case he will soon cease to regard her who cannot answer his am- orous advances, and seek other and younger females, and thus seduction and vice, with all their long chain of dire evils, are engendered. She, who, from any motive, consents to wed a man old enough to be her grandfather, cannot hope to be designated any better than a church-licensed prostitute; for has she not sold her youth, her charms, her very soul, for rank, fashion, money, and along with these, the best and fondest hopes of woman, that of being a mother; which hope she either resigns, or gratifies it by becoming something even worse than the poor, painted unfortunate— an adulteress! Believe me, the gilded saloon, the obsequious lackeys, and the painted chariot of wealth, are but poor recompenses for the absence of the hope of being a happy wife and a virtuous mother. There are certain other causes which should be a complete bar to matrimonial union; the first of these is the marriage ot near relations by blood, as a too close consanguinity between the persons is sure to deteriorate the race, and be productive of feeble chil- dren; examples of this are found among the old nobil- ity of Spain, where the practice of marriage with blood relations is much followed. We find that, from being one of the finest and most profilic nations in the world, they have now sunk to a feeble bodied and ■ 56 CAUSES OF FECUNDITY ANT INFECUNDITY. imbecile race. The same thing, from this system of breeding in-and-in, is seen in a marked manner amongst the Jews, who, it is well-known, do not marry out of their own sect, and thus they transmit along with the Jewish face, many hereditary diseases as gout, scrofula, consumption, madness, epilepsy, &c, &c; these would be, in a great measure, coun- teracted, by marrying into other races, because the good constitution of the man, in one case, would ob- viate, materially, the evil, or weakness, in the con- stitution of the woman, although it would not en • tirely do away with it, and thus a more healthy off- spring would be the result; while, of course, by the system of close marriages, every evil in the parent is continued in the children, and not only bodily de- fects, but also mental weakness. When it is known that either party, or their near relatives, are afflicted with hereditary disease, such as the above named, it should be a bar to the nup- tial contract; for either their children will be afflicted in the same manner, or, as is sometimes the case, the disease may step over the generation and fix itseli on the succeeding one;thus we often find the children of a gouty person free from disease, but their child^ ren afflicted with it. The same may be said of the other bodily diseases, and also of those denominated mental. It is hardly necessary to warn against marriage with a person known to be afflicted with venereal taint; the abhorrence felt for such an one will be the bestsafeguard against such a union but the warning CAUSES OF FECUNDITY AND IN FECUNDITY. 5? must be given to the one who may have this dire disease lurking in the system ; any one who suspects that such may be the case, should pause long before contracting as solemn an engagement as that of marriage, and should undergo a proper course of treatment under the advice of a competent medical man before doing so, or disease may be communi- cated not only to the partner chosen for life, but fee- ble, sickly, diseased, or still-born children, may be the consequence of perhaps a cause barely suspected to exist. The late far-famed Mr. Abernethy relates a case where still-born child was born after still-born child, and yet neither parent exhibited traces of the venereal disease; the husband, however, confessed he had had secondary symptoms of this malady not long before marriage; on this admission, Mr. A. caused both to take a proper course of alterative medicines; afterwards the lady bore to her husband several healthy children. It should also be borne in mind that what are called secondary symptoms of venereal disease, may make their appearance long after the primary sore has healed, and that these secondary symptoms, without giving rise to any primary ones, may be communicated to another per- son; the late Sir Astley Cooper relates a striking case of the above nature in his lectures. By many drunkenness is looked upcn as hereditary; this is not, however, always the case, many fathers have sober sons and vice versa, but still, when the parents are dissipated, it is very frequently trans- mitted to the children, like any other peculiarity of 58 CAUSES OF FECUNDITY AND INFECUNDITY. dissipation or habit; it would be well, then, for eith- ei man or woman, to pause before he or she forms an alliance with one who came of a notoriously drunken stock, for no evil is much greater in life, than that of having a husband or wife prone to ine- briety; in short an habitual drunkard. From this cause alone would spring enough misery to cause life to be a curse, and death in any form a blessing. The awful disease, mania, in any of its forms, should be an inseparable objection to marriage with any mem- ber of a family so afflicted, for there is no cause to doubt the hereditary nature of this malady; there are whole families, the members of which, from genera- tion to generation, it is well-known, are more or less afflicted at some time of their lives, with madness, and some of these families are noble and their branches, it is much to be regretted, have been transmitted to other noble and wealthy families, and have not failed to propagate their infirmity. Peculiarities of formation of temper, disposition, and even modes of thought are transmitted from pa- rent to children; thus some families are found, the members of which have a supernumerary finger or a want of one of those members, or they may have a redundancy or a deficiency of some other part; tem- per is often transmitted and also peculiar habits, and this even, when the children have never known their parent, whose peculiarities they inherit. There is no question but that a great improvement, both mentally and bodily, would accrue to the offspring, from attention to proper objects of marriage, if none CAUSES OF FECUNDITY AND INFECUNDITY. 59 bdt the perfect were to marry; but, if this were the ease, the indifferent specimens of poor humanity would be condemned to a life of celibacy; this can- not be the case, and man can never hope to improve the breed of his species to the same extent as he does the breed of cattle, or horses, or even the cul- tivation of flowers; In the two former instances none but the best specimens are chosen for breed- ing, and by crossing one breed with another any de- fect in one of the parents is counteracted in the off- spring by the other parent having the defective organ or part, in a state of perfection. But man cannot al- ways discover in his charmer the evils of formation that should deter a union, though he can avoid the more glaring defects of formation, disease and tem- per, and this it is his duty to do for the sake of those who are to be the fruit of his marriage, as well as for his own happiness: and there can be no doubt that by proper attention being paid to natural formation and health, even as far as we can ascertain it, any race of men could be greatly improved, both physically and intellectually. Those who are conscious of physical malformation of the generative organs, or parts which contain them in the female, viz., the pelvis, are not fit objects for marriage, and should not enter into wedlock until such defects are removed, if they admit of remedy by surgical aid ;if they do not, they should not marry at all The principal malformations in the female sex are those of the pelvis and vagina; the pelvis may be so small or distorted from disease of the bones during SO CAUSES OF FECUNDITY AND INFECUNDITY. infancy or in after life, that a living child could not pass through it, and the mother's life would most likely be lost during or soon after the necessary op- eration of delivery had been performed. Another defect is either the entire absence of the outlet from, or imperf oration of the vagina; the for- mer is obvious to the touch, the latter is generally known by the monthly discharge not coming away, and causing a great uneasiness. The latter is always to be remedied by surgical aid, the former some- times by an operation. In the male sex the malformation which presents an absolute bar to marriage, is the total absence of the penis, though the opposite extreme or very large size of that organ (occasioning great injury to the woman) should almost be considered an obstacle. The absence of the testicles from the scrotum is no bar to marriage; they are still lodged where they were before birth; and not in reality absent; and a man so situated is quite as capable, some say more so, of begetting children than another. As one of the great objects of marriage is a contin- uation of the species, any known cause of impoten- cy on the part of the male, or sterility in the woman, should forbid the nuptial rite, as it is well known that few unions, to which no children have been born are felicitous; and nothing is more likely to cause infidelity than a want of offspring, and hence per- petual misery. Impotency is the incapability on the part of either man or woman of partaking in the nuptial embrace. CAUSES OF FECUNDITY AND INFECUNDITY. 61 In the woman it can only arise from malformation of the organs of generation; in man it may arise from malformation, or from various bodily or mental causes, which will, in other parts of this work, be described. Sterility is the incapability of reproduc- tion, though the organs of reproduction may, up to a certain point, be capable of performing their func- tions; thus a woman may be sterile and not impo- tent, or impotent from imperforation of the vagina, but not sterile if that was removed. Man who, from excess in women, Onanism, diseased testicles, etc., is incapable of procreating, though he has all the organs requisite, is sterile; of course if he is impo- tent, he must of necessity be also sterile. Impotence in the male has been ascribed to vari- ous causes, the principal ones, however, are malfor- mation, as the misplacement of the opening of the urethra, the natural absence of the penis, or its re- moval by operation, the removal of both the testes for a diseased state of them, excess in venereal pleas- ure, Onanism, general debility of the body, paraly- sis of the muscles of the penis, cold temperament, rendering the man insensible to venereal desire and also mental causes. The first-named cause, misplacement of the open- ing of the urethra, operates by not permitting the semen to be sufficiently ejaculated into the vagina to produce impregnation, but without the misplace- ment is very great, i. without the opening is very near the root of the penis, or in the perinaeum, it will hardly do so, as it is sufficient in many cases 62 CAUSES OF FECUNDITY AND INFECUNDITY. there being an aptitude on the part of the female to become pregnant, that the semen should be merely deposited on the labia for the purpose of producing impregnation; here it is supposed to get mixed with the female secretions, and with them become absorb- ed; this then, without the deformity is very great, will hardly cause impotency if a little care is taken by the male; let it always be understood that the se- men is of so subtle a nature that the smallest quan- tity, even when diluted, is sufficient to fecundate a woman who is in an apt state to become pregnant. It has been advised by some medical men that when from the above cause a woman is sterile, the semen should be collected and injected into the vagina im- mediately after the act of copulation; it is said it has been done with success; of this I have no experience and should not recommend so inconsistent an experi- ment without the necessity for having children be more urgent than usual. This malformation in instan- ces, especially if not congenital, can be removed by art. The next cause, want of penis, is a complete bar to sexual intercourse, though the want of this organ does not prove a man is incapable of procreating, if he had the proper virile organ for conveying the semen ; on the other hand, men so unfortunately situated, are tormented much by the desire of sexual commerce. If, however, there is a possible rudiment of the or- gan left, in all probability the man is capable of be- getting children, though not affording much or any pleasure to the female with whom he has inter- course. Such, a man should not marry; should he do CAUSES OF FECUNDITY AND IN FECUNDITY. 63 so, without his wife is a woman of uncommon vir- tue, high morality and cool temperament he may rest assured she will not prove faithful. The absence of the testicles from the scrotum proves nothing but that, in all probability, they are retained in the abdomen ; a man thus formed, is as capable of procreating as one who is natural in this respect; women, I have heard, have made mistakes on this head, and have cause to rue their easy faith, and their smattering of learning, which led to the belief of the absence of danger. Truly, in this case Pope is right, ' 'a little learning is a dangerous thing. ' ' If the testicles have been removed on account of disease, the procreative power is lost, though some- times the inclination for sexual intercourse remains, and the penis is capable of more or less erection, and even of ejaculation, but the emission in this case consists of the prostatic fluid and mucus. It is said that the female inhabitants of eastern harems not unfrequently have recourse to their guardian eu- nuchs to gratify their lust, without danger of be- coming pregnant. The testicles may be removed by operation and yet the man be capable of procreating once, by means of the semen which has been secre^ ted, and lodged in the vesiculae seminales before the*, operation; afterwards he is barren. Several cases ot this description are related on undoubted authority, one by Sir A. Cooper. One testicle is sufficient foi. the purpose of generation; nature in this has been bountiful as in all the other organs of sense which are double, not that we could see equally well with 04 CAUSES OF FECUNDITY AND INFEC UNDITY. one eye as with two, but because being provideni of us, our wise and kind Creator has bestowed two, lest accident should deprive us of sight; to which deprivation we shouldbe much more liable if the or- gan had been single. Excess in venereal pleasures, especially if prac- ticed early in life, and Onanism or masturbation are very often the cause of men not being capable of procreating; both of them tend to form what is called seminal weakness; that is, there will be occasionally throughout the day, almost without any erection of the penis, a fluid ejaculated, which does not, how- ever, possess a fecundating power, but which weak- ens so much that it reduces youth, as far as the gen- erative function is concerned, to the state of old age. The solitary vice, Onanism, [the sin of Onan], masturbation, self-pollution, call it what you will, is detrimental, not only to the individuals who prac- tice it, but to future human beings, which will be treated ot at length, in the after part of this work. The vice is often acquired at a very early age by children of both sexes, who are committed to the care of nurse-maids; these ignorant persons, not un- frequently, when they find a child will not sleep, have recourse to playing with their genital organs, for the purpose of soothing them to sleep; this pre- maturely excites these parts, and instances are known of children, from the ages of seven to ten, who, al- ready, eagerly practiced this horrid vice ; no child should be allowed to sleep with a nurse-maid, without a thorough knowledge of her character has been pre- CAUSES OF FECUNDITY AND INFECUNDITY. 65 viously obtained, and, if possible children should have separate beds. Boarding schools, male and female, are often the hot-beds of self- pollution ; the boys in them sleep two in each bed, and the younger ones soon learn from the older ones this dreadful practice; ushers of schools have been accused of teaching such things, but I trust for the honor of human nature that this is false. The girls are no better off, but a greater degree of secrecy being observed by females than males, the truth is not easily arrived at, and to hint to the head of an "Establishment for Young L,adies" that the pale looks and ill health of her pupils, in all probability, proceeded from this vice, conjoined with too little exercise and tight lacing, would be to procure an immediate intimation that the meddling medical man's services were no longer needed, and, however honorable and upright the medical man may be, he is generally too poor to take such a course, especially when he knows that his self-sacri- fice would not prevent one of these girls from contin- uing the baleful round denominated * 'female educa- tion. ' ' When, however, their pale looks and ill health is continually accompanied by excessive nervousness or trembling, indigestion and permanent costiveness, a dejected carriage, loss of spirits and hysteria, un- usual sallownessof the complexion, every effort upon the part of the governess ought to be made to satisiy herself on this point; indeed, whenever these appear- ances are present in young women, without any evi- dent hygienic cause, the prevalence of this vice may be 66 CAUSES OF FECUNDITY AND INFECUNDITY. suspected, and should insure the attention of their friends, for the frightful ravages that this solitary vice makes in the const? !:t:tion can only be appreciated by those who have seen : : ts effects — as have most medi- cal men. It should be a rale at home and at school, that children should not go to bed until they are tired by real exercise in the open air, and are so weary from healthful exeition that the moment they place their heads on the pillow they will fall asleep. Excess of venereal enjoyment, even when prac- ticed in the manner which Nature points out, causes many of the abov? evils, though not to so great an extent as does masturbation, both of the practices having considerable effect on the power of the mind. Hufeland, the well-known German author, remarks, "the more we stimulate the generative powers, and waste its juices, the more does the soul lose its fac- ulty of thought, its energy, its acuteness and its memory. Nothing in this world can so much, and so irretrievably, ruin the brightest mental powers — that moral galaxy of the first magnitude — ' 'as ex- cesses of this kind." The author makes, in the next sentence, some re^ marks so applicable to the proper age for intercourse and the guarded manner in which it should be in- dulged, that I shall not apologize for quoting them. ' 'It may be asked, ' ' he says, ' 'what is meant by ex^ cess in physical love? My answer is, when either sex indulges that passion too early, before the body is completely formed; females before the age of eight- een and males before that of twenty-one; when this CAUSES OF FECUNDITY AND INFECUNDITY. 6? enjoyment is too often and too violently repeated, which may be known from the following consequent ces: lassitude, dejection and loss of appetite; when one, by frequent change of object and circumstan- ces, or by artificial stimulus of spiceries, heating liquors and the like, excites new desires in the re- laxed powers, or makes that exertion during the time of digestion, and, to include the whole in a few words, when one enjoys physical love without mar- riage; for it is under the matrimonial tie, which ex- cludes the stimulus of variet y, and directs the phy* sical propensity to a higher moral object, that thU passion can be physically refined, that is to say, rendered salutary and useful/' Everything that has here bevn said is applicable, in an eminent degree, to Onanism also, for that forced and unnatural vice increases, in an extraor- dinary manner, the straining of the organs and the weakening connected with it. Onanism in either sex does infinitely more mischief than natural en- joyment. Horrid is the impression stamped by Na- ture on such an offender. He is like a faded rase — ■ a tree blasted in its bloom— a wandeiiug skeleton. All his fire and spirit are deadened by this detesta- ble vice, and nothing remains but debility, languor, livid paleness, a withered body and a degraded soul. The eyes lose their lustre and strength, the pupih seem sunk, the features seem distorted and length- ened, the rosy complexion of youth vanishes, and the visage appears of a pale leaden color. The whole body becomes affected and sensible of the slightest exertion, the muscular power is lost, 68 CAUSES OF FECUNDITY AND INFECUNDITY. sleep brings with it no refreshment, every movement is attended with torture; the legs can no longer sup- port the body, the hands tremble, aching pains arise in all the limbs, the faculty of thought is de- ranged, and cheerfulness is vanished. The unhap- py sufferer speaks little, and as if it were only by force, and all his former liveliness of mind is depressed. A youth endowed by Nature with ge- nius and talents becomes dull or totally stupid; the mind loses all its taste for virtuous and exalted ideas, and the imagination is altogether corrupted. The slightest circumstances detailed respecting fe- males is capable of exciting in him desire, shame, horror and repentance, and despair of his evils be- ing cured renders his misery complete. The whole life of such a man is a continued suc- cession of secret regrets, painful sensations, arising from the consciousness of having brought upon him- self internal weakness, irresolution, disgust of life; and it need excite no surprise that such a wretch should at length become a self-murderer, for no man is so exposed to suicide as the Onanist. The powers of digestion are destroyed, the patient is tormented with flatulencies and cramp in the stomach; the blood is corrupted, the breast is choked up with phlegm, and eruptions of the whole frame, epilepsy, asthma, slow fever, debility and premature death are the conse- quences; and if these pages meet the eye of any fe- male whose mind and person has become corrupted by this fascinating and detestable practice, let her be assured that the consequences to her will be accom- CAUSES 01* FECUNDITY AND INFECUNDITY. 69 panied (if she still persists,) with even greater hor- rors; and let me, for her own sake, pray of her to break off the practice at once — its continuance will totally destroy the beauty both of form and features. General debility of the body, from whatever cause arising, may, for the time, produce impotency; that however, will pass away as strength is acquired; temporary irapoteucy may also be caused by any exciting or depressing passion, which is in operation during sexual congress. There have been persons of so cold a temperament as to be perfectly insensible to the blandishments of beauty, and without the least desire for sexual en- joyments; persons of this kind have, generally, white or fair hair, they have little or no beard; the face is pale; the flesh soft and hairless; the voice sharp, piercing and bell-like in sound, the eyes dull and melancholy; the shoulders straight, and the form rounded; the testicles are small and withered, pendu- lous and soft, the scrotum is flaccid, there is no hair on the pubes, the perspiration is acrid, the sensation of fear is easily excited, and the person displays pu- sillanimity on the least occasion; such persons who are said to be of profound lymphatic temperament, are impotent, for, from their state of apathy, erec- tion of the penis does not take place. Paralysis of the muscles of the penis, by prevent- ing an erection, ma}- also cause impotency; bad stric- ture, by preventing the ejaculation of the seminal fluid is another cause; large scrotal rupture, or great enlargement of the testicles, from disease, causing CAUSES OF FECUNDITY AND INFECUNDlfY. the penis to be imbedded in the scrotum, may cause impotency, but generally admits of relief. Mental causes may produce impotency, such as disgust for the object, the mind being occupied by abtruse studies; excessive desire, which produces so great a rigidity of the penis that the semen cannot be ejaculated; the fear of being impotent is not un- frequently the cause of impotency. Hatred for the wife, or satiety, may cause impotency with her, and yet with another woman, the man may be capable ot fulfilling his functions; excess of respectful love has also produced the same effect, as also a thousand other mental causes which might be cited, for impo- tency at one time, and fruitfulness at another; they all admit of cure by appropriate remedies if taken in time. The causes of impotency tn women are congenital malformations, or those produced by diseases; they are, at least the more obvious ones, absence, or ob- literations of the sexual organs, as the vagina, or uterus; the vagina being very small and contracted, or impervious from bands of adhesive matter cross- ing it, or tumors occupying it or want of rupture of the hymen, owing to extreme toughness of that mem- brane. There are also many other causes of impo- tency, as great confusion of anatomical structure, rendering sex doubtful, cohesion of the labia, etc., etc. Some of the causes admit of cure, others do not. It were in vain, in a work of this nature, to at- tempt to point out all the causes of impotency in Women; still more idle to suggest a method of cure, CAUSES 0^ FECUNDITY AND INFECUNDITY. 71 every case requiring a separate study from the sur- geon. L,et it be remembered that a woman may be impotent, that she may be incapable of receiving in the ordinary manner, the embraces of the male, and yet not be sterile. But I now have to speak of a very delicate subject; one, however, of not very rare occurrence. I mean the case of the woman allowing her husband all the gratification of the connubial relation without ex- periencing any of the pleasures of love's bashful rights, and no one but the woman who through years and years has born this trouble (sometimes secret- ly) in her heart knows anything about the blankness of life or the desert through which she passes; the picture we cannot draw. I w T ill only say the af- fection of man is not strong enough to put up with such a state of things and continue the relation at all. There are a few cases which it is impossible to re- lieve; fortunately only a few, if scientific medical aid be procured and persisted in sufficiently long, and there are actually many cases depending on some va- ginal or womb derangement easily curable, over- looked by the husband, not thought of by the regular medical attendant; but the ice is hid in the heart of the woman so deeply that even friends do not know it, still it continues to cause the world to feel cold and uninspiring as long as she lives, if it is uncured. The causes of sterility in women are many; a fre- quent one is leucorrhcea, or whites; some women are so irritable and tender, that they w T ill suffer great oain from sexual intercourse, and thus at least, un- fe CAUSES OF FECUNDITY AND INFECL'NDITY. til such irritability is allayed, sterility is produced. The absence of the uterus, would, of course, be a cause of sterility, as would also imperviousness of its mouth and neck, or the passage of the fallopian tubes to the ovaries being imperforate, or absence of these bodies; in these instances no cure can be looked for, except in the second, namely, imperforation of the mouth of the womb. If this cause was ascertain- ed, and the defect was occasioned by accident, as in- flammation of the part, causing adhesion, it might be remedied by proper instruments in the hands of a skillful surgeon; the first, and two last, cannot be remedied; in the first, there could be no place in which the foetus could grow; in the others there would either be no ovum or it could not pass into the womb. All diseases which produce constitution- al disturbance may cause sterility, as, also, do var- ious displacements of the parts of generation. To dwell on all the causes of sterility would fill a vol- ume, without adding much to the knowledge of the non-medical man; most of the causes, as already shown, admit of relief by surgical aid, which of them do so, it would be presumptuous in me to pro- nounce without an examination or history of the case. The moral or mental causes of sterility in women nearly resemble those of impotency in men; they are disgust, fear, hatred, timidity, excess of ardor, etc. Thus we find prostitutes seldom bear children while following their occupation, but wdien thev marry they become prolific, if they confine their favors to one man. CAUSES OF FECUNDITY AND INFECUNDITY. 73 I have dwelt longer on the subject of impotency and sterility than I intended, and yet their impor- tance is such that I fear I have not said enough. Some of the causes named could not be known to the persons themselves, and of course, could be deemed no bar to marriage. Habitual intoxication and habits of dissipation, should also bar marriage, as marriage with such per- sons, instead of being a blessing, would be a curse, and there is no doubt that habitual intoxication either prevents a union being prolific, or when off- spring is the result of such union, the}* are of a lower order of mental and bodily strength than are the children of more temperate persons. The venereal taint is often the cause of a union not being fruitful, as already pointed out. I cannot imagine a man or woman marrying, knowing they are thus situated; but should such a thing happen, they may reckon on either being barren, or having either dead, or children in a state of loathsome dis- ease, born to them. It would be futile to reason with such persons who could, for a moment, entertain the idea of marriage, knowing themselves to be so sit- uated. The idea is too horrible for any one to dwell upon one instant, who is not morally beneath the poor animals whom he dares to call brutes. PROLIFIC AND UNFRUITFUL MARRIAGES— CAUSES, ETC. There are several causes which may influence fe- cundity in healthy persons, and prevent them from having offspring merely from inattention and waut of knowledge of a few simple facts. 74 CAUSES OF FECUNDITY AXD INFECUNDrfY. Amongst others may be cited violence in consum - mating marital duties, which in most instances is un- necessary. Violence may be carried to so great an extent as to produce contusions of the soft parts of the woman, so that connection afterwards gives her excessive pain, and hence, places a bar on concep- tion. Disproportion of the genital organs is a source of much mischief. If rash means are resorted to in the consummation of marriage, the neck and mouth of the womb may be injured, and sterility be the consequence, though a little patience and manage- ment is all that is required to insure conception. It sometimes, however, happens that there is so very great a disproportion between the male and fe- male organs that copulation is next to, or entirely impossible, without great injury to the female. If the latter, however, is young, time may effect much, aided by very gentle and gradual means of dilata- tion, for the vagina is a canal capable of great exten- sion, if used gently. Roughness and violence, by producing inflammation would only increase the evil. It will be seen from the above that all violent at- tempts at coition are to be avoided. If persevered in, great and perhaps irreparable mischief may be done the woman; so much indeed that she may never af- ter be able to bear the approach of her husband, or if she does permit his embraces, it will be with fear and trembling, and this, like other mental emotions, will be sufficient to cause barrenness. Persons thus afflicted should consult me without delay, as I can CAUSE OF FECUNDITY AND INFECUNDITY. 75 in a large majority of those cases, give advice and remedies that afford immediate relief. They who wish to have children, should avoid too great and frequent exertion of the genital organs. Nothing is more likely to cause sterility than too frequent indulgence in amorous pleasures. When this is the case, it almost reduces the wife to the level of a courtezan, at least as far as her chance of becoming a mother extends, A very frequent cause of miscarriage, is the habit of still continuing to copulate as often during preg- nancy as before that event took place; and thus un- thinkingly, in a thousand cases, are the hopes of the married blighted, who had looked fondly forward to the day which would have made them parents. It is not, perhaps, necessary that during the whole of the period of pregnancy, sexual intercourse should be absolutely avoided, but it should be indulged in very sparingly in the earlier and middle months, and hardly at all in the latter ones. If the prompt- ings of instinct in the female are listened to, and acted upon, little mischief will arise, for Nature tells her plainly, by a feeling of almost disgust, that the approach of the husband will be detrimental to her. And I would advise all men who wish to hear themselves called by the sacred and endearing name of father, to control their own desires and wishes, however difficult it may be, for the sake of their un- born infant, and the loving and chosen one by their side. If they do this, they may hope to see a healthy offspring, and smiling wife and mother around their table to cheer the evening of their lives, instead of a 76 CAUSES OF FECUNDITY AND INFECUNDITY. pale and sickly woman, whose constitution has been ruined, whose blood has been drained, by frequent miscarriages, and whose very heart has been wrung by the hopes deferred, which maketh the heart sick — together with this, instead of the joyous voices of children in whom you would again live, you will have a voiceless and childless home. Choose then between them: a check for a time on your passions, or misery, such only as the old childless can feel, and remember that such would be the work of your own ungoverned passions. It seems almost unnecessary for me to warn my readers against having connection with their wives when the latter have their monthly illness or menses upon them; the act seems of so objectionable a nature that I should hope that the very thought would ex- cite disgust. It is expressly forbidden by Scripture, in chapters XVI and XVIII of Leviticus; in the last named chapter, verse 2 1 , the penalty of this, and other unclean acts, is specified: ' 'For whosoever shall commit them, shall be cut off from among My people' ' And again, chapter XX, verse 18 : 1 'And if a man shall lie with a woman, having her sickness, and shall uncover her nakedness, he hath discovered her fountain, and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood, and both of them shall be cut off from among My people." It has been held in detestation by all nations, and at all times. D' Israeli, in the Curiosities of Litera- ture, tells a rational story, in which the Devil, under the form of Solomon, is discovered in Solomon's CAUSES OF FECUNDITY AND INFECUNDITY. 77 harem, by the exhibition of his lust at this partic- ular time; and the Jewish Talmud expressly declares coition during the menses, to be one of the sins for the commission of which, women die in child-bed. The anger of God and the hatred of men does not, however, wholly exterminate the abominable desire, and wretches are in existence who induce their wives to submit to this pollution, destroying all delicacy of mind, and expose them to disease in some of the most odious forms. In woman it may stop the natu- ral discharge, which is replaced by one called leu- corrhcea, or whites, a very troublesome complaint, not easy to get rid of, and which generally renders a female unprolific. In man, this base indulgence may cause a loathsome disease, so like gonorrhoea that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the true from the false; it also frequently occasions excoria- tions on the penis, through oversight, nearly resem- bling those of a venereal nature, arising from con- nection with an abandoned woman. These excoriations are by neglect painful and te- dious of cure, and may be followed by sympathetic bubo and various other evils, which may also be communicated to the wife. The disadvantages arising from connection with a woman who, for a time, is declared by the law of God to be unclean, might be further dwelt upon, but •it is needless, as a man of sound mind, of religious feelings, of cleanliness — in short, he who is not worse than a brute beast, will not debase himself and his wife by being guilty of so disgusting a crime. 78 CAUSES OF FECUNDITY AND INFECUNDITY With those who are more debased than the brute it is vain to reason; it is vain to point out God's Holy Law; they understand it not, or disregard it for the sake of a momentary pleasure degrading to human nature. Such men are not to be restrained by considerations of decency or religion; let them be deterred from this atrocity by the consideration ot physical pain, the noxious disease to which they ex- pose themselves, and which they may communicate to their wives. I will close this chapter by giving such hygienic and moral precepts as are likely to be the means of securing a healthy, vigorous and intellec-' tual offspring; in them are also embodied the opin- ions of the celebrated Hufeland. Marry into a family free from hereditary disease, as gout, stone, gravel, herpes, scrofula, mania, dis- eases of the skin. ' 'Do not many a woman of a peculiar nervous tem- perament, those who are nervous, epileptical, hys- terical and subject to convulsions generally give birth to short-lived infants;" this is Hufeland' s opinion. I have, however, often known nervous and hysterical women cured by matrimony, and they have borne healthful infants — this precept is there- fore liable to exceptions. Do not marry a woman advanced in life, nor younger than eighteen or twenty; a man should not marry until he is four or five and twenty. Do not marry delicate, feeble women, and if you wish your children to live long, marry into a family remarkaWe for longevity, CAUSES OF FECUNDITY AND INFECUNDITY. 79 When married — do not indulge in the reproductive act but when the impulse is strong, and never at- tempt it during intoxication; if, under such circum- stances, a child be born, it would probably be a fool or imbecile; it should also be avoided if it produces more than temporary depression of spirits, or if it much affects the intellectual or physical powers; it must also be wholly abstained from during the pres- ence of the catamenia, or menses; for a month after child-birth, and be seldom and cautiously indulged in during pregnancy; it ought not to be performed for two hours after any meal, and the best time is undoubtedly in the morning; men who have very much corporal or mental excitement should also be moderate in this indulgence, or they will most like- ly suffer ill consequences. Never forget that a preg- nant woman is to be considered a laboratory in which is preparing a new human being, to which the slightest physical and moral emotion is injuri- ous; and on this latter precept, I must remark that this reflection ought to secure to the wife the most watchful care and anxiety of the husband under such circumstances. Several of the above precepts require the attention of women as well as men. 80 ONANISM, Onanism or Self-Pollution. Masturbation, the Sin of Onan, is the name com- monly given to this pernicious habit, which may be denned: a discharge of the semen by the stimulus of the virile organ with the hand; the habit, it is said, of the solitary monk and recluse, as well as of the in- considerate youth, and too often of those whose riper years should prevent their guilty indulgence in an act so revolting to humanity and so destructive to every sentiment and feeling of vigorous manhood. If we refer to the opinions expressed by the most celebra- ted physicians among the ancients or moderns, we find a remarkable uniformity in their opinions on this subject. Celsus remarks: ' 'These habits are always hurtful, and indulgence in them weakens the strong- est constitutions. ' ' Galen gives a corresponding ac- count of the evils caused by this vice. The late Mr. Benjamin Bell, the eminent surgeon of Edinburgh, also, in reference to the effects of this indulgence, says: "A habit so baneful to many of our youth, that I believe it to be more destructive in its effects than a greater proportion of all the diseases to which in early life they are liable." Besides rendering the patient himself miserable, it evidently entails the severest distress upon posterity by generating languor, debility and disease, instead of that ONANISM. 81 strength ot constitution, without which there can oe no enjoyment. L,allemand remarks: ' 'Our lunatic asylums afford many instances of insanity produced by this detestable practice. ' ' Nocturnal pollutions, or "wet dreams," are in most cases brought on by Onanism. After a short period has elapsed, the noc- turnal are now conjoined with diurnal pollutions; the semen passes off in the urine, or at stool, without sensation, and therefore unmarked by the patient. It frequently occurs, as a result of self-pollution, more especially when practiced in early youth, that the testicles do not attain their full size and powers of secreting the semen. This state has been termed ' 'an arrest of development, ' ' a phrase which simply means that the organs have ceased to grow at a per- iod of life previous to puberty. We have seen the case of a gentleman, aged 28, whose penis and tes- ticles were not larger than those of a boy ten years old. Other cases of similar character have also pre- sented themselves to our notice. Such instances are not beyond the influence of medicine, unless when they occur in the person of idiots. Wasting or dim- inution in the size and powers of the organs may oc- cur at any age. The testicle may retain its proper shape though diminished in size; it feels soft to the touch, and loses its elasticity and firmness. In tex- ture it is pale, and the blood vessels seem diminished in number, the spermatic cord becomes affected by the disease, the nerves shrink, and the cremaster muscle disappears. The thin gelatinous semen which is formed, is entirely devoid of spermatic granules and 82 ONANISM. sperma f ozoa. In other words, its fertilization power is lost, and impuissance gradually results. When disease is the cause of the atrophy, the testicles may alter in shape, — may become uneven and irregular — sometimes elongated as well as diminished in size and weight. There is one form of disease which fre- quently precedes che decay of the organs, and which is seldom observed by medical men, — a low inflam- mation, quite painless, acts upon the testicles and gradually increases the bulk, at the same time dim- inishing the firmness and consistency; in some in- stances the testicles almost feel as if dividing. On in- quiring into the origin of the cases, we frequently find that a swelled testicle, hernia humoralis, has ex- isted, caused by gonorrhoea. Hence the necessity of curing urethral discharges as rapidly as possible, and the care required in the use of astringent injections. Injuries of the head, or more especially the back part of the head, have been known to produce decay of the testicles, and this fact may tend to support the theory of the phrenologists, that the seat of amatory passions is in the cerebellum. Doubtless the brain exercises great influence on the desire for sexual in- tercourse, and it is equally certain that there is a re< ciprocal action of the generative organs upon the brain. Such is the similarity of structure of the brain and testicles, and so great the sympathy be- tween them, that an extensive experience during many years has proved that in some instances a spec- ies of derangement is caused by diseases of the genera* tiye organs. It is chiefly on the youth of both sexes ONANISM. 83 that self-pollution commits most ravages. This is so much more to be deplored, as it thus strikes at the very root of society, and has a direct and imme- diate tendency to destroy it, by enervating and debil- itating, almost from the very cradle, those whom nature's God intended as the best adapted to preserve and adorn it. How many of the debilitated and ema- ciated objects daily present themselves to our view, with pallid and haggard countenances and sunken eyes, who are indebted solely to the abominable practice of masturbation for this state of debility and exhaustion ? Disabled from rendering service either to themselves or friends, they drag on a life totally useless to others and a burden to themselves, in the midst of society in which they are despised. A fre- quent cause of the practice of Onanism is ignor- ance of the enormity of the crime, — a crime of which an eminent divine has written: — ' 'In itself it is mon- strous and unnatural, — in its practice, filthy and odious to extremity, — its guilt is crying, and its consequence ruinous, — it destroys all conjugal affec- tion, — prevents natural inclination, — and tends to extinguish the hopes of posterity." The most experienced medical practitioners are of the opinion that the development of the nervous sys- tem, and the predominance of its action over parts of the organism, are also amongst the causes of mastur- bation. We comparatively seldom see this habit in- dulged in by robust and vigorous persons, whose muscular and digestive organs are in full develop- ment; they are generally more disposed to exercise 84 ONANISM. their limbs, as well as their appetite for the pleas- ures of the table, in which their minds are too much engaged to allow them to addict themselves to indul- gence in other gratifications. This excessive develop- ment of nervous sensibility, which is the source of so many praiseworthy actions, as well as of so many vicious enormities, and which, according to the direc- tion it receives, gives rise to the most splendid or to the basest of results, may be derived either from natural disposition or from early education. It is immediately after early infancy, at that epoch when the tacuties of the new being commence to be devel- oped with energy, that he runs the greatest danger. If then an unfortunate accident, or, as too trequently happens, the indelicate touches of strange hands, disclose to the young subject what may at this time be considered a new sense, there takes place at this period toward the genital organs a greater or less con- centration of the vital forces, and the patient, led on by the delusive pleasure, gives himself up with a fury to a vice which is soon sure to destroy him, or draw down on him evils more terrible than death itself. Another most dangerous period of life is the approach of puberty, which varies in this climate from the age of eighteen to twenty-two. The rapid growth of the generative organs, — the increased power and fre- quency of erection, — the rapid secretion of semen, — all lead to the performance of that act which is sure to occasion the deepest remorse. It is the attentive consideration of these varied facts which explains to v us how the habitual exercise of the genital organs, ONANISM. 85 either by coition or masturbation, may so far get the better of the will of the individual as to force him to indulge in practices, the object of which is to gratify the venereal stimulus. In almost all such cases the shameful act, when finished, is in varibly followed by bitter regret; but as the organs obtain repose, the resolutions which he has adopted of relinquishing the baneful practice, and which he had thought noth- ing could shake, are soon forgotten. We have fre- quently heard patients exclaim, "Oh! how often and often have I solemnly sworn never again to pollute myself; and how often have I promised myself, when in the act, that it should be for the last time. ' ' If we compare the injurious effects of excessive in- dulgence in coition and those of masturbation, we shall find that the causes which combine to render excess in the former dangerous, act with much more energy in the second, and that several circumstances peculiar to the latter render the results of its fre- quent repetition more serious. It is well known that the man who addicts himself to the solitary and de- basing practice of Onanism is kept for a considera- ble time in a state of general and permanent rigidity of the entire body; this state of tension is sometimes carried so far that very painful cramps are caused by it, and the fatigue which results obliges the pa- tient to relax his efforts occasionally to take rest. It is sufficient to observe the circumstances which accompany masturbation to see that the nervous system must be directly affected by it, not only from the violent and continued contractions which it 86 ONANISM. occasions throughout the entire muscular system, but also by the prodigious tension of the imagina- tion, which is in cases wound up to the highest state, in order to represent to the devoted votaries of self- pollution the fantastical object of their disgusting transports. Another cause which renders Onanism more dangerous than excessive indulgence in coition, arises from the circumstance that it is much easier to addict one's self to the one than abuse the other; for when a man gives himself up to the natural pleas- ures of love, the fatigue felt, as well by his compan- ions as by himself, will have the effect of preventing his exhaustion; whilst on the other hand there is no bridle, no restraint on him who practices self-abuse; the former is generally obliged to wait for a favora- ble moment and opportunity to indulge in his ex- cess, — every moment answers the purpose of the lat- ter, — all he requires is mere solitude. He constant- ly carries about him the sting which torments him; he alternately finds his imagination exciting his or- gans, and his organs inflaming his imagination. In short, there is nothing to distract or take up the attention of one who has addicted himself to Onan- ism, whilst a thousand circumstances are constantly distracting the attention of the man who is disposed for the enjoyment of a female. Another serious danger in this vice is the period of life when men addict themselves to it; we have occasionally met with it in quite young children, most frequently amongst full-grown boys and young men; for the various difficulties and impediments which ONANISM. 87 prevent copulation before a certain age do not exist in the case of Onanism;— thus the generative propen- sity, called forth prematurely and gratified viciously, steps in amidst all the natural efforts of growth, with its unnatural train of moral excitations, sensual shocks and physical pollutions. No wonder that the Father of Medicine should notice its effects; J&ti us gives the following description:-' 'young people have the air and appearance of old age; they become pale, effeminate, lazy, benumbed, stupid and imbecile; they have a total distaste for every thing, are totally inca- pacitated and may even become paralytic. ' ' In short, when we look upon the horrible consequences result- ing from this practice, are we not justified in regard- ing it as a lingering, moral and physical suicide? As we have intimated, the practice of Onanism, when once indulged in, is difficult to abandon; the patient is perhaps for years unconsciousof any change and no one part of the body feels weakened more than another; but there gradually comes over all a creeping languor, a_ want of energy, a sensation of las- situde, a depression of spirits, ennui, and a disinclina- tion for society; these feelings at length increase so as to attract the attention of the patient and his friends. He and they are sensible that he is not what he formerly was; his face becomes pallid; the circles around his eyes depressed and darkened, a thinness is visible in his looks, his hands are frequently cold and clammy, he cannot bear the cold he was wont to do, his old pursuits have no attractions for him, nor do any new ones attract his attention; his memory 88 ONANISM. becomes imperfect, his vision not so clear nor his sight so strong as formerly, morbid sensations annoy him; at length he sinks into fatuity, and either is carried off by some rapid decline or hastens his end by laying vi- olent hands on himself. Such is the history of many cases of suicide of which we read in the newspapers. Thanks to the exertions of Medical Science, aided by the researches of many skillful physicians, who have devoted their lives to the investigation of these diseases; thanks to the important discoveries in chemistry, and to the light thrown on the cause of disease by the use of the microscope, we have not of- ten presented to us cases so desperate as the above. It is difficult to depict a more truly miserable being than the slave to licentiousness. His imagination burning with filthy, unnatural glow; his bodily or- gans, taxed to the utmost, weary and jaded, refuse to obey the stimulus of that never slumbering depravity which goads his fancy in the darkness of night, in the dreams of his broken rest, and in the worse than dreamy abstractions of the cheerless day; he is tor- mented with desires he can never gratify, shut out from those enjoyments accorded only to virtuous moderation; the blossoms of youth [perhaps the flower of manhood], the supremacy of mind, all de- graded, obliterated, gone! I^et not the intensely pru- rient, yet seemingly modest, victim of self-pollution lay the flattering unction to his soul, that from the eye of his fellow mortals he can conceal his unmanly practices. It is written upon his forehead; the phys- iognomy, that faithful mirror of the soul and body, ONANISM. 8i» gives clear indication of the internal disorder. The complexion and plumpness which jointly confer a youthful look, and which is the sole substitute for beauty — for without this even beauty produces no " other effect than cold admiration; — this complexion and plumpness are the things that first disappear, a leanness succeeds; the skin becomes rough, often of leaden tinge; the eyes loose their brilliancy, and by their languor express that of the whole frame; the lips loose their vermillion hue, the teeth their white- ness, the hair falls off, and it is no uncommon thing for the whole body to become bent and distorted. Abashed, the sufferer shrinks from the gaze of his fellow-man, fancying suspicion in the eye of every one who looks upon his sunken, haggard, pale, un- meaning, inexpressive face; his dull, lack-lustre eye; his thin and tremulous form — which all betray him to the practical observer. For Self-pollution en- tails UPON ITS VICTIMS MARKS AS LEGIBLE TO THE EYE THAT CAN UNDERSTAND THEM, AS THE SCARS OF small- pox; and this proves a striking fulfil- ment of the prophetic warning, — "There is nothing done in secret that shall not be revealed. , ' ' nor hid- den, even from the recognition of mortals, that shall not ultimately be made, even to them, evident as noonday. Shall we not therefore raise our testimony against these vices? Sir Astley Cooper justly re- marks in one of his lectures:— "If one of these mis- erable cases could be depicted from the pulpit as an illustration of the bad effects of a vicious and intem- perate course of life, it would, I think, strike the 96 ONANISM. mind with more terror than all the preaching in the world. The irritable state of the patient leads to the destruction of life, and in this way annually great numbers perish. Undoubtedly the list is considerably augmented by maltreatment, and the employment of injudicious remedies." And the late learned Dr. Pereira, whose abilities as a practi- cal physician were only equalled by his acquired learning and innate knowledge of human nature, ob- serves, in reviewing "Nervous Exhaustion," — "There is a vast deal of injury done, not merely to public morals, but to the individual health, by the abuses and excesses of the reproductive functions; the primitive fathers and physicians have duly noticed the evils to which I allude, and every experienced medical practitioner can attest their frequent occurrence. It is all very well for sentimentalists and the mock- modest to declaim about the notice of them; but just- ice, morality, and the preservation of health, as well as the perpetuation of the human race, demand it. Such, however, is the hypocrisy of the day, that even a notice in a dead language is abused and condemn- ed by the ignorant and intolerant, who are unable to appreciate the importance of the subject. This is a bold step in the right direction." Nor are the evils of self pollution confined to the male sex only. That it rages with deadly virulence amongst young women, especially amongst young ladies in the higher circles of society, is a matter of notoriety. Dr. Fowler writes that, "women, young, and apparently modest, are dying by thousands of ONANISM. 91 consumption, of female complaints, of nervous or spinal complaints, of general debility, and of other ostensible complaints innumerable, and of some of insanity, caused solely by this practice." The effect of self-pollution in the male is similar in the female; the results common to both are impo- tency in the one and sterility or barrenness in the other. We observe amongst them much tendency to hysterical complaints. Consumption numbers among its victims young and fair, who have first brought on its seed by self-abuse. The glairy discharge, so com- mon and so weakening, and which is generally termed the ' ' Whites, ' ' is another frequent result of this error. We do not mean to assert that in every instance this discharge is thus caused. I have known many in- stances where it has been caused by excessive in- tercourse with the husband; but when it occurs amongst unmarried women of a certain age, self-pol- lution, though not the invariable cause, is one of the most prominent predisposing. But enough on this very painful subject — we probe the wound deeply that we may sooner heal it. Should this fall into the hands of one who has sinned, let her remember that science and skill may do much to restore her to health and happiness. — let her repent, and pray that ' 'she sin no more. ' ' Many individuals scarcely turned forty years of age, and sometimes even earlier, who have lived rather freely, are not unfrequently about that period of life greatly changed in their powers of sexual inter- course. They may, indeed, in general health and 92 ONANISM. personal appearance, be stout, and for several years not very sensible of the degeneration of their powers; but the frequency of their inclination for such du- ties gradually becomes much diminished, and that is a symptom which is at all times indicative of ap proaching impotence; for the inclination, gradually and entirely ceasing, the power speedily follows, or rather both are lost together. Many who have unwarily acquired the habit of self-pollution, have been convinced, by reading this treatise, of its iniquity and injurious consequences to health, and have determined to give it up, thinking that by so doing they may recover their prestine health and vigor. In this, however they are deceived. A new and unnatural association having been estab- lished between the organs of generation and the mind, the bad consequences of the practice do not cease when the habit is left off. Involuntary dis- charges of semen take place during sleep, occasion- ally occurring as frequently as two or three times in the course of one night. The effect of these emis- sions is extremely debilitating; all the symptoms al- ready described are aggravated and the mind sinks into a state of deepest dejection. Here there is no time to lose; they should immediately apply for the necessary medicines, and the practice being dis- continued (certainly a main point in the case) they may confidently anticipate the speedy renova- tion of their constitution. I therefore recommend an early application for advice and assistance, which in every case will be given with kind consideration and undeviating attention that will give confidence to the timid and restore vigor to the debilitated. NOCTURNAL EMISSIONS. 93 Ot Nocturnal Emissions, Seminal ^eakness, Impotency, Nervous Debility. The secretory glands of the human body form an apparatus, the action of which is unvarying and con- stant. The liver is perpetually employed in the for- mation of bile; the kidneys, in the separation of urine from the blood. In fact all the secretions are derivable from the living and vitalizing fluid. The gall-bladder is provided as the temporary receptacle for the bilious, soapy fluid secreted by the liver; and as the wants of the system require, it is poured into the first intestine to assist in the separation of the nutritive portion of the partially digested aliment. Precisely analogous is the action of the testicles, pouring their appropriate secretion into the recep- tacle denominated the "vesicals seminales," or seed- bladders, not to be absorbed again into the system, but rather to be excreted as indispensable to the re- productive act. Hence the stimulus arising from dis- tention of these vessels becomes a pleasurable impulse of the necessary multiplication of the species; and if sexual desire were susceptible of gratification ^nly as the result of instinct; if depraved man, instead of lashing his genital organs to exertion by 1 thy conversation, lewd and impure imaginations, 94 NOCTURNAL EMISSIONS. and the various causes which are entirely absent among the brute creation; if, like them, he were con- tent to follow the dictates of his unerring organiza- tion, diseases arising from excess would be unknown, equally among us as with them ; and their proverbial, and almost certain fecundity be but the transcript of our own. As the seminal vessels (like the gall-blad- ier) will not allow of extraordinary distention, the thinner portions of the semen become partially ab- sorbed; and though thereby the bulk of that secre- tion be lessened, yet the residum becoming more acrid and stimulating, the impulse to excretion is thus rendered unconquerable, and so nature, in the absence of the act to which the stimulating impulse tends, occasionally relieves herself of the superabundant secretion. Of this act men are mostly unconscious, if, however, it arrests attention, its frequency and its consequences are the circumstances that rouse the proper and natural fears of the sufferer. A popular author on this subject observed — "the causes of these nightly or l wet dreams' as they are called, are numerous. In the first place the testicles must have acquired, through the practice of Onan-. ism — for involuntary emissions rarely assume the formidable character here depicted, except induced by masturbation — a morbid sensitiveness, that, on the slightest local or neighboring irritation, they put in action their secretive powers. In fact the infirm* ity might not inaptly be termed a consumption of those glands. Consequently, the cause may be, at this period, piles or hcemorrhoids, constipation, indices- NOCTURNAL EMISSIONS. 95 tion, irritability of the bladder or kidneys, etc., etc.. for they all, more or less, are present and perhaps, severely aggravated by stimuli, of one kind or other, taken during the day or previously to rest. Another occasion may be the loss of tone of the absorbents, and also loss of sensibility of the passages through which the discharge escapes; thereby acting as somno- lent sentinels only to the brain, whereby even the lit- tle control the will might possess is lost. ' ' So by thi£ we perceive that this infirmity is not merely local de- bility of the generative apparatus, but that many othef functions of life participate in it. The constant drain from the testicles impoverishes the whole system, and the same phenomena ensue as when Onanism is practiced to the same extent. The semen of a person tormented with this infirmity is thin, watery, sickly odored, and rarely prolific. Although I have al' ready depicted the consequences of unnatural indul- gence in the previous pages, the following passage from a more able pen than my own exhibits so well the desolating effects alluded to, that its transcript is too useful to my purpose to neglect: — "The mus- cles of the youth become soft; he is idle; his body becomes bent; his gait is sluggish and he is scarce- ly able to support himself. The digestion becomes enfeebled, the breath fetid; the intestines inactive, the excrements hardened in the rectum, and pro- ducing additional irritation of the seminal conduits in its vicinity. The circulation being no longer free, the youth sighs often, the complexion is livid, and the skin, on the forehead especially is studded NOCTURNAL EMISSIONS. with pimples. 'The corners of the mouth are length- ened, the nose becomes sharp, the sunken eyes de- prived of brilliancy, and enclosed in blue circles, are cast down; no look of gayety remains, — the very as- pect is criminal. General sensibility becomes ex- cessive, producing tears without a cause; perception is weakened and memory almost destroyed; distrac- tion or absence of mind, renders the judgment unfit for any operation The imagination gives birth only to fantastics and fears without ground; the slightest allusion to the prenorainating passion produces a motion of the muscles of the face, the flush of shame or a state of despair. The wretched being finishes by shunning the face of man and dreading the ob- servation of woman. His character is entirely cor- rupted, or his mind is totally stupefied. Involun- tary loss of the reproductive liquid takes place dur- ing the night, and also during the daily motions; and there ensues a total exhaustion, bringing on heaviness of the head, singing in the ears, and fre- quent faintings, together with pains, convulsive trembling and partial paralysis." The reproductive power may not be entirely destt oy- ed by that state of generative debility which is engen- dered by nocturnal emissions, and yet very painful consequences of another character may unquestion- ably arise. A healthy female may become pregnant, from the feeble yet exhausting effort of a man whose constitutional power is seriously broken, yet it would be unfair, unphilosophical, unsupported by any analo- gy drawn from the history of the lower animals, to ex- SEMINAL WEAKNESS. 97 pect that this circumstance would not tell most pow- erfully and detrimentally upon the offspring. The opinions of the learned, in all ages, have not varied widely on this subject. Lucretius, and a great num- ber of ancient physiologists, admitted this doctrine. That a great many considered that there was a mix- ture of fluids, and that these, united in the sexual organs of the female, were animated, developed and changed into a being resembling those who furnished them. Farther, that the most vigorous of the two de- termined the sex; and if this principle be admitted, it is easy to trace every puny or diseased peculiarity the father or mother may transmit. It appears to be the general opinion that whichever parent fur- nishes the most elaborate, the most abundant semi- nal fluid, would impress the lineaments and form upon the offspring; that the most vigorous parent would possess the most genital power, would deter- mine the sex and physical character of the infant; and consequently that the offspring would most cer- tainly resemble this parent both in mind and body. If genital power be equal, the child may be ex- pected to resemble both. But this can scarcely be expected, where there is debility of the generative organs in either parent, and the elaboration of im- perfect fluids, from their too frequent escape. OF SEMINAL WEAKNESS, The prominent character of Seminal Weakness is general not partial \ debility. The seminal vessels are fitted to perform certain functions with progress- ive regularity, which, if undisturbed by disease, or 98 SEMIIv h WEAKNESS, unimpaired by vicious perversion of the natural sex- ual habit, they will continue to execute through the whole range of active manhood. Sexual ability in man is a mysteriously compound power, requiring a perfect association \n the action of the secretory or- gans of the seminal secretion and the instrument of its ejaculation and discharge. Any functional ir- regularity or want of correspondency between the action of the testicles and the penis is therefore an unquestionable state of disease; for since both are so closely and intimately dependent on each other, the least want of exactness in their adaption might be the cause of Impotency. Whatever be the mode in which this deviation from the healthy and natu- ral action of the parts is first induced, it is not diffi- cult to trace its inevitable effect in the production of Seminal Debility and the ultimate destruction of sexual power. Irritation, however engendered, rap- idly propagates itself along the urethra; and chronic inflammation of the prostatic and most sensitive portion of that canal is rapidly established, and the muscles surrounding the membraneous division of the urinary passage are sympathetically affected with irregular spasm. The irritation extends itself by continuity of surface to the seminal vesicles, and even to the testicles, producing in the former unnat- ural evacuations, and in the latter an exaggerated thin secretion, too rapidly elaborated, and therefore, for all the purposes of generation, worthless. Among individuals so affected, on attempting in- tercourse with the sex, the emission is too quickly dis- SEMINAL WEAKNESS 9» charged, nocturnal pollutions are frequent — indeed these are often the immediate precursors of seminal weakness — or the seme?i is expelled du>i?ig the evacu- ation of the bladder and bowels. With some, there is more or less complete extinction of the venereal desire, the erections become few and feeble, incom- plete, or absolutely impossible. This condition of the sexual organs has its appropriate general charac- ter, analogous to those which are attributable to the wilful and determinate pollutions of earlier youth; the sufferer, now perhaps too late, sensibly alive to the origin of his weakness, becomes timid, fearful, careless of the world around him, his mind absorbed in the consideration of his malady, until the contin- ual presence and the recurrence of the same train of painful thought involve him in the worst form of monomania, or rather the premature childishness of old age. All the functions of the body languish and are deranged, until a complete and general degrada- tion sweeps with uncontrolled dominion over every power and faculty both of body and soul. The semi* nal fluid may dribble away without pleasure, without erections, without the natural ejaculations, aud its loss, when occurring in this manner, gives rise ta the same or indefinitely greater evils than those which occur from mere sexual excess, or what is worse, from self-pollution. The term Impotence is applied as relative to that inability or incapacity of the performance of the sexual act, which may arise from a variety of causes, but from none so frequently as the excesses of Sen- SEMINAL WEAKNESS. sualism, more especially the secret, vicious, and soli- tary indulgence of self-pollution. It is important, in a practical point of view, that we do not confound this condition of the generative system with Steril- ity, inasmuch as a male who is sterile, or a barren female, may possess a perfect aptitude for coition, though for all the purposes of procreation absolutely incapable. In Impotence there is a temporary or permanent destruction of those powers which are absolutely essential for generative purposes. Sterility may therefore be defined as inability to propagate the species, without affecting the sexual congress; while Impotency in either sex, whether natural or acquired, whether as the result of disease or malformation, entirely precludes its performance. Impotence, re- sulting from physical imperfection of the sexual organs, is mostly incurable; but when originating in such disorders of the urinary or genital apparatus as are tracable to irritation or inflammation of those structures, or to conditions however produced, thence resulting, such as thickening of the bladder, enlarge- ment of the prostrate gland or testicles, wasting of the penis, especially long-continued gleets and stric- tures, our first efforts are naturally directed to the removal of those proximate causes of Impotence; and if the habit be still indulged, the baneful ultimate, or primary cause of so severe a deprivation. If, under those circumstances, Nature does not readily resume her wonted functions, if there be remain- ing debility, it is necessary to invigorate the frame by the employment, not merely of those diffusible &EMINAL WEAKNESS. 101 stimuli which act generally upon the whole system, but by the administration of those remedies which are known to act immediately upon the generative organs. If there be present excessive irritability, it is necessary to employ such remedies as tend to di- minish irritation in the morbidly sensitive organs. Impotence in the male may arise from a wide di- versity of conditions. Incapacity of erection, gener- ally referable to self-pollution; Impotence, arising from a want of power of retention in the seminal vessels, induced by morbid susceptibility of those vessels, and brought about in like manner by a per* sistence in the same vicious practice; Impotence, from inability of retention resulting from repletion of those vessels, all demand a variety of treatment peculiar to the precise condition of the parts. Impo- potence from mental influence has also its appropri- ate management. Exclusive of this, the generative infirmity under consideration, though occasionally arising from simple disease, is ascribable in by far the greater majority of instances to the excesses of Sensualism, either with women, or, more commonly still, from that vile excess to which such frequent al- lusion has been made in these pages. Iyong-pro- tracted chastity or continence is not to be overlooked as a cause of impotence; the very reverse of the de- grading habit of self-pollution, it is not only com- paratively rare, but offers in its very nature the in- dications of a cure. But that long-continued de- bauchery, whether with women or by masturbation, is to be assigned as the most common and prominent 102 SEMINAL WEAKNESS. of the causes of Impotence, is a fact admitted by all systematic writers, and amply and painfully con- firmed by my own experience. Mons. Pinel ob- serves: — "The impotence caused by the latter ex- cess reduces youth to the nullity of old age, and is too often incurable." Fortunately, the records of a numerous list of cases prove that recovery of the powers of manhood is not (under judicious manage- ment) so altogether hopeless as might seem to be the fact, trusting only to the observations of those medical men who have made these subjects their pe- culiar and exclusive study. Impotence is often caused by debility of the geni- tal organs; induced by precocious venereal enjoyments or by the unrestrained abuse of the delicate struct- ures in any method that tends to produce repeated and severe evacuations of the seminal fluid. If Im- potence results from self-pollution, there is a want of erection, and should a seminal emission take place, the semen does not possess its prolific power, and thus the man is at once Impotent and Sterile. This form of impotence is truly deplorable; and un- fortunately it is the most prevalent variety; neverthe- less, the author has cured many persons laboring under this distressing complication, although several involuntary diurnal as well as nocturnzl emissions have regularly occurred without amorous impulse. Next to Self -pollution, excessive venery is a frequent cause of impotence, as well as of sterility among the male sex. This is a frequent cause of want of off- spring" in young unmarried persons. In these cases, SEMINAL WEAKNESS. 103 the semen may escape without the aid of the ejacu- latory muscles, is imperfect in quality, devoid of power until the health be improved, or, if impreg- nation ensues, the child undoubtedly partakes of the debility of the parent, soon to be consigned to a premature grave, the victim of that nameless atrophy or wasting decay which hurries thousands of infants annually to the tomb. In these cases the male par- ent generally suffers from inflammation of the sem- inal vesicles, or there is a seminal weakness, with more or less involuntary discharge. The surest means by which sound and vigorous children may be engendered is a good constitution, not enfeebled by excessive waste of those powers which in their assemblage constitute the manifesta- tion of the living principle. It is admitted, not mere- ly by philosophic writers who have speculated deep- ly upon the subject, but by all who have paid the least attention to the facts connected with such a statement, that not merely the physical but the moral dispositions of the parents are transmitted by gener- ation; hence, if a sound mind in a sound body be the first, greatest and most lasting blessing, and its deprivation or absence the greatest possible curse, how imperatively necessary is the obligation to cal- culate closely the tendency of vicious indulgences, to avoid the contamination of depraved habits, and to correct and elude the consequences of that debilit}' already imposed upon the generative organs by sen- sual excess! Impotence and Sterility are usually the results of wilful imprudence. Malformation is a di- 104 SEMINAL WEAKNESS. rect interposition of creative wisdom; its occurrence is comparatively rare, but failing power is not only exceedingly common, but generally constitutes a self-inflicted evil. Diseased and delicate parents pro- create diseased and weakly offspring. The same re- sults are observed in plants and animals. Can it be supposed that the physical powers, the sympathies, of a beautiful woman of an excellent constitution are in unison with those of a man whose best energies were long ago expended in the premature and illicit excesses of lawless excitement, whose youth has been a hurried history of wild enjoyment, whose passions have been lashed past the natural powers of bodily organization, and who now brings his decrepit efforts as a worthless offering at the shrine of matrimonial sanctity ? Or worse still — is there a mockery more deep, more bitter, than that desolation of spirit which an affectionate woman must feel on finding when she clasps, entwined within her circling em- brace, the mere wreck of Sensualism; the horrible victim of self-pollution; the creature who, having trained his imagination and bodily powers to mere fancied enjoyments, is now deprived almost, if not entirely, of the capability of resuming the actions for which his generative organs were destined. Woman's scorn must be the more intense, because from the very nature of her own position she is pre- cluded from giving vent to her feelings of anger and vexation. Love cannot be reciprocal in such cases; animal or organic impulse will prefer that which is more accordant with itself; even beasts prefer males SEMINAL WEAKNESS. 105 which are possessed of vigor, power, and beauty, and this instinct is implanted by Nature in all animals. Whatever perversion civilization may effect in out feelings and manners, it cannot extinguish this in- stinct. And this is an eminently wise ordination, as tending to the perpetuity of a healthy race of human beings. If Sensualism has impaired the powers, not of both parents, but of one only, the punishment of the offence is either Sterility or debility; or pain, dis- ease, and death transmitted to the children and re- flected back with sorrow upon the parents. Impo- tence, then, is the last crowning scourge of sexual imperfection, and demands for its removal the most cautious application of the resources of the healing art. The treatment of the chronic diseases of the generative system has been strangely neglected and signally misunderstood. The efficacy of well direct- ed efforts has been much distrusted in this matter, and it is remarkable that both the patient and practitioner contribute to these impediments; for as the latter has been accustomed to see his remedies speedy in their effects, he is himself discouraged if they do not immediately produce the desired benefit. Nor is it any wonder that the patient becomes incred- ulous of the promised relief; neither of them recol- lecting that the morbid states have been slowly pr> duced, and cannot therefore be speedily changed. Self-pollution, the frequent cause of sexual Impo- tence and sterility, is generally the habit of the best years of youthful life; and its deadening impress 106 SEMINAL WEAKNESS. often tells with deplorable certainty, long after the baneful practice has been relinquished, Time must therefore be afforded for the rectification of that artificial state into which the powers of the system have been wantonly plunged. It is evidently the ab- sence of fixed principles, in our pathology of the generative system, that has given such unbridled license to quackery. There has always existed a vagueness of opinion respecting their nature, and an unsettled doctrine as to the most rational methods to be adopted for their mitigation and cure. The commu- nication of disordered action is an inevitable result of indulgence in any mode of sensualism, either exces- sive, or contrary to the order of nature and the con- stitution of our being; and the nature of that per- verted action may be readily anticipated. In fact we see it exemplified in excessive irritability of the blad- der and seminal vesicles, producing incapability for retention, disease of the spinal marrow and brain, spasm of the urethra, and stricture, and effeminate flaccidity of the penis, testicles and scrotum. Can it be«expected that these organs should be capable under such circumstances of fulfilling their appropriate office in the task of procreation? Most assuredly not. Where Impotence is consequent upon that baneful propensity, which cannot be sufficiently stig- matized, its extent of severity is far greater than when produced by excessive indulgence with women, because the vital fluid that could have improved the stamina of the system has been lost without satisfac- tion; consequently no gratification of the mind has Seminal weakness. been had in counterpoise to compensate, and in some measure to repair, the expenditure of power. The man who, from his anxiety to indulge to the utmost his libidinous propensities seeks for variety among women, may certainly find in such variety a new stimulus efficient for the occasion, and may be able to accomplish more frequent repetitions of the sexual act than the sober married man who is faithful to one; but we cannot overlook the fact that this is undoubtedly accomplished at the expense of a corre- sponding amount of unnaturally excited energy, and the ultimate results of such efforts tell with fearful and tremendous horrors upon the helpless and de- bilitated votary of greedy pleasure. The nightly partner of a husband's bed silently offers only that gratification which is demanded by the sexual organs, when fully charged with seminal fluid and impatient for relief; to such a man the stimulus of variety is unsought, contemned, forbidden, as contrary not merely to all laws, human and divine, but as direct- ly opposed to his well-being, to the maintenance of his animal organization in health, strength, and useful- ness. Here, then, the natural laws of his physical constitution harmonize most admirably with the higher sanctions of morality. The actual amount of enjoyment realized by the temperate is, in the long run, far greater; power is maintained until old age, and a vigorous offspring is engendered; while the hasty, violent, and forced gratifications of the Sensualist, though vivid for a moment, are succeeded by that worst form of helplessness — insatiable desire 108 SEMINAL WEAKNESS. appended to diseased and powerless organs. The draining of the seminal fluid which occurs either from excessive indulgence in venereal gratifications, or from solitary vice, is not equally great in every instance. There are some individuals who are not rendered absolutely, but only partially impotent. They can accomplish the sexual act occasionally, and with severe effort, to the disgust, doubtless, of the female, or they are tolerably able, yet unprolific. Their powers are weakened, not altogether destroyed. These patients have resources left in surgical skill. If these things be so (and who will dare to contra- vene their truth, founded as it is on ordinary every- day observation of mankind?) it follows that there are, and may be, varieties of Seminal Weakness, orig- inating most commonly in Nocturnal Emissions, and these, dependent in many instances, but not invari- ably so, on the unnatural practice of self-pollution, to which such ample reference has been made in the foregoing pages. That these emissions lead to the most deplorable consequences, independent of the injury done to the generative function, is indisput- able. The most studious people, and those ot a sple- netic cast, are subject to this infirmity, and the dis- charge of semen is commonly so considerable, that they fall into a slow wasting consumption. A Roman physician (whose opinion is supported by John of Acarius, author of a work composed for the Emper- or) observes: "If nocturnal emissions continue any time, the necessary consequences are consumption and death; for the most balsamic part of the humor EFFECTS OF SELF-ABUSE. 109 and animal spirit is dissipated; the whole body falls away, and particularly the back; the patients become feeble, dry and pale; they languish in slow, melan- choly agony." Let this antiquated, }*et terrifically correct portraiture, deter the thoughtless from prac- tices which lead to such a state; and those in whom it is commencing, let not incipient evil be deemed unworthy of their most serious consideration. The Moral and Physical Effects of Self-Abuse, Spermatorrhoea and Impotence. All the faculties are weakened by indulgence in this vice. The sense of hearing loses its acuteness. and much annoyance is caused by noise and singing in the ears; sometimes even deafness results. The eyes lose their brilliancy, and appear dull; the pu- pils are more or less dilated. According to Richtei —one of the most eminent of surgical authorities— "No general weakening causes operate on the eyes and occasion total blindness so powerfully and so 110 EFFECTS OF SELF-ABUSE. often as premature and excessive indulgences in ve- nereal pleasures. ' ' Another of the evils resulting from self-pollution is failure in the power of the mind, especially the memory. In short, it may be stated with the utmost confidence that there is not an intelligent faculty with which the beneficent Cre- ator has blessed us, that is not liable to be impaired by these causes. It is a curious fact that the habit of self-pollution is invariably followed by a diminution in the size of the penis. The organ shrinks to one- half its former outline, or in those who have prac- ticed it in youth, does not attain to full growth. The power of perfect erection is altogether destroyed; when coition is attempted, the requisite solidity ia not maintained, or if an entrance into the vagina be partially effected, it is followed by a premature emis- sion. Let not the victim of secret vice flatter himself his unmanly act escapes detection. Dr. Armstrong observes, — "I think I should know a person in the streets who has addicted himself to this vice, by merely walking behind him, from his peculiar gait." From the commencement of the unfortunate habit of self-pollution, which is invariably the cause of seminal weakness, there is frequently a loss of desire for sexual intercourse; or, where the desire is felt, a repetition of the unmanly habit is preferred to coition in the natural way. This, when persisted in, causes the face to become pale, bloated and cadaverous, the body feeble and emaciated, and an impeded circula- tion in the extremities. Then occur trembling hands, dim eyes, confused ringing in the ear, som^- EFFECTS OF SELF-ABUSE. Ill times deafness, accompanied with frequent and violent headache. A nervous dread and loss of energy are very common, and we have frequently heard patients confess that they have walked their rooms for hours together, at night, fearing to go to bed. This is often experienced when the nocturnal seminal emis- sions are numerous. We may here observe that the practice of Onanism may sometimes be indulged in without apparent ill effects for a time. Some are affected in a month or two;some may escape for years; but none entirely escape, for it is impossible to violate any law of Nature and Nature's God, without evil consequences resulting. The practice of Onanism is a moral and physical crime, consequently the punish- ment is twofold. Thus, while the bodily vigor is lost, and senses lose their keenness, the mind also becomes affected, the memory fails, the judgment becomes affected, and the patient becomes unable for any ex- ertion, bodily or mental. Such is the history of many cases of suicide of which we read in the news- papers; cases mysterious, at first sight causeless, but understood by the educated physician, regarding them by the clear light of science. Tissot, the celebrated physician and early writer on this subject, states the result of this practice to be, "First: — Total derange- ment of the stomach, shown in loss or irregularity of appetite and indigestion. In some cases the appetite becomes almost voracious, Nature thus endeavoring to repair the loss inflicted upon her. Second: — Weakness of the respiratory organs, whence frequent- ly result dry coughs, almost always colds, weakness 112 EFFECTS OF SELF-ABUSE. of the vo*ce, and sense of suffocation on slight exer- tion. Third: — General relaxation of the nervous system, lassitude by day, painful dreams by night; the sleep is unrefreshing. Fourth:— Great debility of the organs of generation; almost all complaining of only imperfect erections; desire no longer exists, and impotency results. Nocturnal emissions are a terrible scourge to these sufferers, and often over- whelm those even whose organs are absolutely sense- less when awake. When the patients have noctnrnal pollutions, they find themselves next day in a state of depression, of discouragement, debility, ennui, and lassitude, with pains in the loins, head and eyes. Fifth: — Eruptions frequently appear on the face and fore- head; the features become changed from the rosy hue of health to a dull, heavy, and sallow complexion.' ' We will conclude this part of the subject with a few words respecting Spermatorrhoea and Impotence. This term spermatorrhoea is derived from two Greek words, signifying a flowing of seed, and is applied to all cases in which an emission of the seed takes place, excepting from coition ;in other words spermatorrhoea may be termed an involuntary loss of semen. The usual causes of this disease are self-pollution, but it may also be the result of immoderate ind ulgence in coition, of ill-cured gleet, and frequently the disease of the prostate gland. Constipation of the bowels, and the irritation of the rectum caused by piles, may also predispose. But, after all, the influence of these causes is insignificant compared with that of self- abuse. The symptoms of spermatorrhoea may be di- EFFECTS OF SELF-ABUSE. 113 vided. into local and constitutional. The local symp- toms are generally emissions of the seed at night; and we call the particular attention of our readers to this rule. Nocturnal emissions are decided signs of debility and symptoms of approaching impotence. I^et it be remembered that every drop that escapes is the habitation of living beings, a particle of a liv- ing seed, and that one drop under favorable circum- stances, is sufficient to give life to a future being. With respect to diurnal emissions — which occur at stool, whilst making water, or which, are evident in a continual moisture and humidity of the organs — they are a complicated character, and are in many in- stances undiscovered and unsuspected by the patient till disorder has assumed a most formidable character; for he is quite unconscious of an}^ seminal loss. The nocturnal emissions sometimes leave him entirely, the draiti by day being so excessive; but at last some for- midable symptoms force him to seek relief at the eleventh hour. During the progress of spermatorrhoea many patients suffer from a hard dry cough, a diffi- culty of breathing, pains in the chest, and hence are treated for consumption; for the constitutional S3 T mp- toms of spermatorrhoea are innumerable, so when the cause of the disease is unknown and unsuspected, the general practitioner will naturally attack the symp- toms. The appetite, at first, will frequently increase and become voracious — it is the effort nature makes to support the failing strength. All the senses are more or less affected — the eye loses its brilliancy, there is always more or less dilation of the pupil, and 114 EFFECTS OF SELF-ABUSE. the very look of the patient reveals the secret to the glance of experience. The penis and testicles become small and relaxed, and a high surgical authority ob- serves, the infirmity may not inaptly be termed 3 consumption of those glands. And we cannot be as- tonished at the frightful effects caused by unnatural emissions of seed, when we recollect that physicians of all ages are agreed that the loss of one ounce of semen by self-abuse, nocturnal emissions or at stool, injures the system and weakens it more than the ab- straction of twelve ounces of blood. In the early stages of seminal weakness, different persons are x^ariously affected; some are incapable of procuring a discharge of semen into the cavity of the female genitals in a natural way, though they may effect temporary erection; while others cannot perform the act of copulation, from the emission taking place too quickly, and before the proper firmness of the male organ has enabled it to effect the requisite penetra- tion. To recapitulate briefly the result of our experi- ence: — Impotence, from long-continued spermator- rhoea, is the inability to perform the venereal act. Those cases are most difficult to cure which have been caused by self- pollution; but science, combined with skill and experience, will almost effect miracles, and our treatment of these cases has been most suc- cessful. Impotence is also caused by too free indul- gence in sexual pleasures; these cases can be cured with comparative ease by rest and tonic medicines. Impotence is sometimes the result of moral causes — 1 nervousness, too much respect, etc. ; the treatment ih EFFECTS OF SELF-ABUSE. 115 obvious. Impotence, then, is chiefly caused by de- bility of the genital organs; there is a want of erec- tion, and if a seminal emission takes place, the se- men does not possess its prolific power, and the man is at once impotent and sterile. Sterility, or barren- ness, is sometimes a fault of the female organiza- tion, and is produced by various causes; amongst others which entail a loss of vital and productive energy, excessive indulgence is one of the most prominent. Excessive venery is a frequent cause of want of offspring in young married people. In these cases the seed does not acquire sufficient vitality to stimulate the ovum in the womb; and even if a child should come to life, it partakes of the debility of the parent, and is soon hurried to a premature grave, the victim of that nameless atrophy or wasting away which kills its thousands of infants annually. Im- potence and sterility are generally the result of wil- ful imprudence. Malformation is very rare, but failing power is not exceedingly common, but gen- erally constitutes a self-inflicted evil. The author is frequently consulted by those contemplating mar- riage, and whenever bad habits have existed, or weakness is experienced, this precaution is most wise, and may prevent much future unhappiness. Likewise, as respects the married man, it often oc- curs that a few minuter confidential conversation with one who has made iliese subjects a special study is attended by the happiest results. There are resources in the science of medicine, and few, very few need despair of restoration to power of man- 116 EFFECTS OF SELF-ABUSE. hood. But we will refrain from further details; our object is friendly suggestion, not importunate dicta- tion. We will conclude this chapter with a few words of the celebrated L,allemand: — "Many dis- eases when left to themselves work thek own cure, provided only they be not exasperated by the im- prudence of the patient. This is not the case with spermatorrhoea; chiefly, perhaps, because the effects produced by the disease itself are favorable to the increase of involuntary discharges. The natural tendency of this disease to become aggravated, as the result of its own effects, frequently leads to a fa- tal termination. The patients generally expire in one of the attacks of syncope that follow conges- tion of the brain. In this way, such of the insane who have fallen into a state of dementia usually expire. Many die from diseases [as consumption, &c] aggravated and inflamed by unsuspected sper- matorrhoea; the symptoms are treated by the physi- cian, but the great cause, spermatorrhoea, remains unsuspected." TREATMENT OF SPERMATORRHOEA. 1X1 Treatment of Spermatorrhoea, Sem< inal Weakness and Nervous Debility. Iyike many other intractable diseases, sperma- torrhoea has been the ' 'opprobrium medicorum' ' of the regular practitioner. From its tediousness, the medical man is wearied of it; and, like an obstinate gleet, after trying all possible remedies, has given up in despair. Nor is this altogether to be wondered at, when we consider the extreme difficulty of the diag- nosis. Spermatorrhoea is a drainage or waste, a dribbling away of the seminal fluid. As already ex- plained, it may exist unknown, and, consequently, unattended to until great mischief has been inflicted on the constitution and vital powers. Now what are the indications of treatment? Naturally, to give tone to the vessels that neglect their office; to prevent the too profuse secretion of impoverished fluid; to establish a healthy relation between the two; to re- move the provoking causes that brought about the first estrangement; to cultivate the mind into higher notion of its importance, and thereby withhold the irritating consequences of disordered imagination. The treatment, then, of spermatorrhoea and its ac- 118 TREATMENT OF SPERMATORRHOEA. companying affections, mental and physical, may be divided into — First: — Iyocal and Constitutional; Sec- ond: — Moral and Dietetic. The first step on which we must insist is the relinquishing of those practices which have occasioned the disease. This is essential; the most careful and the most scientific treatment must otherwise increase the mischief, and, by giving greater temporary strength, enable the patient to in- flict upon himself more permanent evils. A due atten- tion to air, exercise, sleep and regimen is in all cases proper, and entirely within the control of the pa- tient. A local remedy of great value is cold water; the sponge-bath or shower-bath should be used in the morning, a small quantity of bay salt being dissolved in the water. Coarse toweling and flesh brushes should be used after the bath; a suspensory bandage should be used, the diet should be generous, but not stimulating ;animal food in moderation, and he should eat little and often, rather than too full a meal. Ex- ercise must not be neglected; moderate at first, and gradually augmented. Stimulating drinks are im- proper, spirits are in all cases hurtful; a glass or two of wine may be taken if demanded by previous habit. In this case a pale dry sherry will be best. With respect to medicines, a sketch only of the treatment can be offered. Cases vary so widely, that the cura- tive means must be varied accordingly. The class of drugs which allay excitement and irritability are first likely to be required, for the stomach is so weakened and capricious that the disease is frequently mis taken £br indigestion. Mild and cordial laxatives, alterative TREATMENT OF SPERMATORRHOEA. 119 drugs with neutral salts, febrifuges, and sedatives, will soon quiet the system and enable it to tolerate tonic and restorative medicines, which if commenced with are decidedly injurious. But what is the mean- ing of tonic ? for no word is so much misapplied. One man means quinine, another iron, a third mineral acids, whilst a fourth means stimulants, and so on through the whole pharmacopoeia. Now, we mean not any one, but the whole class of medicines com- bined, changed, increased, or diminished to suit the particular case; in this consists the real art in scien- tific prescribing. One man gradually gathers strength from quinine, which would not suit another, whose deteriorated blood-globules will become red and healthy under the exhibition of iron, in some of its numerous preparations. The peculiarity of my treat- ment consists in the selection and practical adoption of remedies we possess. And the above are but a few of the remedies we employ in generative diseases or debility. The peculiarity of our treatment is to act directly on the seminal vessels, to strengthen without exciting, and so restore health by removing the cause of disease. It would be easy to recommend various remedies; but medicine in the hands of timid, irresolute or ignorant, are more likely to produce evil than advantage In all cases let the best advice be sought from one who has made these diseases a special study. Some are prevented from applying for assistance from dread of accidental exposure; it may, therefore, be proper to remark, that it is our rule vo destroy all correspondence at the termination of each 120 URETHRAL DISCHARGES. case; or if preferred, to return it to the writers, in- violable secrecy and certain relief are the boons we offer to suffering humanity. Unfortunately practi- tioners in this country have long been averse to se- lecting this branch of medical art as a study; many distinguished men have risen to fame and affluence by devoting their talents to midwifery, operative sur- gery of the eye and ear, etc. , The author of this trea- tise is content to brave the sneers of the ignorant and envy of the malicious, when he reflects on the grati- tude of those whom he has rescued from an untime- ly grave; he knows that in selecting this peculiar department of medicine his usefulness has been in- creased, and that he deserves well of his fellow men. On Certain Urethral Discharges. We shall not here consider the gonorrhoeal dW charges, as those are treated on in another part of the work. There are, however, other discharges, and of a serious nature, which often call for skillful and attentive treatment. The first of these is termed gleet, which is the consequence of an ill-cured or neglected gonorrhoea or clap. There is another dis- charge, a discharge of the seme- without sensation, URETHRAL DISCHARGES. 121 tvhich is the result of a debilitated frame, and isfre- quently induced by long-continued self-pollution, oi long residence in hot or cold climates. The penis is invariably damp and clammy; there is a slight mu- cous discharge, rather thicker than ordinary clap, which sticks in patches on the linen, and between the nut and foreskin of the penis. Under the micro- scope, this discharge is found to consist of sperma- tozoa, frequently in a mutilated state and free from vitality. The affect ion is characterized by the emis- sion of semen upon the very first attempt at sexual intercourse, and often before a regular erection can tfke place; sitting in a warm room, horse exercise, and many trivial causes will produce it. The emis- sion causes little or no sensation, excepting some- times a slight spasm. These discharges are not con- tagious, but sexual intercourse must be studiously avoided on account of the great injury that may re- sult to the patient. Such discharges are generally connected with deficiency of generative power. In one instance under our notice, impotence was almost complete; in another (a married, professional man), the powers had greatly declined. These patients were in the prime of life; both had, however, led ir- regular lives. The irritation in cases of this nature will generally be found to exist in the prostrate gland, which is often enlarged, hence a frequent desire to urinate, and a feeling as if the bladder were com- pletely emptied, and as though a few drops of urine were retained in the Posterior part of the uretha. 122 CATARRH. Catarrh. It is computed that there are in the United States alone over five millions of people suffering more or less with Catarrh, and there are vast numbers of so-called catarrh cures advertised; of course each one claiming to be the best and only sure cure. But what is Catarrh ? Primarily it is an inflammation of the mucous membrane, the membrane or skin which forms the lining of all the passages of the body, as the throat, nose, bronchial tubes, stomach, intestines, bladder, urinary organs, and this inflam- mation produces a fetid discharge from the in- flammed membrane. The cause is generally a neglected cold, though sometimes it is of syphilitic origin; the disease affects various parts of the cavity of the nose, sometimes extending to the frontal sinus, and even to the ethemoidal and sphenoidal cells. Again it is confined to but a small surface, which is ulcerated, and sometimes the bone beneath is diseased. Chronic Catarrh — Is marked by a persistent offensive discharge, and the patient complains of uneasy sensations, with frequent " stuffing up" of the nose, and when the upper part of the nose and frontal sinus is affected, it frequently gives rise to persistent headache. Chronic catarrh is very often a constitutional disease resulting from dissipation, blood taint or heredity. Constitutional catarrh is often met with in weakly women suffering with chronic leucorrhoea, the two disorders expressive of CATARRH. 123 the same general tendency. The fetid odor eruatat- ing from some catarrhal patients makes life a burden as it repells the warmest friends, and the afrTicted person is a nuisance to all his associates. The tendency of catarrh is to extend along all the mucous membranes and eat into and destroy the un- derlying tissues. Catarrh produces deafness; this one of the commonest results, the disease extending along the eustachian tubes, shutting off the supply of air, the hearing is impaired, and the disease often shows itself outwardly in discharges from the ear. Catarrh causes Bronchitis by its extending down the bronchial tubes, and finally Catarrh causes Consumption. When catarrh reaches the lungs, the cavities soon become the seat of tubercu- lar deposits, and then every step brings the victim nearer the grave. Asthma is often present in catarrhal cases. Treatment. — There is no one treatment adapted to each individual case. Seven-tenths of the cases I treat have been the rounds of every advertised remedy, and hence are not cured. My treatment is based on the indications presented from a statement made by the patient, either in a personal consulta- tion or by answers to a series of questions, by which I am made fully acquainted with the particulars and peculiarities of the case in hand. Every intelligent person will see the great importance of a thorough understanding on my part before undertaking to treat a case of catarrh, or any of its complications, and my readers will readily see why advertised remedies for 124 CATARRH. catarrh disappoint those who use them, for in no two cases are the symptoms exactly alike, and a remedy that is of service at one stage of the disease, may prove to be hurtful at other stages. Hence, to treat catarrh successfully, all the symptoms must be thor- oughly understood, and whether these symptoms are secondary to other disorders of the general system or not; and this intelligent study of each individual case cannot be dispens ed with and success expected. Questions for Patients. Most cases can be treated by mail, where a visit to this city would be fraught with heavy expense or otherwise inconvenienced; yet there are cases where a personal examination is imperative and the presence of the patient required for a correct diag- nosis of the disease. For the convenience of those who find it out of their means to visit me, I propose a series of questions, the answers to which will en- able me to form a just opinion of their case. 1. What is your name and age, are you married or single, your occupation, postofhce address, ex- press office, how far do you live from the latter? 2. Are you weak and emaciated, or stout and fleshy ? 3. Are your bowels regular or constipated? 4. Did you ever use medicine for your present disease, and what kind, as well as you know? 5. How long have you had your present disease, and what kind of doctors have treated you, if any, as well as you know ? QUESTIONS FOP. PATIENTS. 125 6. At what time of life did you begin masturba- tion, and if that is not the cause of your trouble, de- scribe it fully in your own words ? 7. About how often on an average, through the whole time, did you commit the act ? 8. How long since you entirely quit the practice ? 9. . Have you a dislike for the society of females ? 10. Are you impotent or deficient in erections? 1 1 . Impotency may be caused by sexual excesses. Did you ever indulge in excess? 1 2 . Have you emissions of semen on occasion of lewd sights or amorous thoughts of dallying with females ? 13. Do you have seminal losses, and how often do they occur with lascivious dreams, and do they pro- duce debility. 14. Do you have emissions, only a drop or two, after urinating or at stool ? 15. Does the left testicle hang lower than the other; is it enlarged, or soft and inflamed or otherwise affected ? 16. Are your penis and testicles small in size or or were they always small ? 1 7 . What are your habits regarding eating, drink- ing, exercise and bathing, or washing the body ? 18. Could you conveniently visit the city in case it should be necessary for you to do so ? 19. Are your eyes dim, red, weak or inflamed ? 20. Have you any pain in the shoulders, back, chest or stomach ? 2 1 f Is your mind much occupied with thoughts 126 QUESTIONS FOR PATIENTS. of your disease? 22. Are you troubled with heaviness, weakness, weariness in the whole body? 23. Are you heedless for business, having no ambition, but, on the contrary, feel lazy and indo- lent? 24. Do you have thoughts of self-destruction? 25. Do you often have a ringing noise in the ear or deafness? 26. Can you concentrate your thoughts on any- thing, or have you a confusion of ideas occasionally running through your mind? 27. Is your memory good or bad? 28. How often do you make water in twenty-four hours? 29. Has the urine a sediment on standing in a chamber? 30. Have you skin eruptions, and where? 3 1 . Are you nervous — the least excitement caus- ing trembling? General Remarks, State what symptoms are apparent apart from what have already been given, and what is, in your opinion, the leading or primary cause of your pres- ent trouble. Be explicit. SPECIALISTS 1X7 Specialists. A difference of opinion exists upon the propriety of any physician making a selection of some one branch of medical science, and confining himself in his reading, investigations and practice to that par- ticular branch, and so advertising. For my own part, after a thorough medical education, at twenty- two, like most young men in all the professions, I thought I knew it all, or nearly so, but actual dem- onstration at the bedside of the sick, and in the room of the dying, soon convinced me of my ina- bility in many cases, and that medicine is not one of the exact sciences, and that th^ only hope for the advancement of medical knowledge lays in the field of experience. After seven years of toil and a fair share of patronage, I was led to the following con- clusions: First, that if a physician embrace in his practice the treatment of all diseases, his knowledge of all of them must necessarily be vague and inac- curate. Secondly, that the common mode of pre- scribing from the statement of the patient, with perhaps no examination at all, and no record being made of the symptoms, is, to say the least of it, not the best mode in which to conduct a case of disease, especially when the treatment extends through sev- eral months. Thirdly, that in many case?, from the dishonesty or ignorance of druggists, the medicines 128 SPECIALISTS. are frequently rendered ineffective and positively injurious to the patient. Fourthly, that I could no longer follow such a course of uncertainty, where such important interests were involved; and I ap- peal to the general public if my conclusions were not legitimate and correct. Abandoning the gener- al practice, I chose a branch of medical science sufficiently extensive to engage all tho powers of any physician, and one that was certainly suscepti- ble of improvement. In the study of these troubles, I have not confined myself to the knowledge em- braced in the allopathic system of medicine by any means. I have found that every system furnishes a large amount of valuable information pertaining to them. The results I have accomptished during the twenty-five years I have been engaged in this special practice have fully convinced me that no person can acquire great skill in the treatment of these com- plaints unless he devotes his whole attention to them. In fact, the adoption of some particular spec- ialty is the rule in almost every profession, and who will have the hardihood to affirm that we are not benefitted thereby, both individually and collective- ly? In the legal profession we have our criminal, land title, admiralty, United States, State and other classes of lawyers, each having an indispensible amount of legal knowledge, but giving especial atten- tion to his particular branch, and reading very many volumes not included in the regular course relating particularly to that K ranch. In painting we have our landscape, portrait, ornamental, carriage and sign SPECIALISTS. 129 painters, each excelling in his particular branch; but any attempt to become perfect in all. would certain ly meet with a failure. The same fact obtains in archi- tecture, manufactures, merchandising, and even farming. With these facts before us, the medical man who assumes to know everything, presumes up- on the ignorance of his patrons, and in the matter of life and death, if a physician, by the adoption of a particular specialty can increase his skill, even ten per cent., it is almost priceless; and if my own ex- perience is any criterion, the general public so re- gards it. I am of the opinion that it would be a step forward if our legislators would interfere and oblige every physician to write his prescriptions in plain English. Nothing short of this, in my opinion, will bring quackery to an end, and though I do not press so desirable an object, I am ready for it, and for years have allowed my patients to know on request the medicines they are using. When a case of disease is presented to me, my first efforts are directed to ascertain what is unnatural or wrong, always making an instrumental examination when I regard it necessary. Having determined the exact nature of the complaint, I make a record of all the symptoms in detail, in a case book kept for that purpose, together with the patient's habits, dress and occupation, as well as the previous treat- ment. Having thus made a complete record of the case, I can watch the changes that occur in the con* dition of the patient, and consequently am enabled to direct the. treatment with far greater success than 130 FEMALE IRREGULARITIES. if I trusted solely to memory. Again, my prescrip- tions are prepared in my own laboratory, under my special supervision, and I purchase only the best and purest of drugs, irrespective of cost. I am vain enough to believe, thousands all over the country owe the health they now enjoy to the skill I have acquired by confining myself to these diseases as a specialty, and the fidelity with which I have tried to address myself to real conditions. Female Irregularities. Female, owing to the peculiar and important relations which they sustain, their peculiar organiza- tion, and the offices they perform, are subject to many sufferings and ailments peculiar to their sex. Freedom from these contributes in no small degree to their happiness and welfare, for none can be happy who are ill. Not only so, but no one of these various female complaints can long be suffered to run on without involving the general health of the individual and ere long producing permanent sick- ness and premature decline. PATHOLOGY OF THE UTERUS. 131 The Pathology of the Uterus and its Appendages, The sexual system of the human female consists of the uterus, and of its internal and external append- ages. Before the age of maturity, the uterine organs are small, exert but little influence on the constitu- tion of the female, and are not liable to many diseas- es. From the age of fourteen to fifteen, when mens- truation is usually established, until the middle period of life, the functions of the uterus are sub- ject to serious derangements; and at a more advanced period of life, its structures are often destroyed by diseases of a malignant nature. In extreme old age, the uterine system, without any organic disease, un- dergoes a great diminution of volume, and not un- frequently the canals of the Fallopian tubes and upper part of the cervix uteri become impervious. The uterus has been found wanting in some women ; others have had the orifice closed by a mem- brane, or a dense fleslry substance, or the os uteri has opened into the rectum. The vagina is also some- times malformed. Its orifice has been impervious from unusual strength of the hymen, or a consider- able portion of the canal has been closed within the os externum, by a thick fleshy substance. Cases have been recorded in which the whole vagina has been 132 PATHOLOGY OF THE UTERUS. filled up with a dense solid mass. An extreme nar- rowness and shortness of the canal has also been re- peatedly observed, and in some it has been altogether wanting. In the neck of the bladder, urethra, and parts situated around the orifice of the Vagina, many varieties of malformation have occurred. We ascertain the presence of disease in the uterine system chiefly by the uneasy sensations of the patient, by the disordered functions of the organs, and by the changes in their situation, form, and sensibility. The mammae, stomach, brain, and nervous systems are all sympathetically affected in many of the diseases of the uterus, and in most of the organic affections of the organ and its appendages there is severe burn- ing or lancinating pain experienced in the hypogas- trium, or dull gnawing pain in the sacrum, loins, pubis, and upper part of the thighs. There are often sickness and vomiting, loaded tongue, impaired ap- petite, and other signs of gastric derangement. There are frequently, also, dull pain, sense of giddiness, confusion of the head and many irregular nervous affections. The mammae sometimes become enlarg- ed and painful, as in the early months of pregnancy. The functions of the uterus, more particularly men- struation and conception, are interrupted or disturbed There is frequently an altered secretion of the lining membrane of the uterus and vagina, and instead of the mucus which lubricates the passages, serum, pus, or blood are poured out in greater or smaller quantity from the parts. When a female after the middle period of life suffers from an habitual discharge of a PATHOLOGY OF THE UTERUS. 133 serous, sanguineous, or purulent nature from the va- gina, with pain in the back and irritation within the pelvis, an internal examination should be made to determine the condition of the uterus. It is nec- essary for the patient to recollect that there is great variety in the form of the os-uteri in different women without disease. In some individuals its length is re- markable, and in many women who have had chil- dren, in whom labor has been natural, there are ir- regularities or fissures from laceration, where there is no organic disease. In some women, after repeated labors, the lips of the os-uteri do not project, the ori- fice occupying directly the upper part of the vagina like a funnel. This we have repeatedly found to be the state of the os-uteri in aged females, whether they have had children or not. Sometimes the orifice is so large as to admit the point of the finger and pro- longed backward and to the left by an oblique fissure with round edges. Not only should the smoothness hardness and regularity of the lips of the os-uteri be examined, but the degree of dilation of the orifice should be ascertained, if any exists, and whether it is giving passage to a tumor of any description. The size and weight of the uterus should also be deter- mined, and whether the fluid covering the finger be mucous, serous, sanguineous or purulent. The con- dition of the vagina should likewise be accurately ex- plored, for there are few diseases of the uterus of a cancerous or malignant nature in which some change is not perceptible m the coats of the vagina. It is by ;34 DISEASES OF THE FALLOPIAN TUBES. an examination per vaginam that we become ac- quainted not only with the alteration of structure in the os and cervix uteri, but with the numerous dis- placements to which the organ is liable. I now propose to give a short account oi some of the important diseases. 1. Of the Fallopian tubes. 2. Of the uterus, 3. Of the vagina and organs situated around its orifice. DISEASES OF TH£ FALLOPIAN TUBES. The Fallopian tubes ars two slender, tortuous ca- nals, about four or five inches in length, which ex- tend between the ovaria and the upper angles of the uterus. They consist, like the uterus, of a perito- neal, muscular and mucous membrane, and they perform the office of conveying the spermatic fluid from the uterus to the ovaria, and, after impregnation, of carrying back the germ or ovum to the cavity of the uterus. They are liable to attacks of acute and chronic inflammation. The canals of the tubes are also sometimes obstructed, and sterility is the result. DISEASES OF THE UTERUS. The most important diseases of the human ute- ms, accompanied with sensible alteration of struc- ture, may be divided into three classes: — 1. Those which are produced by inflammation of one or more of the textures which enter into the composition of the uterus. 2. Those which arise from the formation of tum- ors ia the rjarietes of the organ, or from enlargement INFLAMMATION OF THE UTERUS. 135 of the glands situated in its orifice, which have no ten - dency to degenerate into a malignant form, and do not contaminate the surrounding structures. 3. Those diseases which result from a specific or malignant action of the uterus, by which its differ- ent textures and the adjacent viscera become disor- ganized. ACUTE INFLAMMATION OF THE UTERUS. Acute inflammation of the unimpregnated uterus, or Acute Metritis, is occasionally met with; the in- flammation may be confined to the internal mucous lining of the organ, to its serous coat, or to its proper tissue; or, the three may be simultaneously affected. causes. — The unimpregnated womb may be at- tacked with inflammation as a consequence of expos- ure to cold, menstrual suppression, excessive coition, and, indeed, the same causes that induce congestion of the organ. symptoms. — The attack may be very slight and of short duration, or it may be manifested suddenly and with much severity. A deep seated pain of more o\ less intensity, will be experienced in the pelvis or hyv pogastrium, with occasional or constant pains in th All these varieties will be found in practice, and though in the histories of this disease some have of- ten been omitted, most authors have described the pain as occurring only at the onset, and ceasing when full and free evacuation takes place. The pain often resembles the grinding pains of the first stages of la*bor, and is similarly in paroxysm of short duration and frequent occurrence. There is also, in the intervals, a constant aching pain down the legs, with a dragging sensation in the back and loins; there is sometimes, also, a sensation of bearing down in the pelvis, with even an actual lowering of the uterus. All these pains will vary in degree; for in some severe cases the paroxysms have been so vio- MENORRHAGIA. 159 lent that the patient has rolled on the bed or the floor with agony, and, in a few instances, the writer of this article has noticed severe convulsions of the character of tetanus, even amounting to regular opisthotonos. It would appear that the immediate cause of this distressing disease is extreme irritability of the uterus and as it is well known that great irritation is but a step removed from inflammation, it is very probable that in some cases, where a membrane is expelled, in- flammation of a peculiar character may be excited Hence the necessity of attending to this form of dis- ease, that you may avoid the more serious complica- tion of inflammation or ulceration of the womb. MENORRHAGIA. This term implies morbidly profuse menstruation. The term uterine hemorrhage is so constantly lim- ited in practice to cases unconnected with menstrua- tion, and occasioned by organic diseases, accidental injury, or the consequences of pregnancy in parturi- tion, that it is much more convenient to include un- der the title at the head of this article all those in- stances of the discharge of real blood from the uterus, which occur in connection with the menstrual func- tions. The cases, indeed, are very rare in which any strikingly profuse menstruation exists, without more or less real blood escaping at the same time. Menorrhagia is a disease occasionally of great ob- stinacy, and sometimes of alarming severity. It not only includes the immoderate quantity of discharge MENORRHAGIA. at each monthly period, the time remaining regular, but it is also understood to comprehend the too great frequency of the recurrence of menstruation, even when the quantity lost is not unusually abundant; still the definition of ' 'morbidly profuse menstrua- tion" ought to be remembered, because to constitute the disease the quantity lost must be relative. In healthy menstruation the discharge takes place >yery twenty-eight days, lasts from two to four days, and the quantity lost upon an average is about five or six ounces. Menorrhagia may occur in very opposite states of the system, and has therefore been divided into ac- tive and passive; the former arising from too great activity in the vessels of the uterus, the latter from a want of tone in the secretive orifices. Either of these states may exist in a plethoric habit of body, or in one of great debility. After a long continuance of the disorder, the strongest and most plethoric frames are brought down to a state of weakness, and the active menorrhagia may thus become passive. In ac- tive menorrhagia. for a short time, sometimes for two or three days before the expected period, there is a sensation of unusual fullness about the pelvis, with throbbing referred to the situation of the uterus itself, along with sense of heat and weight; the ex- ternal parts of generation are often slightly swollen, and the mammaebQCome hot, tumid and painful. The circulation is quickened, the mouth hot, the tongue dry with thirst , and there is a general feeling of op- pression, with headache and giddiness After these MENORRHAGIA. 161 symptoms have lasted for a certain time, the function of menstruation begins; but the discharge comes on with violence, in gushes, and usually accompanied with pure blood, as proved by the presence oicoagula. The progress is then variable; sometimes after the first few hours the patient feels relieved, lighter and cooler, and the rest of the period passes over more quietly and naturally; but in more aggravated cases, the flow still proceeds in equal or increased quantity, and lasts for several days, occasionally subdued, but again breaking forth on the slightest exertion, till at the end of the period the patient is left weak and languid, with a feeble pulse and pale countenance. The causes of Menorrhagia may be divided into the constitutional and accidental; but it often seems to require a combination of both to excite the dis- ease. The active Menorrhagia is found to occur in plethoric habits, often apparently as a natural relief to the overloaded system, but aggravated or excited by luxurious living, a sedentary and indolent life, hot rooms, and also by very violent exercise, or any other fatiguing exertion. The passive Menorrhagia, on the other hand, is caused by all those circum- stances which lower the bodily powers and weaken the action of the heart and arteries. But in both of these cases there are local causes which peculiarly tend to direct the mischief to the uterus, and increase the circulation in the vessels of that organ, leading to the increased discharge, whether that be the im- mediate effect of excess of activity, or diminished power of retention: such ? ? blows and falls or any 102 FALLING OF THE VAGINA. other local violence; frequent and recent abortions, lucorrhoea, over indulgence in sexual intercourse, irritation in the bladder, diarrhoea, tenesmus, piles, ascarides on scybala, in the rectum. There is a frequent cause of Menorrhagia not much attended to, and not mentioned in systematic works on the subject, but the knowledge of which is highly necessary. It has been often observed that the most obstinate forms of chronic Menorrhagia occur in per- sons who have an impeded or disordered circulation through the abdominal veins, particularly where there is organic or functional disorder oi the liver. We have no doubt that this is not at all an uncom- mon cause of obstinate Menorrhagia. The mother who would allow her daughter to be- come emaciated with Menorrhagia, a loss of all that glow of countenance, the sure indication of health, occasioned by this disease, rather than apply for medical assistance, in nine cases out of ten, I will think, has never suffered its debilitating effects, or she would pity and relieve, if possible, the malady, whether existing in her own child or any other, and the husband who would allow his wife to suffer from this complaint is not worthy of her affections, and cannot long expect to have them or the wife either, for the blood is the life. PROIAPSUS, OR FALLING OF THE VAGINA. Prolapsus, or Descent of the Vagina, is met with more commonly among females after thirty or thirty- five years of age, and who have given birth to several FALLING OF THE VAGINA. 163 children; it is always accompanied with a relaxed condition of the vaginal walls. There are three va- rieties of vaginal prolapsus, known as, i— Prolap- sus of the anterior vaginal wall; 2 — Prolapsus of the posterior vaginal wall; 3 — Prolapsus of the entire circumference of the vagina, either complete or in- complete. Causes. — These displacements are owing to relax- ed condition of the walls of the vagina, which causes a change in the direction of the bladder and urethra, rendering urination more or less difficult. In conse< quence of the urine being thus incompletely evacuat- ed, it accumulates in and distends the bladder, the weight of which causes it to descend, carrying the relaxed vaginal wall before it. Every degree of pro- lapsus may be met with, from a mere protrusion of the anterior vaginal wall to its appearance as a tumor within the vaginal canal or even externally to the vul- va. Relaxation of the vagina may be occasioned by re- peated child-bearing, an abnormally large pelvis, heavy lifting, long-continued leucorrhoea, improper habit of retaining the urine too long before voiding it, improper use of warm hip baths, excessive coition, violent exertions, severe vomitings, tight lacing, etc. Symptoms. — A sensation of dragging in the pelvic region, with a heaviness and bearing down is expe- rienced, together with difficulty in walking; the over distended condition of the bladder impairs its con> tractile power so that the urine passes with difficulty or cannot be discharged at all. Sometimes there is a stinging sensation felt along the urethra. Generally, 164 INFLAMMATION OF THE VAGINA. by pushing the bladder up toward the normal posi- tion, and holding it there, the urine will be more freely evacuated. But little pain is complained of. When the bladder extrudes it is liable to ulceration, injuries, etc. This affection. is divided into three classes, but I have no space to amplify and the disease is of not very common occurrence. If uncomplicated, every case is amenable to treatment. INFLAMMATION OF THF VAGINA Is frequently met with; but is less common among middle-aged females and the unmarried. Causes. — This malady may be occasioned by ex- posure to cold, mechanical violence, as excessive coi- tion, manual or -instrumental operations during par- turition, stimulating vaginal injections, etc. It is often caused by the introduction of hard substances into the vagina, especially for the purpose of mastur- bating; and may arise from any source that will irri- tate the mucous membrane of the vulva and vagina. Symptoms. — The vagina is affected with increased heat, and soreness, and becomes reddened, dry, swollen and painful; with troublesome itching at times, and in cases not attended to and cured, a sen- sation of dragging in the parts, and pain in the loins is likely to set in and continue; finally, discharges set in almost like venereal gonorrhoea, and in many cases impart the disease to the husband. No doubt many a woman has been slandered by incompetent physicians who, though unable to effect a cure, by tEUCORRHOEA. 165 sly words leave the husband or friends to doubt the chastity of the patient, which I consider a poor ex- cuse for incompetency. TEUCORRHOEA OR WHITES. By the term Leucorrhoea, Fluor-albus, or Whites, is meant a whitish or colorless discharge from the vagina, being the result of an unhealthy condition of the vagina, the womb, or both combined. It is a very common malady among women, but few passing through life without having one or more attacks of it. Symptoms. — The leucorrhoea! discharge is more or less profuse, and varies much, both in quantity and color; in mild cases it is whitish, in others, it is of a brownish or greenish hue, and frequently so acrid as to excoriate the external parts. When the discharge is abundant, or of long standing, it occasions much de- bility, with a sense of pain and weight in the back and loins, pain in the stomach, colic, impaired or de- praved appetite, acid stomach, headache, paleness of the countenance, hollowness of the eyes, chilliness, palpitation of the heart and great mental depression. If no beneficial measures be pursued , the constitution soon becomes impaired and exhausted, emaciation ensues, the flesh becomes loose, the pulse small and frequent, the breasts soft, the breath fetid, the eye- lids bloated, hysterics are common, and the feet and ankles swell, and are constantly cold. The menstrual discharge frequently becomes diminished or suppress- ed, obstinate constipation is a common symptom and the urine is generally turbid, flocculent and scanty. 166 LEUCORRHOEA. Dropsical swelling of the whole body is often present. Iyeucorrhoea is divided into two varieties, the mu- cous and the purulent; of the mucous there are two forms, characterized by the properties of the dis- charge, and the part from which it is secreted. When the mucous discharge is from the neck of the womb, or its canal, it is a transparent glairy fluid, of the consistency of the white of an egg, has an alkaline reaction, changing reddened litmus paper to its original blue, communicates no stain, but only a starchy hardness to linen upon w T hich it has been allowed to dry, has such a slimy, ropy, and tenac- ious consistence, that it is with great difficulty it can be removed from the neck of the womb; and exam- ined under the microscope, is found to contain a large number of mucous corpuscles. This is a com- mon and most obstinate form of leucorrhoea. When the mucous discharge is from the vagina, it is of an opaque, whitish character, of the consistence of cream, has an acid reaction, changing blue litmus paper to red, communicates a stiffness to linen upon which it has dried, leaving a greyish spot, deepest at its edges, is never ropy, and under the microscope exhibits a large number of epithelial scales. This form is frequently accompanied with a lax condition of the vagina, and troublesome itching of the parts. When leucorrhoeal discharge is of a purulent char- acter, it is colored greenish, or any intermediate shade between a light yellow and a dark brown, leaves deep stains on linen, which are removed with dim • culty by washing, and exhibits under the microscope LEUCORRHOEA. 167 a large number of pus globules. Most generally the discharge issues from an excoriated or ulcerated surface on some parts of the neck of the womb; oc- casionally it proceeds from the vagina. This, how- ever, may be termed from its acidity or alkalin- ity. Women laboring under this form of leucorr- hoea are very subject to abortions. Eeucorrhoea sometimes becomes of so acrid and irritating a character as to communicate a disease very closely resembling gonorrhoea. And the de- termination of this matter, upon which the happi- ness of a family depends, is attended with much difficult} 7 . Great care must be taken by the physi- cian in pronouncing positively in cases of this kind, as a mistaken diagnosis will be a source of much nisery and mortification. Causes . — Leucorrhoea arises from many causes, :he most common among which is excessive coition; •and on this account a woman wedded to a sensual, ani- mal husband, whose only consideration for his wife Is to compel her to gratify his selfish passion, with- out regard to her health is much to be pitied, as she is constantly liable not only to the present disease, but to every malady which may afilict her sex. And to this cause is, no doubt attributable by far the greater number of those diseases so common at the present day among women in all sections of the country. Other causes, however, may produce leu- corrhoea, as a rapid succession of children, colds, dampness, difficult deliveries, masturbation, abuse of warm baths, purgatives or emmenagogues, prolong- 168 ABORTION. ed suckling, irritation of the rectum by thread- worms relaxation of the system by too much warmth, abor- tions, mechanical injury by pessaries, secondary syphilis of the husband, sedentary life, sudden men- tal or physical shocks, excessive menstruation, etc. When the leucorrhoeal discharge is considerable, and continues throughout the greater part of the menstrual interval, it is generally occasioned by chronic inflammation in the uterine region, and very frequently the neck of the womb is the seat of the inflammation. It is to this fact that the intractibili- ty of leucorrhoea is attributable. When the ordinary means for the cure of this complaint have been em- ployed for a length of time without giving permanenl relief, there is ample reason for suspecting that the medical attendant does not thoroughly understand the case — that he has failed to recognize the fact that the leucorrhoea is but a symptom of that seri- ous trouble, inflammation, with perhaps ulceration, of the neck of the womb. It is almost of daily oo currence for persons to apply to me for treatment for what their physicians have termed a simple leu- corrhoea, and find, upon examination, that they have extensive ulceration of the womb. ABORTION, OR MISCARRIAGE. Abortion may be owing to attacks of epilepsy, hysteria, dysentery; to acute attacks, as scarlet fever, small pox, etc. Females whose systems are tainted with syphilitic disease, or scrofula, or who labor un- der excessive leucorrhoea, are apt to abort; tumors in ABORTION. 169 the pelvis or other abnormal formations, displace- ments of the womb, ulceration of" the neck of the womb, rheumatic affection of the womb, etc., are all causes of abortion. Disease of the foetus is a com- mon case, being generally received from the parent, as syphilis, small pox, etc. Vaccination during preg- nancy will often occasion a miscarriage; and it is dangerous to vaccinate a woman who has recently been delivered. Accidents also give rise to abor- tion, as powerful exercise, heavy lifting, blows, bruises, severe jars, long-continued and violent danc- ing, rough riding, excessive coition, etc. In many instances, it is produced by long-continued suckling of a child, and also by the means frequently em- ployed for the purpose. Females of full habit and voluptuous are very apt to abort. When the motions of the foetus cease, the morning sickness disappears, and the breasts become soft and flaccid, it is an in- dication of the death of the child, and abortion will certainly come on; the same will happen when the waters have evacuated. Symptoms. — These depend considerably upon the causes and the time of pregnancy. Thus, for the first ten or twenty days after conception, there may be hardly any pain, but little blood; so that the fe- male will be more disposed to look upon it as a men- strual derangement instead of an abortion. But in the latter periods of pregnancy, and especially after the third month, various symptoms may usher in the abortion; there will be more or less febrile symp- toms, nervous excitability, deranged appetite, cold- 1?0 DISEASES OF PREGNANCY. ness of the feet and legs, a purplish discoloration of the skin around the eyelids, which are more or less puffed up; shooting pains are frequently felt in the breasts, which become soft and lose their elasticity, lowness of spirits, a feeling of pressure or bearing down in the lower part of the bowels, frequent calls to evacuate the bowels or the bladder, and slight pains in the back, which come on at intervals, grad- ually increasing in severity, extending in front, and eventually becoming severe and expulsive, or true labor pains. As the pains advance, a discharge of a bloody character ensues, becoming more profuse as the abortion progresses, finally the bag of water is broken and the foetus is expelled; cocasionally it comes away entire, being surrounded by a bag of waters. It is often the case that the first indication of an abortion is the flooding, followed by pains, ap- sence of motion in the child, and its ultimate expul- sion. Now, if when a woman seems likely to abort, prop- er care be taken, and scientific medical advice be procured, much evil, disease, and the unhappiness of families might be prevented. But if abortion has actually taken place, or is inevitable, the very best of medical aid is required to render life certain, the health good, and as a matter of consequence, the after years of life pleasant and happy. DISEASES OF PREGNANCY. There are certain symptoms common to the preg- nant female, which are peculiar to this condition, diseases of pregnancy. m and are in fact indications of the healthy act of con- ception, and should not, as a general rule, be inter- fered with. In some cases, however, they become so much increased in severity or protracted in duration, that they may be termed the ' 'diseases of pregnancy, ' ' and will require treatment to remedy them. Females, when pregnant, should never compress any part of the body or limbs, with belts, corsets, etc., as this may not only give rise to abortions, en- larged veins in the legs and other difficulties, but will likewise tend to produce dropsy of the head, or deformity of the child, as well as positions of the in- fant in the womb, known as cross-births, breech - labors, etc., which render instruments necessary to bring the child into the world, and may prove fatal to mother and offspring. The diet also requires par- ticular attention, using light and nutritious food, and avoiding all alcoholic drinks, fatty, acidulous, and indigestable food. Gentle exercise daily, out of doors, is very important during the first months of preg- nancy; fresh, pure air, with bathings of the whole body once or twice every week, cannot be too highly recommended. The following are among some of the most com- mon diseases of pregnancy: Vomiting, diarrhoea, cramps and heartburn; constipation, which should always be avoided if possible, is a common and an- noying symptom during pregnane}-; headache, con- vulsions during pregnane}', are gemerally of an hysterical nature; cough. (Edematous swelling of the limbs. Piles are common during pregnancy, and i*S CHLOROSIS, are more apt to be present when the bowels are cos- tive; though they are sometimes met with during an attack of diarrhoea. Pain in the right side is occas- ioned by the enlarged womb pressing against the liver; itching of the genitals, or eruption of the parts with excessive itching; suppression of the urine; as well as difficulty in urinating. All or any of these symptoms can be relieved or entirely cured if medical assistance can be had re- course to of a scientific character; which thereby not only makes life pleasant, but influences the offspring at a time when, of all others, it is under the influence of the mother. A plain statement by letter is quite sufficient to enable me to prescribe by mail or express. chlorosis. Chlorosis, or Green Sickness, is a disease common to females, especially at the age of puberty, and is very apt to be associated with a retention of the menses, though this may, and often does, occur without any chlorotic tendency. Symptoms. — Chlorosis is characterized by a state of melancholy and disposition to inactivity; the fe- male becomes silent and gloomy, frequently sighing involuntarily, or shedding tears without cause; the countenance becomes pale, or a greenish tint and bloated, the eyes languid and the eyelids swollen, with a dark areola around them, especially in the morning; the skin is dry and cool, and has a flabby or a doughy feeling; the pulse is frequent and easily suppressed, CHLOROSIS. !.73 the breathing is hurried or laborious, the digestive functions deranged, the bowels costive or irregular; the stools sometimes become white and hard, and oth- er times fluid; the sleep is disturbed, and the dreams unpleasant; the intellect becomes dull, and the mind is occupied with fanciful notions or projects; head- ache is usually present; ringing in the ears; the face cold; the nostrils dry; neuralgic pains, and palpita- tions in the neighborhood of the heart and stomach. The tongue is generally coated white, and acid re- gurgitation takes place frequently, with nausea, es- pecially in the morning. There is often an accom- panying cough of an irritable and distressing nature, leading the friends to suppose that the patient is la- boring under consumption. Sometimes dropsical swellings occur in various parts of the body, or the patient may be attacked w 7 ith St. Vitus' Dance, hys- terics or epilepsy. L,eucorrhoea is generally present, with a retention or suppression of the menstrual dis- charge; or if any fluid escapes monthly, it contains but little coloring matter, and less fibrin than usual. All the above symptoms will not be present in any one patient, but a great proportion of them will; and they will vary in their character, according to the circumstauces attending each case. Causes. — The causes of chlorosis are various and numerous. It may be owing to indigestion, to liv- ing in low, damp and cold situations, secluded from the rays of the sun, bad food, late hours, excessive use of vinegar, green fruit and all crude articles, in- dulgence in warm drinks, w r ant of exercise and a 174 SELF-ABUSE OF FEMALES. sedentary, lazy and voluptuous mode of life. Females of a rapid and premature growth, those of a weak, delicate constitution, of a scrofulous habit, or of a nervous temperament are most especially liable to it. Many young females produce this disease by a vi- olation of the moral and physical laws of Nature. Such females labor under a great depression of mind, are often affected with some menstrual derange- ment, etc. , and become almost unfit for society. I^adies thus afflicted suffer long and severely, be- cause of a false delicacy in not seeking early the ad- vice and counsel ot a scientific and skilful physician, whose sympathies and kindness, in addition to his skill, might soon restore them to their wonted health and vigor. SELF-ABUSE OE FEMALES. Mrs. Gove, in her Lecture to I^adies on Anatomy and Physiology — subjects which every woman should understand — thus discourses concerning its prevalence among her sex: ' 'About eight years since, my mind was awaken- ed to examine this subject by the perusal of a med- ical work that described the effects of this vice when practiced by females. This was the firs*t intimation I had that the vice existed among our sex. Since that time I had much evidence that it is fearfully common among them. "There is reason to believe that, in nine cases out of ten, those unhappy females who are tenants of houses of ill-fame have been victims of this vice in EFFECTS OF SELF-ABUSE OX FEMALES. 175 the first place. Were this the peculiar vice of the low and vulgar, there might be more excuse for the apathy and false delicacy that pervades the commun- ity respecting it. But it invades all ranks. Professed Christians are among its victims. Our boarding and day schools are sources of untold mischief. A short time since, two sisters, ladies of the first re- spectability, informed me that, when very young, they were put to a female boarding-school where this vice prevailed, and the practice was explained to them. They were blessed with parents who were willing to converse with and warn their children, and they escaped the contamination. One of her correspondents writes that she ' 'became addicted to solitary vice about the age of nine years. ' 5 1 'Facts and important information to young women, etc. , " a work which we recommend cordially, details many instances illustrative of the prevalence of this vice. EFFECTS OF MASTURBATION OX FEMALES. In girls and women the consequences of solitary vice are somewhat different from what they are in men. The object of the habit is the same in girls as in boys, viz. : sexual excitement; but there is this dif- ference, that girls do not weaken themselves by the constant loss of Spermatic fluid, but by the excessive exaltation of the nervous system. Excessive prostra- tion of the nervous energy, and general debility, is therefore the effect of masturbation in young females. The cerebellum, or little brain, situated on the back 176 EFFECTS OF SELF-ABUSE ON FEMALES. part of the head is acknowledged to be the seat of Amativeness, and this organ has also been proved, by the best pathologists, to be the seat of Epilepsy in a majority of cases. The sexual organs, as we have already remarked, being highly supplied with nerves, which are endowed with the keenest sensibility, and which connect in a wonderful and mysterious manner through the medium of other nerves in the spinal column, carrying their direct effect to the cerebellum and brain, the seat of the soul, it will be readily un- derstood why girls are much more subject to Epilepsy St. Vitus' Dance, (Chorea,) Vertigo, excessive head- ache, sadness, sullenness, depression of spirits, idiocy and insanity. Instead of the local organs in the height of the excitement and pleasure from this habit, pour- ing out a functional secretion, leaving the longings of the mind and desire somewhat satisfied, as in the male, it does not obtain to produce this effect in the female, but the pleasurable excitement being con- tinued into a perfect moral orgasm, the cerebellum, the brain, and the whole nervous system receives a shock, which in thousands of instances is sufficient to result in madness, mania, the loss of self-control, or all shame, even to the exposure of the naked per- son. These results are not the first effects, only in a milder degree, but as the habit becomes formed, the victim gives herself up more and more, and oftener and oftener, to indulgences that sooner or later develop one or more of these effects and sad results. EFFECTS OF SELF-ABUSE ON FEMALES. 177 During twenty years' practice, we have been con- sulted in over one thousand cases of Epilepsy, St. Vitus' Dance, Neuralgia, Nervous Spasms, Hys- teria, Cramps, Fits, and the catalogue of this class of disorders, and in every case w r ere they traceable to this vice. But again, the membranes lining the vagina and the female genital organs, are supplied with glands and tissues for the special office of secreting a healthy mucous to keep the parts properly lubricated, the same as in the mouth, pertaining to the salivary glands. The continued irritation and excitement kept up by the female upon these membranes and parts by the habit, cause an excessive morbid secre- tion to be poured out from the vagina, wdiich dis- charges itself over the labia and thighs, excoriating them, generating humors and eruptions, and in many cases an intolerable itching, causing hysteria, and morbid excitement of the passions. The face and complexion show most evidently the effects of this vice; red blotches and pimples ap- pear, the countenance often becoming yellow and discolored. Despondenc}- of spirits—moreover, intolerable grief, alternated by violent fits of uncontrollable laughter, sullenness, madness and insanity, are the results in long-continued and more aggravated cases, in females possessing peculiar temperaments. In our prescriptions and treatment for Lung dis- eases we always consider it an imperative duty to ac- quaint our patients with all the causes, and emphat- 178 RETENTION OF THE MENSES. ically give them to understand that, without cutting off and avoiding all causes, the baneful effects cannot be got rid of, — health cannot be restored ;consequent- ly we have been able to reach and save many that were surrounded by the twilight of the grave. We conscientiously advise mothers having daughters manifesting any of the above symptoms we have de- scribed, to seek our advice before it is too late. An earnest expostulation made to their reason, with an array of astounding cases and practical facts, will of- ten arouse a gleam of reflection and moral decision, without which a fatal termination would be the result, RETENTION OF THE MENSES. The non-appearance of the monthly evacuation at the natural period, is called retention of the menses, and is generally followed in time by serious conse- quences to health. From various causes, the menses are liable to become obstructed at a period when they ought to appear; and unless nature is assisted, the constitution becomes so impaired as to induce consumption, or some other fatal disease. The cause of this disease seems to be a want of power in the system, arising from inability to propel the blood into the uterine vessels w T ith sufficient force to open their extremities, and allow a discharge of blood from them. The more remote cause seems to be suppressed perspiration occasioned by leading an inactive and sedentary life. We have noticed of late that a large proportion of females troubled with this complaint, are those engaged in factories; and we are RETENTION OF THE MENSES. 179 satisfied that persons thus confined, year after year, deprived as they must be of fresh air, and kept con- stantly in a constrained position, inflict a lasting evil upon their constitutions. Among the symptoms which characterize this dis- ease are debility, great disorder of the stomach and bowels, sallow countenance, pains in the back and loins, swelling of the ankles at night and face ir the morning, palpitation of the heart, hurried or la borious breathing, disturbed sleep, colorless urine, derangement of the nervous system, and often har- assing cough. The skin is pale and cold, and some- times of a greenish hue, which has given the dis- ease the name of the 1 'green sickness. ' ' In regard to treatment of this complaint, it is evi- dent that, as it proceeds from debility, the great ob- ject to be fulfilled is to give tone and energy to the system. The patient should keep her feet warm and dry, and avoid all exposure to a cold or damp at- mosphere, especially the night air. If the weather is mild, exercise in the open air will be beneficial. The skin should be rubbed night and morning with a coarse towel or flesh brush till it is in a glow. The food should be light and nourishing, avoid- ing the use of tea and coffee, fat meat and all oily substances. Seashore bathing, change of air, etc. will do more than any other course to establish the health of the patient. Herb tea, such as mother- wort, pennyroyal, etc., in connection with a fr male periodical pill would be advisable- 180 SUPPRESSION OF THE MENSES. SUPPRESSION OF THE MENSES. Aside from pregnancy, the menses are frequently interrupted by exposure to cold, mental agitation, and a variety of other causes which derange the health. The discharge is sometimes suddenly check- ed by remaining in a damp place till the body is chill- ed, and in that case there is usually headache, a dry cough, hot skin, thirst, tenderness in the region of the womb, and pains of the back and lower extrem- ities. Sometimes the patient is attacked with shiver- ings. If the suppression continues beyond two or three periods, the health becomes more or less im- paired, as in retention of the menses; and hemorrhage from the lungs or some other organ is liable to occur. Our prognostic in this disease is to be directed by the cause which gives rise to it, the length of time it has continued, and the state of the person's health in other respects. When suddenly suppressed in consequence of cold, it may easily be restored by pursuing proper means; but where the suppression has been of long standing, and leucorrhoea attends, we ought always to consider the circumstances as unfavorable. In those cases we have treated, which terminated fatally, in consequence of the long continuance oi the disease, the same morbid changes in the ovaries and uterus are to be observed on dissection, as in those of retention of the menses. In this complaint the patient should be fully apprised of the connec- tion between the suppression and pregnancy. GONORRHOEA. 181 In the treatment of this disease, if th.z suppression is owing to a sudden cold, a cure may he effected by a free use of warm herb, teas, until perspiration en- sues, and if the patient is in bed, a heated stone, wrapped in damp cloth, may be placed at her feet. If she perspires with difficulty, an injection should be administered, followed by the vapor bath, and if necessary, an emetic to cleanse the stomach. If the disease is obstinate and of long standing, the treat- ment directed for the retention of the menses will be equally applicable in this, viz: Female Periodical Pills, which are the result of the combined knowl- edge and experience of some of the oldest and most' distinguished physicians. To eulogize their virtues would not add to their merits. We will only say, try them, and if they do not prove to be what they are represented, your money shall be refunded. Price, Five Dollars per box. They can be trans- mitted by Express to any part of the World. VENEREAL DISEASES — GONORRHOEA. Gonorrhoea is an inflammation of the urethra in the male, and of the vagina in the female, attended by a whitish or yellowish discharge. The disease may arise from leucorrhoea in the female, or other exciting agents; but, as a rule, it is contracted in intercourse with a person similarly affected. An average case of gonorrhoea, if not cut short by treatment, presents four stages; viz: The first or initiatory stage, which lasts from twen- ty-four hours to a couple of days, and consists in a 182 GLEET*. slight tickling, or tingling, at the orifice of the urethra and the flow of a small quantity of thin, transparent mucous or milklike discharge. Secondly, to this succeeds the inflammatory stage, in which the lips of the urethra become red and swollen, the discharge becomes copious, yellow or greenish; the act of micturition is attended with pain and scalding. During this stage, also, the most dis- tressing of the complications of the disease are apt to occur, such as irritation of the bladder, inflamma- tion of the testicle and of the prostate gland. The third stage, viz: that of subacute inflamma- tion follows the subsidence of the foregoing acute symptoms. It is marked by slight irritation in mak- ing water, and the continuance of a discharge of yellow matter. This stage is apt to be protracted, and to result in the fourth stage, or GI.EET. Gleet consists in the continuance, after all inflam- matory symptoms of gonorrhoea haves ubsided, of a discharge from the urethra of a fluid varying in color and consistency — being one case simply mucous, in another purulent. The quantity is generally small, often not more than a few drops in the course of twenty-four hours, whilst at times it ceases entirely for days together, returnable without assignable causes, or in consequence of some excitement in the way of diet or exercise. Though most commonly the result of an acute attack of gonorrhoea, mild cases of that disease, also, not unfrequently, run on and as- GLEET. 183 sume the true character of gleet. The disease is often maintained by a state of debility, or by a strumous rheumatic or gouty diathesis. That general debility is a fruitful source of the persistence of gleet, is evi- dent from the frequency of this disease in persons of broken-down constitutions. Again, gleet is peculiarly frequent and obstinate in persons of a strumous dia- thesis, who are subject to inflammation of the mu- cous membranes, and, under such circumstances, is benefitted by anti-strumous remedies. The influence of rheumatism or gout in the production of dis- charges from the urethra is notorious. The sources of the discharge of gleet are various. In some cases it issues from the lacuna magna, situ- ated a short distance up the urethra. When that is the case, a drop of the discharge may almost at any moment be obtained — provided the patient has not recently passed water — by squeezing the end of the penis. In other cases it may proceed from chronic relaxation of the membrane higher up the passage toward the bladder, or from the prostrate gland, or more commonly still, from a stricture. In many cases of gleet the discharge is the only symptom. There is an entire absence of pain in the part, of redness and tumefaction of the lips of the meatus, and of scalding in passing water. In some instances, however, the patient experiences a feeling of uneasiness in the penis, or perineum or an itching about the glans or in the deeper portion of the ure- thra, which may be constant or attendant only upon the passage of the urine. Again, at the first act of 184 GONORRHOEA IN WOMEN. micturition in the morning, the obstruction offered to the exit of the urine by the matter that has dried around the meatus and glued its lips together, often gives rise to a forcible distention of the canal, and a sharp momentary pain which may be avoided by pre- viously separating the lips of the orifice. The symp- toms of gleet now described are liable to be aggravat- ed by any cause which produces urethral or vesical irritation. Some physicians are in doubt as to whether the discharge present in gleet possess any contagious properties. My experience teaches me that it is con- tagious, in the great majority of cases, and certainly no one is justified in having connection with a female while a vestige of the discharge remains. GONORRHOEA IN WOMEN. The urethra is much shorter and more capacious in females than in the other sex, and hence the in- flammatory symptoms are less violent although the disease is sometimes of longer duration, extends to the external genitals and the vagina, thus affecting a much greater surface than in man. When these parts are acutely inflamed, sexual intercourse is per- formed with more or less pain and difficulty, and sometimes becomes intolerable, but when the disease is chronic, there is no inconvenience. The discharge is very abundant, and sometimes comes in contact with the extremity of the rectum, which it inflames, when the mucous membrane of this part affords a whitish or purulent secretion. If OONORRHHBA IN WOMEN. 1& the mucous lining of the rectum is inflamed, there will be heat and pain in the part, which are greatly aggravated on evacuating the bowels, and the stools will be mixed with mucous or yellow matter, and sometimes with blood. When the disease occurs during pregnancy, it is absolutely necessary that it be cured before parturi- tion, as the matter discharged, in coming in contact with the eyes of an infant in passing into the world, may cause a violent purulent opthalmia. We might narrate the histories of numerous cases in which the vision of the new-born infant was destroyed by opa- cities of the cornea, induced by the gonorrhoeal discharge of the parent. It is, however, fortunate that many such cases admit of cure. The medical treatment of both sexes is constitu- tionally alike, but the female has to depend more upon local treatment than the male. Frequent ab- lution, rest, temperate diet, the more farinaceous and mucilaginous the better, avoiding entirely wines, fermented and spirituous liquors, together with mild aperients and salines, constitute the chief means of cure, together with our Ricord's complete cure for Gonorrhoea, of which we make mention in another part of this work. We have already alluded to the difficulty of get- ting female patients to be their own confessors. If they appoint others, every possible information should be furnished, and fastidiousness by no means should supplant the avowal of real facts. The urethral and vaginal discharge is so acrid in 186 INFLAMMATION CF THE PROSTATE. some cases as to excoriate the labia, and to give rise to excrescences, vegetations and warts, which may be succeeded by ulceration or sloughing of the af- fected part. INFLAMMATION OF THE PROSTATE GLAND. This, though not so frequent a complication of gonorrhoea as the foregoing, is a troublesome and painful complaint. It is seldom seen except in at- tendance upon those acute and obstinate cases which occur in scrofulous and irritable constitutions. The inflammation in these cases, commencing at the orifice, speedily runs up the passage to the bladder, involving the prostate in its course. The symptoms of this affection are a heavy ach- ing in the perineum, extending often to the rectum, and causing an ineffectual urging to relieve the bow- els. Pressure over the prostate is intolerable, and the patient is unable to sit. The gland swells, and may be examined per anum, and felt also externally . IRRITATION OF THE BLADDER. This is common, and at times a very distressing accompaniment of gonorrhoea. Few acute cases are free from it. It commonly comes on early in the disease, being coincidental with the most inflamma- tory stage of the attack. Its leading symptom is a painful, and, in some cases, almost incessant urg- ing to pass water; and the suffering is often the greatest the moment after the bladder has been emp- tied. The urine is generally loaded with mucous* and, in some cases, is intermixed with blood INFLAMMATION OF THE BLADDER. 18? INFLAMMATION OF THE BLADDER. Inflammation of the bladder, or Cystitis, is usually caused by injuries, irritating dinreties, injections or diseases of adjacent viscera, or is the result of gon- orrhoea, occurring as a consequence of the extension of the inflammation along the continuous mucous surface common to the urethra and bladder ;but it may be produced by any cause that occasions irritation. It has also been attributed in rare instances, to the gonorrhoeal discharge finding its way, or being forced into the bladder, and there lighting up inflammation similar to that affecting the urethral walls. All those causes which aggravate the urethritis may occur in. exciting cystitis, among which may be mentioned sexual intercourse, indulgence in alcoholic stimulants including malt liquors; fatigue, and the use of highly irritant injections. Cystitis never occurs at the com- mencement of an attack of gonorrhoea, but usually toward its decline, after the disease has had time to invade the deeper portions of the urethra. Cystitis is almost always confined to the neck of the bladder. The first symptoms that attract the atten- tion of the patient are a frequent desire to pass his urine, and a feeling of heaviness in the perineum, which is frequently accompanied by a tickling or itching sensation at the extremity of the penis. The urine is high colored and deposits upon standing a more or less copious, stringy, and whitish sediment, composed chiefly of pus and mucous ; and the urethral discharge usually becomes more free and purulent. 188 SWELLED TESTICLES. In acute cases the symptoms are much more severe; there is a decided pain in the perineum and across the hypogastric region, radiating to the head of the penis, the testicles and the groins; the desire to micturate recurs every few minutes, when only a very small quantity of dark-colored urine can with diffi- culty and pain be evacuated, followed sometimes by a few drops of pure blood, and usually by most dis- tressing tenesmus at the vesicle neck, which the pa- tient endeavors to relieve by pressing with one hand upon the perineum, while with the other he pinches the extremity of the penis. In such cases there is usually some degree of febrile disturbance, indicated by a frequent pulse, loss of appetite, anxiety of coun- tenance, general depression, and intense thirst. Re- tention of the urine is rare in gonorrhoeal cystitis; but it occasionally occurs as a consequence of the loss of contractility in the vesicle walls, and the dis- tended bladder can then be felt above the pubes. SWELLED TESTICLES. The most frequent complication of gonorrhoea is an affection of the scrotal organs, known by the name of swelled testicle or orchitis. In the early stages of urethral gonorrhoea the in- flammation is generally confined to the neighborhood of the fossa navicularis . At a later period, however, the deeper portions of the canal are involved, and the disease thus gains access to the ejaculatory duct, and, under the influence of any exciting cause, may extend along the spermatic canal to the epididymis, or even SWELLED TESTICLES. 189 beyond this, to the testicle and the tissues which en- velop it . The patient ' s own sensations will sometimes indicate that in this mode has originated the affection of the testicle. He has felt a dull pain in the peri- neum and the groin, along the course of the sper- matic vessels, for a day or two before he observed the tenderness and swelling of the testes. Again, we may find additional evidence in the fact that the cord corresponding to the inflamed testicle can be felt ex- ternally to be swollen and hard, and can be traced from the testicle through the inguinal canal, even to the iliac fossa. Post-mortem examinations also, have exhibited ordinary appearances of inflammatory ac- tion through the whole of the canal connecting the testicles and urethra. There can be but little doubt, therefore, that in many and probably in most cases, swelled testicle owes its origin to the extension of the inflammation along a continuous mucous sur- face. In some cases of swelled testicle, after the more acute symptoms have subsided, the parts still re- main engorged, and the disease shows a tendency to become chronic. This is most likely to occur in pa- tients of a weak habit, and while this condition lasts the least exciting cause may induce a return of the acute inflammation. Most cases of swelled testicle, if appropriately treated, terminate favorably. In some rare instances, abscesses form in the cellular tissue underlying the scrotum, or in the epididymis or body of the testicle, 190 STRICTURE. STRICTURE. By this term is meant a narrow? tig ot sotnf. portion of the urethra, by which its capacity is lessened and the flow of the urine from the bladder impeded. The common cause of stricture is the inflammation at- tendant upon gonorrhoea, in which disease the whole length of the urethra is sometimes involved. There may be one or several strictures, and the whole or a portion only of the circumference of the canal may be implicated. The earliest symptom is ordinarily an increased frequency in the desire to empty the bladder, or the retention of a few drops of the urine, which dribble afterward, and on the cooling, the urine deposits a cloud of mucus. The obstruction in voiding urine increases with the growth of the stric- ture, and the stream becomes smaller, twisted and split. In almost every recent case, there is also, a gleety discharge. Indeed, the obstinate persistence of this discharge is one of the most unfailing signs of the existence of stricture. In aggravated, long-stand- ing and neglected cases of this complaint, the patient's sufferings are sometimes truly distressing. The irri- tation extends to the urinary organs — the bladder becomes disorganized by the action of offensive am- moniacal urine, from the irritating presence of which it is never free, and ultimately the kidneys become involved in the destructive process. The patient is constantly impelled to fruitless efforts to empty the bladder; his rest is thereby broken, his appetite fails, his general healthbecomes impaired,andunless timely SYPHILIS. 191 relief is afforded, hectica succeeds, and he sinks under an accumulation of evils. What is called spasmodic stricture seems to be simply an aggravation of an already existing stric- ture by some exciting cause, as a sudden cold, over* indulgence in alcoholic drinks, and the like. syphilis. Syphilis is one of the class of diseases called infec- tious, and is characterized by the presence of a mor- bid poison by which the disease is transmitted from one person to another. The existence of a specific virus was at one time called in question by some, but at the present day it is established beyond any question whatever. Daily experience demonstrates that in syphilis there exists a contagious element by means of which the disease is communicated, and though this morbid poison cannot be detected by the senses, by the microscope or chemical analysis, its presence is fully proved by its effects. As stated above, syphilis depends upon the intro- duction into the system of its peculiar virus. This may be accomplished in various ways. In the great majority of instances the disease is communicated by sexual intercourse. It may also be contracted from the body and bedclothes of a person bearing the dis* ease, by surgical instruments, by chambers and watei closets, by the fingers of an infected individual. In fact, a person may be inoculated upon the lips, nose, eyelids or any raw or abraded surface upon any por- tion of the body. The disease may also be commu- 192 PRIMARY SYPHILIS. nicattd by either or both parents to their offspring. Syphilis is usually divided into three stages, and each has symptoms peculiar to itself. These are known as Primary, Secondary and Tertiary. PRIMARY SYPHILIS. The lesions peculiar to primary syphilis are the chancre or ulcer and an enlargement of the lymph- atic ganglions of the groin, or bubo. The Chancre. — Although a chancre may occur on any part of the body, yet it is by far most common on the genital organs. Its common sites are the head of the penis and prepuce, the vulva, vagina and uterus. The disease may also attack the ureth- ra in both sexes, especially in the male, although the occurrence is very uncommon. Any portion of the head or foreskin of the penis may be affected, but of the former, the corona, or rather the gutter just behind the corona, and the surface on each side of the frenum, are most liable to be involved, from the circumstance that these parts are particularly apt to retain the infecting matter; for the same rea~ son the free extremity of the prepuce is very prone to suffer. A severe chancre occasionally forms on the body or root of the penis. In the female, the disease sometimes occurs on the perineum, on the outer surface of the labium, and around the anus. A chancre upon the mucous surface of the genital organ does not always pass through the same regu- lar stages as a chancre upon the skin from artificial inoculation. On the contrary, it frequently begins as PRIMARY SYPHILIS. 193 an ulcer, in consequence of the matter having been brought in direct contact with the abraded surface , or a scratch, and in this case the evolution of the dis- ease is always peculiarly rapid and well-marked. Sometimes the chancre is so small as to escape the observation of the patient. At other times, again it commences as a boil or an abscess. This form is most common when the inoculation has taken place from the matter having insinuated itself into the orifice of a mucuous follicle. Under such circumstances, the gland swells and becomes softened, and is soon after destroyed by ulcerative action. Moreover, it is impor- tant to remember that the viscular and pustular stages may have passed by unnoticed, and that, con- consequently, when the sore is first inspected it may possess all the character of a well-defined chancre. No general symptomsprecede or usher in the local disease, whatever may be the form in which it begins;all that the patient experiences is a slight sensation of heat, some itching, and an increase of the sensibility of the part which is about to become the seat of the infection. Chancre presents itself under two varieties of form, the indurated or hard, and non-indurated or soft, all distinction being now abandoned, on the ground that, whatever difference of appearance the sore may exhibit, they are solety and entirely of an accidental character, and, therefore, altogether independent of the nature of the syphilitic virus. The indurated chancre is usually rounded or some- what oval, and from the diameter of a split pea to that of a five cent piece. Its surface is hollow, as if 194 SECONDARY SYPHILIS. scooped out, and incrusted with a layer of lymph, of a ditty grayish color, and very firmly adherent. The edges of the ulcer are hard, slightly elevated, and inclined a little slopingly from within outward. The indurated chancre has no distinct areola; its march is indolent, and it furnishes a thin, serous, sanguinolent or ichorous fluid, small in quantity and difficult of inoculation. Hence, unless the mat- ter comes in contact with a raw surface, or a surface well adapted for its absorption, a second chancre sel- dom arises during the progress of the primary one. The soft chancre, also generally of a rounded form , but less regularly so than the hard, is much more common than the latter, and is often multiple, from three to six or eight occasionally occurring in the same subject. It is particularly apt to show itself at the fine margin of the prepuce, and at or just behind the corona of the penis. Several often arise simul- taneously, and others are liable to form during their progress from fresh inoculation, or the mere contact of their own secretion with the surrounding parts. The surface of the soft chancre is superficial, flat, uneven, and coated with a grayish, whitish, or dirty drab colored deposit. SECONDARY SYPHILIS. The term secondary syphilis is applied to the le- sions that follow the primary form of the disease. Secondary syphilis usually supervenes in about eight weeks after contagion. In some it appears earlier than I have mentioned, while in others it does not appear until a later period. SECONDARY SYPHILIS. 195 It must be remembered that every patient does not have all the symptoms of secondary syphilis that I am about to mention; if he has received treatment it is likely that but few of them will occur. The appearance of general syphilis is in most in- stances preceded by certain symptoms, which re- semble those that usher in other eruptive diseases and which have been called the "syphilitic fever." Although these symptoms usually precede by eight or ten days secondary eruptions, it is impossible to regard them as mere fore-runners of the latter, since they frequently continue after the eruption appears, and in some cases commence at the same time or even follow it. They never occur alone without being fol- lowed by other manifestations of syphilitic poisoning; are most common in connection with the first out- break of secondary symptoms, but may accompany, usually in less degree, a second or third attack. These symptoms consist chiefly of headache, pains resembling neuralgia or rheumatism in various parts of the bod3 r , and a general feeling of malaise or list- lessness. The patient is depressed in spirits; has a pale, sallow and haggard look, is disinclined to at^ tend his ordinary occupation, and loses flesh, although he may eat his usual quantity of food; the hair gen- erally falls out to a considerable extent. He also suffers from headache, which may be nocturnal, but which, most frequently, unlike the cephalalgia of tertiary syphilis, recurs in paroxysms of considerable severitv . without reference to the period of day and nigbt. 196 SPYHILITIC AFFECTIONS OF THE SKIN. It is sometimes diffused over the whole cranium, and at others confined to the frontal region. In some instances periodical attacks of a febrile character are met with, consisting of a chill followed by a hot stage and sweating, occuring with great regularity at a certain hour of the day, generally toward even- ing, and hence, liable to be mistaken for intermit- tent fever. In some cases the digestive functions are disorder- ed, the appetite is diminished, the tongue coated, and the patient is attacked with nausea and diarrhoea. In others these symptoms are absent and the appe- tite may even be inordinately increased. Epistaxis, oedema of the lower extremities, palpitation, and a bruit de souffle accompanying the first sound of the heart, and audible both in the cardiac region and over the carotids, have also been noted. These symptoms generally become more severe, and persist for some time after the appearance of the eruptions, though', in some instances, they sud- denly cease upon the outbreak of syphilitic erythema or papulae, or diminish and gradually disappear in the course of one or two weeks. They are not ben- efitted by mercury, but on the contrary, are increased if this agent be used to excess; and this fact would seem to indicate that they are not directly depend- ent upon syphilitic poisoning. SYPHILITIC AFFECTIONS OF THE SKIN. Syphilitic are distinguished from other eruptions by certain peculiarities, no one of which, by itself, 6YPHILITIC AFFECTIONS OF THE SKIN. 197 possesses absolute value, but several of which com- bined are generally sufficient to establish the diagno- sis. The color of a syphilitic eruption will often indicate its origin. No very definite idea of this color, how- ever, can be conveyed by words. The older writers on venereal compared it to the cut surface of a ham ; it is now commonly known as the copper color ; but both these comparisons fail to convey a perfect idea of the exact hue that is intended. It is best described as a reddish-brown, with a slight admixture of yel- low, which, in many cases, is modified by the natural color of the skin, and by the age of the eruption. The copper color of syphilitic eruptions, however, is by no means constant, and may be simulated by various forms of skin disease which are not depend- ent upon the syphilitic virus. Thus,it is never seen in mucous patches which are either red or of a gray- ish-white hue. It is absent in most cases of syphilitic erythema at the commencement of the eruption, and only appears as the blotches begin to fade away; and as a general rule, in nearly all syphilitic eruptions the copper color is less marked at an early than at a late period. Again, the cicatrices of lupus, acne, and variola, may assume a reddish-brown color which is readily mistaken for the copper color of syphilis. In spite of these various sources of error, which with care may generally be avoided, the peculiarity re- ferred to is one of the most valuable means of dis- tinguishing syphilitic eruptions from those of sim- ple origin. 198 SYPHILITIC TUBERCLES. SYPHILITIC TUBERCLES. Tubercles, like papulae, are solid elevations of the hernia, but differ from the latter in their larger size, the greater depth to which they involve their tissues, the later period of their development, and their marked tendency to ulceration. Tubercles are rarely if ever, the first syphilitic manifestations upon the skin. It may be laid down as a rule, to which there are probably no exceptions, that they have in all cases been preceeded by some one of the more superficial syphilodermata, as ery- thema or papules. They are to be ranked among the late symptoms of syphilis, and may occur ten, twenty or even forty years after contagion. TERTIARY SYPHILIS. When the specific poison has deeply penetrated the system, and become, as it were, inlaid in its dif- ferent structures, as well as thoroughly commingled with the blood, the effect which it produces consti- tute what is denominated as tertiary syphilis, which usually supervenes within two years after the appear- ance of the chancre. The textures which are particularly prone to suffer in tertiary syphilis are the skin, mucous membranes, periosteum, bones, fibro- cartilages, aponeuroses, ten- dons and testicles. All parts of the economy, how- ever are involved in the contamination, and it is ex- tremely probable that in the worst cases, hardly any organ or structure entirely escapes. The affections of the internal viscera, however, although alluded to by PICTURES FROM REAL LIFE. 199 many of the older syphilographers, have only of late attracted serious attention, and hence the amount and nature of their participation in this poisonous process have not yet been satisfactorily ascertained. Enough, however, has been determined to produce conviction that the changes in lungs, brain, heart, liver, and other organs are often of a grave character, liable to be followed by the worst results, because so insiduous are their approaches and progress that even their existence is hardly ever suspected during life, to say nothing of the impossibility of arresting them by any known treatment or combination of remedies. The most common of these internal lesions, which have, strangely enough, been termed secondary, are foul, ragged-looking abscesses, with imperfectly elaborated contents, softening and pulpy degenera- tion and tubercular deposits. Attention has not yet been sufficiently directed to the alterations of the ovaries of females who die of tertiary S3^philis; but from the resemblance which exists between these or- gans and the testes, both in structures and function, and from the fact that the latter are so often involv- ed in the disease, it is highly probable that it will be found, as our pathological researches are extend- ed, that they frequently seriously participate in the morbid action. PICTURES FROM REAI, UFE. These are not intended to challenge criticism, nor excite idle curiosity. Many may see them for whom they will have no interest — who may, perhaps, hardly understand them. They will, however, fall into the ^00 PICTURES FROM REAL LIFE, hands of some few who thoroughlycomprehend their purpose, and for whom they will have a solemn in- terest. They are, to those few, addressed in earnest solicitude, by one who desires to minister to their sorrows and to mitigate their infirmities. I ask, in good faith and kindness of heart, one favot from the person who may receive this copy. I beg of him to read it carefully, thoroughly; and if he finds in it nothing that has a personal application to him, to pre- sent it to some young man of his acquaintance. It may thus find a reader for whom it may have a pecu- liar interest. I entreat that reader to weigh my words calmly and deliberately, for on the decision of that present ten minutes will hang, in all human prob- ability, the happiness or misery of his future days. In that time may be determined whether he shall live an ornament to society, an honor to his name, a healthy, happy man, or whether he shall sink into the poor, pitiful, joyless, nerveless, prematurely old man, without heart, health or hope. PICTURE FIRST: THE YOUNG SENSUALIST. "The glory of a young man is his strength." In the great battle of life there is need that each combatant should have a brave heart and well-braced nerves, for the fight is long and arduous, and the weak and timid have no chance therein. Nor is the work all toil; the high endeavor — the end in view — makes ot it a pleasure, and as we watch the passers- by in the broad thoroughfares of the city, every face seems eager and earnest. No, not every face. Here PICTURES FROM REAL LIFE. 201 conies one, alone — a solitary one. He is young, but he has none of the busy characteristics of his fellow- men: Listless in his manner, timid in his air, he wanders rather than walks through the crowded street. May be he is a clerk, or a student or a me- chanic. But why is he so vacant and sad? It is but three or four short years since, with father's bless- ing and a mother' s prayers, he went forth into the world to conquer fortune, and to "make himself a man." Then his nerves were firm, his mind was buoyant his step was light, and his hopes were high. But these few short years have wrought a sad and fearful change. Now, neither hope nor ambition finds a place in his bosom. The fresh vigor of his youth is replaced by a weariness of life, even while his foot is yet but on its threshold. See how vacant and ob- jectless is his gaze ! His hand wanders to his forehead, which it feverishly presses, whilst a deep sigh escap- ing him tells of nervous exhaustion, and of a mind brooding over darkling thoughts. If yon knew him as a child you are struck with the change. Then he was robust and stout; now he is thin and pale. Then his eye would flash fire, as he dashed with energy in to some boyish game; now he turns aside from old companions, and frowns on what were once delights. And, hark! that hectic cough that shakes his frame, exhausts his breath, and tells of an undermined con- stitution, and, perhaps, of the dread approach of consumption. Speak to him. What says he? "He has been ill, and growing worse for a year or so. He cannot account for it, and the doctor does not se*?m 202 PICTURES FROM REAL LIFE. to do him any good, or to know what is the cause of his illness. His eyes are weak, and his memory gets very bad. " Poor fellow! It is a sad tale. Is there no solution ? Yes; come with me. It is night time. He has retired to his bed. Let us lift the veil of night, and gaze on him when he fondly fancies that no eye is upon him. Does he sleep the sleep of conscious rectitude — enjoy the welcome repose of a self-satisfied mind? No, alas! What tempest of passion — what hurricane of lust is this that sweeps across the soul ? Why do his eye- balls glare on vacancy ? Why does his cheek flush now like fire, now become pallid as death ? Why does his pure heart now beat as if it would burst through its tenement of flesh and bone, and anon scarce indicate a fitful pulse ? And now why does he sink sighing and exhausted, helpless and lifeless upon his pillow ? The fearful truth is all revealed. Sensuality has only too faithfully painted its deep lines on his body and mind. The picture is only too complete. Before you lies a poor, self-destroy- ing, self-debauching, nervous, joyless Onanist. 1 'A shocking picture indeed!" some of my readers exclaim, "but surely a little overdrawn ?" Not so. The silent tortures, the voiceless sorrows endured by those who persist from year to year in the prac- tice of Onanism, exceed the descriptive power of my pen, or of any other. Instead of exaggerating, every true mind sinks appalled from the magnitude and sternness with which these evils haunt the footsteps of those who persist in the practice, whether wil- fully or ignorantly. PICTURES FROM REAL LIFE. 203 PICTURE SECOND: THE BATCHELOR SENSUALIST. In every community there are many middle-aged men, who, from choice or necessity, have not assum- ed the responsibilities of married life. It may be that they have failed to secure one whom they have fond- ly loved in youth; it may be that they have deter- mined to secure a higher position, and a more assured income before marriage. As a general rule these men are hard-working, energetic men of business, strictly temperate, well educated, saving in their hab- its, and highly esteemed in society. But there are amongst them others altogether different — men of shy habits and downcast looks, sometimes of morose and and peevish minds. In what should be the very prime of their life, they find their constitution failing them. They have well-grounded fears that manhood, vigor, mental and bodily, are fast leaving them. I have been consulted by many such. Their usual theme has been "Why do I suffer? Have I not led a sober, temperate and sensible life? Have I ever been guilty of dissipation or debauch? My life has been regular; I have kept early hours — lived in good, well- ventilated, cheerful homes; my diet has been sound and wholesome, and I have taken sufficient and reg- ular exercise." All this is true. Every rule tending to health and happiness has been observed, save one. Understand, my friend, the blood is the life. Do you know that one ounce of the semen is equivalent to FORTY ounces of blood? Be no longer ignorant — you are answered. The secret sin — the sin of Onau 204 PICTURES FROM REAL LIFE. — has been draining your heart' s blood foj years, Be assured that no man can commit evil without evil consequences — for ' 'Sorrow tracketh wrong forever and ever. ' ' When the constitution is healthy and vigorous, it may resist the consequences for years, but the ulti- mate effect will be all the more aggravated. The vital force, unable to bear the waste of more than life, gives way suddenly. The healthy, midHle-aged man becomes a confirmed invalid. Worse— infinitely worse it is when such a man ignorantly marries. I remem- ber such a case. The gentleman was about forty years of age. He had gradually worked his way up (without capital) from the position of book-keeper, at a few shillings a week, to salesman, buyer, and ul- timately partner, in one of the greatest commercial houses in G. This fact speaks volumes for his mental activity and unblemished integrity. He was a person- able man, stout of limb, healthy in appearance, but a confirmed private sensualist. Years had passed since he first addicted himself to the unfortunate habit — yet hitherto his system had resisted the constant drain upon its vital resources. Not that he had been without warnings. Sometimes a failing eye, wander- mind, an unwilling stomach, perchance restless nights and vague discomfort. He soothes his conscience, and says, "I work too hard, I have indigestion, I will take a holiday," And now he thinks it is time he should marry. His position is assured — he is a wealthy man — his ambition is satisfied, and he will seek to be happy. He is, to all outward appearance, PICTURES FROM REAL LIFE. 205 an acceptable husband; his character is beyond re- proach. He only knows of one disreputable phase which disfigures it, and that he determines to aban- don forever, in order that he may be fit for the pure and virtuous embraces of his bride-elect. His sin has found him out; those who will not be warned must be punished; unhappily, too, the innocent must suffer also. He marries, and on the nuptial couch, in the arms of her he loves, he — poor, self- deluded, self-ruined sensuajist — discovers that the vigor of manhood has departed from him forever ! But there is another and more frequent cause of matrimonial unhappiness — a cause to which I have already directed attention. Subjects of grave and painful importance require plain and intelligible language. I will therefore say, emphatically that the destructive habit of self-abuse practiced in early life, fearfully injures the energies concerned in the reproduction of our species, and the due fulfillment of the nuptial right. It unfortunately happens that a man may abandon self-abuse as a voluntary act, and yet not be free from the conse- quences of his former folly. A new and natural as- sociation has been established between the organs of generation and the mind — involuntary discharges of semen take place during sleep; the seed is lost in the urine, at stool; the muscular fibres surrounding the seminal ducts become relaxed, and all control over their action is entirely lost. Let not any, then, imagine that having incurred the judgment of guilt they shall escape the penalty, unless by prudent and 206 PICTURES FROM REAL LIFE. prompt action, and attention to skilled advice, the instant the knowledge of that guilt and the certain- ty of its fearful consequences occur to them, they • adopt the only measures by which the scourge can be averted. Therefore, let me solemnly warn any young man now contemplating marriage, and who may at times have indulged in the secret vice of the solitary sensualist, not to take upon himself the sa' cred obligations and responsibilities of a husband until he is fully satisfied that his blood, his nervous system and his procreative powers are free from the morbid effects of his past indulgence. PICTURE THIRD: THE WIDOWER SENSUALIST. A man who could sit in my consulting room and listen day by day to the weary tales of sin and suf- fering, folly and remorse, which are continually poured into my ear, without occasionally weeping with the sufferers, is a man whose sternness and stub- bornness of heart I do not envy. For myself I do not blush to confess that during such confessions I am frequently compelled to give outward signs of my sympathy for the suffering narrator, and the more devoted do I become to the specialty I have made of these diseases for the last twenty-five years, and the more determined is my resolution to perse- vere to the end in probing to the very depths of sci- entific study and research. Of all the pitiable phases presented by the practice of self-abuse, none is so pitiable as that of the man, who, having been bereft of the partner of his bed at PICTURES FROM REAL LIFE. 20? home, abandons himself to the tyranny of self-lust, and thus precipitates himself into a dark and dismal gulf of bodily and mental affliction. * PICTURE four: the skeptic sensualist. I can imagine one of my readers, who has glanced with rapid eye over the preceeding pages, who may exclaim: "Ay, ay, doctor; it is all very well, and I dare say there are some two or three in a million to whom these facts and descriptions apply, but they apply to very few ! I believe that a man may practice self-abuse for years, and really suffer no evil conse- quences. I know that I have no time, no means, nor opportunity for indulging myself in the pleasure of a connubial life, and I have resorted to this habit to relieve myself of the promptings of nature, and I am neither sick nor diseased; I have had none of the evils you speak of, and I don't think I ever shall." My reply is: Gently, my friend; do not draw rash conclusions. Listen patiently for a few minutes, and I think you will own yourself in the wrong. If you are an Onanist, if you have at any time abandoned yourself to that vice, which has been aptly called the "Adultry of the mind," I defy you to say truth- fully that you have not experienced effects more or less evil. I challenge you, as an honest man, to say whether you have not had your warnings ? I beg of you, specially you, skeptical reader, — infatuated abuser of yourself — to answer to your own soul, in truth and sincerity, a few questions of solemn import • touching the effects of self-abuse, not on another man. 208 PICTURES FROM REAL LIFE. but on yourself — on your own precious body and mind. Answer them truly, seriously, in the soli- tude of your own chamber, and think ere you reply. Are you an Onanist? In pursuit of the baneful and degrading practice of self-abuse, have you ever felt it to be a sinful prac- tice — unmanly, unchristian and degrading you be- neath the level of the beast, which in following the mere promptings of instinct never falls so low? Have you ever yet once practiced it without, in the act, making up your mind that you would never repeat it? Do you suffer from involuntary nocturnal emis- sions, or are you ever troub ted with erections with- out any apparent cause, failure of erection when des- ired, or premature discharge of semen during coition? Have you dull pains in the groin, pains in the back? Does your sight fail you? Have you nervous headache? Are you subject to pimples on the face, back or forehead? Do you suffer from a hacking cough, for which all remedies have been unavailing? Are you fatigued with the slightest exertion, and does lassitnde of body and mind overtake you with- out cause? Are you restless when fatigued, and un- able to obtain refreshing slumber? Have you lost energy, appetite, power of enjoy- ment ? Are you frequently averse to society, even of intimate friends ? Are you bashful in female so- ciety, unable to join in conversation? PICTURES FROM REAL LEFE. 209 Does your memory fail you ? Are all your senses blunted ? Do you fall into dream" fits of abstraction, brood- ing over the past, hopeless as to the future — all the noble aspirations forgotten which gilded the morn- ing of your career ? Honestly, thoughtfully, mournfully, recalling your past life, are you not certain that your health would have been better, your heart stouter, your hopes brighter, your mind and thoughts purer, more dignified and manly, if you had not acquired for yourself your own self-reproach? Let the victim of his own evil passions answer these questions, among a thousand others I could propose to him. Answer them truly, honestly and without mental reservation, as between heaven and his own conscience. And if the answer to them or any part of them, be the one emphatic "Yes," how will he dare to say he has indulged his vile appetite for solitary excess without experiencing some of its at- tendant evils ? — without having had emphatic warn- ing that his sin is finding him out, and that days and nights of woe and torture are now impending, un- less he accepts the warning, and reverently retraces his steps from the evil path he has chosen ? Let him, therefore, earnestly endeavor to lead a new life, lest in the future day, as he has sown the storm, so will he reap the whirlwind, when the tem- pest of passion and lust shall have left him, bereft of all but an enfeebled mind, and a body racked — 210 LIVER COMPLAINT. preyed upon by the tortures of a memory bitterer than death. But I hope that many who read this will turn from their errors, the truth will prevail, that their conscience will be awakened — alas! so many err through ignorance. And if this book is instrumen- tal in saving even one who would otherwise have been lost, from evils leading to destruction, I am amply rewarded — it has not been written in vain. LIVER COMPLAINT. This is a disease much talked about, but at the same time, very imperfectly understood. Properly speaking, every derangement of the liver or bilious system, is a liver complaint, but the peculiar state of the liver, to which I now have reference, is a chronic affection, and usually arises from a torpid or conges- tive state of that important organ. Sometimes the bile is deficient in quantity or vitiated in quality, or both of the states prevail at the same time; some- times the disease is owing to an obstruction in the duct or pipe which conveys the bile from the liver in- to the bowels. The obstruction is very frequent, and is usually caused by the pipe being clogged up by a thick, tenacious slime or mucus, and sometimes by gall stones. The bile is then thrown back into the gall bladder, which conveys it into the thoracic duct, a pipe that runs up along the spine, and terminates in and empties itself into the large vein of the left shoulder, near its junction with the veins of the head and neck, and from thence the bile is conveyed to LIVER COMPLAINT. 211 the heart, and becomes mixed with the blood. The bile in this manner, being diverted from its proper course, and circulating in a part of " the body where it was never designed to by Nature, produces much evil, and often disastrous effects upon the health of the individual, because, for the want of healthy bile to mix with the half-digested food, a complete separation never takes place between the chyle (the milky liquid which forms the blood) and those portions of the food designed by nature to be ejected from the bowels; for the bile, when present, purifies and separates the healthy from the unhealthy portions in the same manner that isinglass or white of egg separates wine or cider from their imperfec- tions, and consequently the very fountain of life is vitiated and corrupted at its source ; costiveness pre- vails, or alternately costiveness and diarrhoea, wind in the stomach and bowels, and the patient is often annoyed with worms and frequently with piles The coarse particles of the bile thus mixed with the blood more or less obstruct the pores of the skin and small blood vessels, and hence give rise to various diseases of the skin, such as erysipelas, eczema, itch- ing, small watery vesicles, blotches, tumors, pimp- les, scurviness, boils, sore eyes, sores and ulcers of various kinds. The skin is move or less yellow, and when the disease is of long standing, often very dark, and has a disagreeable, dirty, greasy appear- ance, and sometimes thei-e is a perfect jaundice. The whites of the eyes havt a green or yellow tinge. ]Vtore or less bilus man would not do well to marry a female with narrow haunches; for though such a pair may be equal to the consumma- tion of marriage, there is almost certain to be a diffi- culty at the time of delivery, especially if the child should be robust in proportion with the father. It may be as well to say here, that a female with narrow haunches should unite herself with a person of delicate bodily construction, not only in reference to certain rights, but because the offspring of such a person is likely to be small, and hence suited to the peculiarity of her conformation. This may seem to the general reader a little thing to be so especial about; but it involves advice of great importance to one for whom it is intended. For instance, a woman with narrow haunches al ways suffers much on delivery; the giving birth to large children seriously effects her health and wrecks her constitution: and it constantly happens in such cases that delivery cannot be affected at all, unless by operations which must destroy the life either of the child or the mother, INTERMARRIAGE. 241 No matter how delicately formed a female may be : n other parts, if her haunches are wide, the attri- butes thereunto pertaining regular and proportiona- ble, she need not be afraid to marry a giant. We use the word haunch in its largest sense — that is to express the hip and fore and hinder part; or, in other words, to take in the whole circumference of the pelvis. "A well formed woman," says a modern physiol- ogist, "should have her head, shoulders and chest small and compact; arms and limbs relatively short; the haunches apart; her hips elevated; her abdomen large and other things voluminous.' * Hence she should taper from the center up and down. Great hollowness of the back, the thighs against each other in walking, and the elevation of one hip above the other are indications of malformation of the pelvis." From the same writer I take the following, which is applicable here; it is very correct in its estimates of beauty in both sexes: The length of the neck should be proportionately less in the male than the female, because the depen- dence of the mental system on the vital one is natu- rally connected with the shorter courses of the ves- sels of the neck. The neck should form a gradual transition be- tween the body and head — its fullness concealing all prominences of the throat. 242 INTERMARRIAGE, The shoulders should slope from the lower part of the neck, because the reverse shows that the up- per part of the chest owes its width to the bones and muscles of the shoulders. The upper part of the chest should be relatively short and wide, independent of the size of the shoul- ders, for this shows that the vital organs which it contains are sufficiently developed. The waist should taper little farther than the mid- dle of the trunk, and be marked especially in the back and loins by the approximation of the hips. The waist should be narrower than the upper part of the trunk and its muscles, because the reverse indicates expansion of the stomach, liver and great intestines resulting from their excessive use. The back of woman should be more hollow than that of man; for otherwise the pelvis is not of suffi- cient depth for parturition. Woman should have loins more extended than man at the expense of the superior and inferior parts, for this confirmation is essential to gestation. The abdomen should be larger in woman than in man for the same reason. Over all these parts the cellular tissue, and the plumpness connected with it, should obliterate all distinct projection of muscles. The surface of the whole female should be char- acterized by its softness, elasticity, smoothness, del- icacy and polish, and by the gradual and easy tran- sition between the parts INTERMARRIAGE. 243 The moderate plumpness already described should bestow on the organs of the woman great suppleness. Plumpness is essential to beauty, especially in mothers, because in them the abdomen necessarily expands, and would afterwards collapse, and become wrinkled. An excess of plumpness, however, is to be guard* ed against. Young women who are very fat are cold, and prone to barrenness. In no case should plumpness be so predominant as to destroy the distinctness of parts. A male and female formed on the above models would be well matched, and have fine children. If a female throws her feet much to the rear in walking, her knees are inclined inwards. A woman who marches, rather than walks, has large hips, and a well developed pelvis. If she moves along trippingly on her tip-toes, a large calf and strong muscles are indicated. The foot lifted in a slovenly manner so as to strike the heel against the back of the dress, is a sure sign of a small calf and pelvis. A heavy walk, when there is but little spring on the toes, evidences a slenderness and weakness of limbs. When the foot and ankle assume a bony appear- ance, and the heel strikes the ground before the ball or edge of the foot, they indicate that the female has passed the meridian of life, no matter how other ap- pearances may weigh against this. Blue eyes should marry black; for when persons 244 WHAT AGE TO MARRY. both having blue are united, their offspring are apt to have very light hair and a tendency to blind- ness. When a person is of consumptive habits, this is a peculiarly important consideration, for it is known that in consumptive families hazel and black-eyed children die, while the blue-eyed live. Hence, a man or woman having dark eyes and a consumptive tendency, should choose a blue-eyed partner. However, we by no means advise consumptive persons to marry at all; that is, unless the disease be artificially produced and not hereditary; for in the former case matrimony may be of service, and has been known to produce a permanent cure, even when all other applications have failed. The person who studies this book thoroughly will not be easily deceived in the make, form, or internal conformation of either male or female, though hav- ing to judge them outside their dress. The moral qualities are matters to be discovered by parentage, time and conversation. And thus advised, there cannot be much difficulty jn bringing about matrimonial arrangements, so as to "cross the breed;" which as we have clearly shown is a consideration of much importance in married life. AT WHAT AGE TO MARRY. Very early in life, varying from ten to sixteen years, begins to be felt the anxiety of the sexes to be to- gether, and were people more robust as they might WHAT AGE TO MARRY. 245 be did they live in a simple state of nature, and without suffering the fatigues and hardships gener- ally experienced in savage life — the chances are that their desires might be consummated as well then as in after years, and without the incurring of physical injun\ As it is, however, there is a serious day of reckoning for early indulgence; for precocious per- sons—unless their constitutions are as powerful as their desire — who give way to their passions at first exactions, barter their youth for their enjoyment, and are old and weary of the world at an age when people of more moderate habits are only in the meridian of pleasure and existence. It has been written over and over again that in Arabia, and other warm climates, girls of twelve, and boys of fonrteen, are ripe enough for marriage. In their affections they may be — for there, in a warm climate, it effects an undoubted influence, but oth- erwise, they are unsuited for such a change of life; for early communion of the sexes is as productive of physical prostration in sultry latitudes as in other places. Tne proper age to marry, all over the world, is be- tween twenty-five and thirty for men, nineteen and twenty-five for women; and in fyct, previous to the age of twenty -five and nineteen, they are, as a gen- eral rule, inadequate to the requirements of matri- monial intercourse. Some young men who imagine that early development of the passions is a proof of manhood, will not be ready to admit this, but V?e can tell them that their strength to accomplish dcxss £UX 246 WHAT AGE f O MAkkY. keep pace with their will to dare. Hence boys who marry derive but little enjoyment from the connubial state; and the ladies who unite themselves with ju- veniles become disappointed, and suspect their hus- band of incapacity- — (we dare not give it a more ap- propriate title) — whereas, the only thing they are de- ficient m is age. Many a separation, and even elope- ment has been thus occasioned; and the offspring of such marriages is usually puny and consumptive. Further, men who marry too young, unless they are of cold and phlegmatic constitutions, and thus moderate in their conduct, become partially bald dim of sight, and lose all elasticity of limb in a few years; while women in a like position rarely have any bloom in their cheek or fire in their eye by the time they are twenty-five. And all profound phy- siologists agree that, from the same cause, the men j tal faculties suffer in the same ratio. A medium, however, is to be observed. It is not well to defer till middle age the period of connubial intercourse; for too tedious spinstership is as much calculated to hasten the decay of beauty, as too early a marriage. Hence, there is rarely any fresh j ness to be seen in the maiden of thirty, while the matron of that age, if her life has been a happy one, and her h)^menial condition of not more than ten years standing, is scarcely in the hey-day of her charms. And the same rule will apply with equal force to the other sex, for after the first prime of iife, bachelors decay and grow old much faster than married men. Hence, says the poet. What age to marry. 247 "Connubial pleasures keep men in their prime, While those who shun them wither ere their time." The rich are qualified, for marriage before the poor. This is owing to the superiority of their aliment; for very nutritious food and the constant use of wines, coffee, etc. , greatly assist in developing the organs of reproduction, whereas the food generally made use of among the peasantry in most countries, as vegetables, corn, milk, etc., retards their growth. Owing to this difference of diet, the daughter of a man of wealth, who keeps a good table, w T ill be as ad- equate to certain duties of married life at eighteen as the daughter of a humble peasant at twenty-one. Sin- gular as it may seem, it is none the less true, that love novels, amorous conversations, playing parlor games for kisses, voluptuous pictures, w T altzing, and in fact all things having a tendency to create desire assist in promotiug puberty and preparing young persons for early marriage. Those who reach this estate, however, by artificial means, and much before the natural period, will have to suffer for it in after life. Maidens suffering from peculiar diseases, as nym- phomania, uterine epilepsy, green sickness (w T hich is mostly the result of love), virgin convulsions, etc., should be married as soon as possible, though they have scarcely passed the term of puberty, for mar- riage is a certain cure in these complaints, and cannot, at this period, do as much evil as it w 7 ill effect good. The female who marries before the completion of her womanhood — that is before her puberty is estab- lished — will cease to grow and probably become pale 248 FACTS OF IMPORTANCE. and dea cate, the more especially if she becomes pregnant soon after marriage. A person thus cir- cumstanced will also be liable to abortion and pain- ful deliveries. In fine, unless under very peculiar circumstances indeed — such, for instance, as may be involved in the afflictions noticed in the preced- ing paragraph — marriage should not take place un- til two or three years after puberty. Let us, there- fore, advise the male reader to keep his desires in leading-strings until he is at least twenty- five, and the female not to enter within the pale of wedlock until she is past her eighteenth 3^ear; but after those periods, marriage is their proper sphere of action, and one in which they must play a part, or sufFei actual pain, as well as the loss of one of the great- est of earthly pleasures; for Nature is a tyrant, anct will not be deprived of this, perhaps the most im* perative of her claims, with impunity. FACTS OF MUCH IMPORTANCE TO BOTH SEXES. The knowledge contained in this chapter is tha result of many years' research, thought and exper- ience. It contains much that will be new to the reader, but nothing is authoritatively advanced, the truth of which we have not fairly tested. Young physicians will be pleased to find so much that they should know in a few words, for the chapter con- tains nearly everything worth seeking for connect- ed with the subjects it treats of, and many things not considered, or even hinted at, by previous phy- siologists. FRUITFUL MONTHS. '249 OX PHYSIOLOGY. Physiology is the science of life — life itself being an aggregate of phenomena, which manifest them- selves in organized bodies. Some philosophers hold the opinion that it is merely the effect of the play of the element on certain combinations of matter, and that there is no such thing as a living princi- ple. This theory, however, is easilly disproved; but not by the substitution of any which explains the mystery of sentient existence. OBSTRUCTIONS. Should any unexpected barriers be discovered to the consummation of the rights of marriage, a physi- cian should be consulted without delay. A false modesty in such cases may be productive of the mcst serious consequences. The Duchess du Barry is a case in point. After being married about six weeks, she was on the eve ot separating from her husband, | when one of the ladies of the court learned the cause, and prevailed on her to consult one of the faculty, who soon set all right. However, both the duke and duchess had suffered much through their delay or ignorance. THE FRUITFUL MONTHS. It is estimated that the healthiest children are born in February, March, April and May. Conse- quently, May, June, July and August must be the months most auspicious to conception. This is merely the popular theory, but Dubois, I^a Basche, and the skillful writer Le Temps assert that theiz % experience corroborates it, 250 HABITUAL MISCARRIAGE. TWINS. A female may have twins, the offspring of differ- ent fathers. Thus, a woman in North America, being delivered the same day of a black and white infant, acknowledged that nine months before she had been with her husband and a negro slave. In births where one child precedes the other for one or two months, it is fair to suspect adultery. Indeed, the infants themselves usually give evidence of a different parentage. MARRIAGE AND POETRY. Marriage blunts the imagination. A married writer of fiction must hold Hymen in check, or weary his readers; and poetry is almost irreconcilable with the state of wedlock. Schiller observes, that one cannot woo his wife and the muses; and there is, no doubt, much philos- ophy in the assnmption. Thus it would seem that poetry is the escape of love when not otherwise directed. IDEAS OF BEAUTY. Men of poetical or sanguine temperament prefer the beauty of the face. Those of stronger animal propensities, the beauty of the form. The latter make the most attentive husbands, as they are most content with the realities of life. HABITUAL, MISCARRIAGES. The force of habit is such in women, that when a female once miscarries she will always be liable to miscarry when the same stage of pregnancy occurs, RESEMBLANCES. COLOR OF THE SKIN. The complexion or the skin depends on that of the rete mucosum, a glutinous substance that lies between the under and outward skin. In blacks this membrane contains an inky fluid, which is ascribed to carbon and the increase of bilious secre- tions in hot climates. puberty. At the time of puberty the blood of both sexes tends towards the parts subservient to reproduction, which causes these organs to awake from their tor- por and expand. THE HAIR. A profusion of hair is a sign of an amorous dispo- sition; as is also a rough husky voice. When a man is castrated he loses his beard, and his voice grows feminine. He is also liable to periodical hemorrhages, like the other sex. Likewise he be- comes artful, depraved and foolish. RESEMBLANCES. Children should resemble both parents, or there may be a fair doubt of their legitimacy. However, notwithstanding the theories of Strauss, Gutilett and Walker the rule is not imperative; for we, and others, have seen infants who, in face or form, bore not the slightest similitude to their female parents; which must be taken as proof positive in the prem- ises. Still, this so rarely occurs as to be only the exceptions to the rule. 252 PERIOD OF CHILD-BEARING. RENEWING LIFE. In 1677, France was thrown into a state of great excitement, by the publication of a theory of life by a physician named Richard Lower, who contended that life might be renewed and prolonged indefinitely by transferring the blood of young into old people. The system w r as first tried on dogs, with — accord- ing to Lower — the most successful results. How- ever, it not only failed with men, but in some in- stances, it came near killing those who were candi- dates for immortality, owing to the difference of the temperament between the receiver and giver of the blood . Nevertheless, the doctrine continues to be steadily maintained by some visionaries, with this saving clause, that the party who received the vital fluid, must have been of the same habits, tempera- ment, state of health, etc., when at the same age of him who yielded it. LONG COURTSHIPS. Beware of long courtships, for there are so many slips between the cup and the lip, that it is almost as well to marry in haste and repent at leisure. PERIOD OF CHILD-BEARING. Women may be ten, eleven, and even twelve months in a certain condition, the ignorance whereof causes much domestic trouble, and has occasionally been the means of divorces. On the contrary, full grown chil- dren may be born in the seventh month after concep- tion, and some say in the sixth or even less, but we doubt them. At least, out of all our experience, we never had personal knowledge of a case of the sort BAD HABITS. 253 but one, and then we had our suspicions, grounded on various circumstances apart from the main one, which were rather unfavorable to the lady's char- acter. EXCESSES. Beware of youthful excesses, for sooner or later they have to be paid for. A great English philosopher truly says, "the de- * bauches of youth are so many conspiracies against old age." BAD HABITS. There is but one mode in which the sexes of the human race can know each other without the sacri- fice of pleasure, and probably risks of yet greatet importance, and that mode is dictated by nature. Valsalva and others assumed that monstrous births were often occasioned by shunning the advice of nature in this particular. GREEN SICKNESS. One of the most active causes of laborious or ob' structed menstruation is disappointment in love, and a transfer of the affection would work a cure without any other remedy. Suppressed catamenia, excessive menstruation, dys- pepsia, and other causes, occasionally produce green sickness, which may be detected by the pale, lurid and greenish cast of the skin; but the leading cause is disappointment in love, or in other words inability to obtain the object of one's desires; for it rarely af- fects either sex until after the age of puberty, and 254 THE HYMEN. then it is known to have a manifest influence over the prolific organs. For this disease, when occas- ioned by love, cooling aperients, and the daily use of a bidet, may be of advantage; but a more certain remedy will be found on the preceding page. LIVING EODIES. All living bodies spring from a germ which was part of another being. This rule holds good through- out the vegetable and animal kingdom. FOR AND AGAINST. Consumption in either sex has been corrected by marriage. The chances, however, are in favor of females, for it has been known to bring the decay of man to a hastier climax. THE HYMEN. The existence of the hymen in woman is no cer- tain evidence of virginity — neither is its absence evidence of defloration. Young females may be deprived of it by illness; and it has been found in ladies at the period of de- livery. However these are exceptions, and very rare ones. As a general rule the hymen indicates the maiden and vice versa ; so that a man missing it on marriage may have good grounds for suspecting his wife's chastity, unless she can otherwise explain the cause of its absence. COQUETRY. Beware how you marry a confirmed coquette; for her manners are not so much the result of affectation as TEETHING. 255 the actual changes of her mind, and her phreno- logical developments will show that constancy is not in her nature. Baillie had, no doubt, good grounds for saying that a confirmed coquet would rather have any man than her husband, after the first six months of marriage. LONGING FOR MARRIAGE. Young unmarried ladies, from the time they ar- rive at the age of puberty, think and talk about lj t- tle else besides love and its attributes. Young men, however, though they have other ob- jects of pursuit, are more carried away by the passion. When crossed in iove, a woman becomes melan- choly, a man insane. TEETHING. The small molar teeth appear beiween the age of eighteen months and two years, and then the first dentition is complete, and the child's life more secure. Convulsions and diarrhoea are the most fatal acci- dents attending dentition, and call for all the nurse's care. Teething children are often lost by neglect or ill advice. Perhaps the best of remedies xS Castoria — the infant's and children's great soothing remedy. It is sold by all medicine deal- ers. Price thirty -five cents per bottle. sensations. Infants laugh toward the middle of the second month, which shows that they begin at that period to be capable of agreeable sensations. Not to smile at that time, or very soon after, may be taken as an evidence of sickness. 256 MERCURY. MERCURY. Mercury, in its metallic state, exerts no action on the animal economy. It has, nevertheless, been ad- ministered in large doses, with a view of operating mechanically and overcoming by its weight obstruc- tions existing in the ileus, but as it cannot act by its gravity on the ascending part of the bowels, it is not easy to conceive how it should have ever been rec- ommended; and the issue of the cases in which it has been given have sufficiently proved the futility of the practice. It was formerly thought that mercurial prepara- tions constituted an unfailing specific for every form of the venereal disease, and that unless this mineral were administered freely, it was the nature of syph- ilitic affections to go on progressively from bad to worse till the end was the infallible destruction of life. And during the middle of the last century, as well as later, when the doctrines of the celebrated Hunter were received with implicit submission, when med- ical practitioners bowed contentedly to the authori- ty of great names, not daring to think for themselves ; or to acquire from patient and personal observation, correct notions of the progress of diseases and the action of remedies; during th r existence of such a state of things, doubtless many unfortunate victims of venereal contagion have perished, not so much from the virulence of the affection as from the incautious and injudicious operation of active and dangerous, as well as deadly agents, employed professedly for its cure (At that time it was thought that if any sore, the result of impure coition, were observed to heal without mercury having been given, that it could not have been venereal, nor likely to be fol- lowed by any constitutional symptoms.) When we take into consideration the variety of forms under which syphilitic disease is cloaked, and the general treatment, we cannot but deplore the great loss of life, which is daily occurring from the use of this mineral, which is constantly administered by medical men at the present dayjthe blood is pois- oned by it, and by being so, it conveys wherever it travels in the arteries and veins, the seeds of disease. The blood thus poisoned goes to the heart, and diseases of this organ are the consequence. It goes to the lungs, and these organs becomes morbidly derang- ed in fact, to whatever part of the system it travels, there it lays the foundation of disease. In cases like these it was formerly the custom of the faculty not to rid the system of the poison which is destroy- ing the unhappy sufferer by inches, and preying upon his vitals, but they have pursued a course of treatment as incorrect in sound theory, as it is re- pugnant to humanity and common sense. One would have supposed that some drug would have been administered to counteract the effects of the poison circulating in the veins. Not so! Instead of so doing, poisons were thrown into the system, in the shape of arsenic, and other mineral poisons; so that the unfortunate sufferer, instead of being bene- fitted was doomed to pass years of misery and unhap- piness. In treating the venereal disease, it used to. 258 MERCURY. be (and 1 am sorry to say it is to some extent at the present) the practice always to throw into the system immense quantities of mercury. And what were the consequences of this unnatural and inhuman mode of treatment? The unfortunate being had caries of his bones, copper colored eruptions made their appearance all over his body, with running- sores in the neck, and distorted features. Yes, the rotten skulls which are to be found in anatomical museums, with all the other beautiful specimens of diseased bones, which in our younger days were so abundant in hospitals, in the great majority of cases were the production of long and harassing courses of mercury. Its rash, indiscriminate use is the means of infinite mischief. Under the notion of its being an antidote for a certain disease, the untutored think they have only to saturate their system with mercury, and the business is accomplished. Fatal error! Thousands are yearly either mercurialized out of existence, or their constitution so broken, and their functions of nature so impaired, as to render the residue of life miserable. For where is the practitioner of any eminence, whose experience beyond a first or second slight infection, has not seen the ineficiency of this boasted mineral? If physicians and surgeons, those of them who have the care of hospitals in particular, were candid enough to give the public all the information they could upon this head, it would be as generally known as it is true, not only that mercury frequently fails in cases where the infection has been contracted for MERCURY. 259 the first time, and that as it loses its energy by rep- etition (not indeed against the constitution but against the disease alone,) the cure becomes at each succeeding infection more dangerous, difficult and uncertain than the last; but that instances every day occur, in which the excessive exhibition of that min- eral seems to retard the cure, and be the only ob- stacle to entire removal of the disease; instances in which the patient, reduced by disease and the reme- dy together to such a state, that certain death must follow any longer persistence in the use of mercury, is sent to the country as a last resource, and there without any other remedy but the absence of mercu- ry alone, recovers his former health aod strength. To give the reader an idea of its ill effects upon the system, I will here make an extract from a late pub- lication of the justly celebrated Professor of Surgery in London University College, Mr. Liston: "Of the bad effects of mercury on the constitution, much has been said; treatises have been written on mercurial pox, a species reported to be much the most violent; and others have detailed an accumulation of evils under the title of mercurial disease. There is no doubt that extensive, deep and sloughy ulcers of the throat are produced by mercury, and of this I saw the following unexceptionable instance: The fauces presented one extensive mass of ulceration, slough- ing at its margins, and the uvula was almost detached The patient was an old and emaciated woman who neither had, nor could be supposed to have, any ve- pereal complaint. She employed herself in coating: 260 MERCURY. mirrors with quicksilver, and to that ascribed her malady. In fact, her system had been long under mercury, in consequence of her occupation. When I visited her, her daughter and husband [the latter of whom was paralytic, and almost bed-ridden,] were affected from the same cause, with a pustular erup- tion of the face, and disease of the nostrils and sniv- eling. Another old woman had numerous and deep ulcers of the fauces, tonsils and lips, having been kept unmercifully under mercury for nine continuous months. She had besides taken it, from time to time, for upwards of four years, though her sole complaint was a slight sore throat." Pains of the joints, too, I believe, are attributable to the use of mercury. That mineral has no power to prevent the occurrence of nodes, for these form during its action. Affections of the periosteum are easily excited in some people, who have neither had pox, nor made use of mercury, but in no instance of venereal disease have I observ- ed serious affections of the bones where it has not been given. Even the advocates for mercurializing, speak of mercurial nodes. It has been asserted, that nodes do not occur when mercury has been given for liver and other complaints; but they do form under such circumstances, though not so frequently as when the medicine has been given during venereal symptoms. A cachetic state is often produced by a continued use of mercurial preparations, or at least by mercury and divSease together, in constitutions not originally strong. It is m«arked by pale lips, bloodless conjunc- tiva; a rough anserine skin ; a relaxed state of the mu^ MERCURY. 263 SOUS membranes; hemorrhage from them, paiticu- larly from the gums, which may prove fatal, as I have myself witnessed; exfoliation of the alveolar processes, slimy stools; pale urine; pains of the limbs; sores showing great indolence of action or assuming a malignant one; dropsical symptoms and other evils, of which a lengthened catalogue might be enumerated. Such symptoms were often met with when mercury was exhibited for every trifling or suspected sign of disease. On this subject, a modern writer has well remark-, ed, ' 'experience has well convinced me that in no forms of chancre, nor in any other stages of the ve- nereal disease, is it proper to exhibit mercury in the unmerciful quantity and for the prodigious length of time which custom, ignorance and prejudice used to sanction in former days. Violent salivations ought, at all events, to be forever exploded." This woful picture is not exaggerated, and cannot be too strongly impressed on the mind. A small quantity 'of mercury will violently affect some con- stitutions, as of those who have been in warm cli- mates, or have taken much of the drug even in this country. There are also several diseased appearances of the skin caused by mercury; butenough.it is hoped, has been said to warn against this powerful agent, which it has been too much the custom, even in our own day, to make as common use of as the more simple contents of the domestic medicine chest- I^et it J62 CONCEPTION. ways be remembered that in all its forms and prep- arations mercury is a two-edged sword, and may af- fect as much or more evil than good. And forget not, oh indulgent reader, that it is the active ingre- dient of nine-tenths of the quack nostrums for ve- nereal diseases, though their vendors warrant them vegetable; but "by their fruits ye shall know them." conception. It often happens with newly- married couples that the first year of their marriage is unfruitful on ac- count of their too frequent amorous embraces. Bon- aparte and Josephine seem not to have been adapted to each other, and though the former used various tinctures, borax, marjorum, etc., they had no off- spring; but both of them had issue when joined to other partners. Conjugal enjoyment on the part of the female should be followed by repose, as but very little motion or agitation in persons of warm tem- perament is sometimes sufficient to prevent the ovu~ lum from reaching its proper location. A female desirous of conceiving must not cohabit too frequently for the first month alter her supposed conception, as the spasmodic agitation consequent upon the embrace of a very amorous couple is calcu- lated to disturb the embryo in its earliest stage of existence, and hence occasion abortion or miscarriage Finally, the great cause of barrenness is weakness and debility on the part of the male or female or both. Dubois says that if this matter was attended to, nine -tenths of the people who are now pining for heirs might be blessed with numerous progenies. ► CONCEPTION. 263 The principal causes of this debility are libertin- ism and that horrid practice of masturbation or self-abuse upon which we have treated at large in other parts of this work. Among the minor causes are tight-lacing, dancing immoderately, stimulating drugs, such as cantharides, arrow-root, tincture of lyttae, port wine, syrup of pine-apples, mushrooms roasted and steeped in salad-oil and borax. All these are worse than useless, for many of them ac- tually injure the person. Unprincipled quacks palm off their injurious and nauseating stuff for money, regardless of the lasting injury to those who are unfortunate enough to use them. Yet some of these remedies, sold for the cure of sterility, impotency, weakness or debility, diur- nal and nocturnal emissions, or loss of semen, are actually recommended by physicians, either from ignorance or self-interest. Some imagine there are fertilizing properties in duckweed, carrots, water- cresses, potatoes, figs, dandelions, fish, eggs and hemp-seed. They are generally incentives to amor- ous feelings, but nothing more. In some countries the females swallow spiders, flies, ants, crickets and even frogs, to promote fecundation. The most auspicious time for promoting genera- tion is in the morning. A female with a low womb, married to a muscu- lar man, will probably fail in having any offspring if the difficulty is not corrected. It is a popular error that there is a mode by which male or female offspring may be produced at will. It 264 CAUTION. is of no consequence whose theory of the myster'es of reproduction is correct, they are agreed on cer- tain points which show this to be impossible. There are tolerably conclusive rules, however, for telling the sexes of children before they are born. Ladies experience more sickness with boys than with girls, which may be caused by their generally being larger and more lively. Their appetites generally vary, such as food that is hearty for one, and of a different kind for the other. A roundness of the form prom- ises a boy; whereas, when the tendency is nearly all to the front and the hips and back give but little evidence of the lady's situation, the great probability is that the little stranger is a girl. When a preg- nant female is prone to sickness in the morning, longs for food of an invigorating quality, and car- ries her increase of form rather all around her than in any particular place, the chances are altogether in favor of a boy; whereas, if her symptoms are otherwise, and as described above, she -will, in all probability, be delivered of a girl. CAUTION. A woman ought not to suckle a child when she is pregnant; it robs the foetus and injures both mother and child. The milk taken by a healthy infant is equal to about a third of the food taken by the moth- er. The foetus absorbs a portion of all the aliment the mother partakes of; and, therefore, pregnant women should be careful what they eat and drink. UNION OF THE SEXES. 265 UNION OF THE SEXES. The institution of marriage is not so well under- stood or its advantages appreciated by unprofession- al men and women as it ought to be. Many men desiring variety imagine that the marriage tie is a curb, or restraint, which cuts short their pleasures, and that to have free range in % 'flower}'- plains and pastures new" is all that is required to consummate their earthly happiness. Independent of the con- tinual risk of disease, this is a very erroneous view of a very important subject. While a few people are willing to speak openly against this noble institution, very many act, in se- cret, as if its vows, its duties and obligations were of mere nominal importance, and as if a breach of them were rather a subject for a joke than for seri- ous reproof. The physician knows that marriage is a true and natural bond. It may, indeed, be said that physi- cal or sexual intercourse is the lowest form of wed- ded love. But this is not true. The physiological view of marriage is more important than is general- ly supposed; and the physical pleasures themselves, which rule and regulate the rest, are far from being the lowest. When we consider that the institution of marriage exists in some form or other among all races of mankind, it will be perceived that it is too deeply rooted to be overthrown by a mere form of words, or the style of casuistry adopted by disput- ants who either understand not the facts or find it convenient to ignore them. 268 UNION OF TliE SEX&S. It is true that marriage, like many other good things, may become degraded to the lowest and bas- est purposes — it may be associated with all that is vile and worthless, and converted into a curse instead of a blessing. On the other hand, it may cherish and develop the holiest dispositions of mankind, pro- mote love, fidelity and truth, and do more for human happiness than the most romantic enthusiast has ever conceived. No bond on earth can be more pleasurable than that in which all members of the family are bound together by domestic ties; where they are properly respected and faithfully adhered to, no pleasure on earth is so great as that of living in a state of mat- rimony. Thus wise legislators have always given encour- agement to marriage. Caesar gave rewards to those who had many children, and prohibited women un- der forty-five years of age from wearing jewels who were unmarried and had no children. Augustus went still further, and inflicted new punishments on those who remained single, while he rewarded those who were married, particularly if they had children. The law was not popular, how- ever, and at the end of thirty-four years it was re- pealed. Louis XIV encouraged early marriages, and recompensed the fathers of families who had le- gitimate children. The most agreeable companion that a man can have is a kind and loving wife, who will share his pleasures and his pains; who is always rejoiced to hear female syringe. se? of his prosperity, but who clings to him all the more closely in adversity, It is, however, late in life — in the season of the sere leaves of life's autumn — that this rare and rich blessing is, and must be more highly appreciated. It has been proved by ample statistics, that married men live longer than batchelors. This is doubtless the case, if the parties live happily together; otherwise, bachelors have the advantage. In a happy marriage everything conduces to enjoyment, to well-being, health and longevity, for life is passed without shocks and agitation. But, in an unhappy marriage when each person is a perpetual cross to the other, everything is anguish, torment, trouble and disquie- tude; to-day, to-morrow and always; at each mo- ment the bitter cup — full to overflowing — approach- es and touches the lips. Is there a constitution suf- ficiently strong, or health sufficiently robust, a soul sufficiently firm, to flatter itself that it can resist such cruel aitacks? As these unhappy marriages are very common, no one should ally himself to one whom he does not sincerely love. It is not enough that the parties agree in their sentiments and opinions. Let them never make the deplorable mistake of marrying one who has wavered during courtship, or who has evinced the least disposition to favor some other person of the opposite sex. FEMALE SYRINGE. There are various styles of syringes for the use oi females, some are made of glass, others of Brittania, 268 TO MY PATROLS. hard rubber, etc. But those manufactured from rub- ber for us are altogether the most efficient instru- ments. This instrument will throw a volume of water or other fluid with great force, so as to penetrate ev- ery part of the vaginal cavity and it may be used for years without losing its elasticity, while others are apt to become useless after a few months use. No one good habit conduces more to the health of the female than of occasionally syringing the vagina, and keeping the organs of procreation cleanly, and free from corrosive acrimonious secretions. Ladies wishing to possess themselves of an excellent article of this kind can be supplied confidentially on application in person or by mail. Price $3 ; forwarded postage paid to any part of the United States on receipt of price. CONCLUDING REMARKS. Before closing my volume, I would address a few words of parting advice to the reader. If you are af- flicted, delay not an instant after the first symptoms of disease appear to apply to a skillful physician. Let no false delicacy, no fear of expense, deter you for you need not hesitate to expose every secret to one whose lot it unfortunately is, daily to witness the inroads made upon health by sexual indulgence. If you have the "means, you are amply renumerated by the best medical advice. ' A FEW WORDS TO MY PATRONS. My Terms. — Some people say, "Why do you have pay in advance? Why not cure us and then we will pay you?" A large proportion of my patients live hundreds of miles from me, and are entire strair TO MY PATRONS. 269 gers; and my only protection is to receive the pay before I send the medicine. No mercantile house would esteem it a safe business to send goods on credit to strangers, and I must make my business sate. My expenses are immense, my medicines are procured without reference to cost. I use the best, let the cost be what it may. I invest in my business a large fortune every year. My responsibility has now been tested for many years.- Is it unreasonable to invest a few dollars in an enterprise which inter- ests your health and perhaps your life ? In this way I treat all alike, impartially. I devote all my ener- gies and study to do the utmost good; and I depend upon my patronage for my success in curing the sick, fully realizing that I confer a blessing untold upon those I cure and that such cures increase my business and my permanent success. Humanity prompts me to do the very best that is possible. References, where desired, will be furnished. NOTICE TO PATIENTS AND INVALID READERS. Much of Dr. Bate's practice is carried on by cor- respondence, and he has been successful in curing numerous cases, which have been conducted by letter only. Patients at a distance are requested to be as minute as possible in describing the symptoms of their cases, age, habits, occupation, etc., and if any treatment has been previously adopted. Dr. Bate has made arrangements by which the necessary rem- edies can be forwarded to any part of the world, safe- ly packed and free from observation, and it is his in- 270 TO MY PATRONS. variable custom to destroy all correspondence, ot return it to the patient at the termination of each case. Patients may have letters or packages for- warded by Initials, the most perfect confidence may be relied on, so that no diffidence or timidity may prevent the application for professional relief. Address DOCTOR BATE, 323-325 Dearborn St., ... Chicago, 111. INDEX. ABORTION 163 Advantages of Marriage 225 Age to Marry 244 Amenorrhcea 156 Announcement 8 Anteversion of the Uterus _. 148 Attractive Complexion 218 BAD HABITS 263 Beauty, Ideas of , ' 250 Bladder, Irritation of, 1S6: Inflammation of J.&7 Blanche de la Peau.. 219 Bosom, a Voluptuous 217 CARD, Special _ 221 Causes of Prolific and Unfruitful Marriages 73 Caution .. 264 Child Bearing, Period of 252 Chlorosis 172 and 253 Choice in Marriage 54, 78, 234 Clap 181 Color of the Skin 21 1 Complexion, Attractive 218 Conception 262 Concluding Remarks 268 Consumption 264 Courting.. 232 Coquetry. 254 Cvstitis.. 187 DIS'EASES, Venereal— See "Venereal Diseases ,, Diseases of Women 127 " " Fallopian Tubes 134 " '« Uterus 134 " Malignant and Cancerous _ 145 " Diseases of Pregnancy 170 Dvsmenorrhoea 157 ENLARGEMENTS 142 Excesses 66, 79 and 253 FACTS for Everybody 223 and 248 Falling of the Womb, 147; of Vagina 162 Familiar Talk 222 and 268 Female Irregularities 130 " Svringe 267 Fruitful Months ....249 GREEN SICKNESS 172 and 253 HAIR, The .251 Hvncen, The 254 IDEAS OF BEAUTY 5.50 Importers 220 Important to Married and Marriageable.. 220 and 248 Impotency 69, 93, and 109 Inflammation of the Uterus, 135; of Ovaries, 152; of Vagina 1^4 " " Prostrate Gland, 1S6; of Bladder 187 Inter-Marriage 232 Introduction 5 Irritation of Bladder 186 LEUCORRHCEA 165 Liver Complaint 210 Living Bodice 254 Long Courtships 252 Lost Passions Regained 221 Love Macaes 232 MARRIAGE.— Phyriolotry of. 9; Effects of, 46: Advantages of 225; Marriage and Poetry, 250; Effects on Consumption, 254; Long- ing for, 255; Age for ,... = ..244 Marriage and Marriageable, Important to 220 and 2 r, 4 N . u-turbation - .64,80 and 174 Menetr ation, 154; Retention of, 156 and 178; Menorrhagia, 159; Suppression of, 18U; Amenorrhea 156 Men ury .- - - 256 Miscarriage 1*5, ib8 and 250 Mora! Effect of Self-Abuse 109 NERVOUS DE BILJTV, Treatment of 117 Nocturnal Emissions 93 Notice 217 and 269 OBSTRUCTIONS 249 Onanism 64 and 80 Organs of Generation, Male, 17; Female 22 Ovaries, Inflammation of _ 152 PATHOLOGY OP UTERUS 131 Patients at a Distance 215 Period of Child Bearing 258 Physiology, 249; of Marriage, 9; of Organs of Generation, Male, 30; Female 37 Phymosis __ 214 Physical Effects of Self-Abuse 109 Pictures from Real Life 199 Pregnancy, Diseases of 170 Procreation 324 Prolapsus Uteri 147 Prolific Marriages 73 Puhertv, 5451; Diseases of 51 QUESTIONS FOR PATIENTS 124 Renewing Life 252 Resemblances 251 Retention of Menses 156 and 178 Retroflexion of Womb, 151 ; Retroversion 15<> SELF-ABUSE IN FEMALES 174 Seminal Weakness, 93; Treatment of 117 Sensations 265 Sexes, Union of 265 Skin, Syphilitic Affect ons of, 196; Color of """"251 Special Card 221 Spermatorrhoea, 109; Treatment of ~.~.~.~A\7 Sterility _ 71 Stricture 11V."~~."~~.~.~."~.~. '.V.Y.'.'.L "~l~~V.~.".~.' m "~if$ Suppression of Menses """" igo Swelled Testicle " ig8 Syphilis, 191; Primary, 192; Secondary, 194; f ertiaryII*."."."*H""l98 Syringe, Female. *"ofi7 TEETHING " 255 Testicle, Swelled .. ig8 To Patients at a Distance 215 Tubercles, Syphilitic "" 198 Tumors, Etc 14^ Twins . 250 UNFRUITFUL MARRIAGES""* ."."_"" ".".".* 73 Urethral Discharges 120 Uterus, Pathology of, 131 ; D"iseas<-8 of," 134;" Prolapsus" of' 147' U1-* ceration of, ?"9; Anteveraion of, 148; Retroversion of, 150: Retroflexion of. im VIOLENCE ; Variety ___.""_ .\\" \~ 1()7 Vagina, Prolapsus of, 162; Inflammation" of 164 venereal Diseases; Gonorrhea, 181-184; Gleet, 182;" Sv'p hil'is 191 \ oiuptnoua Hopom 01 * WHITES " ■ *" Withdrawal . . .". .____"/""_"'. Jo| Woman and Her Diseases jo- Womb, The, 131 ; Diseas s of, 31 "Faiiing'of" 147;" AnYeversion of 148 Retrovereion of, 150; Retroflexion ot..^„.J m ..'* m !..^.™^„[^S