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MISSION ON EARTH! 
 
 A TREATISE ON 
 
 NERVOUS DEBILITY 
 
 AND 
 
 PHYSICAL EXHAUSTION, 
 
 BEING A SYNOPSI8 OF LECTURES DELIVERED AT 
 
 The Museum of Anatomy, Science anfl Art, 
 
 4S9 SIXTH AVENUE, NEW YOEK, 
 
 L. J. JORDAN, M. I>, 
 
 51 EAST TENTH STREET, 
 
 (Bet. Broadway and University Place,) 
 NEW YORK. 
 
» 
 
 Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1871, 
 
 By L. J. JORDAN, M. D. 
 
 In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. ? 
 
 ^ 
 
 -+•+- 
 
 Introduction 5 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Anatomy and Physiology of the Generative Organs, 11 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 General Debility 20 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Spermatorrhoea, Impotency, Sterility 68 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Treatment of Spermatorrhoea, etc 91 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Marriage : Its Obligations and Excesses 102 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Diseases of the Generative Organs Ill 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Special Diseases 122 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Self-Diagnosis 134 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Notes from our Case Book 141 
 
 Cases of Complaints 158 
 
 To Patients and Invalid Readers 178 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 -4^^- 
 
 In commencing onr remarks on the highly important 
 subject of Self-Pollution, we cannot impress too 
 strongly on onr readers the Divine ordinance " increase 
 and multiply ;" for by constantly bearing in mind the 
 object for which we are sent into this world, it will at 
 once be seen how sinful must be the practice of those 
 who, by fatally anticipating the purposes of nature, are 
 rendered incapable of procreation, and entail everlast- 
 ing misery, shame, and ignominy on themselves here 
 and hereafter. The seminal liquor, it must be observed, 
 is the richest and most powerful of all the animal se- 
 cretions ; it is, in fact, the very essence of life ; it is 
 this fluid that strengthens our bodies, and, by render- 
 ing the nervous system powerful, enables us to exercise 
 our memory, imagination, and judgment for our wordly 
 benefit and happiness. Now, if this important fluid be 
 wasted in a manner which nature never intended, and 
 by which not only the fluid itself is lost, but the ner- 
 vous energy is also impaired and exhausted by undue 
 excitement, what results must follow? In the first 
 
VI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 place the nervous system of the masturbator becomes 
 impaired ; the brain, the heart the lungs, become im- 
 poverished, and hence arise melancholy, impotency, a 
 bewildered mind, nervousness, and general decay of the 
 system. 7 Tis then tnat the truth flashes across the 
 mind, and the miserable victim of folly becomes aware 
 of the extreme wretchedness of his situation, and that 
 he is no longer a fit object for society ; a complete im- 
 becile, incapable of sexual intercourse ; a man only in 
 form, but not in substance, without the power of exer- 
 cising his functions either of mind or body ; the former 
 participating in the disease, becomes morbidly affected, 
 and distrust, fear, extreme sensitiveness, and frequently 
 madness ensue. 
 
 Here then arises a proof of the importance and neces- 
 sity of the arrangement whereby some well informed 
 members of the medical profession may devote their 
 exclusive attention to diseases arising from the undue 
 excitement of the generative system, together with 
 those incidental stages of acute disorder, which, if neg- 
 lected, terminate in the horrible wasting forms of con- 
 stitutional disorganization. 
 
 To this part of the subject we have paid the most 
 anxious and untiring attention from a very early period 
 of our professional career. It is one, in fact, that not 
 a day passes in which we are not consulted, either by 
 professional visits, or by correspondents in different 
 parts of the country, and we feel that we are not ex- 
 ceeding the limits of truth, or transgressing the bounds 
 of professional etiquette, in asserting that our mode of 
 
INTRODUCTION. VH 
 
 practice, suggested and improved by long and multi- 
 plied experience, has been productive of the happiest 
 and most successful results in the treatment of sexual 
 debility in both sexes. During our practice, also, we 
 have too frequently marked the great extent of consti- 
 tutional disease, primarily springing from neglectjor 
 maltreatment of syphilitic diseaees. Any medical man 
 who will make it his study, as it has been ours, to in- 
 vestigate as far as possible in every case, the original 
 channel through which disease or constitutional disor- 
 der first found its entry into the system, will be aston- 
 ished at the mass of human suffering which may be 
 traced to venereal origin, although its primary symptoms 
 may have been for years apparently eradicated from 
 the frame. Nor do the sources of this misfortune lie 
 very deep from observation. The malady generally 
 commences its attack in early life, before experience 
 has overcome the short-sighted heedlessness of youth, 
 and taught it to look beyond the pains and pleasures of 
 the passing moment. Delicacy or shame will not allow 
 tho sufferer to seek assistance until the poison has ac- 
 quired a strength and virulence too alarming to be 
 neglected ; the patient then, instead of applying to his 
 usual professional friend, flies to some unskillful prac- 
 titioner, who temporarily arrests the external symptoms, 
 and discharges him as cured. Thus matters go on until 
 the malady becomes constitutional ; when the patient 
 is at last compelled to place himself under the treat- 
 ment of those who, at an early period, might have pre- 
 served his constitution untainted, and his body com- 
 
VIII INTRODUCTION. 
 
 paratively uninjured by the ravages of this insidious 
 disease. 
 
 It is some years since the idea first occurred to us 
 that a popular treatise, divested as much as possible of 
 technical language, would be of much avail in counter- 
 acting the effects of the complaint, resulting from 
 maltreatment or neglect, by directing attention to its 
 early symptoms, and by demonstrating as clearly as 
 possible the consequences resulting from neglect therof 
 — by the general contamination of the system which 
 must necessarily follow. Under this impression we 
 have ventured to submit the following pages, and trust 
 their utility may be acknowledged ; we are desirous of 
 explaining that they are not intended to supersede 
 medical aid in any stage of the disorder, but that, on 
 the contrary, we would impress upon our reader, if 
 need be, the prudence of having immediate recourse to 
 it in the earliest stages of the disease. 
 
 In the following pages we have as briefly as possible 
 given a description of the organs of generation, and of 
 their physiology, so that any one may readily under- 
 stand their importance in the general economy ; and 
 secondly, we have brought under the notice of the 
 reader the causes, varieties, symptoms, and peculiarities of 
 these disorders of the generative organs, which either 
 partially or totally obstruct them in the due discharge 
 of those important functions which they are ordained 
 to perform in the human system, and on the proper 
 discharge of which not only rests the happiness of in- 
 dividuals in families, but also the welfare of empires ; 
 
INTRODUCTION. IX 
 
 for it is not to be disputed that on the degree of vigor 
 and healthy action of those organs in the parents de- 
 pends in a great measure the health of their offspring, 
 daily experience presents to our notice painful and not 
 unfrequently loathsome evidence of this fact. Hence 
 it behooves all persons, before entering into the married 
 state, to enquire whether or not they are in such bodily 
 health as may insure that the marriage bed shall not 
 become a hell bed of disease, whence naught but weak 
 and puny offspring shall be produced — living evidences 
 of folly and brutally selfish passion, How degraded, 
 and utterly lost to all finer feelings which alone can 
 ennoble us, must that man be, who, knowing himself 
 to be tainted by disease, or so debilitated by early and 
 guilty excesses that it is next to impossible that he 
 should give life to any but tainted and doomed progeny 
 — doomed in the mother's womb ! — yet dares to offer 
 his polluted and shattered frame at the pure shrine of 
 female love. 
 
 To causes such as these may be traced much of the 
 domestic unhappiness we daily see, and many of the 
 serious diseases under which mankind suffers from one 
 generation to another; therefore, reader, if you still 
 be unmarried, let us beg of you to ponder well on these 
 truths — truths, which if you neglect now, may at some 
 future time painfully and vividly be recalled in your own 
 family. 
 
 The fearfully abused powers of the human generative 
 system require the most cautious treatment ; our studies 
 for many years past have been exclusively directed to 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the treatment of the debility and diseases resulting 
 from self-pollution, venereal infection, loss of sexual 
 power, and such complaints as arise from a disorganiza- 
 tion of the reproductive powers, whether constitutional 
 or acquired ; and in conclusion we may observe that all 
 who apply for advice or assistance may always depend 
 on that inviolable secrecy, sympathy, and skillful at- 
 tention which have always proved the basis of the 
 most extensive practice in special diseases^n the United 
 States of America. 
 
 L. J. JORDAN, M. D., 
 
 51 East 10th Street, 
 
 New York. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF THE GENERATIVE 
 
 ORGANS. 
 
 In the present work, devoted to the consideration of 
 special maladies, their causes, prevention, and treat- 
 ment, it will not be necessary to enter upon a descriptive 
 account of the anatomy of every part of the human 
 body ; we shall therefore confine ourselves to that por- 
 tion of the frame that is included in the subject- 
 matter of our researches. We propose to treat solely 
 of the diseases of the generative system, and their in- 
 fluence on the constitution and intellect ; a brief des- 
 criptiou, therefore, of their anatomical and physiological 
 relations will be all that is requisite. A brief but accu- 
 rate description of those parts, and their uses in the 
 human economy, is necessary, in order that what fol- 
 lows may be fully understood. 
 
 The great importance of the organs of generation, 
 and their preservation in a state of health and vigor, 
 has been generally acknowledged ; in fact, the due and 
 proper performance of the special functions with which 
 
12 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 they are charged has ever been considered essentially 
 necessary to the health and well being of the economy, 
 both physical and mental. They are of admirable con- 
 struction, form and use ; and constitute a striking evi- 
 dence of the wonderful skill and contrivance in the 
 adaptation of a special mechanism in the system for 
 the performance of one of the most important and es- 
 sential functions — that of the propagation of the species. 
 Unequaled in the delicacy of their texture, and the 
 comparative minuteness of their structure, their pecu- 
 liar fitness for the functions assigned them in the 
 economy, when they are in a state of perfect integrity, 
 excites the astonishment and admiration alike of the 
 anatomist and the philosopher. Their very complexity, 
 while it renders them liable to many disorders, by any 
 of which their utility may be impaired, is wisely ren- 
 dered subservient to the important purpose of separa- 
 ting and purifying the vivifying flu id. 
 
 The male organs of generation may be divided into 
 the external and internal; the former comprising the 
 penis, urethra, scrotum, and testicles ; and the latter, or 
 internal, consisting of a considerable portion of the 
 urethra, the tubes arising from the testicles, conveying 
 the seed to the seminal vesicles themselves, the prostate 
 and the veramontanum in the prostatic portion of the 
 urethra, and indirectly all the organs engaged in the 
 urinary affections, such as the kidneys, ureters, and the 
 urinary bladders. 
 
 The Kidneys, the organs solely engaged in the secre- 
 tion of the urine, are glandular bodies of an oblong 
 
ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 13 
 
 shape, seated od either side of the spine, upon and below 
 the two last ribs, and behind the stomach and intestines, 
 and are external to the peritoneum. The right kidney- 
 is below the liver when a man is in the erect position, 
 and the left below the spleen ; the right kidney is gen- 
 erally the lower and the larger. In shape this organ 
 resembles the kidney-bean. The secretion of the kid- 
 neys is much influenced by the passions. We need only 
 instance, in proof, the effects of fear on quadrupeds, 
 infants, and even on men, in suddenly increasing the 
 quantity of urine, and producing an insurmountable 
 desire to void it. In patients laboring under some 
 difficulty in passing urine, from the presence of one or 
 more strictures, the mind referring to the complaint 
 will often greatly increase the secretion of that fluid, 
 and multiply the call to pass it from the body, and thus 
 greatly add to the already existing irritation, and per- 
 haps set up a new disease in the part. 
 
 The Ureters are long, hollow tubes, the continuation 
 of the pelves of the kidneys. There is one on each side 
 of the body, and they pass downwards, and slightly 
 inwards to the back and lower part of the bladder. 
 Their use is to convey the urine from the kidney into 
 the bladder. 
 
 The Bladder is situated in the lowest part of the 
 body, which is called the pelvis. It is of considerable 
 size, and admits of distension to a degree that would 
 hardly be credited, were it not a well established fact. 
 This organ in man lies directly on the bowels, but in 
 woman the womb intervenes between it and the rectum 
 
14 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 It is of an oval shape, and is the great receptacle of the 
 urine. It has three coats, one of them being composed 
 of muscular fibres, the construction of which causes 
 the expulsion of the urine ; it has on that account, been 
 called the detrusor or expulsor urinw. 
 
 The Prostate Gland, in shape and size, somewhat 
 resembles a chestnut. It is situated below and behind 
 the bladder, and above and in front of the rectum. 
 
 The Urethra is a membranous canal, extending from 
 the neck of the bladder to the end of the penis or yard ; 
 it is very vascular, and possesses a certain degree of 
 elasticity. Its membranes are very thin, and almost 
 transparent, and without fibres, so that in itself it does 
 not possess the power of muscular contraction and re- 
 laxation. It is, however, provided with muscles, the 
 action of which is to assist the expulsion of urine, and 
 also of the seed during copulation. 
 
 The Scrotum, or Purse, is a bag of skin, divided 
 about the middle by a septum, so as to form two cavi- 
 ties, in each of which a testicle is contained. 
 
 The Testicles, or organs which secrete the semen, 
 are supplied with blood by long and tenuous vessels 
 which arise from the main arterial trunk, called the 
 spermatic arteries ; the blood which they thus receive 
 serves for the elimination and secretion of the seed — a 
 process which is effected by the peculiar action of the 
 testicles, and which secreting power gives these organs 
 a value and importance in the human frame not even 
 second to that which attaches to those generally re- 
 garded by anatomists as the more noble, being those 
 
ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 15 
 
 the destruction or serious impairment of the functions 
 of which may involve the loss of life. The value which 
 men place on these organs (the testicles), or rather on 
 the due performance of their functions, is rendered evi- 
 dent by the fact that suicide is not infrequently caused 
 by their supposed or real imperfection ; and that men 
 on whom the operation of castration has been performed, 
 in consequence of cancerous or other serious disease 
 affecting the testicles, generally become moping and 
 melancholy, and speedily perish. The same result 
 occurs when, from a similar cause, the penis has been 
 amputated. 
 
 Eunuchs, who have been castrated prior to the pos- 
 session of those feelings which nature causes to spring 
 up in man after the period of pube/ty, are of course not 
 subject to the same degree of depression and wretched- 
 ness of mind and body as are those who are rendered 
 impotent after having shared in the happiness and de- 
 light of matrimonial intercourse. Their disgust of life 
 arises from witnessing the comforts which others enjoy, 
 from which they are forever debarred, but which they 
 have had no means of fully appreciating. There is a 
 marked difference in the external characteristics of a 
 man and of a eunuch. The latter are rendered, by the 
 degrading operation to which they have been subjected, 
 more effeminate in personal appearance than are those 
 who are in the full vigor and enjoyment of manhood. 
 The voice resembles that of children, the hair is thin 
 and delicate, the limbs are small, the beard and whisk- 
 ers do not grow, or at best are thin and scattered, and 
 
16 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 the mental faculties do not attain either vigor or pene- 
 tration. Most of these changes and differences in the 
 constitution not unfrequently follow the operation of 
 castration, when performed during manhood, if it he 
 complete — that is, if hoth testicles have heen removed. 
 
 The testicles are generally two in numher, one on 
 each side of the scrotum or purse ; but cases have been 
 published in which there has been only one testicle ; 
 and in others, again, there have been found three, four, 
 and even, although very rarely, five. The older writers, 
 by whom some of these cases have been mentioned, 
 considered the possessors of so unusual a number of 
 testicles to be more than ordinary salacious. 
 
 It occasionally happens that the testicles do not at- 
 tain their full size and powers of secreting semen. This 
 state has been termed an arrest of development — a phrase 
 meaning that the organs at a certain period of life, 
 prior to puberty, have ceased to grow ; generally pro- 
 duced from an early indulgence in self-pollution. A 
 case has been described of a gentleman who, when in 
 his twenty-sixth year, had a penis and testicle which 
 were not larger than those of a boy eight years old ; 
 and another of a man, thirty years old, in whom those 
 oreans presented a similar appearance. Such instances 
 are not beyond the influence of medicine, nnless per- 
 haps, when they occur in persons of idiots. 
 
 Wasting or diminution in the size and power of the 
 organs may occur at any age. The testicle is generally 
 of the proper shape, although diminished in size, but 
 feels soft, having lost its elasticity and firmness. It is 
 
ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 17 
 
 pale in texture, and its blood vessels appear to be less 
 in size than in the healthy state. The secretion con- 
 tained in the semineferous tubes is entirely devoid of 
 spermatic granules and spermatozoa, the nature and use 
 of which will be mentioned in a short time. It some- 
 times happens that the organ undergoes what is called 
 the fatty degeneration. The spermatic cord is usually 
 affected by an extension of the disease ; the nerves 
 shrink, the blood-vessels are reduced in size and num- 
 ber, and the cremaster muscle disappears. 
 
 When disease of the organ is the cause of its atro- 
 phied condition, it becomes altered in shape, being un- 
 even and irregular, and sometimes elongated, as well as 
 diminished in size and weight. The proper glandular 
 structure also seems to have nearly if not altogether 
 disappeared. 
 
 Among the causes of this atrophy of the testicle, may 
 be enumerated impeded circulation, local inflammation, 
 whether arising from a special cause, or from the trans- 
 fer of inflammation to the testicles. Excess in sexual 
 intercourse and onanism are also efficient causes of an 
 atrophied condition of these important organs. They 
 will be alluded to more in detail hereafter. Their ac- 
 tion is generally preceded by a low kind of local in- 
 flammation. 
 
 Injuries of the head, especially of the back part, have 
 not unfrequently been the cause of atrophy of these 
 organs, aud it has been known to occur without any 
 apparent cause. 
 
 The fact that injuries of a severe nature affecting the 
 
18 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 back part of the head are sometimes followed by such 
 a result, would tend to support the views of the phre- 
 nologists, who contend that the seat of sexual desire is 
 in the cerebellum, which is there located, and between 
 which and the organs of generation they say there is 
 great sympathy. The brain, either in its entire, or in a 
 particular part, undoubtedly exercises great influence 
 on the desire for sexual intercourse. In fact, the influ- 
 ence of the mind on the orgrns of generation, and of 
 the latter on the mind, is completely reciprocal. 
 
 So much similitude is there in the structure of the 
 brain and of the testicle, as well as a most extraordi- 
 nary sympathy between them, that experience in the 
 course of a practice extending through a series of years 
 has demonstrated to me, that there are many cases 
 where the human mind suffers under a species of de- 
 rangement in consequence of diseases of the organs of 
 generation, especially from tabes dorsalis. 
 
 The Penis consists of the cavernous bodies (corpora 
 cavernosa), and of the spongy body (corpus spongiosum), 
 the latter terminating in the gland or glans. These 
 are enveloped in a loose folding of common integuments. 
 
 The absorbents of the penis are very numerous, and 
 terminate in the glands of the groin. 
 
 The spongy substance of the urethra, which forms 
 the glans penis, is covered externally with an exceed- 
 ingly thin membrane or cuticle, under which are placed 
 the very sensitive nervous papilse, which are the chief 
 seat and cause of pleasure and pain in this part. We 
 may now understand why many, in the venereal act 
 
ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 19 
 
 have not the glans distended, though the whole penis 
 is, at the same time, turgid ; because the glans belongs 
 entirely to the cavernous body of the urethra ; and if 
 that body be paralytic or weakened from any preceding 
 or existing cause — and this we have often known to 
 proceed from irregular practices — so that the spongy 
 body of the urethra cannot be distended, impotence 
 will arise, which, if not perfectly understood, cannot be 
 cured by any physician. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 OF SELF-POLLUTION OR ONANISM — THE CONCEALED 
 CAUSE OF SEXUAL WEAKNESS, IMPOIENCE, 1 OCAL 
 AND GENERAL DEBILITY, ETC. 
 
 Having in that branch of our professional duties, to 
 which we have more especially devoted our attention, 
 witnessed the heart-rending effects resulting from the 
 practices alluded to under the above title ; and this, 
 alas, in the majority of instances, from utter ignorance 
 of the sin and danger thereby incurred, we feel that 
 while writing a book on the subject of Generative In- 
 firmities, we should be neglecting our duty, did we not, 
 to the best of our ability, show in glaring colors, the 
 enormity of the sin, and deteriorating effects of " Onan- 
 ism," that unnatural practice by which persons of either 
 sex defile their bodies alone, in secret, whilst yielding 
 to filthy imaginations they endeavor to imitate and pro- 
 cure to themselves those sensations which attend sexual 
 intercourse ; the habit ascribed by poets to 
 
 "The solitary monk, recluse, obscene," 
 
 and those who in the ardor of inconsiderate youth suffer 
 themselves to be governed by passion rather than rea- 
 
GENERAL DEBILITY. 21 
 
 son ; whose sexual imaginations impel them to antici- 
 pate the ability of manhood, ere vigor has established its 
 proper empire ; demolishing the delicate ground- work 
 of physical energy, soliciting an age of disgraceful im- 
 becility, and bringing, ere middle life breaks on the 
 summer of adolescence, all the sensible infirmities of 
 senility ; producing in its impetuous current, such an 
 assemblage of morbid feelings, that life often becomes 
 a wearisome burden, and its endurance beyond the 
 power of reason to sustain. This revolting and de- 
 structive vice, alluded to in the 38th chapter, 9th and 
 10th verses of Genesis, as the sin of Onan (hence its 
 name), is doubtless placed there for our warning ; and 
 as an indication of our Creator's just abhorrence of 
 such unnatural sin. 
 
 This unfortunate delusion is usually first communi- 
 cated at schools, or public seminaries, sometimes at the 
 early age of nine or ten, before the subject of it can be 
 aware of its awful consequences, hence the absolute 
 importance of a virtuous education to restrain unruly 
 passions at this critical period, when youth begins to 
 set aside the authority of the parent — for precisely as 
 it is with spring time, so it is with youth. If the hus- 
 bandman would have useful produce, he must plough 
 the soil, and sow the seed, otherwise the autumnal crop 
 will be but weeds and refuse ; so is the period of youth 
 (when the conscience is tender, the heart susceptible, 
 the imagination vivid, and the cares of the world some- 
 what distant), of vast importance, as the favorable time 
 for receiving the seeds of useful knowledge, and right 
 
22 GENERAL DEBILITY. 
 
 impressions, out of which the bloom and fruitfulness 
 of future character may grow. If the education be 
 neglected now, antagonistic principles, error, vanity 
 and vice, will spring up as luxuriantly as the weeds of 
 a neglected field, furnishing a rich harvest of future 
 regrets and sorrows; and with every delay in right 
 cultivation, the problem becomes increasingly doubtful, 
 whether human nature will ever grow anything but 
 tares. 
 
 "Alas ! for those whose life and opening morn, 
 No type hath shown of nature's smiling spring." 
 
 The indolent husbandman may retrieve his error by 
 redoubled industry when the season comes round again ; 
 but youth goes, and never returns. 
 
 " For life, alas ! here knows no second spring," 
 
 The principle of shame, and habit of self-denial, 
 ought to be strongly impressed on the young mind 
 before the arrival of this period of life. Dissolute com- 
 panions, dalliance between the sexes, and those high- 
 colored extravagant fictions which influence the imagin- 
 ation, and excite a state of morbid sensibility, ought to 
 be cautiously guarded against. The passions awakened 
 before their natural season, are the common destroyers 
 of the youth of both sexes ; and after they are fully es- 
 tablished, too much attention cannot be paid to the 
 choice of associates, the selection of recreations, etc. 
 To keep the mind and body in a state of constant em- 
 ployment, and to observe temperance in diet and drink, 
 
GENERAL DEBILITY. 23 
 
 are the most essential correctives, morally speaking, of 
 the inexperience, enthusiasm, and impetuosity of young 
 persons. These remarks are equally applicable to the 
 correction, as to the prevention of bad habits. This 
 task is, however, by so much the more difficult. 
 
 As this disgusting habit commits the most unrestricted 
 ravages upon youth, and insomuch as it strikes at the 
 very root of society, at the increase and propagation 
 of the human race, by enervating and debilitating the 
 springs of life, it will be obvious that no language can 
 be sufficiently strong in its reprobation, for long experi- 
 ence teaches that of all the voluptuous and dangerous 
 pleasures that strew the path of youth, none are so 
 mischievous as that of Onanism, which unhappily offers 
 two powerful inducements for its perpetration : first, it 
 can be practiced in seclusion ; and secondly, its effects 
 on the health and personal appearance are not so im- 
 mediately apparent, as, for instance, the paleness which 
 succeeds a night of drunken and sleepless revelry. For 
 a time, the solitary, vicious gratification may be con- 
 cealed ; the evil consequences are not known, and con- 
 sequently not anticipated ; present excitement banishes 
 the thought and fear of future suffering, but from the 
 insidious manner in which this undermining process is 
 going on, the truth will most assuredly one day present 
 itself in awfully distressing reality. The miserable 
 sufferer is not sensible, it may be, for a long time, of the 
 slow, yet certain change that is passing over him ; the 
 debility and paleness perceptible to others, have crept 
 over him insidiously — no one part of the body feels 
 
24 GENERAL DEBILITY. 
 
 weakened more than another : as to the mind, however, 
 the case is different ; a failure of memory being some- 
 times the earliest indication of mischief. The evils 
 resulting from self-pollution are two-fold — such is the 
 mysterious nature of the union existing between mind 
 and body, that any physically bad habit, while it un- 
 dermines the bodily health, produces a corresponding 
 depression upon the animal spirits ; the brain and ner- 
 vous system become weakened and diseased, until one 
 common rain involves both alike in destruction. If 
 self-pollution have unhappily gained the mastery over 
 the young spirit, if it have become an admitted habit, 
 the energies of the body, which ought to be generally 
 directed to the purposes of nourishment and growth, 
 are employed in the reparation of a criminal loss ; and 
 the purposes of natural sustenance, as well as the sup- 
 port of the bodily functions, are altogether superseded, 
 or at least imperfectly provided for. 
 
 An idea may be formed of the nature of this loss, and 
 of the sacred guard which health imposes upon its due 
 preservation, by observing the consequences resulting 
 from its unnecessary and too frequent evacuation. It 
 has been asserted by physiologists, that the loss of one 
 ounce of seminal fluid, by self-pollution or nocturnal 
 emissions, weakens the system more completely than 
 the abstraction of forty ounces of blood ; without lend- 
 ing ourselves to the accuracy of extreme statements, ifc 
 is sufficiently clear that its due elaboration may be re- 
 garded as of no small consequence to the system. Hip- 
 pocrates observed that "the seed of man arose from all 
 
GENERAL DEBILITY. 25 
 
 the humors of his body, and is the most valuable part of 
 them." He says in another place, u when a person loses 
 his seed, he loses his vital spirit," so that it is not as- 
 tonishing its too frequent evacuation should enervate 
 the body, which is thereby deprived of the purest of 
 its humors. Another remarks, " the semen is kept in 
 the seed vessels, until the man make proper use of it, or 
 nocturnal emissions deprive him of it." Its importance, 
 not merely for the direct end it was designed to fulfill 
 in the progress of generation, but for other purposes, is 
 also indicated by the changes which take place in the 
 animal economy at the age of puberty, when this fluid 
 begins to be secreted : the voice and features change, 
 the beard grows, the genitals become covered with hair, 
 the whole body assumes a more rotund and manly ap- 
 pearance, the muscular system acquiring that firmness 
 and solidity which chiefly marks the distinction between 
 man and woman. 
 
 Loss of blood, if repeated, even though trivial in 
 quantity, is a sure and readily-acknowledged index of 
 corresponding failure of the vital powers; but the 
 daily drain upon the nervous system irom the undue 
 loss of this most elaborate secretion, is still more rapidly 
 destructive. The debility thereby produced, is greater 
 than any other, insomuch as important and extensive 
 portions of the brain are concerned in its production. 
 Physiology teaches us, that phosphorus enters largely 
 into the composition of the brain and nerves, and as 
 this substance also forms an essential element of the 
 seminal fluid, the injury accruing to the system from 
 
26 GENERAL DEBILITY. 
 
 any unnatural loss of this secretion is readily explained, 
 and this fact alone affords a by no means insignificant 
 indication as to the treatment of such cases. Who then 
 can doubt the great importance of this fluid, or wonder 
 at those evils its unnecessary evacuation is sure to 
 entail ? 
 
 Perverted indulgence in this horribly unnatural pro- 
 pensity undermines aud poisons all enjoyment, induc- 
 ing such misanthropic feelings, as absolutely to unfit 
 the sufferer from all the ordinary business and enjoy- 
 ments of life ; so completely is the poor creature sub- 
 dued by the wretched infatuation, that while conscious 
 of the change that is taking place, he appears to have 
 lost the power of self-control, or of making a proper 
 effort to recover his position among his fellows. Torn 
 by the contending passions of remorse and sensuality, 
 his mind becomes the transcript of himself, moody, un- 
 happy, ferocious, or miserable, distrustful, suspicious, 
 gloomy, or childish ; often a strange medley of them 
 all, or presenting in the revolutions of a few brief 
 hours, as many aspects of character as a fickle, uncer- 
 tain, unmanly intellect can well appropriate. 
 
 "A withered frame! — a ruined mind! — 
 The wreck by passion left behind." 
 
 Sensibly alive to the impossibility of mixing in the 
 ordinary enjoyments of life, and of deriving from sex- 
 ual intercourse any of those thrilling delights which 
 God, for the wisest purposes, has inseparably appended 
 to that act, he becomes melancholy, dispirited, dejected j 
 
GENERAL DEBILITY. 27 
 
 there passes over his mind a change which induces him 
 to avoid all rational intercourse with his species; the 
 language of his actions is, 
 
 " Man delights not me, nor woman either." 
 
 He bids a gloomy farewell to the cheerful society and 
 haunts of men ; the thousand anxieties and excitements 
 of trade, politics, and commercial ambition, appear to 
 his indolent imagination as either too great for his hopes, 
 or foreign to his desires. Imbued with a moody misan- 
 thropy, the natural result of his own vices, he vents his 
 splenetic complaints against the world at large, or peev- 
 ishly declaims respecting the darker side of human feel- 
 ing and character. Thus he becomes isolated, his mind 
 vegetating on his own purient and diseased fancies. 
 Once, perhaps, there was the budding promise of future 
 usefulness and activity ; now, how fearfully changed, 
 the dupe of a lust alike horrible in imagination as well 
 as in act. The blossoms of youth, perhaps the flower of 
 manhood, the supremacy of the mind, all degraded, 
 obliterated, gone ! 
 
 Some continue the practice from feelings of despair. 
 Conscious of its ruinous tendency, and desirous of re- 
 sisting the unmanly habit, they have sought intercourse 
 with women, but to their dismay have found themselves 
 powerless ; and ashamed, vexed, dispirited, they forego 
 any future attempt, lest they should again be subjected 
 to the humiliation of failure. Abashed, the sufferer 
 shrinks from the gaze of his fellows, fancying suspicion 
 in the eye of everyone who looks upon his sunken, hag- 
 
28 GENERAL DEBILITY. 
 
 gard, pale, unmeaning, inexpressive face, his dull, lack- 
 lustre eye, his thin and tremulous form— which all be- 
 tray him to the practiced observer. 
 
 It is difficult to depict a more truly miserable being 
 than the slave of licentiousness. His imagination burn- 
 ing with filthy, unnatural glow; his bodily organs, 
 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 ab- 
 stractions of the cheerless day. Tormented with desires 
 he can never gratify ; shut out from those enjoyments 
 accorded only to virtuous moderation ; and like Tan- 
 talus, thirst is consuming him, unmitigated by every 
 attempt to force for a moment his mouth below the 
 wave. The vulture retribution is preying upon his 
 vitals, and furnishing him a striking fulfillment of the 
 prophetic warning, "There is nothing done in secret 
 that shall not be revealed/' neither " hid," even from 
 the recognition of mortals, that shall not ultimately be 
 made, even to them, evident as the noonday. 
 
 Self-pollution entails upon its victims, marks as legible 
 to the eye that can understand them, as the scars of 
 small-pox. How much more perceptible to the eye of 
 Him by whom all actions are weighed — to Him who 
 knoweth the secrets of all hearts— from whose scrutiniz- 
 ing eye nothing can possibly escape ! Can we produce 
 a more fearful illustration of the stupefying effects 
 of Onanism, than the fact, that the victim of this 
 filthy abuse fears not in secrecy, though the eye of God 
 
GENERAL DEBILITY. 29 
 
 is upon hiin, to do that which if caught perpetrating, 
 even by a child, or more especially a woman, he would 
 redden with shame, and if possible, hide his head for 
 ever . Dreadful depravity ! strange perversity ! delib- 
 erately and secretly to deprive himself, by a worse than 
 suicidal madness, of the power of natural enjoyment — 
 to entail misery upon himself in this world, and no 
 hope of escape from condemnation in the next. I may 
 here quote from the late Sir Astley Cooper, who stated 
 in one of his lectures that, " if one of these miserable 
 cases could be depicted from the pulpit, as an illustra- 
 tion of the evil effects of a vicious and intemperate 
 course of life, it would, I think, strike the 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 from 
 maltreatment, and the employment of injudicious reme- 
 dies." 
 
 The first of the following cases is interesting, from 
 the circumstance of an eruption on the face, to which 
 the patient had been subject, being of undoubted syph- 
 ilitic origin, derived hereditarily, though there are 
 medical men who strenuously deny the possibility of 
 this disease occurring for the first time at maturity — 
 an undoubted fallacy, as we can prove. Many other 
 hereditary diseases, such as gout, consumption, scro- 
 fula, cancer, etc., first show themselves at this period ; 
 and why should it be impossible in the case of syphilis ? 
 
 The other cases, as embodying all the more prominent 
 
30 GENERAL DEBILITY. 
 
 symptoms of the alarming infatuation we have endeav- 
 ored to denounce, cannot he better given than in the 
 very words of the writers themselves. 
 
 Case No. 1477. 
 
 Hartford, Conn. 
 
 Dear Sir . I have read your Treatise, and wish that 
 I had seen it earlier, and now hasten to lay hefore you 
 my case ; hoping you will advise me into the means, if 
 means there he, hy which I may regain my former 
 health. Should your advice he a course which I can 
 adopt, without too great restraint, and one affording no 
 practical inconvenience to the duties of my puhlic ca- 
 pacity, I will endeavor to fulfill it as honestly and 
 frankly as I now make to you the following confession : 
 
 At a puhlic school, and at the age of sixteen, I first 
 contracted self-abuse. At eighteen I left school, and 
 for the space of a year gave myself up to a moderate 
 use of this wretched hahit. At nineteen, my health 
 was so impaired, that a physician of high standing was 
 called in, and my general debility then accounted for, 
 (I, of course, keeping my own counsel.) Cod-liver oil, 
 tonics, and change of residence were recommended. I 
 was accordingly sent to Florida. Here I hecame enam- 
 ored with a very pretty girl, and then my habit became 
 converted into a passion. That which I could not ob- 
 tain in reality, I sought for in imagination and self- 
 
GENERAL DEBILITY. 31 
 
 abuse. At twenty -one, I left for college. During my 
 college life I still continued the practice of self-abuse, 
 even up to this present time. So, from the age of six- 
 teen to that of twenty-five, I have continued in a mod- 
 erate abuse of myself. I have given it up for a month 
 at a time, but so strong is the temptation, that even 
 religious conviction can scarce overcome the will; and 
 the force of conscience is entirely hushed by the dic- 
 tates of a lustful imagination. I have now confided to 
 you that which I never dared to breathe to any living 
 creature, and even in this to you, I feel the acuteness 
 of self-abasement and humiliation, which your kind 
 counsel and treatment may, by the blessing of God, 
 assist to remove. 
 
 I will now endeavor to give you a sketch of my per- 
 sonal appearance, age, occupation, and general symp- 
 toms. I am 27 years of age, unmarried. I stand nearly 
 six feet ; am dark, with a ruddy expression of counten- 
 ance j very thin ; gait stiff and wants elasticity and 
 firmness ; eyes generally weak, very black under the 
 eyeballs, are also sometimes very hot and uncomforta- 
 ble, and feel sore in their sockets. Hair is generally 
 dry and for the most part thin and weak. My face, 
 too, for the last five years, especially at Spring (just 
 now), and Autumn, presents a very unpleasant appear- 
 ance — red scaly blotches of a syphilitic nature cover my 
 chin and forehead. The former makes it very unpleas- 
 ant for shaving. I showed it about a month ago, to my 
 "medical adviser" here, (but did not tell him the sus- 
 pected cause,) he said it looked like secondary symptoms. 
 
32 GENERAL DEBILITY. 
 
 I told him, however, what is the truth — that I had 
 never contracted any venereal disease. He prescribed 
 for me a decoction of Sarsaparilla, and I have been tak- 
 ing this with but little real benefit. I have for the 
 most part a good appetite, and never suffer from indi- 
 gestion ; I am, however, very subject to cold feet, and 
 the extremities, including my penis, are often very cold ; 
 of late, too, I have had sleepless nights, owing princi- 
 pally, I fancy, to want of circulation. I have, in fact, 
 all the more common symptoms of general debility. 
 My memory seems sometimes to be failing me, and 
 after no very violent exercise, the blood immediately 
 rushes to my face, and both my face and hands are 
 often suffused with involuntary blushes. I am rather 
 an irregular liver, fond of good ale, and good things in 
 moderation ; do not care much for wine or spirits, 
 except whiskey, a drink of which I take occasionally 
 the last thing ; I am a smoker, but this in moderation. 
 I have plenty of good walking exercise, and live in a 
 healthy part of the country. I am no lover of books, 
 and am no advocate of sedentary habits ; my bowels are 
 generally very costive, with this, my spirits are de- 
 pressed. Now let me add a description of that part 
 immediately affected, i, e. } my Penis. This, when in a 
 pendulous state, is very small indeed, the end or glans 
 is much swollen, and when an erection takes place, 
 which is frequently the case, it is very hard and in- 
 flamed. 
 
 I have experienced such a thing as an involuntary 
 emission caused by a dream, but such a thing is un- 
 
GENERAL DEBILITY. 33 
 
 usual; I always experience fearful erections in the 
 morning when first I awake, and my eyes smart very 
 much. My penis, too, when sitting, writing or reading, 
 and in a depended state, frequently becomes hot, and 
 unpleasant sensations of itching occur in the glaus; 
 when this is the case, I fear that external pressure 
 would cause an emission. I care not now, too, so much 
 for women's society — I used formerly to desire it much. 
 My urine, too, becomes affected, and has a strong smell. 
 My principal ailments are want of circulation, frequent 
 constipation, and the unpleasant appearance of syphilis 
 in my face. Now, Doctor, having given a faithful 
 description of my symptoms, with a history of my 
 wretched habit, I hasten to bring this unpleasant com- 
 munication to an end. Enclosed is a post office order 
 for $5, the amount of your fee. And now, relying that 
 you will assist me to break off that which is fast ruin- 
 ing my brightest prospects, and bringing me down to an 
 early and ignominious grave. If you can guarantee, by 
 your treatment, a speedy recovery, I shall ever consider 
 you my best friend. 
 
 Ever faithfully yours, 
 
 A. B, 
 
34 GENERAL DEBILITY. 
 
 Case No. 1736. 
 
 Chicago, III. 
 Dear Sir : — I have for years been suffering from that 
 species of disease to which you have particularly di- 
 rected your attention. The seeds of it were implanted 
 in my constitution when quite a child, through the un- 
 principled conduct of a domestic servant. When about 
 fourteen, I had an illness, which our physician traced 
 to this cause. I recovered to outward appearance ; but 
 do not seem ever to have been thoroughly cured. I now 
 believe that I have been subject to occasional emissions 
 during the night ever since that time ; at least, I know 
 I have been for a considerable period. * 
 
 A white, fatty matter also collects between the glans 
 and the outer skin, and the glans is somewhat inflamed. 
 There is always more or less of an eruption on my 
 back; my face is also subject to a similar eruption; 
 my countenance is sallow and unhealthy looking, and 
 my face, as well as the rest of my body, extremely 
 thin. I feel much weaker than I naturally ought. 
 I often experience a most uneasy sensation in my 
 breast ; my hearing is impaired, and my voice has 
 lost its natural strength and clearness. My mental 
 faculties, too, are much clouded and weakened — my 
 memory, in particular, is affected. I am a student — 
 have studied pretty hard, and not very unsuccessfully; 
 but I have often felt an incapacity, and sometimes a dis- 
 inclination for study, which I knew were not natural. 
 
GENERAL DEBILITY. 35 
 
 though I knew not to what to attribute them till I read 
 your book. I have never been in the habit of using 
 tobacco, or drinking anything, save water. 
 
 I am engaged more than four hours a day in teach- 
 ing; during that time I scarcely sit down, and have to 
 talk a great deal. I am about the middle height, rather 
 slender, though naturally strong and wiry. I am, I 
 think, pretty easily affected by medicine. I am afraid 
 I have not given you a sufficiently full and clear ac- 
 count of my disease. Perhaps your experience may en- 
 able you to propose a few questions, answers to which 
 might be of use to you in judging of my case. 
 
 I await your answer with the greatest anxiety, as I 
 am afraid, from the disease having got so confirmed 
 in my system, that it will be scarcely possible to eradi- 
 cate it. But I beg, that you will give me your candid 
 opinion. 
 
 Case No. 1129. 
 
 Buffalo, N. Y. 
 
 Dear Sir: — I received your " Practical Observa- 
 tions " from my friend, and its perusal makes me hope 
 that you will be .able to afford me such help as will 
 bring me back again to the enjoyment of health and 
 happiness. 
 
 I am twenty-nine years old. Since the age of about 
 fifteen, I made myself guilty of the sin of self-pollu- 
 tion. Awakened to a sense of my position when being 
 on the point of marrying, I had, in the summer of last 
 
36 GENERAL DEBILITY. 
 
 year, recourse to Dr. , from whom I had a course 
 
 of medicine which certainly had a favorable effect upon 
 my system, as for a long time after I did not feel so 
 thoroughly wretched as I had done before ; and, hoping 
 that the improvement noticed in my system would fin- 
 ally prove a cure, I married in November last. To de- 
 scribe what I have suffered since — how my sin stands 
 before me night and day, in the most horrible forms, 
 would be impossible ; moreover I suppose you will be 
 able to conceive what must be the sensations of a being, 
 not entirely devoid of feeling, when he finds it impossi- 
 sible to respond to the loving embraces of a pure, inno- 
 cent being, whose expectations of bliss and happiness 
 in married life are most cruelly destroyed. A cruel 
 doubt, inseparable from the state of mind of sufferers, 
 like me, and the impossibility of affording the expense 
 of treatment, prevented me having recourse to any med- 
 ical assistance. Dr. — *s recommendation has lighted 
 
 a hope again in my heart. Oh ! that I might, like him, 
 have to thank you for a cure. Hoping this, I confi- 
 dently place myself in your hands, and beseech you to 
 be kind enough to say if you think a cure in my case 
 possible. I trust you will charge as low as possible, 
 considering that an innocent being, my wife, is depend- 
 ent upon my exertions for her existence. 
 
 My symtoms are as follows : — Loss of memory ; a 
 continual feeling of languidness, being tired with the 
 slightest exertion ; nervousness ; when thinking about 
 anything earnestly, rny head turns quite dizzy. Noc- 
 turnal escapes have left me during two or three years 
 
GENERAL DEBILITY. 37 
 
 but the penis is very small, and I am without feeling 
 and desire. 
 
 I enclose your fee ; and hoping to hear from you by 
 return of post, I remain, etc. 
 
 Case No. 759. 
 
 Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 Dear Sir : — I took some of your medicines some 
 time ago, with considerable advantage, and should have 
 availed myself of your advice before now, but could 
 not do so comfortably on account of money affairs, 
 About sixteen months ago I left New York in a bad 
 state of health ; my stomach, lungs, liver, etc., were 
 thoroughly out of order, having worked in a small, ill- 
 ventilated room, breathing impure air, making a very 
 hearty meal towards evening off beef, etc., but scarcely 
 eating anything next morning. However, I had saved 
 money, had it deposited in the bank, and what with 
 doctor's bills, and being out of health, causing me to 
 neglect work, I have exhausted my stock, so that if J 
 do not meet your demand iuimediafcelv, I hope you will 
 have the kindness (though it is a great thing to ask, 
 being a total stranger) to give me a little time to do so* 
 I want my health improving, so that I can use my 
 fingers, and get on my legs again. I enclose $5, and if 
 yon can indulge me in the above request, I will pay you 
 like a man ; feeling sorry that I did not hear of .vour 
 skill sponer than I did, 
 
38 GENERAL DEBILITY. 
 
 As to my syuitoms — in the first place, my height ie 
 five feet nine laches, moderately fleshy; age twenty- 
 nine (just), pale looking ; occupation, a painter (but I 
 would just say that I do not feel much inconvenience 
 at present in this respect, because I do not go to work 
 before 9 o'clock, and can work as I feel disposed) ; hab- 
 its pretty regular ; present symptoms are a little nervous 
 debility if in company ; or if called to mental exercise, 
 which is the case sometimes, I am seized with such an 
 internal twitching, my lungs and stomach feel so racked, 
 that I don't know where to put myself; when uuder 
 this influeuce, my mouth becomes very dry, the breath 
 raw and somewhat unpleasant, saliva thick, but when 
 at ease mentally, it soon passes off, but I often feel a 
 close morbid sensation in the lungs, sometimes pain 
 especially with some motions of the body or arms, 
 which causes me to think my lungs not so strong as 
 they have been. Drowsy, heavy sensations, which 
 cause my eyes to be very dull, marked underneath with 
 a little unnatural color. I am not troubled with a 
 cough, but when I do cough it is very husky, etc. The 
 Doctor told me my lungs were sound, but I do not feel 
 them so healthy as I should like, if it can be remedied. 
 I can take in a considerable quantity of air, and hold it 
 a long time without inconvenience. My tongue is 
 coated in the morning, tinged with yellow. 
 
 My parents are living, getting a good age, and we are 
 — as a family, healthy. When I was quite a lad, I con- 
 tracted, from example, that horrid practice, continued 
 to do so two or three years, but I became so disgusted 
 
GENERAL DEBILITY. 39 
 
 with it, that I relinquished it ; but I find that I have 
 been troubled with the consequences ever since — want 
 of manliness, frettingj heavy forebodings, etc.; troubled 
 with nocturnal emissions (but irregularly) ; sometimes 
 pained a little in the left testicle ; a little fleshy sub- 
 stance just above, void urine well, etc. Hair grows 
 pretty well, whiskers, etc.; can walk ten or twelve 
 miles without much fatigue. I am afraid you will 
 think me tedious, but I feel anxious to give you every 
 particular. I sleep well, eat well, but am troubled 
 with internal morbid sensations ; I want to feel as I 
 have felt, prior to twelve months ago, healthy ; manli- 
 ness always deficient ; my teeth are in good condition, 
 a thick matter accumulating around them. Hoping to 
 hear from you as soon as convenient, and that you will 
 agree with my request, I am yours, truly. 
 
 Another patient writes — 
 
 Case No, 1693. 
 
 Rochester, N. Y. 
 
 Doctor — I can scarcely express the shame and con- 
 demnation with which I have been almost overwhelmed 
 for the last few weeks, since I was made aware of the 
 fearful consequences of that soul destroying sin, " self- 
 pollution," which I have been addicted to for the last 
 seven years. 
 
 I am now twenty-four years of age, stand five feet 
 nine inches in height, and weigh ten stone. My general 
 
<C GENERAL DEBILITY. 
 
 health is good, my strength is also good ; but my appe* 
 tike fails me very often ; by the time I have consumed 
 tw:> or three mouthfuls, I feel a desire to stop ; my 
 banger is quite appeased; sometimes I feel quite mel- 
 ancholy ; at other times, I have a superabundance of 
 animal spirits. I am not much subject to pain, but 
 sometimes after I have committed the act, I have felt a 
 slight pain in the left testicle, and at other times in the 
 passage of the yard ; at other times, I have felt a dull 
 pain in the left side for two or three hours at once. I 
 am subject to frequent and nightly emissions ; in void- 
 ing urine, I have seen seminal fluid run away from me 
 thin and unelaborated, especially when straining out 
 the last few drops, and the end of the yard is almost 
 constantly wet with fluid that escapes from me I have 
 had much trouble and thought respecting one thing, 
 and I do not know whether such a case ever came under 
 your notice or not ) it is this, the end of the yard still re- 
 tains the foreskin or nut, the glans are not yet perma- 
 nently denuded. Please inform me by return, whether 
 such a thing will be troublesome, if I thought of being 
 married. Do not be afraid of giving your opinion ; let 
 me know the worst. Would to God that you could cure 
 me of this horrid malady. I was once a subject to 
 religious impressions ; but now I may truly say with 
 our Lord, " The state of that man is seven times worse 
 than the first.''' I shall know no bounds to my feelings, 
 if you will kindly cure me. I may as well state my 
 occupation, which I at first felt an objection to. * * 
 X feel often very dull and heavy about the head as 
 
GENERAL DEBILITY. 41 
 
 though from determination of blood ; and mj superin- 
 tendent often taxes me with being careless, when at 
 the same time, it is through an impaired memory. I 
 sometimes forget myself altogether, as being uncon- 
 scious of persons being present. All this is to be attri- 
 buted to that horrid practice. I shall do my utmost to 
 recommend others. I am under the impression, that I 
 can detect cases of this description, and will spend a 
 portion of time in the work. I think I know, yes, I am 
 sure of one. I do not thiuk I can inform you of any- 
 thing else. I enclose your fee, hoping to have a reply 
 early, with the necessary instructions. 
 
 P. S. — As I am universally known in this part, please 
 
 make use of the name, , in sending your packages, 
 
 which I hope you will secure from observation, sending 
 
 me word previous. Address . Letters may be 
 
 addressed to me in full. 
 
 Such, and so sad, then, are the leading features of 
 this soul and body destroying sin. 
 
 To different minds, however, it is necessary to produce 
 varying argument and illustration : We speak at least 
 to those who have not yet cast off all fear, all reveren- 
 tial regard for Holy Writ, and will, therefore, subjoin a 
 few passages bearing evident reference to these crimes. 
 St. Paul, in the 5th chapter-of the Epistle to the Ephe- 
 sians, warns us, " Let no man deceive you with vain 
 words; for because ot these things cometh the wrath of 
 God upon the children of disobedience." " Keep thy- 
 self pure," says the same apostle ; and again, u Unto the 
 
42 GENERAL DEBILITY. 
 
 pure all things are pure; but unto them that are de- 
 filed, nothing is pure ; but even their mind and con- 
 science is defiled." — 1 Tim., v. 22 ; St. Paul's firet Epistle 
 to the Thessalonians, chap. v. " And the things which 
 he did displeased the Lord ; wherefore he slew him." — 
 Gen. xxxviii. " For this is the will of God, even your 
 sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication. 
 That every one of you should know how to possess his 
 vessel in sanctification and honor. Not in the lust of 
 concupiscence, even as the Gentiles." Epistle to the 
 Romans, chap, xiii., " Not in chambering and wanton- 
 ness." " Walk not," says he, " as other Gentiles walk, 
 who being past feeling, have given themselves over to 
 lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greedi- 
 ness." — Ephesians, iv. 1 Corin. vi., " Know ye not that 
 your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then 
 take the members of Christ, and make them the mem- 
 bers of an harlot? God forbid." 1 Corinthians, iii., 
 " Know you not that your body is the temple of the 
 Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and 
 ye are not your own." And in the same to the Corin- 
 thians, chap, iii., "If any man defile the temple of God, 
 him shall God destroy, for the temple of God is holy, 
 which temple ye are." Doubtless many of these pass- 
 ages refer primarly to excesses with women, but they 
 all point clearly enough, not so much to the act, as to 
 the filthy and polluted state of mind and heart out of 
 which originate all the varied forms of Sensuality, not 
 excluding Onanism itself, and which, if present in any 
 of their disgusting characters, inevitably react upon 
 
GENERAL DEBILITY, 43 
 
 the mind, rendering it still more corrupt. Even the 
 Pagan world of ancient Rome, immersed in sensuality 
 almost beyond parallel, if we may credit Martial, held 
 the practice of self-pollution in worse than abhorred 
 contempt, 
 
 "Hoc nihil esse putes ? Scelus est mini, crede ; sed ingens 
 Quantum vix animo, concipis ipse tuo." 
 
 " We, however, have a more sure word of prophecy, 
 whereunto, if we take heed, we do well." This ought 
 to be a powerful inducement to restrain us, not only 
 from the grosser forms of sensuality, but the more ter- 
 rific practice of self-pollution ; for God, as the Creator 
 of this curiously contrived frame of ours, hath put upon 
 it a measure of his own glory, the shadow of divinity. 
 Our bodies are declared to be the fitting residence of 
 himself; in his power and presence he formed, and by 
 that presence, sustains us in being ; wherefore our 
 bodies, perishable and mortal though they be, yet par- 
 taking of this honor, it is not less our duty, than our 
 highest privilege, to retain them m honor. If*the tem- 
 ples of heathens were not suffered to be profaned or 
 polluted, how much more ought the thoughtless volup- 
 tuary to respect himself, if not for his own sake, yet as 
 the curiously constructod handiwork of that Being 
 who will surely avenge himself by pain and agony, 
 inflicted upon the violator of his own laws. We are 
 told in the unerring oracles of truth, " Ye are not your 
 own, for ye are bought with a price, wherefore glorify 
 God in your bodies, and in your spirit, which are His." 
 
44 GENERAL DEBILITY. 
 
 Paul, speaking of heathens, observes that, " being given 
 up to uncleanness, they dishonored their own bodies," 
 and, in another place, " It is the will of God that we 
 abstain from uncleanness." Indeed the passages of 
 Scripture, relating fo the pollutions of the flesh are 
 almost numberless. Let individuals examine the Sacred 
 Writings for themselves, and they will perceive that no 
 other crime is so many times named as Uncleanness ; 
 and surely no person can be more accurately designated 
 as guilty of this sin than he who is addicted to self-pol- 
 lution. 
 
 If we reflect ever so superficially on the ordinary law 
 of God's moral government and providence ; if we 
 think of the natural end and design of marriage in all 
 countries, and the way in which it is evidently intended 
 our species should be propagated, reason itself would 
 instruct us that to destroy that- end must be very of- 
 fensive to our Creator, as well as a great crime against 
 society. All forms of sensual excess alike tend to 
 destroy sexual power and the production of weakly, 
 puny progeny, who are likely to bring no honor or use- 
 fulness to the .State. If this be true of excess in general, 
 it holds infinitely true of self-pollution, justifying the 
 assertion that the crime is in itself monstrous, uunatural, 
 filthy, odious, as its consequences are certain and ruin- 
 ous for it destroys conjugal affection, perverts natural 
 inclination, and tends to extinguish the hopes of pos- 
 terity. 
 
 The effects of this practice upon the body are not less 
 remarkable than the strange debility which clouds the 
 
GENERAL DEBILITY. 45 
 
 mind. And be it observed, there is no act which so 
 soon becomes habitual. In the first employment of 
 tobacco and spirits, time is usually required to render 
 them agreeable ; but the first essay of self-pollution is 
 ushered in with a new, wild and intoxicating delight. 
 Its very secrecy aids the infatuation. The stream once 
 crossed, the Rubicon once passed, all may be done effec- 
 tually that is evil for time and for eternity. To re- 
 trace that step — to efface it as a blot from memory 
 and conscience is impossible ; and so often that iuward 
 monitor becomes seared, deadened, hardened, till its 
 feeble voice, from oft-repeated criminality, becomes 
 drowned in the mad and urgently loud calls of unnatu- 
 ral passion ; and thus it is that the mind now depraved, 
 becomes not the reasoning governor, but the goad, the 
 stimulus to acts, which sooner or later, will abolish and 
 destroy every vestige of intellect. The uncleanness 
 having obtained the mastery over the heart, it pursues 
 its victim with lustful conception at all times, and in all 
 places, upon the most serious occasions, and in the very 
 acts of religion. 
 
 As the nervous system suffers, the brain becomes the 
 subject of disease; melancholy, indifference, disgust, 
 misanthropy, pass through their various grades into 
 madness, and the startling truth must not be concealed, 
 that self-pollution is a frequent cause of insanity. The 
 late Dr. Armstrong observed, "The solitary vice of 
 Onanism produces effections of the head ; " and in his 
 published lectures is detailed a case of " a youth of 17, 
 who at the age of 10 was sent to a school where he be- 
 
46 GENERAL DEBILITY. 
 
 came the subject of this vice ; and from a fine, active 
 and clever boy, he became an idiot. His eyes became 
 prominent, his pupils largely dilated; he had pains 
 in his head and down tbe course of the spine, loss of 
 memory, a silly, unmeaning expression of countenance, 
 and a tottering gait." The same writer states, " I Ihink 
 I should know a person in the street who has addicted 
 himself to this vice, by merely walking behind him, 
 from his peculiar gait." 
 
 As an illustration of the value and power of observa- 
 tion, the above may serve usefully to alarm some poor 
 youth, who foolishly imagines that his secret and soul 
 destroying infatuation is known only to himself. 
 
 That these oft-repeated acts should really tend to 
 insanity, if we had not ample evidence of the fact, it 
 would not be unphilosophical to suppose, for the mind, 
 continuously directed to this one morbid idea, becomes 
 debilitated from the perpetual recurrence of the same 
 train of thought ; and such is the sympathy of the gen- 
 erative organs, that the physical and moral sensibilities 
 are there directed to one common focus, and that which 
 ought to be only a casual excitement, becomes exchang- 
 ed for a permanent morbid irritability. The purest and 
 most ardent love produces physical debility, evidently 
 because of the intense occupancy of the mind, How 
 much more debilitating must be impure associations, 
 connected as they are with vicious practices ? No 
 wonder that madness and suicide follow. 
 
 It is on record, that a gentleman in apparent posses- 
 sion of every requsite to make life happy, was found 
 
GENERAL DEBILITY. 47 
 
 with a pistol (the instrument of Lis death) clenched in 
 his hand ; none could account for the rash act, and 
 doubtless, hut for his own revelation, it would have 
 passed away as the mere " temporary insanity" of the 
 newspapers. Upon a piece of paper in his own haud- 
 writing was discovered the words, " I am impotent and 
 unfit to live." Scarcely a day passes that deaths by 
 suicide are not recorded, and the laws of this country, 
 as well as the verdicts of a coroner's jury, generally 
 place a merciful construction upon an act which long 
 experience of such cases teaches me, would be better 
 explained as arising from the sense of impotence by 
 self-pollution. The mental agonies of such an one are 
 almost insupportable. What bodily pain can equal 
 the agony of the soul, aggravated as it must be by the 
 consciousness that to its own base sensualism he owes 
 his forlorn and miserable condition ? — a being on whom 
 the eye .of beauty beams not with fond and pure affec- 
 tion — an outcast even from the paid embraces of a 
 mercenary wanton. 
 
 Insanity, then, may be regarded as the sad and not 
 unfrequent termination of these cases ; and it must be 
 obvious that the same causes which tend to breakdown 
 the energies of the general system, will unquestionably 
 tend to madness, and this because of the excitability of 
 the nervous system, and the absolutely essential pre- 
 servation of its powers. The more I see of such cases, 
 the more I am convinced that the weakness of intellect, 
 and even insanity, which such vice engenders, is often 
 the sole and direct cause of suicide. On this subject 
 
48 GENERAL DEBILITY. 
 
 Br. Armstrong remarks, " I have met with many indi- 
 viduals, who have had, they say, a predisposition to 
 self-destruction; and I find this especially the case 
 where there is united disorder of the stomach, liver, 
 bowels and head, which leads to madness. n 
 
 We know that all efforts which require the exertion 
 of coutinued imaginative power tend to madness. 
 Poets, sculptors, painters, the writers of fiction, are all 
 equally susceptible; and this from the exclusive exer- 
 cise of the faculty of imagination. 
 
 "Great wits to madness nearly are allied, 
 And thin partitions do their bounds divide." 
 
 As to the moping, melancholy lover, his woes are 
 rational and natural, and find an easy termination; 
 but this solitary sensualist is the victim of the worst, 
 most unbridled and tyrannical lust that imagination 
 can embody; every fair and virtuous countenance that 
 is new to him inspires him with some filthy idea, ex- 
 cites and goads him in secrecy to fresh excesses ; in 
 silence he conjures up before his diseased fancy, some 
 absent object; the nervous system sinks under the 
 rapid unnatural whirl ; denied repose, urged on to for- 
 bidden effort, tortured by the continual recurrence of 
 one single polluted idea ; reason resigns her tottering 
 throne, and staring madness, or it may be, muttering 
 moping idiocy, usurps her vacant authority. 
 
 How fallen beneath the true nobility of man is the 
 wretched wreck of humanity, whose excesses have re- 
 duced him to this contemptible condition. Once in 
 
GENERAL DEBILITY. 49 
 
 the hilarity of youth he rejoiced in the command of 
 every faculty ; now a senseless, yet animated mass of 
 helplessness, exciting the commiseration of those who 
 know not the cause of his ruin ; and visited with the 
 bitter scorn of those who in spite of his attempts at con- 
 cealment, read his degradation in his every feature. 
 Whither may he fly from the plague that is within him, 
 the evil that haunts him alike in darkness aud by day ? 
 The quiet, refined enjoyments of literature, once his 
 delight, now pall upon his morbid taste j if he read at 
 all, nothing but the more licentious productions of our 
 older dramatists, or the lewd effusions of the reign of 
 Charles the Second, prove sufficiently stimulating ; or 
 it may be these are exchanged for the mawkish senti- 
 mentality, the prurient voluptuousnesss, or concealed 
 obscenity of a low circulating library of trashy novels. 
 Forced to contemplate the gloomy spectre, the shadow 
 of his former self, it is merciful iudeed that loss of 
 memory, in some faint degree, procures for him mo- 
 ments of repose from that murderous racking thought 
 which can dwell alone upon images the most revolting ! 
 To such an one what misery arises from the accidental 
 perception of domestic enjoyments; he sees a fond 
 father hug to his bosom his first-born, and cover its lit- 
 tle laughing face with kisses. But for him — let fancy 
 complete the picture. 
 
 It deserves to be attentively borne in mind that there 
 is no vice which so certainly disturbs the natural cir- 
 culation of the blood in the brain, as the baneful habit 
 of self-pollution, and independently of the drain upon 
 
50 GENERAL DEBILITY. 
 
 the system by the frequent emissions of its most im- 
 portant secretion, thereby occasioning great debility, 
 there is another and collatteral cause of weakness 
 arising out of too frequent and unnatural exertions, 
 which have a tendency to generate a species of atony, 
 a palsied, and enfeebled state of the male organs, ren- 
 dering it absolutely useless for coition, Hence, it fre- 
 quently occurs that on attempting intercourse, how- 
 ever strong the previous excitement, the individual 
 finds himself suddenly impotent and powerless, not so 
 much from fear, anxiety or transport, but doubtless 
 from the absolute weariness and flaccidity of the penis, 
 which, from mental causes, had for many hours previ- 
 ously maintained a state of throbbing erection. How 
 much more strongly must these remarks apply to the 
 unnatural state of masturbators, who are liable to an 
 imperfect and temporary erection, even from the utter- 
 ance of a casual word. Such frequent excitement brings 
 in its train, not local palsy alone ( generative debility 
 of the worst kind), but general weakness of the severest 
 character. 
 
 Consumptive diseases are now so prevalent as to 
 justify every inquiry relative to their origin. There 
 are, doubtless, some affections of the lungs closely re- 
 sembling tubercular consumption, which are called into 
 existence by the habit of self-pollution. And where 
 the scrofulus tendency exists, we have no hesitation in 
 affirming that this practice tends to its development. 
 Sensual excess, as it is the most certainly fatal, so it 
 is a most fertile cause of those diseases of the chest, 
 
GENERAL DEBILITY. 51 
 
 which threaten so many in early life. Nothing can, 
 therefore, be more irrational than the hope or expecta- 
 tion that the treatment of such diseases will be suc- 
 cessful where, as in too many instances, the concealed 
 cause (viz., self-pollution) has been overlooked and un- 
 co nfessed. 
 
 Every person has his or her weak point, not merely 
 in mind, but in body ; but many persons from accidental 
 causes (of which this vice is one), call into activity the 
 seeds of disease, which would otherwise have lain dor- 
 mant; and, as the result of this the early marks of 
 some diseases of the chest may be noticed : breathless- 
 ness on the slightest exertion, irregular sleep, difficulty 
 in falling asleep at night ; together with these symp- 
 toms, there is drowsiness after rising ; languor, lassi- 
 tude, and other signs of debility ; fever is often percep- 
 tible, chiefly in the evening. There is loss of appetite, 
 stomach is weak and irregular, and as the food becomes 
 less perfectly digested, a manifest wasting of the mus- 
 cular system follows. Paleness of the countenance ; a 
 tumid belly, with a swollen condition of the legs ; irreg- 
 ularity of the bowels ; frequent changes in the character 
 and appearance of the evacuations, are the premonitory 
 symptoms of consumptive diseases. Presently, cough 
 becomes troublesome ; at first, noticeable upon going to 
 bed or rising ; but afterwards through the day. As the 
 disease advances, expectoration, first of a mucous, then 
 of a purulent character ensues ; and, before death, purg- 
 ing and profuse night sweats leave no doubt as to the 
 real nature of the disease. Early in the history of these 
 
52 GENERAL DEBILITY. 
 
 cases, after fever has begun to flush the cheek with a 
 central redness, the urine becomes highly colored, and 
 deposits freely an earthy sediment. In many instances, 
 the stomach seems unimpaired : the tongue, however, 
 becomes smooth and unnaturally red ; the voice is 
 altered, and the eye assumes an unnatural brightness. 
 
 Epileptic and convulsive diseases are freely produced, 
 excited and called into action by excesses. The natural 
 intercourse of the sexes is bounded by the natural capa- 
 bility, but this by none, hence there is excitement 
 without power. Apoplexy occurs not unfrequently 
 from this engorged and irregular condition of the blood 
 vessels of the head, whether arising from Onanism, or 
 mere venereal excess ; the latter paroxysm terminates 
 itself ; the former, on the contrary, may be goaded on to 
 maduess; and if the vessels of the brain be not rup- 
 tured, it is that the most dreadful and exhausting de- 
 bility remains behind. 
 
 Too great a dissipation of the animal spirits doubt- 
 lessly weakens the stomach, destroying the appetite ; 
 and as due nourishment no louger takes place, the mo- 
 tions of the heart aud arteries become dull and languid. 
 If the animal spirits and the seminal liquor be not 
 identical, as the ancients supposed, yet this latter fluid 
 like the blood, is undoubtedly alive, and vested with a 
 vitality more intense, if possible, thau that of the blood 
 itself ; so that the loss of semen produces the same re- 
 sults as the loss of blood, but in a greater degree. The 
 celebrated Hoffman relates that he has witnessed the 
 most dreadful accidents result from an undue dissipa* 
 
GENERAL DEBILITY. 53 
 
 tion of the semen. " After frequent nocturnal pollu- 
 tions," says he, "not only the powers are lost, the body 
 falls away, and the face turns pale, but moreover the 
 memory fails, a cold sensation seizes all the limbs, the 
 sight is clouded, and the voice becomes hoarse ; all the 
 body languishes by degrees, disturbing dreams prevent 
 sleep administering any relief, and pains ensue of the 
 keenest description." He elsewhere observes that he 
 had seen several examples of people, even after the 
 body had attained its full vigor, who had not only 
 brought on redness and acute pain in the eyes, but also 
 such weakness of vision, that they could neither read 
 nor write as formerly. It is recorded that " a young 
 man, at the age of fifteen, having practiced masturba- 
 tion till he was three-and twenty, was afflicted with 
 such a weakness in his head and eyes, that the latter 
 were frequently seized with violent spasms. When he 
 attempted to read, a kind of stupor occurred ; the pupils 
 became diliated and his eyes were exquisitely painful ; 
 the lids were heavy and full of tears, and matter gath- 
 ered in the corners which were painful. Though he ate 
 with pleasure, he was soon reduced to a mere skeleton ; 
 and as soon as he had done eating, he was in a kind of 
 intoxication." 
 
 The great Boerhaave has delineated these disorders 
 with his usual strength and precision. He observes, 
 u the loss of too much semen occasions lassitude, and 
 renders exercise difficult : it causes convulsions, emacia- 
 tions, and pain in the membranes of the brain ; it dead- 
 ens the senses, and particularly the sight, gives rise to 
 
54 GENERAL DEBILITY. 
 
 a dorsal consumption, indolence, and various other dis- 
 orders which are connected with these. I have seen a 
 patient," he says, -■' whose disorder began by lassitude, 
 and a weakness in all parts of the body, particularly 
 towards the loins ; it was attended with an involuntary 
 motion of the tendons, periodical spasms and bodily de- 
 cay, insomuch as to destroy the whole corporeal frame; 
 he felt a pain in the membranes of the brain, a pain 
 which patients call a dry burning heat which inces- 
 santly burns internally the most noble parts." Again, 
 " I have also seen a young man affected with dorsal con- 
 sumption. His person was very agreeable ; he became 
 so deformed before his death, that the fleshy substance 
 which appears above the spinal processes of the loins 
 was entirely wasted. The brain itself appeared to be 
 consumed ; such patients, in fact, become insensible. 
 They become so rigid, that I never perceived so great a 
 want of motion in the body, produced by any other 
 cause." 
 
 Let not the intensely purient, yet seemingly modest 
 victim of secret pollution, lay the flatteriug 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 physiognomy— that faithful mirror of the 
 soul and body gives clear indication of the internal dis- 
 order. The complexion and plumpness which jointly 
 confer a youthful look, and which is the sole substitute 
 of beauty ; for without this, even beauty produces no 
 other effect than cold admiration ; this complexion and 
 plumpness are the first things that disappear ; a lean- 
 
GENERAL DEBILITY. 55 
 
 ness succeeds, the skin becomes rough, often of a leaden 
 tinge ; the eyes lose their brilliancy, and by their lan- 
 guor express that of the whole frame ; the lips lose 
 their vermillion hue, the teeth their whiteness, the hair 
 falls off, and it is no uncommon thing for the whole 
 body to become bent and distorted. 
 
 The observations of the ancients are in accordance 
 with those of modern writers. Hippocrates has de- 
 scribed the ills occasioned by self- abuse, under the title 
 of Tabes Dorsalis. " This disorder arises from the spinal 
 marrow, and those who are given to unnatural enjoy- 
 ments are afflicted with it. They have no fever, and 
 though they eat well, they fall away and become con- 
 sumptive. They feel as if a sting or stitch descended 
 from the head along the spinal marrow. Every time 
 they go to stool, or have occasion to make water, they 
 shed a great quantity of the seminal liquor ; they are 
 incapable of procreation ; and they frequently dream 
 of the act of coition. Walking, particularly in rugged 
 paths, puts them out of breath, and weakens them, 
 occasioning a heaviness in the head, and noise in the 
 ears, which are succeeded by a violent fever (lypiria), 
 that terminates their days." And further, "that it is 
 caused by the wasting of the marrow of the back bone 
 in an unnatural way ;" meaning doubtlessly the sperm, 
 or seminal liquor. "The patient," says he, "is free 
 from fever, yet feels a kind of burning heat on some in- 
 ternal part } sometimes eats and digests well ; and if 
 you ask him with respect to his state, he tells you he 
 feels a cold running stream from the superior " or upper 
 
66 GENERAL DEBILITY. 
 
 " part of his body into the spine of his back, and when 
 he discharges his urine or his excrement, there is some- 
 times an evacuation of liquid semen. He is generally 
 short-breathed, feels languid after rising In the morn- 
 ing, with weakness about his loins, especially after 
 much exercise, and his sleep does not afford him the 
 wished-for refreshment. An intermitting dimness 01 
 the sight sometimes attacks him, his memory fails, and 
 his spirits becomes dejected. i i This man," he continues, 
 " will be incapable of propagating his species, unless 
 the healing art afford him relief." He further observes, 
 "that when this distemper continues for a length of 
 time, it assumes various appearances in the constitu- 
 tion, and makes other stages under different characters ; 
 if not rightly understood it may end in an atrophy, or 
 nervous consumption ; or perhaps in phthisis, or con- 
 sumption of the lungs, where the healing art but too 
 often proves unavailing." There can be nothing more 
 dreadful than the picture which Aetius has left us of 
 the evils produced by too great a discharge of the 
 semen. " Young people have the appearance of old age. 
 They become pale, effeminate, benumbed, lazy, base, 
 stupid, and even imbecile ; their bodies become bent, 
 their legs are no longer able to carry them. They have 
 an utter distaste for everything, are totally incapaci- 
 tated, and become paralytic. The stomach is disordered, 
 all the body weakened; paleness, bodily decay, and 
 emaciations succeed, and the eyes sink into the head." 
 In another place he includes amorous pleasures among 
 the causes which produce the palsy. 
 
GENERAL DEBILITY, 57 
 
 Galen has observed, that " the same causes occasion 
 disorders of the brain and nerves, and destroy the 
 powers of the genital system ;" and in another passage 
 he relates the case of a man who, not being quite cured 
 of a violent disorder, died the same night he attempted 
 the act of coition. 
 
 Pliny informs us of two individuals who died while 
 attempting to force the powers of nature in the sexual 
 act. These testimonies of the ancient physicians are 
 confirmed by innumerable modern writers. 
 
 Sanctorious observes, " this weakens the stomach, 
 destroys digestion, obstructs that insensible perspira- 
 tion, the irregularity of which produces the most fatal 
 consequences ; occasions the liver and reins (kidneys) 
 to be overheated, gives a disposition for the formation 
 of stone in the bladder, diminishes the natural heat and 
 usually occasions the loss of, or at least weakens the 
 sight." 
 
 Lommius, in his commentaries on Celsus, supports 
 the testimony of his author thus : " frequent emissions 
 of the seed, relax, dry up, weaken, enervate, and pro- 
 duce a crowd of evils. Apoplexy, lethargy, epilepsy* 
 fainting, loss of sight, tremors, palsy, spasms, and every 
 species of the most racking gout." 
 
 Tulpius writes — " The spinal marrow does not only 
 waste, but the body and mind both equally languish, 
 and the man perishes a miserable victim." 
 
 " Nothing," says De Louvain, " weakens the stomach, 
 and abridges life so soon." 
 
 Blanchard has been an eye-witness to gonorrhoea pro- 
 
58 GENERAL DEBILITY. 
 
 dnced by self-pollution, to consumption and dropsy 
 flowing from tie same source ; and in the memoirs of 
 curious naturalists we find mention made of a person 
 losing his sight from similar causes, thus demonstrating 
 the close connection and sympathy existing between 
 the testicles and the rest of the body, particularly the 
 eyes. 
 
 Numerous other writers might be quoted, and in- 
 stances adduced, in evidence of the injurious effects of 
 this practice, and we cannot fail to perceive the accuracy 
 of Galen in remarking, " this humor is nothing less 
 than the most subtle of all others ; it has veins and 
 nerves which convey it from all parts of the body to the 
 genitals. When a person loses his seed, he loses at the 
 same time the vital spirit, so that it is not astonishing 
 that too frequent coition should enervate, because the 
 body is thereby deprived of the purest of its humors.^' 
 And Pythagoras observes, that it is " the flower of the 
 blood;" a figurative expression, but one which accu- 
 rately designates its noble office ; in a word, it appears 
 that the semen is the most important and elaborate of 
 the animal fluids, the dissipation whereof leaves the 
 other humors weak and vapid. 
 
 We need no better proof of the importance of the 
 seminal fluid, than the results arising from its too fre- 
 quent and unnatural disharge ; as arranged by the elo- 
 quent Hoffman. 
 
 I. " Involuntary nocturnal emissions ; pains in the 
 back and often in the head ; weakness of the memory 
 and sight; and a mucous discharge from the urethra 
 
GENERAL DEBILITY. 59 
 
 especially after straining at a discharge of the excre- 
 ments ; an aching pain, rolling, and a pendulous condi- 
 tion of the testicles. The testicles being the secretory 
 organs of the genital fluid, are furnished with arte- 
 ries, veins, lymphatics, and nerves, like other glands, 
 and are suspended by the crem aster muscle. When, 
 therefore, from any cause the texture is weakened, a 
 pain will be felt, and this is increased by their hanging 
 down, caused by that general relaxation of fibres that 
 effects the whole body, and the cremaster muscle in 
 particular. 
 
 II. " All the intellectual faculties are weakened ; 
 loss of memory ensues, the ideas are clouded ; the pa- 
 tients sometimes fall into slight madness ; they have 
 an incessant irksome uneasiness, continual anguish, 
 and so keen a remorse of conscience that they frequently 
 shed tears, They are subject to vertigo] all their 
 senses, but particularly their sight and hearing, are 
 weakened ; their sleep, if they can obtain any, is dis- 
 turbed with frightful dreams. 
 
 III. " The powers of their body decay ; the growth 
 of such as abandon themselves to these abominable 
 practices, before it is accomplished, is greatly perverted. 
 Some cannot sleep at all, others are in a perpetual 
 state of drowsiness. They are affected with hypochon- 
 driac or hysterical complaints, and are overcome with 
 the accidents that accompany tbose grievous disorders 
 — melancholy, sighing, tears, palpitation, suffocations 
 and faintings. Some emit a calcareous saliva ; coughs, 
 
60 GENERAL DEBILITY. 
 
 slow fevers, and consumptions, are chastisements which 
 others meet with in their own crimes. 
 
 IV. " The most acute pains form another subject of 
 pat ients' complaints ; some are thus affected in their 
 heads, others in their breasts, stomach and intestines, 
 others have external rheumatic pains ; aching numb- 
 ness in all parts of the body, when they are slightly 
 pressed. 
 
 V. "Pimples do not only appear in the face (this is 
 one of the most common symptoms), but even suppu- 
 rating blisters upon the nose, chest and thighs ; and 
 painful itchings in the same parts. One patient com- 
 plained even of fleshy excrescences upon his forehead. 
 All those symptoms show to what an impure condition 
 the blood is reduced. 
 
 VI. "The organs of generation also participate in 
 that misery of wliich they are the primary cause. 
 Many are incapable of erection; others discharge their 
 seminal liquor upon the slightest titillation and the 
 most feeble erection, or the efforts they make when at 
 stool. Many are affected with a constant discharge, 
 resembling foetid matter or mucus, which entirely de- 
 stroys their powers. Others are tormented with pain- 
 ful priapisms, dysuria, stranguaries, heat of -urine, 
 and difficulty in passing it, which greatly torments 
 them. Some have painful tumors upon their testicles, 
 penis, bladder, and spermatic cord. In a word, either 
 
GENERA L DEBILITY. 61 
 
 the impracticability of coition, or a deprivation of the 
 genital liquor renders every one imbecile and impotent 
 who has for any length of time given way to this 
 crime. 
 
 VII. " The functions of the intestines are some- 
 times quite disordered ; and some patients complain 
 of stubborn constipations; and others of the hemorr- 
 hoids (piles), or of the running of a foetid matter from 
 the fundament and diarrhcea." 
 
 Another writer thus describes the evils arising from 
 masturbation : " The muscles of the youth become soft, 
 he is indolent, his body becomes decrepid, his gait 
 sluggish, and he is scarcely able to support himself. 
 Digestion becomes enfeebled, and the breath offensive, 
 the intestines inactive, the excrements hardened in the 
 lower bowel, producing additional irritation of the 
 seminal vessels in its vicinity. The circulation being 
 no longer free, the youth sighs often, the complexion is 
 livid, and the skin assumes an unhealthy hue. The 
 angles of the mouth become sharp and lengthened, the 
 nose reddened at its extremity ; the sunken, glazed 
 eyes deprived of all brilliancy, and encircled by a livid, 
 lilac, or purple zone, are cast down; no look remains 
 °f g a y e ty — the very aspect is forbidding, and criminal. 
 General sensibility becomes excessive, producing tears 
 without a cause ; perception is weakened, and memory 
 almost destroyed. Distraction, or absence of mind, 
 renders the judgment unlit for any operation. The 
 imagination gives birth only to phantasies and fears, 
 
62 GENERAL DEBILITY. 
 
 without grounds ; the slightest allusion to the domina- 
 ting passion produces motion of the muscles of the 
 face, irregular spasms, the flush of shame, or a state of 
 despair. The desires become capricious, or envy ran- 
 kles in the mind ; perhaps there ensues a total disgust. 
 The wretched being finishes by shunning the face of 
 men, and dreading the observation of women. His 
 character is entirely corrupted, or his mind stupefied. 
 Involuntary loss of the reproductive liquid takes place 
 irregularly during the hours of sleep, as well as on any 
 attempt to evacuate the bowels, and there ensues a 
 total exhaustion." In such patients there is an extreme 
 susceptibility to external impressions, as (e. g.) those 
 arising from variations of temperature, moistness or 
 dryness of the atmosphere. The mind becomes con- 
 scious of those trifling changes of weather which men 
 of business, happy in their vocation, regard not. The 
 irritable condition of the mucous membranes of the 
 genital organs is propa gated, by sympathy, to the eye- 
 lids and nostrils ; these become weak, red, and watery, 
 and are susceptible of colds from very slight causes — 
 so, at night, the glare of a light becomes offensive and 
 painful to the eyelids ; and even in the day a more 
 frequent winking and discharge of tears occur, if 
 there be the slightest wind ; besides irregular flying 
 pains, often mistaken for common rheumatic affec- 
 tions. 
 
 Qne of the effects of self-pollution is the actual re- 
 duction in bulk of the male organ ; and what is worse, 
 its power of erection becomes correspondingly destroy- 
 
GENERAL DEBILITY. 63 
 
 ed. If we reflect upon the difference between mastur- 
 bation and the natural act, we shall not wonder at 
 this. Such an one, if the seed vessels are not sufficient- 
 ly distended with the fluid that excites erection, is 
 able by unnatural friction, to produce a momentary 
 discharge when nature refuses the necessary firmness 
 for coition. In this way, a host of evils is engendered. 
 The testicles are called upon suddenly and violently to 
 secrete a thin, effete, unprolific fluid, and the nerves of 
 the penis are rendered susceptible of an agreeable titil- 
 lation without that natural adjunct, firm erection; 
 hence when votary of self-pollution attempts inter- 
 course, there is an absence of the requisite rigidity to 
 effect penetration ; or if he partially succeed, a prema- 
 ture emission takes place, almost or altogether unat- 
 tended by the slightest sensation of pleasure. 
 
 Among the minor evils, we must not omit those erup- 
 tive diseases, chiefly of the face, frequently observable 
 among young persons, and often assignable to improper 
 habits. 
 
 From time immemorial, the popular belief has been 
 that the undue loss of semen from masturbation, or 
 sexual excess, has a tendency to destroy the growth of 
 the hair, and to produce baldness. According to Hudi- 
 bras, 
 
 11 TVant of virility-is averred 
 To be the cause of want of beard." 
 
 Nor is this opinion without some foundation in truth. 
 Its presence in profusion is usually an index of sexual 
 
64 GENERAL DEBILITY. 
 
 power, and when, from excess, that energy falters, na- 
 ture, as if for the purpose of economizing her scanty 
 resources, casts off the comparatively unimportant ap- 
 pendage ; the hair 'becomes white from defective nutri- 
 tion, or in middle life the head assumes the baldness, 
 though not the venerable diguity of age. The absence 
 of hair upon the cheeks and chin is frequently associa- 
 ted with solitary practices ; a beardless chin and an 
 effeminate voice are the aversion of females, as well as 
 the object of their ridicule, and they are generally 
 pretty good judges that way. 
 
 All the ills occasioned by excesses with women, more 
 quickly follow in youth the abominable practice of 
 self-pollution, and which it would be difficult to paint 
 in colors so glaring as they merit ; a practice to which 
 youth devote themselves, without knowing the enor- 
 mity of the crime, and all the ills that are its physical 
 consequences. The soul is sensible of all bodily disor- 
 ders, but particularly of those which arise from this 
 cause. The most profound melancholy, indifference, 
 even aversion for all pleasures ; the impossibility of 
 sharing in the conversation of company, wherein they 
 are always absent ; the thought of their own unhappi- 
 ness ; the despair which arises from considering them- 
 selves the architects of their own misery, and the ne- 
 cessity of renouncing the felicities of marriage, are the 
 fluctuating ideas which compel these miserable objects 
 to sequester themselves from the world; and happy 
 are those who do not put the finishing hand to their 
 existence. 
 
GENERAL DEBILITY, 65 
 
 That masturbation should be so much more deadly 
 and destructive than even excessive enjoyment with 
 women, is explained by the fact that the latter has its 
 limits of capability, whereas the former has none. 
 
 Scirrhosity, or a hard, enlarged, incipient, cancerous 
 condition of the prostate gland, is not unfrequent 
 among men in advanced life, particularly those who 
 have imprudently produced excitement of the parts by 
 long toying with women, or by Onanism. Such then, 
 and so sad, are the consequences of those unnatural 
 sensual enjoyments altogether the reverse of that trans- 
 porting emotion incidental to the caresses of a pure and 
 virtuous affection, which, in some measure counter- 
 balances the luxurious fatigue consequent upon ra- 
 tional and temperate indulgence. To this delicate sus- 
 ceptibility the miserable victim of solitary vice is a 
 stranger. The warm and passionate kiss, the unutter- 
 able and thrilling embrace that only lovers can feel, 
 lives but in his diseased fancy ; for it cannot be ques- 
 tioned that nature allots more joy to those gratifica- 
 tions, procured in her proper channels, than in those 
 which are repugnant to our natural organization. 
 The joy which only the heart can appreciate (and 
 which must be carefully distinguished from the volup- 
 tuousness purely sensual, which even a prostitute may 
 inspire), animates the circulation, aids digestion, ac- 
 celerates all the functions, restores strength, and 
 supports it. This it is that gives to marriage that 
 sacred home-felt sweetness which love inspires and 
 God looks down upon approvingly. The debauchee, 
 
66 GENERAL DEBILITY. 
 
 scoffing at that he can never know, affects to despise 
 marriage, because, owing to the degradation of his 
 soul, there is a purity, and consequently an intensity in 
 such interchange of affection he can never realize. 
 
 Unfortunately, masturbation is not confined to the 
 male sex. Deeply must it be deplored that the prac- 
 tice of vicious indulgence has found its way to the 
 chamber of unmarried girls; and the great, great re- 
 sponsibility of parents and guardians, in reference to 
 the hidden character of those to whom is entrusted, 
 not merely the physical, but the moral and intellectual 
 companionship of artless youth, can hardly be ade- 
 quately estimated. Surprising artfulness and obsti- 
 nacy are employed by young people in maintaining 
 secrecy respecting crimes of this description. Let the 
 proud father of the clever girl, whose early spirit he is 
 the first to appreciate, watch closely the associations 
 she may form, even with those of her own sex ; and 
 most especially the books that she reads when no eye 
 is near. 
 
 The same influences that entail early decreptitude 
 upon boys, are in operation among girls to an extent 
 which can only be believed by those whose peculiar 
 province it is to conduct such inquiries ; and the same 
 causes which occasion impotency in one sex, are pro- 
 ductive of barrenness in the other, besides laying the 
 foundation of those tedious discharges, and other 
 serious ailments which undermine the constitution 
 and embitter the existence of so many of our fair sis- 
 ters. 
 
GENERAL DEBILITY. 67 
 
 There are results common to both sexes ; but among 
 females addicted to solitary sexual pollution, one of 
 the first consequences is the formation of an irritable 
 nervous, billious, hysterical constitution ; and owing 
 to the morbid accumulation of excitability in the geni- 
 tals, there is a copious discharge of mucous fluid, gen- 
 erally only an augmentation of the natural secretion, 
 but which, when excessive, is termed, in the closet- 
 vocabulary of women, " the whites." 
 
 To bring these observations to a close ; it is impossi- 
 ble to regard the gloomy consequences of self-pollution 
 otherwise than as a direct retributive infliction from the 
 hand of that Being, whose marvelous handiwork, in 
 the construction of the human frame, led one of old to 
 exclaim, " I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Let, 
 therefore, self-respect and adoration of the Great Arti- 
 ficer restrain the thoughtless, or it may be that drivel- 
 ing, helpless, premature dotage may (like the mark set 
 upon Cain) place them in a position past all hope or 
 remedy. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 SPERMATORRHOEA, IMPOTENCY, STERILITY, ETC. 
 
 The genital fluid being retained (for subsequent ex- 
 cretion) in the vesicular receptacles, and through the 
 removal by absorption of its watery particles becoming 
 more concentrated, acrimonious, and powerful, gives 
 rise spontaneously, and at certain intervals, according 
 to the health and constitutional stamina of the indi- 
 vidual, to the natural desire for sexual intercourse. 
 These preliminary remaiks are essential to a national 
 comprehension of that morbid habit of parts from which 
 originates the disease or infirmity, called in professioal 
 parlance, " Spermatorrhoea." 
 
 The act of evacuation becomes pernicious in propor- 
 tion as it is unnecessary, and not demanded by the 
 wants of the living system ; hence it is, that the youth 
 who is devoted to unnatural excess, inflicts such retrib- 
 utive vengeance upon himself; he has the power of ex- 
 citing these organs, when, from previous evacuation, 
 they contain nothing sufficiently stimulating to cause 
 erection, and maintain requisite condition for congress ) 
 
SPERMATORRHOEA. 69 
 
 in this way he is able to perpetrate a great amount of 
 mischief, and the irritated vessels pour out a thin mu- 
 cous discharge, possessed of no vivifying power. From 
 this very irritation, the vesicula3 seminales or recepta- 
 cles above alluded to ; become incapacited for retaining 
 the semen as it is conveyed thither from the testicles ; 
 and should this miserable fraction of humanity marry, 
 a mere thin gleety drain is all he can furnish to impreg- 
 nate, it may be, a warm, vigorous and healthily organ- 
 ized woman. The solitary creatures who have reduced 
 themselves to this deplorable state of helplessness, have 
 drained the system, by past excess, of that which the 
 seminal vessels are not, naturally, too irritable to re- 
 tain, but which, if now secreted of a healthy character, 
 is expelled without effort, or the excitement inseparable 
 from the generative act. Here, then, is indicated one 
 among the many forms of seminal weakness. Irrita- 
 bility is its leading feature, and among the more la- 
 mentable diseases to which the human body is liable, 
 there are none requiring a greater degree of patience, 
 discrimination and tact on the part of the medical man, 
 and fortitude on the part of the patient, than this con- 
 dition of the generative apparatus. 
 
 A stain upon the linen, and a strange feeling of weari- 
 ness, are the first things that arrest attention ; with this 
 there is often an absence of that natural erection, which 
 generally occurs in the morning, after first waking from 
 the supine position, so that though each repetition of 
 the weakness is noticeable in the early stages of this vi- 
 cious perversity of parts, after a time, as the fluid 
 
70 SPERMATORRHOEA.. 
 
 escapes unconsciously, its effects upon constitutional 
 power are the only signs, yet are they fearful tokens of 
 its debilitating presence. 
 
 In many instances the sleep is not broken, and it is 
 sometimes difficult to ascertain how often the evacua- 
 tion occurs, the consequences of the loss are however 
 sufficiently evident, demanding the most prompt and 
 energetic measures to avert the impending mischief. 
 Nocturnal emissions, though more frequently attributa- 
 ble to the practice of self-pollution, and sexual excesses, 
 may arise from diseased testicle, or prostate gland. 
 When complicated with the latter, the discharge of 
 semen is mixed with the natual secretion of the prostate, 
 and the combined fluids stain the linen of a dingy yel- 
 lowish hue, closely resembling that resulting from the 
 discharge in gonorrhoea (common clap) and the gleety 
 discharge which accompanies its chronic stages. Lodg- 
 ments of hardened feculent matter in the large intes- 
 tines, sometimes act as a mechauical irritant, and give 
 rise to diurnal as well as nocturnal evacuations of this 
 highly important fluid, and hence the complaint may be 
 said to possess three different stages, showing them- 
 selves — 
 
 1st. By nocturnal emissions. 
 
 2d. By diurnal losses (called Spermatorrhoea). 
 
 3d. By impotency, or loss of manhood, partial or 
 complete. 
 
 All the three stages are accompanied by nervousness, 
 more or less; impaired nutrition ; lassitude ; weakness 
 of the limbs and back ; indisposition and incapacity for 
 
SPERMATORRHOEA. 71 
 
 study or labor, dullness of apprehension, deficient 
 power of attention, loss of memory, aversion to society, 
 love of solitude, timidity, self-distrust, dizziness, head- 
 ache, pains in the sides, back and limbs, affection of the 
 eyes, pimples on the face, and in extreme cases, even 
 by idiocy and insanity in their most intractable forms. 
 It is generally attended with loose and dangling testi- 
 cles, coldness of the glans penis, unfrequent weak and 
 languid erections of comparatively short duration. The 
 progress from one stage to the other, is often so gradual, 
 as to be scarcely perceptible ; the seminal losses being 
 unsuspected, and as it was so hidden from view, that 
 only a well experienced eye is able to trace them. In 
 the first place, the testicles have, through tlie practice of 
 Onanism, or rather excesses, acquired such a morbid 
 sensitiveness, that on the slightest local irritation, they 
 pat in action their secretive powers, thus constituting 
 an infirmity which might not inaptly be termed a con- 
 sumption of those glands, which if unimpaired by chronic 
 disease, or pernicious practices, are fitted to supply and 
 expend, at proper and chaste intervals, that important 
 secretion during the most active years of a long life. 
 But if manhood be anticipated ; if the secretion and ex- 
 pulsion of semen be premature or unnaturally frequent, 
 if it be excited artificially, nocturnal emissions may 
 occur, as the consequence of the practice, but seminal 
 or generative debility most certainly will. 
 
 These nocturnal emissions then cannot so easily be 
 overlooked, but diurnal emissions, or the second stage, 
 frequently altogether escape the attention of the patient, 
 
72 SPERMATORRHEA. 
 
 till he finds himself in the third stage, and partially or 
 wholly incompetent to the performance of sexual inter- 
 course. 
 
 The emissions, at first attended by erections and pleas- 
 urable sensations during sleep, in time begin to occur 
 without either erection or sensation, and ultimately 
 take place during the day, whenever the bowels are 
 moved, or the urine is passed, or during the slightest 
 excitement in female society. In extreme cases there is 
 an almost constant discharge, or oozing of semen, and a 
 complete absence of the power of retention. Persons 
 who were formerly annoyed by frequent noctural emis- 
 sions, and are now not so much troubled in this way, are 
 often perplexed as to the cause of their continued ner- 
 vousness, incapacity for study or business, depression of 
 spirits, aversion to society, etc., little suspecting, that at 
 the very time they were congratulating themselves on 
 their release from their former annoyance, they were 
 enduring one of still more importance, and that the 
 loss of semen, which was formerly only occasional, in 
 nocturnal emissions, is now almost constant, it being 
 carried off with the urine, at each evacuation of the 
 bladder. This is easily explained. The semen passes 
 from the testes (along the ducts, called the vasa defer- 
 entia, opening into the urethra) ; these ducts, in a 
 healthy state possess sufficient power of retention, but 
 when weakened from abuse, they become relaxed, and 
 as it were dilated, allowing the semen to escape invol- 
 untarily on the slightest excitement. In this irritable 
 : condition, they are liable to be acted upon by the urine 
 
SPERMATORRHEA. 73 
 
 as it passes over their sensitive outlets ; and this irri- 
 tation extending to the bladder, the urine is in conse- 
 quence voided frequently, and nearly always mixed 
 with semen. It is only since the important aid to 
 diagnosis rendered by the marvelous powers of the mi- 
 croscope, that this very important fact has been made 
 out, prior to which numbers have suffered all the con- 
 sequences of debility, without a suspicion of the actual 
 cause. It is no uncommon circumstance for patients to 
 remark that their urine is thick and ropy, particularly 
 the last few drops. This, in some instances, arises from 
 inflammation of the bladder ; but in most cases, this 
 condition is caused by the semen it contains. Many 
 married men, even of chaste and temperate habits, are 
 thus affected, without even suspecting it, simply be- 
 cause they are unacquainted with the existence of such 
 a hidden source of weakness ; and on their attention be- 
 ing drawn to the subject, they can but regret the want 
 of previous information as to their increasing and ap- 
 parently uncontrollable debility. In married people 
 this frequently arises where the bounds of moderation 
 have been overstepped; and there is no doubt that this 
 hitherto undetected drain upon the system, has been 
 the cause of incalculable misery to thousands. 
 
 Many men, about the age of forty, who have lived 
 freely, are not unfrequently greatly altered in their 
 power of sexual intercourse. They may, indeed, in 
 general health, be stout and hearty, and for severa 1 
 years not very sensible of diminution in this respect 
 but the frequency of their inclination for such dutie,. 
 
74 SPERMATORRHEA. 
 
 gradually becomes less, a symptom at all times portent- 
 ous of approaching impotence ; for the inclination ceas- 
 ing, the power soon follows. In others about the same 
 time of life, the physical power ceases first, and the in- 
 clination continuing often for years, their amusements 
 become but the merest pantomines of amorous indul- 
 gence ! Such individuals otherwise in tolerable health, 
 are recoverable. From actual observation, we have 
 generally found that these different conditions owe 
 their origin, and even their immediate existence to 
 nearly the same causes, and may in almost every in- 
 stance, be removed by nearly similar treatment. 
 
 The term impotence is applied to this inability or in- 
 capacity on the part of the male to the performance of 
 the sexual act ; and it is requisite that for all practical 
 purposes, we do not confound this state of the genera- 
 tive system with sterility, since a man who is sterile, or 
 a woman who is absolutely barren, may yet be perfectly 
 capable of the act of coition ; in other words, sterility 
 is an inability for propagation : impotence an inabili ty 
 for copulation, whether occuring in either sex, whether 
 natural or acquired, whether resulting from disease or 
 malformation. 
 
 The desire to perpetuate our species is one of the most 
 intense and irresistible passions with which we are en- 
 dowed ; it is a part of our existence, it is a consequence, 
 a feeling as natural as hunger and thirst. The time at 
 which this desire commences is Puberty, the most critical 
 period in the life of man ; at this epoch our frames are 
 perfected, the secretions necessary for the formation 
 
SPERMATORRHOEA. 75 
 
 and growth of our bodies have, to a great extent, 
 performed their office, and a total change, mental 
 as well as corporeal, takes place. The hoy sud- 
 denly throws off the puerile character, his whole ap- 
 pearance undergoes a change — his countenance is illu- 
 minated with intellect and decision, his voice assumes 
 a rough and manly tone, his cheeks and lips become 
 shaded with a delicate down, the precursor of the dis- 
 tinctive beard ; his limbs become firm, his step erect 
 and vigorous, and he no longer delights in those occu- 
 pations and amusements which before afforded him 
 gratification. 
 
 In the female the characteristic changes are equally 
 marked, and, if possible, the body undergoes still 
 greater alterations ; the system becomes fully develop- 
 ed — the bust enlarged, the eyes sparkle with vividness 
 and expression, indicative of soul and feeling ; the 
 periodical indisposition peculiar to her sex commences, 
 girlish playfulness is exchanged for that graceful bash- 
 fulness and retiring modesty which are so pleasing in 
 girls of this age, her mind is occupied with ideas pure, 
 but strange and absorbing ; in a word she is a woman, 
 " fairest of creation, last and best of all God's works." 
 
 Puberty is the most critical period of life. The 
 mind rushes into a new world — new thoughts, new 
 feelings engage the attention, and the foundation of 
 future character and happiness is now in the balance. 
 The body participates in the change ; the buds of in- 
 herent or acquired disease are now matured or crushed, 
 and the prospect of continued Health and strength will 
 
76 SPERMATORRHOEA. 
 
 be influenced, in a considerable degree, by the conduct 
 of life at this era. How important, then, that the 
 opening mind and the expanding reason of youth 
 should comprehend the pinnacle upon which it is now 
 poised ! Surrounded by all the temptations and in- 
 ducements to err, which on every side allure the inex- 
 perience and indecision of boyhood, it cannot occasion 
 surprise that 
 
 " Some begin life too soon — like sailors thrown 
 Upon a shore where common things look strange." 
 
 Dear is the price hereafter to be paid for this precocity ; 
 imprudence or excess may be indulged in with appa- 
 rent impunifcy, while strength and youth have the power 
 to neutralize the immediate effects of folly ; but when 
 these are exhausted, and disease turns the balance, rapid 
 is the onslaught, and it may happen, decisive the vic- 
 tory. 
 
 As this work is intended to be practical we have no 
 wish, nor intention, to gratify prurient curiosity with 
 any curious detail, but at once plunge in medias res, 
 and ask— Is there a divinity, law or medical student, 
 who does not aspire to a mitre, the woolsack, or a 
 chair I Is there a mercantile drudge who does not as- 
 pire to be at the head of a firm ? These are partial 
 hopes, to be obtained only by few. Is there one man 
 —however exalted, however humble— who does not 
 look forward to the possession of a home, a wife, chil- 
 dren, as the goal of his endeavors, his toils, his cares ? 
 This is but a general desire, within the reach of all. 
 
SPERMATORRHOEA. - 77 
 
 Home I wife ! children ! are the talismanic words which 
 have guided nieii to the noblest actions — to the great- 
 est efforts of genius and exertion. All worldly happi- 
 ness is centered in these blessings, for what can excel 
 the domestic comforts of his own fireside ? 
 
 " All who joy would win 
 
 Must share it. Happiness was born a twin." 
 
 We need not enlarge on this topic. Every man's 
 heart must acknowledge its truth ; and were we to 
 quote from the immortal Milton, even to the veriest 
 tyro of the Poet's Corner of a country newspaper, we 
 could not improve the impression which must be spon- 
 taneous in the breasts of all. But decidedly, although 
 Lust is not of necessity the constant attendant on 
 Love ; still " Love brooks not a degraded throne ; " 
 and that, as well to fulfill the Divine command, " In- 
 crease and multiply," as to fulfill the very purpose of 
 our existence by continuing 
 
 " The vigorous race 
 
 Of uudiseased mankind, " 
 
 it is imperative to preserve in the perfection of their 
 power those organs, and the functions of those organs 
 upon which our obedience to this command depends. 
 
 Amongst the causes which impair and destroy this 
 necessary attribute of man, it has been shown that self- 
 pollution unfortunately takes the first place ; and al- 
 though the actual effects of this debasing practice may 
 not have evinced themselves by any sensible derange^ 
 
78 SPERMATORRHOEA. 
 
 ment of the general health, still the source of the sex- 
 ual debility may be no less certain. Impotence from 
 this cause arises trom actual want of power ; from pre- 
 mature or tardy emission; from the impoverished 
 state of the vivifying fluid ; from disproportion in size 
 of the organ ; from the absence of desire ; and from 
 the universal weakness which affects the whole sys- 
 tem. 
 
 Excess in venery is another cause of impotence, and 
 is also a most fruitful source of some most serious mal- 
 adies not peculiar alone to the male sex. The diseases 
 which are cousequent upon this excess are those which 
 are dependent on the nervous system ; namely, Paraly- 
 sis, Apoplexy, Epilepsy, Diseases of the Organs of 
 Vision, particularly Nyctalopia, and those spectres or 
 dark spots which float before the eye, called by physi- 
 cians Muscat Volitantes. Diseases of the heart are 
 greatly aggravated by excess in venereal indulgence. 
 Whether the baneful habit of self-pollution, or excess 
 with women have engendered this disturbed balance, 
 the effect is the same. Sexual power is sure to be de- 
 stroyed in the end. On attempting intercourse with 
 women, the semen is too quickly discharged ; nocturnal 
 emissions sometimes occur, almost too frequently to be 
 recounted ; even the sight of a fascinating creature 
 is sufficient to arouse the dormant irritability, and 
 diurnal losses also take place. With some, erection 
 is seldom, or exceedingly weak, and desire is more 
 or less extinct. The mind partakes of the prevail- 
 ing imbecility ; the man, sensibly alive to his car 
 
SPERMATORRHOEA. 79 
 
 lainity, is reduced to the condition of a mono- 
 maniacal nervous hypochondriac, the seminal fluid 
 dribbling away without erections, unconsciously, 
 and not as the natural ejaculatory effort of the 
 muscles appropriated for its convulsive discharge. No 
 man is justified in entering upon the responsibilities of 
 marriage, whose condition even approaches distantly to 
 this. Before he enters into that most solemn engage- 
 ment, it is his bounden duty, as he would avoid the 
 most refined cruelty to an innocent yet affectionate 
 woman, to ask his conscience well and truly whether 
 there be any bar or impediment to that sacred union ; 
 and if suspicion be even delicately and tremblingly 
 alive ; let him wait until reassured of his partially lost 
 powers, that he may with confidence lead his blushing 
 bride to the matrimonial altar. If otherwise, the nup- 
 tial bed of the helpless unmanly creature, instead of 
 creating a secret, yet intensely transporting delight, 
 will be converted into a scene of blended mortification, 
 disgust, disappointment and suppressed anger. Now it 
 is that the fair girl laments, when tears are unavailing ; 
 now the cheated bride is made to feel herself the un- 
 happy victim, the scapegoat of a long round of past 
 sensuality — the sins of former years are made to tell 
 upon her devoted head, if not in the communication of 
 actual disease, at least in the deprivation of those en- 
 joyments which to a certain extent are essential to the 
 happiness of wedded life. Anxious for offspring, yet 
 baffled from year to year in the feeble embrace of the 
 man she has vowed to love and honor ; life, health, and 
 
80 SPERMATORRHEA.. 
 
 youth, fast wearing away, under a combination of cir- 
 cumstances so painful, that language cannot adequately 
 
 describe them. 
 
 The reproductive power may not be entirely de- 
 stroyed by that state of generative debility engendered 
 by nocturnal emissions, and yet very painful conse- 
 quences of another character may unquestionably arise. 
 A healthy female may become pregnant from the feeble 
 yet exhausting efforts of a man whose constitutional 
 power is seriously broken, yet it would be unphilosophi 
 cal and unsupported by any analogy drawn from the 
 history of the lower animals, to expect that this circum- 
 stance would not tell most detrimentally upon the off- 
 spring, which will assuredly bear enstamped upon it the 
 same physical characteristics as the feebly vital fluids 
 from which it originated. As an illustrative of this, it 
 has been remarked, from the days of Aristotle, that ille- 
 gitimate children are frequently endowed with great 
 genius and valor. The circumstance has been ascribed 
 to the impetuosity of both parents during their em- 
 braces. Hercules, Romulus, Alexander, Themistocles, 
 Jugurtha, King Arthur, William the Conquer or, Homer, 
 Demosthenes, and many others, are notable instances ; 
 and the most ancient families, in almost every kingdom, 
 have sprung from the left-handed offspring of princes. 
 The worthiest captains, best wits, greatest scholars, 
 bravest spirits in English annals, have been base born. 
 Carden, in his "Subtleties," gives a reason: "These 
 are more powerful in body and mind, chiefly from the 
 vehemence of the sexual act that begat them." Pro- 
 
SPEltMATORRHCEA. 81 
 
 bably their superior energy may be attributed to the 
 strength of parental constitution, which is all for which 
 we contend, the weak and delicate not being so likely 
 to become the prey of unlawful passions. 
 
 Impotence is more frequently observed in our own 
 sex than among women. Temporary impotence in man 
 or woman, especially in the former, is often the result of 
 mere apprehension, or of some diseased condition with 
 which sexual intercourse is for a time incombatible ; 
 such, for instance, as for nervous and malignant fevers ; 
 while, strange to relate, an opposite effect is sometimes 
 produced by other diseases, such as gout and rheuma- 
 tism, haemorrhoids, etc., and instances are on record, of 
 other diseases producing such a change in the constitu- 
 tion, that an impotent man may find himself cured of 
 his impotence on their cessation. 
 
 Impotence in the male may arise then from a wide 
 diversity of conditions. Incapacity of erection, generally 
 referable to self-pollution ; impotence, arising from a 
 want of power of retention in the seminal vessels in- 
 duced by a morbid susceptibility of those vessels; 
 brought,on by a persistence in the same vicious practices , 
 impotence, from inability of retention resulting from re- 
 pletion of those vessels. Impotence from mental influ- 
 ence has also its appropriate management. Exclusive 
 of this, the generative infirmity under consideration, 
 though occasionally arising from simple disease, is as- 
 cribable in by far the greater majority of instances to the 
 excess of sensualism, either with women, or more com- 
 monly still, from that vile delusive mentally annihilat- 
 
82 SPERMATORRHOEA. 
 
 ing excess, to which such frequent allusion has been 
 made. 
 
 That long continued debauchery, whether with women 
 or by masturbation, is among the most common and 
 prominent of the causes of impotence, is a fact admitted 
 by all systematic writers. Mons. Pinel observes: " The 
 impotence caused by the latter excess, reduces youth to 
 the nullity of old age, and is too often incurable." 
 
 It is certain that where impotence arises from Onan- 
 ism, its severity is far greater than when produced by 
 excessive venery. The reason is, that the vital fluid, 
 which should have improved the stamina of the system^ 
 has been lost without satisfaction ; without that grati- 
 fication of the mind which compensates in some meas- 
 ure the expenditure of vital energy. All authority favors 
 the assertion that moderate legitimate indulgence with 
 a beloved object, tends to produce a pleasing hilarity, 
 lightness of heart, and aptitude for the ordinary busi- 
 ness and enjoyments of life ; and as the best things be- 
 come by abuse or excess, the worst and most enervating^ 
 it is especially so in the present instance. The man 
 who indulges to the utmost his licentious propensities, 
 and taxes his failing powers to their last extent ; seek- 
 ing for variety as a new stimulus, may certainly find 
 therein an excitement sufficient for the occasion, and 
 may be able to effect and accomplish more frequent 
 repetitions of the sexual act than the sober, quiet, mar- 
 ried man, who happy in his choice, is faithful to one 
 woman. But the fact must not be withheld, that this 
 excess among men of polluted minds is accomplished at 
 
SPERMATORRHEA. 83 
 
 the expense of a corresponding amount of physical 
 energy; such feeling becomes the most dominant ram- 
 pant lust, and no passion more strangely wears down 
 its victim, strewing in prostrate wreck all the finer and 
 and more delicate emotions of the soul. It is a morbid 
 craviug which can never be appeased, and its end is not 
 only the destruction of all mental quietude, but is the 
 utter ruin of the body. Even when physical capability 
 is expended, and premature decreptitude approaches, 
 powerless desires still torment the victim of ungovern- 
 able lust, who can talk only of past enjoyments, but 
 whose filthy conversation serves to inflame and seduce 
 other and purer minds. The results of such efforts tell 
 with tremendous power upon the greedy but hopelessly 
 debilitated votary of pleasure. The lawful partner of a 
 husband's bed silently affords only that gratification de- 
 manded by the sexual organs when fully charged with 
 the seminal fluid, and impatient for relief. To a man so 
 happily circumstanced the stimulus of variety is un- 
 sought, contemned, forbidden, not merely as contrary 
 to all laws, divine and human, but as directly opposed 
 to the maintenance of his animal organization in health, 
 strength and usefulness. 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 sensual- 
 ist, though intensely vivid for a brief space, are sue- 
 
84 SPERMATORRHOEA. 
 
 ceeded by that worst form of helplessness, insatiable 
 desire appended to diseased and powerless organs. 
 
 And here, we have a few words for those, who 
 although strictly faithfulvftu; $/e marriage bed, are yet 
 accustomed systematically to infringe the laws of 
 chastity by indulging their animal propensities to ex- 
 cess. This also brings its punishment. Since the last 
 edition of this work, a somewhat marked case of paral- 
 ysis has occurred to me, which I will briefly relate. A 
 gentleman from New Orleans had for some time lost (al- 
 most entirely) the use of both lower extremities ; not pro- 
 gressing very satisfactorily, a physician, whom he con- 
 sulted, induced him to undertake a journey, with a view 
 of placing himself under our care. He candidly ad- 
 mitted at his first interview, that having been exceed- 
 ingly happy in his married life, it being his good for- 
 tune to possess a most amiable and affectionate wife, 
 and being naturally of warm and ardent temperament, 
 he had indulged his propensities to great excess ; to 
 such a degree was he debilitated, that as well as the 
 absence of the power, he then seldom ever experienced 
 any sexual desire; and this, in conjunction with his al- 
 most childish helplessness, debarring him from active 
 exercise of any kind, so preyed upon his spirit, that he 
 feared his mind would ultimately fail, and whilst writ- 
 ing he expressed an earnest desire to remain under our 
 personal care. This gentleman remained in the city 
 under our treatment for ten weeks, and then returned 
 home, taking with him a further supply of our medi- 
 cines. Some weeks afterwards we received from him 
 
SPERMATORRHOEA. 85 
 
 the following communication, comment on which is un- 
 necessary 
 
 " I row, and swim, a^ L xi^b to the astonishment of 
 all my neighbors. I also walk much firmer, enjoy my 
 food as I have not done for months, and am already like 
 another being. Thank God, I am improved in strength 
 of body, and in tone of mind, beyond anything I ex- 
 pected in the time ; I feel returuiug health coursing 
 through my veins ; only sometimes I ask myself if it is 
 a dream. It is almost incredible to myself and friends, 
 the benefit I have already derived from your treat- 
 ment." 
 
 The draining of the seminal fluid, which occurs 
 either from excessive venery, or from self-poll ution is 
 not equally great in every instance. There are some 
 individuals who are not rendered absolutely, but only 
 partially impotent. With severe effort they accomplish 
 the sexual act occasionally, though probably to the ill- 
 disguised indifference, if not disgust of the female. 
 Others again, though unprolific, are tolerably compe- 
 tent, but at long intervals ; their powers though weak- 
 ened, are not altogether destroyed, for with due care, 
 and the really steady employment of judicious meas- 
 ures, this threatened evil may be averted. Promptitude 
 in these cases, is of the first importance, while on the 
 other hand, if valuable time be squandered now in 
 contending against improper treatment, it is too prob- 
 ably lost for ever. In just such cases as these it is that 
 the cautious skill of science leaves blundering bungling 
 
86 SPERMATORRHOEA. 
 
 quackery far behind to pursue her blind injurious 
 course. Here the great end and aim of treatment must 
 be to excite without irritating ; and to individuals men- 
 aced with this evil, I address the friendly warning, on 
 no account to tamper and temporize with their infirm- 
 ity in the idle hope that all will in time recover itself, 
 for sad experience proves the contrary. 
 
 Genital malformation— as amongst the proximate 
 causes of Impotence — must not be passed without 
 notice. The prepuce may be adhered to the glands, or 
 so bound down by the froenum, that without a trifling 
 operation, copulation cannot take place. Phymosis aud 
 Paraph ymosis may also render an attempt at coition 
 excessively painful to the female, and devoid of all 
 pleasurable excitement on the part of him who labors 
 under the infirmity. The penis may be curtailed of its 
 fair proportions, or may have acquired such "lusty 
 stature" as to offer another obstacle. Some patients 
 have complained of serious inconvenience from an un- 
 natural curve of the penis, not the result of disease. 
 Then there are disorders of the urinary or genital 
 organs referable to inflammation or irritation of those 
 structures ; as, for instance, thickening of the bladder, 
 disease of the testicles, wasting of the penis, stricture 
 with other affections of the organs. There is also a fre- 
 quent affection of the prostate gland of a chronic can- 
 cerous nature, which forms a barrier to copulation. 
 Cases in which the urethra terminated at the base of 
 the penis, near the perina3iim, have come under our 
 observation ; these, though very distressing, are not ir- 
 
SPERMATORRHEA. 87 
 
 remediable. The testicle is sometimes malformed, and 
 occasionally one or both are wanting. All cases of so- 
 called Hermaphrodism, are dependent upon malforma- 
 tion. 
 
 It would be possible to go on enumerating causes and 
 effects in relation to this subject, almost without end; 
 and although such cases may not in every instance be 
 amenable to treatment, yet there is much room for in- 
 genuity ; and it has occurred not unfrequently, that 
 means have been employed to very tangible purposes 
 in cases previously regarded as hopeless. The advice, 
 the consolation, the comfort to be afforded in all such 
 cases are in themselves of no small moment, and as the 
 "Medical Adviser" should be the friend, as well as the 
 physician of those who seek his aid, such investigations 
 may not be found altogether so useless as at first might 
 appear. We have been repeatedly consulted on account 
 of the absence of offspring, by patients, who were impo- 
 tent from one or other of the foregoing causes, and fre- 
 quently has it been our happiness to render very essen- 
 tial aid towards the realization of this long, ardent, and 
 very natural desire. Such cases call for no small degree 
 of delicacy, tact, discrimination, caution and sympathy 
 — and with these combined, much may often be accom- 
 plished by the humane and scientific practitioner. 
 
 Having thus noticed the chief of those causes which 
 detract from the happiness and injure the health of man, 
 we cannot conclude more appropriately than by quoting 
 from Dr. Johnson's admirable tale, Rasselas : " Let us, 
 therefore stop, while to stop is in our power ; let us live 
 
88 SPERMATORRHOEA. 
 
 as men who are sometimes to grow old, and to whom it 
 will be the most dreadful of all evils to count their past 
 years by follies, and to be reminded of their former 
 luxuriance of health, only by the maladies which riot 
 has produced." 
 
 Fortunately, the numerous records in our possession 
 of cases which ( though in some instances very serious) 
 have been treated to a favorable termination, prove that 
 the recovery of the powers of manhood is not (under 
 judicious management) so utterly hopeless as might 
 seem to be the case, trusting only to the observations 
 of some medical writers on this subject. 
 
 Among women, impotence can only depend upon 
 vicious conformation, mostly natural, but sometimes 
 acquired, and the accidental result of dangerous lacera- 
 tions or inflammatory adhesions, following child-birth, 
 however, the causes of sterility or barrenness are numer- 
 ous. One of the most frequent, being the malady called 
 leucorrha^, or " whites." Barrenness is also often caused 
 by retention, irregularity, or profusion of the menstrual 
 secretion, thereby giviug rise to the diseases known by 
 the names of chlorosis, or green sickness, amenorrhea, 
 or obstructed menstruation, dysmenorrhea, or painful 
 scanty menstruation, and menorrhagia, or excessive 
 menstruation aud flooding. It may also proceed from 
 frigidity of temperament, or from aversion, reserve or 
 indifference, which reuders them insusceptible of any- 
 thing more than mere passive submission, instead of ap- 
 petency and pleasure ; in short, it is a general irrespond- 
 ence in the feelings of the female to those of the male, 
 
SPERMATORRHOEA. 89 
 
 and when accompanied by sterility, too often give rise 
 to reproaches, dissensions and even disgust — converting 
 love to hatred, making the nuptial couch a bed of 
 thorns instead of roses, marriage a curse rather than a 
 blessing. 
 
 There are other causes of barrenness, over which the 
 female has no control ; for example, the womb itself may 
 be unnaturally small ; the ovaries may be absent ; or 
 the fallopictn tubes may be closed. If these things co- 
 exist, as the consequence of the close and intense sym- 
 pathy existing between the female uterus and the 
 breasts, the latter are observed to be correspondingly 
 small ; and, contrarily, a free development of these, if 
 it be not a mere fatty accumulation, is fair indication 
 of a healthy natural condition of the female reproduc- 
 tive system. 
 
 The analogy and mode of testing the physical and 
 maternal capabilities, which many engaged in the breed- 
 ing and rearing of cattle have drawn from the devel- 
 opment of the breasts, is by no means unphilosophical 
 or indelicate ; any causes therefore, which tend to inter- 
 fere with these organs are important. A well known 
 aged agriculturist observes on this subject, " I am afraid 
 that some of the defects of the French women are to be 
 found among the superior classes, particularly in this 
 country. The young women are generally much more 
 flat-busted than they were sixty years ago. I now see 
 them with different feelings, but I can observe forms 
 with the same eyes, and several observant women have 
 noticed the change. Look at the pictures of a century 
 
90 SPERMATORRHEA. 
 
 or a century and a half ago, and the hosoms of women 
 there represented are not similar to those of modern 
 times." How far secret indulgence in unnatural prac- 
 tices mry have tended to this, is a question which the 
 experience of those who are devoted to such inquiries 
 can only decide. 
 
 We have endeavored, as succinctly as possible, to offer 
 an intelligible portraiture of the interruptions to sexual 
 health, and by explaining the causes in a simple, forci- 
 ble, and perspicious manner, to enable the reader to dis- 
 entangle the apparently inextricable and confused maze 
 of his own wandering and diseased fancies ; to point 
 to the concealed, and it may be unsuspected cause of 
 suffering, to the restoration of health, vigor, usefulness, 
 activity, and joyous hilarity. Why do I suffer? — why, 
 when all around me invites to enjoyment ; why is it, 
 that while every face wears a smile, existence is to me 
 a dreary blank — the world, its pleasures, cares, and 
 duties, an irksome weariness ? Are not these questions 
 which even a cursory glance at the previous pages will 
 enable the misguided to solve ? Long experience of 
 human nature, long acquaintance with some of its most 
 painful infirmities, enable me to say it will be so. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE TREATMENT OF SPERMATORRHEA, MENTAL, MORAL, 
 
 D1ETETICAL, ETC. 
 
 In reference to which, I wish to impress the fact, that 
 a most important object to be gained, depends entirely 
 upon the patient, that is moral restraint, confirmed by 
 the most determined resolution. The desires and pas- 
 sions must be controlled ; allow them once to gain the 
 mastery, and then farewell to health and peace. After 
 perfect and continued abstinence from this pollution is 
 insured, and not till then, we may commence with con- 
 fidence the medical treatment ; in doing this, we have 
 two objects to attain ; first, to renew and invigorate 
 the general health, without stimulating or exciting the 
 parts more particularly implicated ; secondly, to remove 
 local diseases and derangement, and to restore the 
 natural functions of all the organs. In furtherance of 
 the first indication, it is necessary that the patient ban- 
 ish from his mind all melancholy, unnecessary forebod- 
 ings and discouraging doubt, as to the speedy and 
 effectual cure of his case ; he must summon hope, and 
 occupy his thoughts as far as practicable, with pleasing 
 
92 TREATMENT OF SPERMATORRHOEA. 
 
 amusements ; in furtherance of which, cheerful society 
 should be courted. Whatever tends to excite the pas- 
 sions should be sacredly eschewed ; and every circum- 
 stance likely to incite him to a repetition of his folly, 
 should be carefully guarded against. The standard 
 works on Zoology, History, Natural Philosophy, and 
 even those of the best novelists (forbidding all of sen- 
 sual character), may with advantage occupy much of 
 his leisure. 
 
 The newspaper — that mighty organ of good and evil, 
 attracting the attention of all classes of society, giving 
 direction to human opinion, and influencing a world of 
 mind, should be read in some intervening moments. In 
 like manner may be perused one or more of the numer- 
 ous admirable periodicals which grace our age. As with 
 the choice of reading, so it is with the choice of com- 
 panions. One cannot be long in the company of another, 
 without being either the better or the worse ; if, there- 
 fore, you would improve by them, accept the counsel of 
 the wisest of men : " Go from the presence of a foolish 
 man, when thou findest not in him the lips of knowl- 
 edge." Time is surely too valuable, and the space 
 allotted to man too short, to fritter it away in the society 
 of triflers ; and above everything should the compan- 
 ionship of those be shunned, whose conversation is 
 polluted by profaneness or licentiousness. Young men, 
 especially, are very apt, when together, to indulge in 
 loose conversation, little thinking that hardly anything 
 so argues a degraded mind, a filthy taste, and a foul 
 heart ; for " out of a pure heart can come forth nothing 
 
TREATMENT Off SPERMATORRHEA. 93 
 
 but what is pure." Besides, such conversation is so un- 
 meaning, so useless, so wanton, so vile, and so subver- 
 sive of everything that is good, that it should never be 
 countenanced by any who possess one spark of virtuous 
 feeling; for — 
 
 •" when lust, 
 
 By unchaste looks, loose gestures, and foul talk, 
 But most by lewd and lavish acts of sin, 
 Lets in defilement to the inward parts, 
 The soul grows clotted by contagion, 
 Imbodiesand imbrutes, till she quite lose 
 The divine property of her first being." 
 
 A youth on beginning the world, loses many pleasures 
 and many safeguards, too, when he shuts himself out, or 
 is shut out, from the humanizing influences of family 
 life. It should be the first anxiety of parents, if possi- 
 ble, to secure for their children at this most critical 
 period, a residence in a well regulated family circle, 
 where they will be blessed with social comforts, and 
 with the gentle presence of virtuous female society. 
 From neglect of this simple precaution, many a man 
 has had to date his first departure from the path of 
 purity and his final overthrow in the vortex of dissipa- 
 tion. 
 
 The exercises of the mind, and those of the body 
 should be so regulated, that the one may serve as a 
 recreation to the other ; when the circumstances and 
 opportunities of the patient permit, change of scene 
 and air is highly desirable ; moderate exercise on foot 
 or in a carriage should be taken daily ; while riding on 
 horseback should be indulged in with caution. 
 
94 TREATMENT OF SPERMATORRHOEA. 
 
 It is greatly to be deplored that a more liberal feeling 
 does not exist among those who employ young persons 
 in business, than to exact fourteen or sixteen hours for 
 labor or confinement, which must be not only injurious 
 to health, but subversive of morality ; and from my ex- 
 perience ia diseases which are peculiarly solitary, I am 
 of opinion that an immensity of evil may be traced to 
 this over-taxation of time and labor. 
 
 It unfortunately happens, that sufferers from this class 
 of diseases seldom feel so ill as to seek medical assist- 
 ance, till, by continued protraction, they have greatly 
 injured their constitution, as also the generative organs 
 themselves. It often happens, also, that through the di- 
 versified forms of disease resulting from self-pollution, 
 the symptoms so closely resemble those diseases of an en- 
 tirely different nature, that the attention of the ordin- 
 ary practitioner is not directed to the real disease, and 
 mere symptoms engross his attention, while the organs 
 actually suffering wholly escape notice. Hence the evil 
 proceeds, and if its character be eventually suspected, 
 it is at a period when the constitution has been so far 
 invaded, that its condition demands our immediate and 
 earnest attention. Unfortunately, neither the sedative 
 powers of leaden girdles, the anti-spasmodic virtues oi 
 camphor-bags, nor the cooling properties of nitre, have 
 more than imaginary effect in subduing this powerful 
 passion, which requires the exertion of the rational 
 faculties to give a proper direction to the laws of nature. 
 
 Now, what are the indications of treatment ? Why, 
 to remove the provoking causes that brought about the 
 
TREATMENT OF SPERMATORRHOEA. 95 
 
 first estrangement, and to cultivate the mind into a 
 higher notion of its own importance, as nothing is so 
 apt to produce a relapse as a return to former practices ; 
 reason must resume her seat, and become a convert to 
 chastity and honor. And here we would particularly 
 remark, that the system generally adopted of employ- 
 ing the ordinary tonics to overcome seminal weakness 
 is seldom productive of any permanent benefit. The 
 seminal fluid is obtained principally from the most vital 
 portions of the blood, and it is an excessive drain upon 
 this essential secretion that thus fearfully weakens and 
 frequently renders wholly inert the generative organs. 
 It is by the employment of peculiar combinations pos- 
 sessing singularly nutritious, warm, invigorating vir- 
 tues, that this important deficiency can be supplied, 
 and the consequent depreciation in the character of 
 both solids and fluids, effectually overcome. So to act 
 upon the seminal vessels, as to impart tone and strength, 
 without producing irritation ; or temporarily exciting 
 the generative power to renovate the impaired functions, 
 by the exhibition of such remedies as shall remove the 
 proximate causes of debility and disease, and thus per- 
 manently restore the lost energies of the system — is the 
 treatment which alone can be successful ; and which 
 the experience afforded by several years' careful obser- 
 vation, in a practice of no inconsiderable extent, proves 
 to be better adapted, and more uniformly applicable to 
 every variety and complication of debility, particularly 
 that resulting from the excesses to which we have made 
 such especial allusion in the preceding pages, than any 
 
96 TREATMENT OF SPERMATORRHOEA. 
 
 medicine or remedy for such ailments, with which the 
 long course of experience has made us acquainted. 
 
 The more powerful of the ordinary aphrodisiacs are 
 in the same ratio injurious to the general system, inas- 
 much that like most strong stimulants, they are inevita- 
 bly succeeded by a corresponding depression of the vital 
 energies, which ultimately resolves itself into confirmed 
 and irretrievable impotency, and hence it is, and very 
 properly, that they are now so seldom employed. Oui 
 medicines, on the contrary, gradually impart strength 
 to the organs, through the constitution, which they first 
 invigorate ; and though gentle in their action, are all 
 the more permanent in their effects ; rendering real ser 
 vice without the possibility of harm to the system. To 
 individuals of either sex, even in the more confirmed 
 cases of debility, they are alike adapted ; and a gradual 
 return to health and vigor will generally be the happy 
 reward of steady perserverance in the employment ot 
 our medicines for a shorter or a longer period, according 
 to all the peculiar circumstances of the case. 
 
 In those cases where nocturnal emissions are of such 
 frequent recurrence as seriously to menace the constitu- 
 tion of the sufferer, the first great object of treatment 
 should be to check this unnatural and most injurious 
 drain upon the system. This effected, we have then to 
 repair the previous mischief, by removing all morbid 
 irritability ; giving tone and power of retention to the 
 seminal vessels, the relaxed condition of which is the 
 very foundation of all the mischief. 
 
 The very essence of successful treatment consists in 
 
TREATMENT OF SPERMATORRHOEA. 97 
 
 first arresting the unnatural loss of that fluid, on the 
 healthy retention of which depends so greatly the vigor 
 of both mind and body. The rest can readily be accom- 
 plished by perseverance and regularity in taking our 
 medicines and attending to the general instructions. 
 
 Some writers strenuously advocate the employment of 
 Galvanism, or Electricity, as a remedial agent for the 
 cure of Spermatorrhoea ; now, although we have ever 
 been most prompt to test impartially, every so-called 
 remedy which appeared to afford a reasonable prospect 
 of success or assistance, and although this among many 
 others has been most carefully, regularly, efficiently, and 
 perseveringly applied by us personally, yet (and with 
 regret we say it) we are bound to confess that it has 
 fallen far, very far, short of the high encomiums passed 
 upon it by certain of its advocates. 
 
 Still, as a remedial agent in many other complaints, it 
 ranks undeniably and deservedly high ; as, for example 
 in several of the varieties of paralysis, partial, local, or 
 general ; loss of voice, chorea, or St. Vitus' Dance, epi- 
 lepsy, apoplexy, etc. In all these and many more 
 affections, galvanism properly applied by, or under the 
 direction of a medical man (and in other hands infinite 
 harm instead of good will be quite as likely to ensue), 
 possesses remarkably curative powers. 
 
 Many other remedies (real or imagined) and modes of 
 treatment have from time to time been put forth, and 
 advocated with all the energy and tenacity of actual 
 conviction as to their intrinsic value, but with very 
 few exceptions they have speedily sunk into merited 
 
98 TREATMENT OF SPERMATORRHOEA. 
 
 oblivion. Almost every writer on these matters, past 
 or present, lends his advocacy to some novel or particu- 
 lar line of treatment, as though he really had faith only 
 in the theory of his own adoption, to the exclusion of 
 all and everything besides. In one voluminous work 
 now before me, published in the early part of the present 
 century, the author, in some five hundred pages of 
 letter-press, labors to promulgate his very decided and 
 unqualified opinion that Cantharides (Spanish Fly h is 
 the only remedy for every ailment of the generative 
 organs ; and yet this man was of no mean reputation in 
 his day. In another work of somewhat more humble 
 pretension, blisters are as strenuously recommended. 
 Another advocates setons in the perinseum ; this is even 
 worse than the plan now almost exploded, of catheter- 
 izing the urethra with the porte caustique armed with 
 nitrate of silver, as introduced some years ago by the 
 late gifted and skillful Lallemand, of Montpelier. 
 Others again, advocate the injection of astringent 
 lotions into the urethra, but we have never had fche 
 good fortune to meet with an instance of success, though 
 many cases of failure have come under our notice. 
 
 There are some even among living practitioners, who 
 profess to have faith only in preparations of steel or 
 iron, assisted by alteratives, cold bathing, etc., and, 
 indeed, this is the old-fashioned stereotyped routine 
 practice ; in reference to which be it said, that when 
 the seminal ducts are so far relaxed that they allow the 
 escape of semen with the urine, and on going to stool, 
 and when the losses occur with unusual frequency dur- 
 
TREATMENT OF SPERMATORRHOEA. 99 
 
 ing sleep, or by day, and the blood has become thereby 
 seriously deteriorated, some good may possibly result to 
 the bodily health from the employment of ferruginous 
 medicines, but a relapse of the local weakness soon 
 shows any apparent benefit in this particular not to be 
 lasting. Another very important circumstance in refer- 
 ence to the employment of iron, is its known tendency 
 to excite the circulation, and unduly accelerate the 
 action of the heart, shown by the distressing palpita- 
 tions, headaches, flushings, etc., which often occur dur- 
 ing its use. Hence it is contra-indicated in heart and 
 brain diseases, or where there exists any tendency to 
 these affections, which the use of steel or iron would be 
 likely so seriously to aggravate, as to cause sudden 
 death. 
 
 The Nitrate of Potash was largely employed and 
 recommended by the late McDougal, but as several of 
 his former patients have, from time to time, come under 
 our care, suffering from the relapse of the symptoms for 
 which he thus treated them, we simply record the fact 
 as evidence of its untrustworthiness as a remedy. 
 
 The Chlorate of Potash in its action on the system 
 closely resembles the preparation immediately preced- 
 ing, and is therefore equally disentitled to credit as a 
 curative in these complaints. 
 
 Ergot of rye, camphor, hyoscyamus, opium, digitalis, 
 lupuline from the strobiles of the hop plant ; nux vom- 
 ica, or its alkaloid strichnine ; copaiba, cubebs, Indian 
 hemp, etc., have each their advocates, and are all good 
 in their way, though only as adjuncts to other treat- 
 
100 TREATMENT OP SPERMATORRHOEA. 
 
 nient, as they are powerless to effect a permanent cure. 
 
 Strapping or compressing the testicles is useful in 
 Varicocele, and in such cases is of positive service in 
 reducing the calibre of the vessels and diminishing the 
 supply of blood to the part ; but as recommended by 
 some as a remedy for Spermatorrhoea, it may be classed 
 with the dry cupping ; embrocations to the spine and 
 perinseum; the suppositories to place in the rectum (a 
 very novel, very useless, and very nasty idea to say the 
 least) recommended by others, and which are all just 
 so many harmless placebos, concocted solely for the 
 amusement of the patient, by whom they may be either 
 used or left alone with equal benefit. This, however, 
 cannot be said of the mineral acids, as uselessly em- 
 ployed by some men, too often to the seiious and per- 
 manent injury of their patients' teeth. 
 
 We have placed before our readers the usual remedies 
 adopted for the treatment of Nervous and Physical Debil- 
 ity and Impotence. Unfortunately it too often happens 
 that the deluded victim of Self-indulgence, after en- 
 deavoring in vain to find relief from the consequence 
 of early error — sinks at last into a state ot lethargy. 
 
 Now in concluding this part of our subject, we may 
 be allowed to observe that it is right and useful that all 
 men should know that there are principles of personal 
 management which cannot be violated without the 
 incurral of grevious penalties ; it is right 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 
 
TREATMENT OF SPERMATORRHOEA. 101 
 
 ultimately be removed. The most absurd of all emo- 
 tions is that of despair. Let the sufferer remember that 
 there is scarcely any degree of weakcess or functional 
 derangement to which the timely aid of science cannot 
 apply a cure. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 ON MARRIAGE ; ITS OBLIGATIONS AND EXCESSES ; WITH 
 A FEW REMARKS ON MATRIMONIAL UNHAPPINESS. 
 
 Marriage is an institution of divine origin. It is the 
 bond of union between the sterner order of our nature, 
 and the gentler sympathies of the female. When a be- 
 loved object is about to be united to her faithful suitor, 
 the heart is fraught with the most ecstatic feelings. 
 The various disappointments tnat may have beset out 
 path are all about to be dispersed ; the difficulties that 
 arose in our way are now no more, and the blushing ob- 
 ject of our regard has consented to repose within our 
 embracing and endearing arms. 
 
 We are not only about to fulfill a natural, but a moral 
 and divine injunction. God has commanded us "to in- 
 crease and multiply " our species ; we have been desired 
 to leave the early home of our youth ; the tender solici- 
 tude of our parents, and all the sweet communion of 
 the hearth circle to which we have been accustomed 
 from our happy childhood, and to fulfill our promises 
 of fidelity to our well chosen spouse, to cleave unto her 
 that our union may be " twain in one flesh." 
 
ON MARHIAGE. 103 
 
 To persons properly constituted, mentally and bodily, 
 there can be no greater happiness than that derived from 
 the mutual intercourse, the mutual love and endear- 
 ments of an affectionate couple bound to each other in 
 the lawful bonds of matrimony. The " Cynthia of the 
 minute" has no charms comparable to the connubial 
 delight of a fond indulgent pair. The frail one has 
 nothing to bestow but the vehicle of sensuality, the pos- 
 session of which " filthy lucre n can obtain at any time. 
 Her charms are common property ; her blandishments 
 are unreal ; her smile a hollow mockery of affection. 
 The caresses she bestows on the ardent youth are trans- 
 ferred to tottering imbecility and age ; while the young 
 wife, " lovely as she is good, and good as fair," has in 
 the full plentitude of her power surrendered herself 
 into the embraces of her " one true husband." Mar- 
 riage, however, is not altogether made up of " sighs and 
 wreathed smiles." Though it has its devotions, it has 
 also its obligations 5 and the divine command, " increase 
 and multiply," can only be obeyed by those in the full 
 possession of mental and bodily vigor ; by those who 
 have preserved the golden stream until the time of its 
 flood ; who have not plucked the fruit until the day of 
 its juicy ripeness. To such happy creatures the nuptial 
 bed is indeed redolent of entrancing joys. The cares of 
 life are swallowed up in the ample provision that 
 bountiful nature has made for her devoted servants. 
 Enjoyment is in his power, and his arm need only to be 
 stretched forth to obtain and to possess. Yet we are 
 uot permitted to be lavish of our possessions. The tree 
 
104 OK Marriage. 
 
 must not be stripped of all its fruit : or we must tarry 
 till the spring shall renew the fallen leaves. Excessive 
 indulgence must not drain the cup of pleasure to its 
 dregs, and then expect that pleasure shall still exist. 
 A prolific cause of much unhappiness among the married, 
 is excessive sexual intercourse ; it destroys the life on 
 which it ought to feed ; it sows the seeds of misery 
 within the hallowed pale of wedlock. 
 
 But what stamps effectually the seal of nature's 
 reprobation on excessive matrimonial indulgence, is its 
 destruction of the health of woman. Is it not a most 
 prolific source of those distressing female complaints 
 which bury half our married females prematurely, and 
 seriously impair the remainder ? Do not thousands of 
 our women die in consequence ? Many a husband has 
 buried more wives than one, killed outright, ignorantly, 
 yet effectually by the brutality of this passion. As 
 overeating diminishes the power of appetite, so excess 
 engenders those diseases which cut off this very pleas- 
 ure. By causing the prolapsus uteri, albus, etc., it ren- 
 ders this intercourse utterly repugnant — mentally, and 
 painful physically; thus inducing the penalty in the 
 direct line of the transgression. It prevents or impairs 
 the offspring. Whatever enfeebles or diseases the sex- 
 ual apparatus, of course impairs its products, or else 
 prevents offspring altogether. This indulgence causes 
 barrenness. 
 
 It deteriorates woman in the estimation of man. Lust 
 carries with it the feeling and sense of degradation. He 
 who indulges frequently, even with his lawful wife, 
 
OK MARRIAGE* 105 
 
 cannot but associate her in his own mind with this de- 
 based feeling to which she administers. He first debases 
 her by his brutality, and then despises her for being de- 
 based. It is a law of mind that this excess should pro- 
 duce contempt for its partner. The libertine never 
 speaks well of women as a sex ; the reasons are obvious. 
 First, rogues suspect all men of being rogues ; liars, of 
 being deceptive ; and the sensual of sensuality. The 
 opinion that Pope expresses, when he says that 
 
 " Every woman is a rake at heart," 
 comes under the category of suspicion. Then again, 
 the libertine has only, or mainly, been acquainted with 
 woman as a sexual thing, and not as a pure, refined and 
 affectionate being. Her sexuality he has particularly 
 noticed, and this vice he detests in himself, and there- 
 fore in her. 
 
 The grand rule to be observed in the sexual obliga- 
 tions of marriage, is to ensure a reciprocity of feeling 
 in the female while we do not attempt a too frequent 
 recurrence of the act. Without a due attention to this 
 simple but natural maxim, the cares of matrimony will 
 be increased, and the object for which sexual inter 
 course was established, will be entirely frustrated and 
 destroyed. 
 
 We hope our readers may not for one moment imagine 
 that because we have exposed the evils of matrimonial 
 indulgence, we are any less disposed to be severe on 
 that indiscriminate indulgence of an illegal description ; 
 far from it. We are too well acquainted with the shock- 
 ing results of promiscuous indulgence : to be eaten up 
 
106 ott Marriage!. 
 
 by piecemeal with sores and ulcers, nauseating and 
 loathsome beyond description — to lose bone and muscle 
 and nerve by inches ; and literally be eaten up alive ; 
 besides being simultaneously tortured with agony the 
 most excruciating mortals can endure. We may indeed 
 offer remedies for the alleviation of these fearful visit- 
 ations, but we cannot say one word in palliation or ex- 
 tenuation of the crime which produces such manifold 
 miseries. We are aware that this curse ceases not with 
 the original offender, but is justly entailed upon the 
 children of the wicked " unto the third and fourth gen- 
 erations." We behold, indeed, with pity, the poor, 
 maimed and hobbling object, his limbs distorted, his 
 joints dislocated and racked with pain, his life ever 
 tormented with foul and running ulcers ; his mind fee- 
 ble and his passions ungovernable. A celebrated phy- 
 sician on one occasion made this remark to us, while we 
 were discussing this subject, " a father's licentiousness 
 is a more prolific cause of scrofula, consumptions and 
 kindred affections, than any other I can name." We 
 have had cases under our treatment that had broken 
 out in the patient after being dormant for two or three 
 successive generations. What a cause then, for matri- 
 monial reflections. To imagine a pure and tender 
 mother, whose illicitly-corresponding husband had con- 
 taminated with this foul disease, bringing forth a child 
 Of apparent beauty and lusty health, to be " covered 
 with ulcers, and grow unclean and filthy beyond meas- 
 ure." 
 Joined to this, the victim of promiscuous intercourse, 
 
ON MARRIAGE. 107 
 
 > 
 
 fearful that any should be made acquainted with his 
 constitutional bankruptcy, undertakes to cure himself; 
 and when he has nearly ruined his body, and under- 
 mined the health of his innocent wife, he betakes him- 
 self to a medical adviser, only to become convinced that 
 had he applied for assistance in time, his constitution 
 would have been saved — the life of his partner pro- 
 longed, and his children had lived to bless him by a 
 long and happy, and healthy existence. 
 
 How fearful it is to contemplate the havoc that illicit 
 intercourse has made in the peace and happiness of 
 families! The man who brings the offerings of his 
 manhood unimpaired to the shrine of Hymen, has 
 indeed presented an uncommon gift ; for how many are 
 there who have lost their manly prowess in the fields 
 of Venus ! who have trod the deceitful and insinuating 
 labyrinth of self-abuse, and have rendered themselves 
 unworthy the title of man, and unfitted themselves for 
 the performance of that duty which nature demands 
 when the link of affection has been cemented in mar- 
 riage. 
 
 No man can presume to enter on the list of reproduc- 
 tive qualities when his organs of generation are incom- 
 petent to meet the coming exigencies of the state. 
 Moral causes have sometimes interfered to prevent sex- 
 ual congress being duly accomplished ; but physical 
 impotence acts more frequently, and decidedly more in- 
 fluentially in every case that we have ever noted. We 
 have already hinted at the causes which lead to impo- 
 tence ; they are numerous and somewhat conflicting. 
 
108 ON MARRIAGE. , 
 
 The principal are early in continence, the debasing 
 habit of self-abuse, and the rigorous observance of 
 chastity The organs of generation, like every other 
 organ in the hnman frame, require to be exercised iD 
 order to keep them in a healthy condition ; but this 
 exercise must not be construed into an absolute abuse. 
 
 There is an old proverb, that extremes meet, and it is 
 an absolute fact that the extreme of indulgence and 
 the extreme of chastity equally lead to the same result. 
 Moderation is a virtue, though total abstinence may 
 not be a crime. Temperance in all things is the happy 
 medium we have to observe, as " extremes in good" are 
 said "to lead to evil." The anchorites, who, retired 
 from the companionship of mankind, lived alone from 
 communion with woman ; wrapping themselves in the 
 cloak and covering of mysterious contemplation, prac- 
 tising the most rigorous penances, and observing the 
 strictest chastity, become so impotent that the organs 
 of generation were, as it would appear, actually dried 
 and shriveled away, and showed nothing more of men 
 than if they had never attained the age of puberty. 
 
 It is not to be imagined that because the dispositions 
 of the young and beautiful of females are gentle and 
 affectionate, they will always rest passive and content 
 under the knowledge that the marital engagements 
 cannot be fulfilled. Though they may be pure and un- 
 sullied in the ways of sexuality, the still small voice of 
 nature teaches them the secret which marriage is sup- 
 posed to divulge ; and a young female full of animal 
 vigor, waiting with patient expectancy for the embraces 
 
ON MA.RRIAGE 109 
 
 of connubial love, cannot be supposed to bear the pangs 
 of bitter disappointment without reflecting on its sole 
 and offending cause. Did she know that the cause of 
 her baffled expectations had rendered himself impotent 
 by the filthy habit of his own hands, would she not 
 loathe and detest him ? Would she not spurn him from 
 her arms with the same feelings as if he had proclaimed 
 himself the basest murderer ? To such imbecile suffer- 
 ers we particularly address ourselves. We call upon 
 them to "hope against hope," to try our helping hand; 
 and though he may have contracted marriage in his 
 impotent state, let him confidently rely on our hermet- 
 ically sealed silence and secrecy, and he may shortly be 
 enabled to hold " her whom his soul loveth " in a warm 
 embrace, and complete the duties of mankind as be- 
 comes a competent and vigorous man. Let us caution 
 him, should he be still disengaged by marriage, not to 
 brave the risk of embittering his home and all its 
 social and domestic joys ; not to trust to his supposed 
 abilities when his course of self-indulgence whispers 
 serious doubts of his efficiency ; let him not indulge the 
 delusive hope that the fair form and glorious majesty 
 of virtue will be incentives to his weakened and un- 
 healthy functions ) for we tell him that a single failure 
 in this particular office has frequently blasted the buds 
 of female affection, and have sent the impotent pre- 
 tender in utter confusion to hide his shame-covered 
 head in some desolate cave of the earth, " where he 
 passed his days and died at last, unwept, unhonored 
 and unknown," Nature is absolute in all her laws ; she 
 
110 ON MARRIAGE. 
 
 will not be governed at will ; her subjects must attend 
 to her commandments, and not dare to transgress her 
 wise ordinations ; when once offended she is not so soon 
 appeased ; and it is only by the strictest attention to 
 the rules and instructions which her high priests (the 
 medical professors) have laid down, that the afflicted 
 can ever expect to be restored to the state of former 
 health and strength which they once enjoyed, and 
 which they have lost by their consummate foolishness, 
 Hope should ever stimulate the sufferer to renewed 
 exertions for the recovery and reinstatement of his lost 
 fortunes ; and in order to engender and keep alive that 
 hope, it is absolutely necessary that confidence, or faith, 
 should be made participator in this anticipation. But 
 as the watchmaker cannot repair a watch without min- 
 utely examining every portion of the complicated 
 mechanism ; so the surgeon must be made aware of 
 every peculiarity of disease by means of the patient ; 
 every symptom must be minutely detailed ; every sen- 
 sation revealed that effects the unhappy sufferer. 
 
CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS J GONORRHOEA, 
 ITS SYMPTOMS AND TREATMENT J OBSERVATIONS ON 
 SWELLED TESTICLES, STRICTURE AND GLEET. 
 
 The gratification of sexual passion is a natural con- 
 sequence of our physical conformation ; its moderate 
 use is beneficial ; its abuse highly injurious ; for it is 
 but too well known that from the unrestricted connec- 
 tion of the sexes have arisen certain classes of diseases 
 which more or less deeply affect the human frame. How 
 or when the venereal diseases were first introduced into 
 Europe are questions that have repeatedly been asked, 
 but never satisfactorily solved. Some maintain that 
 they are of Eastern origin, others contend that they are 
 inherent to humanity, and have always existed as the 
 opposite of the sexual pleasure ; just as apoplexy would 
 result from over indulgence in eating, or as spontan- 
 eous combustion might arise from confirmed drunken- 
 ness. Certain it is, however, these diseases do exist, 
 whatever may have been their origin, and that they are 
 poisonous and contagious though not epidemical. The 
 poisons generated and transmitted by sexual contact 
 
112 blSEASES OF INFECTION. 
 
 are of a peculiarly malignant and destructive nature. 
 Numerous constitutions have been victimized by this 
 noxious impurity, for dreadful havoc is soon made on 
 the body when the disease is neglected ; as soon there- 
 fore as contagion is imbibed, proper steps ought to be 
 immediately taken, before it becomes deeply rooted in 
 the system ; nor are the effects confined to the first suf- 
 ferer only ; they are communicated to the innocent, and, 
 too frequently the virtuous wife has become sacrificed 
 to the husband's adulterous intercourse with profligate 
 and abandoned women, and the unborn infant inherits, 
 even in the womb, the baneful fruits of its father's de- 
 pravity. The various organs and parts of the body 
 have their distinct functions, and some portions of the 
 frame are more susceptible of particular diseases that 
 others. All poisons permeate the body and inflame the 
 stomach. In common language, one of them, as gonorr- 
 hoea, or clap, limits itself to the surface on which it 
 falls ; others, like the sypbillis, or lues venerae, derange 
 the entire system of the constitution. The latter dis- 
 ease arises from a morbid poison which produces con- 
 tamination by contact, and is capable of being infinitely 
 propagated. The matter of gonorrhoea if applied to the 
 skin, or to any secreting surface, produces local inflam- 
 mation and a peculiar discharge, mostly without breach 
 of surface ; while noxious virus or pox occasions, where 
 it falls, an ulcerated,ragged destruction of parts, styled 
 in medical parlance, a chancre. 
 
 The peculiar secretion of a chancre is frequently 
 taken up by the absorbent vessels of the living system, 
 
DISEASES OF INFECTION. 113 
 
 and conveyed into the mass of the circulating blood ; 
 and in its passage through the glands of the groins, 
 nearest the spot originally infected, these bodies are apt 
 to enlarge, inflame, become intensely painful, to sup- 
 purate and burst, forming the complication known by 
 the name of the bnbo. The original sore may heal, yet 
 from the poisonous qualities being communicated to 
 the general absorbent system, fearful consequences may 
 arise, and the body be infected with the virus, inducing 
 constitutional syphillis, showing itself in thoracic in- 
 flammation, t and producing diseases of the skin with 
 painful enlargement of the bones. We will, however, 
 in our present remarks confine ourselves to gonorrhoea, 
 the most common, yet an intensely painful and trouble- 
 some disorder, which is rendered by frequent occur- 
 ence one of the greatest social evils that can fall to the 
 'ot of our species. 
 
 Gonorrhoea is common in both man and woman — in 
 the former it generally attacks the urethra; in the 
 latter the vagina, urethra, clitoris and nymphse, are all 
 affected. The first symptom of gonorrhoea is generally 
 an itching at the orifice of the urethra, sometimes ex- 
 tending over the whole glans, and a tingling sensation 
 is felt, but so slight that it only serves to provoke more 
 frequent erections, and a desire for sexual intercourse. 
 This is followed by incipient inflammation, and its 
 power of awakening the copulative propensity is so re- 
 markable, that women of abandoned character can tell 
 when they have received new infection, from the pres- 
 ence of that excitement, and those desires to which they 
 
114 DISEASES Otf INFECTtOK. 
 
 are, in an unaffected state so usually unaccustomed. 
 This irritation or itching is presently exchanged for an 
 uneasy sensation, and the penis assumes a kind of semi- 
 erect position, or fulness ; the lips of the urethra are 
 •welled and pouting, and, if turned outwards, are found 
 to be of an unnatural scarlet hue. The whole urinary 
 canal secretes a quantity of mucus, and is endued with 
 a high degree of sensibility. This increased secretion 
 of mattery fluid arises from various causes ; a narrow- 
 ness of the urinary canal takes place from the thicken- 
 ing and swelling of the mucous membrane which forms 
 its lining ; a partial retention of the urine follows, and 
 the parts adjacent are diseased. Irritation goes on in 
 the surrounding organs in proportion to the virulence 
 of the attending symptoms, and the disposition of the 
 body to receive and retain infection ; as our readers 
 need not be informed that some persons are more in- 
 tensely susceptible of inflammation than others. 
 
 When this irritation has fairly commenced, the com' 
 mon law of organization is naturally fulfilled, and copi- 
 ous effusion from the inflamed surface supervenes. The 
 acuteness of sensible pain is increased and is referred 
 to the course of the urethra, and a discharge, which is 
 at first transparent, watery and somewhat whitish fluid, 
 is soon changed, loses its transparency, and is glutin- 
 ous, ropy, of a stringy consistency ; it next assumes an 
 opaque, whitish, yellowish, or even of a slightly green- 
 ish hue. 
 
 It seldom happens that there is any considerable pain 
 experienced until after the appearance of the discharge, 
 
DISEASES OF INFECTION. 115 
 
 and some men of weak and feeble powers suffer little 
 or nothing either before or after the discharge. Cases 
 vary greatly with the virulence or mildness 01 the 
 poison received. In most instances, a great degree of 
 soreness is felt at times along the under side of the 
 penis, accompanied by a sense of fullness, long before 
 discharge takes place. The glans, or nut, assumes a 
 transparent cast, which is chiefly visible near the begin- 
 ning of the urethra. The entrance of the urinary canal 
 is often found to be excoriated, especially if the glutin- 
 ous matter that is apt to gather round the mouth of 
 the orifice is not washed away, as it infects that part 
 by being suffered to remain and harden round that place. 
 The first painful symptom experienced by the patient 
 is scalding. This characteristic of the disease is greatly 
 augmented by sympathy ; for the fear of the sufferer 
 disposes the urethra to convulsive contraction, and the 
 stream of urine is suddenly obstructed, passing in 
 scattered and unequal spurtings as it escapes with 
 pain and difficulty from the diseased and irritated 
 canal. With some this inflammation is not very intense, 
 and merely a slight running, with inconsiderable heat 
 and soreness, is observable ; this is the case with per- 
 sons of cold and insusceptible constitutions. Others 
 are very severely afflicted, inflammation runs high, and 
 that painful affection of the penis is experienced called 
 chordee. This is caused by the altered length of the 
 penis, which the urethra being obliged to accommodate, 
 is bent or curved downwards with great pain. The 
 agony is intense, if an attempt be made to lift the penis 
 
116 DISEASES OF INFECTION. 
 
 towards the belly ; this suffering, however, does not 
 last any length of time, if cold applications he used, 
 though it is apt to return when warm in bed. 
 
 There are many other concomitant diseases attendant 
 on gonorrhoea — one is the painful affection named phy- 
 mosis. A chancre or any immediate irritant, may pro- 
 duce this state of the parts, but generally it is observed 
 as supervening upon gonorrhoea. The prepuce, or fore- 
 skin, is inflamed and thickened, and it cannot be drawn 
 back so as to uncover the nut or glans; the discharge 
 is then apt to insinuate itself beneath, and ulcerations 
 are the frequent result. This tightness of the prepuce 
 is productive of bad consequences, particularly in the 
 case of a chancre producing irritation ; for the glans 
 being between the orifice of the prepuce and the sore 
 producing the swelling, the pus is confined, and it 
 accumulates round the edge of the glans so as to cause 
 painful ulcers in the inner surface of the foreskin. 
 Great caution ought to be observed in the remedial 
 measures for the removal of this affection ; and, though 
 the cure is perfectly surgical, an inexperienced hand 
 might induce mortification by too rash use of the 
 knife. It will be in all cases absolutely necessary to 
 abate the inflammation previous to dividing the pre- 
 jpuce with the knife. Paraphymosis is that condition 
 of the organs when the prepuce cannot be drawn for- 
 ward so as to cover the head of the penis, but remains 
 swelled, and grasping the glans in strangulating and 
 painful constriction. This disarrangement is often so 
 great -as to impede circulation, threatening mortificaton, 
 and sloughing the glans. 
 
DISEASES OF INFECTION. 117 
 
 Sometimes the bladder is affected, in which case it 
 becomes more susceptible of every species of local irri- 
 tation ; the patient, under such circumstances, can 
 with difficulty restrain his urine, the discharge of which 
 is attended with violent pain in the bladder and glans, 
 similar to what is felt in complaints of the stone. Some- 
 times the kidneys sympathize in the general irritation, 
 but this is not of very frequent occurrence. 
 
 Sympathetic buboes, or inflammatory enlargements 
 of the glandular parts of the groin, are apt to accom- 
 pany the progress of gonorrhoea. The characteristics 
 of venereal or syphilitic bubo and gonorrhceal bubo 
 are nearly similar, but require a decidedly different 
 treatment. 
 
 Venereal bubo is almost certain to run on to suppura- 
 tion and burst ; whereas gonorrhceal bubo very rarely 
 under proper medical care becomes converted into an 
 abcess. Errors of judgment are liable to occur in dis- 
 covering! the difference, and it is possible to mistake 
 an enlargement (which, in every respect, is truly 
 syphilitic) from that which is purely, and less injuri- 
 ously, gonorrhceal. 
 
 We have had patients reduced to a deplorable state 
 by lues venerea, from the inexperience or ignorance of 
 practitioners ; and our utmost skill has had to be called 
 into action before we could dissipate the ill effects of 
 the unscientific treatment to which the sufferer had 
 been subjected. 
 
 Swelled testicle is a common symptom attending gon- 
 orrhoea. This is a purely sympathetic affection, and 
 
118 DISEASES OF INFECTION. 
 
 appears first as a soft fullness of the testicle, which be- 
 comes tender under pressure ; hardness follows and ac- 
 companied by considerable pain. Sometimes the sper- 
 matic cords are affected, and the veins of the testicles 
 become varicose. The bowels enter into the general 
 syrnjjathy, and are frequently attended by cholic pains ; 
 nausea is felt and vomiting ensues; the organs of 
 digestion are impaired, and general debility necessarily 
 follows. Swelling of the testicle sometimes entirely 
 removes the discharge, as the absorbent vessels have 
 taken up the virulent pus and deposited it in the seat 
 of the pain ; at other times discharge accompanies the 
 swelling, and ceases with its restoration to its natural 
 dimensions. If the constitution be irritable, or if the 
 patient indulge in his usual regimen and exercises dur- 
 ing the first stages of gonorrhoea, this distressing com- 
 plaint may be expected. Medicines strongly purgative, 
 and of a saline or acrimonious description, will induce 
 this affection ; but a frequent cause of its production is 
 the incautions exhibition of irritating and astringent 
 injections used for the cure of the running. 
 
 As we have observed, that as this symptom of gonorr- 
 heal affection is the most painful, so it is the most dan- 
 gerous consequence of the disease, and the patient that 
 tampers with its cure exposes himself to much suffering, 
 and a train of evils of which he has no conception, An- 
 other cause of gonorrhceal inflammation is spasmodic 
 stricture. This disease may arise from many causes, and 
 attack individuals of any age, most commonly the young 
 and those who are of an ardent and plethoric disposition. 
 
DISEASES OF INFECTION. 119 
 
 Inflammatory stricture may be expected from repeated 
 attacks of the clap, as the lining mucous membrane 
 of the urinary canal becomes thickened and diseased, 
 particularly that portion of it that is seated near the 
 neck of the bladder. 
 
 Stricture may creep on after marriage, and produce 
 many serious effects, as the person who is afflicted in 
 this way is not in a proper condition to effect a produc- 
 tive intercourse with his partner; since the seminal 
 liquor, however prolific and healthful it may be, cannot 
 be ejected with sufficient force into the womb, but fre- 
 quently falls close to the extremity of the penis. The 
 pleasure of the female is not only considerably dimin- 
 ished, but her hopes of having children by such a per- 
 son can have little foundation while this stricture re- 
 mains. We have known many instances of men who, 
 after marriage, have consulted us on this subject, and 
 we are happy to add that their complaints have dis- 
 appeared, and a smiling family of fine children now re- 
 ward the pains they took for the removal of their inca- 
 pacity. 
 
 Excepting stricture, there is nothing so troublesome 
 and so truly injurious to the constitution, as a confirmed 
 gleet. This chronic, semi-transparent discharge often 
 remains after the ordinary symptoms of acute gonorr- 
 hoea have abated. Some authorities have been of opin- 
 ion that gleet is of a scrofulous character, an opinion 
 which is strengthened by the circumstance that cold 
 sea water bathing nas been found very beneficial as a 
 remedy ; others have thought it to be a result of debil- 
 
120 DISEASES OF INFECTION. 
 
 ity ; but this idea, though it may occasionally be correct, 
 is certainly often erroneous, for the treatment founded 
 on this supposition has been found to operate injuri- 
 ously. This discharge appears not to have any specific 
 quality, but to vary according to the constitution of 
 the patient, or to the condition of the parts affected ; 
 and, therefore, it is beyond the bounds of possibility to 
 lay down any universal system of cure ; for, as in 
 gonorrhoea, what to one might prove serviceable will 
 be hurtful to another. The matter of gleet may not be 
 all purulent matter, but partly a mixture of discharges 
 from the secretory organs, and from the vesiculae sem- 
 inals, when their ducts are affected. 
 
 In the cure of gleet many have had recourse to the 
 use of astringent injections, as also the bougie ; we have 
 already cautioned our friends against the inconsiderate 
 exhibition of both these remedies ; the first may cause 
 stricture to a frightful extent ; and the last, especially 
 in the hands of the untaught or unskillful, may lead 
 to results worse, if possible, than the original disease 
 itself. We may also enumerate inflammatory disease 
 and enlargement of the prostate gland as the followers 
 of severe cases of gonorrhoea. We have already hinted 
 its serious effects while speaking of venereal conse- 
 quences, as engendering complaints of the bladder, and 
 producing torments that destroy all relish for the en- 
 joyment of the most transient pleasure, making the 
 life of man one continued scene of misery, without the 
 hope of amelioration of pain for one moment. These 
 frightful results of human infirmity have, at all times* 
 
DISEASES OF INFECTION. 121 
 
 our most patient investigation, and we flatter ourselves 
 that we have been the means of bestowing the blessings 
 of relief when the last spark of hope was nearly extinct. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ON VENEREAL AFFECTIONS, THEIR SYMPTOMS AND 
 TREATMENT ; MERCURIAL PREPARATIONS ) THEIR EVIL 
 RESULTS. 
 
 The poison producing syphilis is essentially different 
 from that producing gonorrhoea ; as the former contains 
 a poisonous virus which destroys the substance of the 
 surfaces on which it falls ; hence its effects are more 
 certain and more frightfully rapid. The chief difficulty 
 in all syphilitic affections, is to discover whether ab- 
 sorption has taken place, and if so, to what extent ; if 
 none of the virus has been absorbed, the disease may be 
 treated with ease and safety; whereas, when absorp- 
 tion has followed illicit connection, the case is often at- 
 tended with difficulty and danger. 
 
 We must not only remove the external symptoms, 
 but we must penetrate into the recesses of the system^ 
 and root out the lurking poison that courses along " the 
 gates and alleys of our body ; n for, unless we can do 
 this, and effectually, too, we only afford temporary 
 relief, and the patient is not only liable to a relapse, 
 but he is capable of contaminating the lovely and the 
 innocent, 
 
SPECIAL DISEASES. 123 
 
 This disease is most commonly developed on the body 
 by means of the local sores of a female, producing in- 
 oculation, and consequent similar sores, sometimes sin- 
 gular, but occasionally numerous, and affecting for the 
 most part the external genitals. These sores, or ulcers 
 are named chancre ; it is formed on the male organs on 
 the foreskin and glans or nut of the penis, and has a red 
 or angry appearance ; spreads gradually, and if it be al- 
 lowed to remain neglected, frequently eats into the 
 male organ, and causes its complete destruction. The 
 lapse of time between the application of the poison and 
 the appearance of the chancre is uncertain ; it is thought 
 by some to exceed the period alluded to in describing 
 gonorrhoea, but even this is doubtful. 
 
 The first symptom is an irritation, or itching of the 
 part ; this, if the place affected be the glans, is suc- 
 ceeded by an inflamed pimple, small and watery, which 
 soon displays a rapidly enlarging ulcerated sore. A 
 hollow is seen in the center, extending beneath the 
 skin, excessively painful and sensitive ; ablush of dark 
 fiery redness is seen round the ulcer, and the skin be- 
 comes unusually thickened and firm. The surface of 
 this sore is yellow, with hard and ragged edges; its 
 outline is irregular and there is a feeling of tension to 
 the touch. The genitals are not only affected with 
 these ulcers, but they may be found on any other part 
 of the body, should that particular part be invested 
 with a mucous membrane, as, for example, the lips or 
 nostrils, and sometimes the chancre appears on the 
 fraenum, and, in this case, the part is often destroyed ; 
 
194 SPECIAL DISEASES. 
 
 or ulceration passes through it and contributes much 
 to retard the cure. The irritation caused by chancre 
 on the glans occasionally produces a sympathetic affec- 
 tion of the urethra or urinary canal, which exhibits 
 itself in what is generally termed venereal gonorrhoea. 
 
 The testicles and scrotum also sympathize and are 
 often much diseased. If a chancre be limited to the 
 external surface it progresses slowly ; but if its destruc- 
 tive ravages have extended deeply beneath the skin, 
 mortification, will, too frequently, be the result. 
 
 There are four remarkable characteristics in venereal 
 chancre ; the first is generally known by its circular 
 form, its excavated surface, covered by a layer of tena- 
 cious and adherent matter, and its hard, cartilaginous 
 base and margin. 
 
 The second form of chancre is unaccompanied by any 
 appearance of induration, but exhibiting an elevated 
 margin, which appears frequently on the outside of the 
 prepuce and seldom exists alone ; this is denominated 
 11 the superficial chancre with raised edges. ,, 
 
 The third form, termed phagedenic, or malignant 
 chancre, is a corroding ulcer without granulations, and 
 distinguished by its circumference being of a livid or 
 red color ; and the fourth is a most formidable kind of 
 chancre, called the sloughing ulcer. It makes its ap- 
 pearance by a black spot, which spreads and becomes 
 detached, leaving a deepened and unhealthy looking 
 surface which is very difficult to remove. This sore ds 
 exceedingly painful and encircled with a purple inflam- 
 matory circle. Sloughing is an ordinary result of con- 
 
SPECIAL DISEASES. 125 
 
 tinued or neglected chancre, which frequently ends not 
 only in the destruction of the parts of generation, but, 
 by the enervating effects on the constitution, in gradual 
 consumption and death. 
 
 The venereal poison from the four already quoted 
 kinds of ulcers is usually taken by absorption from the 
 chancre to the glans of the groin ; the virus being con- 
 veyed along the lymphatics, and in its passage produc- 
 ing inflammation of these vessels. Bubo, or swelling of 
 the groin, is the result of this absorption. It is the con- 
 sequence of chancre or gonorrhoea. In the case of chan- 
 cre, that side of the groin is generally affected on which 
 the chancre appears on the penis ; in the latter case 
 both glands are at times affected. The real bubo gen- 
 erally begins with a sense of acute pain which proceeds 
 from the tumor affecting the purulent formation. This 
 pain increases, and has a tendency to suppuration, more 
 or less retarded, according to the nature of the consti- 
 tution. The bubo retains its original position till after 
 suppuration, and then it becomes more widely spread, 
 the suppuration is extensive, the agony considerable, 
 and the skin highly florid. Sometimes scrofulous en- 
 largements of the groin are mistaken for venereal bubos, 
 but they are very different in character, as they are 
 slightly painful and difficult to suppurate. 
 
 The venereal diseases becomes constitutional by the 
 absorption and transmission of a poisonous virus ; first 
 perhaps through a primary ulcer to the groin, and after- 
 wards spreading itself throughout the entire system of 
 the blood-vessels. The circulating fluid being once con- 
 
126 SPECIAL DISEASES, 
 
 taminated, the various solid structures of the body be- 
 come gradually affected and poisoned. 
 
 Bubos in the groin constitute the first degree, then 
 follow pains, cruelly affecting the head, the joints of the 
 shoulders, arms and ankles. There are also scabs and 
 scurf in various parts of the body ; sometimes these 
 scabs are dispersed over the body similar to the disease 
 of leprosy. 
 
 The symptoms gradually increase, especially the pain, 
 which becomes so intense that the patient is unable to 
 lie in his bed. Afterwards, nodes arise on the skull, 
 shin bones, and bones of the arms, which being attended 
 with constant pain and inflammation, at length grow 
 carious and putrid. 
 
 Malignant ulcers now seize different parts of the body, 
 but generally begin with the throat, and thence grad- 
 ually creep by the palate to the cartilage of the nose, 
 which they destrcy, and the nose being destitute of its 
 natural support fails down flat. Besides these symptoms 
 the following are observable in a confirmed lues, though 
 they do not appear in all patients, nor at the same time. 
 The skin, especially about the neck and breast, and 
 between the shoulders, is covered with flat spots, like 
 freckles, of a rosy, purple, yellow or livid hue, sometimes 
 distinct, small rnd round, like lentiles ; sometimes more 
 enlarged and extended. They are full of itchy pus- 
 tules, tetters and ringworms. There are chaps in the 
 palms of the hands and the soles of the feet, with vio- 
 lent itching, from whence proceeds a clear, serous 
 liquor, and the epidermous peels off in large flakes. 
 
SPECIAL DISEASES. 127 
 
 The skin thus affected abounds with hard, callous, 
 round pustules, rising a little on the top, generally dry, 
 but sometimes moist, scaly, branny and yellow; fre- 
 quently on the corners of the lips and the sides of the 
 nostrils, but more especially on the forehead, temples 
 and behind the ears, where they appear in rows, like 
 strings of beads, and gradully creep among the hair. 
 The hair not only falls off from the head, but leaves all 
 parts of the body where it grows. The nails become 
 unequal, thick, wrinkled and rough ; afterwards ulcers 
 arise which cause them to fall off. 
 
 The inside of the mouth, throat and nose are also af- 
 fected. The uvula and tonsils become painful, hot, in- 
 flamed and ulcerated ; pustules appear in the roof of the 
 mouth, which degenerate into round, malignant ulcers, 
 which rot the bone as far as the nostrils. The affection 
 of the throat is a white, slimy looking ulceration, and 
 there is a most offensive discharge, with a fetid breath, 
 the soft palate being not unfrequently completely re- 
 moved, or hanging in detached portions ; in fact, the 
 upper and back parts of the throat present one vast ulcer- 
 ated cavity, covered with adhesive matter, and not only 
 does the voice become hoarse, thick, low, but swallow- 
 ing the softest food is difficult and painful. The lining 
 membrane of the nose is also affected ; the bones and 
 cartilages are affected; an incrustation forms on the 
 surface, and should this be removed a quantity of 
 bloody mucous matter is seen on the part exposed. 
 
 As this horrid disease progresses, it very frequently 
 leaves the face in a loathsome disfigurement ; the cavity 
 
128 . SPECIAL DISEASES. 
 
 of the nostrils is exposed from the throat, the natural 
 prominence of the countenance is destroyed, and a dis- 
 gusting ulceration alone marks the place where the 
 nasal organ once existed. 
 
 A syphilitic disease of the bones is the usual conse- 
 quence of the existence of venereal inflammation of their 
 investing membrane. The bones are affected in various 
 ways ; in the middle exostoses arise, either hard or soft, 
 sometimes with intense pain, sometimes without. The 
 heads of the bones enlarge every way, but unequally, 
 which produces tumors, pains, difficulty in motion, and 
 stiff joints. As the caries increase, they become brittle, 
 and break upon the least effort. Sometimes they are 
 so far dissolved as to bend like wax. The long round 
 bones, as those of the legs, are generally the first that 
 suffer an attack ; hence, those enlargements on the 
 shins, well known as Venereal Nodes, which are, in 
 reality, inflammatory enlargement and thicking of peri- 
 osteum, which covers them, and passes into the actual 
 disorganization of the bone itself. 
 
 A very considerable time after the chancre has healed, 
 the patient complains, in the evening of each day, of 
 increasing pains and aching in the legs, or in some par- 
 ticular place on one of them. There is not much swell- 
 ing at first, and what there is generally disappears 
 toward morning. Great sensibility of pain occurs at 
 evening again, and the sleep is broken from the fever 
 and irritation which accompany his rest. 
 
 Neither do the ears and eyes escape the fury of this 
 clisease, for the latter are externally affected with pains, 
 
SPECIAL DISEASES. 129 
 
 redness and continual itching ; and, internally, are 
 loaded with humors, the sight is destroyed, and some- 
 times a suppuration supervenes. The ears are also 
 affected with a singing noise, dullness of hearing, deaf- 
 ness and pain, whilst their internal surface is exulcer- 
 ated and rendered carious. While we are treating of 
 the eyes and ears being so sensibly affected by the syph- 
 ilitic influence, we may here observe should the matter 
 secreted in the urethra, during the progress of clap, be 
 applied iucautiously to the eye with a towel in washing 
 or by the finger, the slightest particle of that virulent 
 poison is sufficient of itself to inflame that tender organ 
 to so serious degree, that, if proper remedies be neglected, 
 a total loss of sight will inevitably be the result. 
 
 The treatment of chancre varies very much, but it is 
 generally both internal and external ; one important 
 point always to be kept in view is to abridge the dura- 
 tion of the disease, so that it may not make any serious 
 inroads on the constitution. 
 
 The simplest method is the extirpation of the chan- 
 cre, which may easily be effected at its first appearance, 
 either by incision or caustic — the latter being the safest 
 mode and that giving comparatively little pain. But 
 then this method, safe as it is, becomes almost imprac- 
 ticable, when tho surrounding parts are contaminated, 
 in consequence of the difficulty in entirely removing 
 the diseased places ; and hence it is most essential that 
 measures for cure should be resorted to in the earliest 
 stage of the disease. 
 
 The physicians of the " old school " considered that 
 
130 SPECIAL DISEASES. 
 
 preparations of mercury constituted an unfailing remedy 
 for every form of the venereal disease. " The safest and 
 most commodious method of Salivation," says Dr. 
 Brookes, " is by mercuris dulcis, six times sublimed, 
 given inwardly in the milder pox ; or by mercuria; 
 unction, when the disease has got into the bones." He 
 goes on to describe the effects which may be supposed 
 to result from this system of treatment. u Fifteen 
 grains of mercuris dulcis may be given every morning 
 for four or five days, when we usually observe the fau- 
 ces to inflame, the inside of the cheeks to be tumid, or 
 high and thick, and ready to fall within the teeth, upon 
 shutting the mouth ; the tongue looks white and foul ; 
 the gums stand out, the breath stinks, and the whole 
 inside of the mouth appears shining, as if parboiled and 
 lying in furrows. The inside of the mouth begins to be 
 whealed, and you may expect to see it in a state of 
 ulceration, especially about the salivary glands." We 
 think that our patients would scarcely submit to this 
 mode of cure, and consent to have their " mouths par- 
 boiled and lying in furrows " by taking mercuris dulcis, 
 And yet the present age is not free from men who 
 resort at all times to this dangerous specific. The cele- 
 brated Dr. Hunter was a great advocate for the mer- 
 curial system of cure. Doubtless the potent quality of 
 mercury was well understood by him, and in his hands 
 may have proved advantageous in many 'cases, but 
 there is no question that many victims have been made 
 to the practice of administering this powerful agent 
 spontaneously in all cases of venereal contamination. 
 
SPECIAL DISEASES. 131 
 
 For we are told by the advocates of the use of mer- 
 cury that " should the salivation be attended with a 
 cardialgia, or violent pains and torture, at the stomach, 
 perpetual and incessant retchings, diliquium, cold 
 sweats — there is great danger to be apprehended." 
 Many forms of venereal sore are rendered irritable, and 
 evidently disposed to slough and mortify under the 
 action of mercury, and there are many of the older 
 practitioners who can recollect the period when mer- 
 cury, in the ordinary doses, failed to act as a remedy, 
 that it was the practice to increase the dose, supposing 
 that a more complete saturation of the system could 
 alone arrest the rapid decay this preparation was itself 
 causing. 
 
 There is no subject in the entire range of medical and 
 surgical science that demands a greater amount of prac- 
 tical discrimination and skill than to determine when, 
 and to what extent, and under what peculiar circum- 
 stances, this powerful specific may be safely used. That 
 its improper and incautious administration has been 
 productive of horrible consequences cannot for a 
 moment be disputed. The young and beautiful have 
 become self-sacrifices to their inexperience, and have 
 swallowed doses of this mineral poison, which has 
 shown its potency in unseemly blotches on their bodies, 
 and horrible scars on their faces. 
 
 This dreadful and insidious disease exhibits a most 
 important feature, which is the actual transmission of 
 syphilitic contamination from the parent to the child. 
 Infants may be affected with syphilis in a hundred dif- 
 
132 SPECIAL DISEASES. 
 
 ferent ways. Disease may originate in the foetus, or 
 before birth, in consequence of the impurity of one or 
 both parents. The celebrated Dr. Burns, Professor of 
 Midwifery, in the University of Glasgow, in his work 
 on the " Diseases of Women and Children," observes, 
 11 infection may happen when neither of the parents has 
 at the time any venereal swelling or ulceration, and 
 perhaps many years after a cure has been apparently 
 effected." " I do not," he says, " pretend here to explain 
 the theory of syphilis, but content myself with relating 
 well established facts ! " Premature labor is not unfre- 
 quently the indication of this ; the offspring presenting 
 a puny, feeble, emaciated and wrinkled form. The eyes 
 are red and inflamed ; the cry shrill, husky, and wail- 
 ing ; mattery discharges are emitted from the eyelids, 
 copper-colored blotches disfigure the shrivelled skin of 
 the genitals and hips ; the nostrils are clogged with an 
 offensive scab-like discharge ; the nails come off, and 
 indeed many children are brought into the world in a 
 state of absolute rottenness, unfit to bear the atmos- 
 phere of this earth. 
 
 In thus dwelling on the evil consequences of sensual 
 indulgence and of the ailments of our depraved habits 
 let me not be supposed to administer, in the least de- 
 gree, to the morbid feelings and curiosities of the idle ; 
 my design is to hold up the mirror, as it were, to nature ; 
 to show the horrible deformity of vice, and the loveli- 
 ness of virtue and innocence. My little book is a guide 
 to manly health, and the causes that prevent it. Let 
 me recapitulate my premises, and see if I have not 
 
SPECIAL DISEASES. 133 
 
 fully borne out each particular head of my subject ; and 
 then I shall prove that I have not lost my own or my 
 readers' time. The physical grandeur of man is in a 
 state of perfection when he possesses every physical 
 function in its perfect and original strength. Every 
 function is capable of increasing our constitutional 
 happiness, when it fulfills its legitimate design ; this 
 exercise is allowed to a certain extent and then it is 
 natural. But when this natural exercise is over- 
 stretched, it becomes unnatural, and consequently pain- 
 ful. The gratifications of our appetites in eating and 
 drinking are decidedly natural, but, if over-indulged 
 in, they become hurtful, and consequently unnaturally 
 taxed. All indulgences aie, therefore, more or less hurt- 
 ful in proportion as they are pursued or restrained. I 
 have shown the dreadful effects of debasing this phy- 
 sical grandeur by the indulgence of self-pollution ; I 
 have enumerated some of the interminable evils result- 
 ing from excessive abandonment to sexual intercourse, 
 promiscuous and even matrimonial ; but to give their 
 entire histories would fill thousands of books a hundred- 
 fold larger than this. I have shown that health is seri- 
 ously injured, that the body is exhausted by this widely 
 wasting cause ; and that not only is the physical great- 
 ness of our nature destroyed by our own perversity of 
 inclination, bui; that our children are made the victims 
 of our vicious indulgences. 
 
CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 SELF DIAGONSIS J OR, HOW SHALL WE ASCERTAIN 
 UNDER WHAT AFFECTION WE ARE SUFFERING ? 
 
 In consequence of the frequent inquiries made of me 
 " How shall I know whether I am suffering from sper- 
 matorrhoea ? what are the symptoms by which I shall 
 be able to recognize it, or by which it will be accompa- 
 nied ? " I am induced to add a few words on this most 
 important point. 
 
 The symptoms are infinitely varied, extremely numer- 
 ous, and differ greatly in different cases, both in number, 
 nature and degree. It will be well, perhaps, first to 
 put the most prominent of them into a tabular form, 
 and then to introduce one or two illustrative cases. 
 
 To render this tabulation more intelligible, the symp- 
 toms are divided into local, i. e., affections of the gener- 
 ative organs ; bodily, i. e., affections of the muscular, 
 circulative, nutritive, and respiratory systems ; and 
 mental, i. e., affections of the nervous system. 
 
 In the first place, as being not only most definite in 
 character, but also as indicative of the disease being 
 more than usually deeply seated and confirmed, the 
 
SELF DIAGNOSIS. 135 
 
 local symptoms may be mentioned. They are as 
 follows : 
 
 General Symptoms. 
 
 Pollutions* accompanying expulsion of urine. 
 
 Pollutions accompanying defaecation. 
 
 Erection and emission upon slight excitement, such 
 as the mere presence of females or juxtaposition of 
 of their dress, etc. 
 
 Emissions under similar circumstances, unaccompa- 
 nied by erection. 
 
 Nocturnal pollutions, with or without erection or 
 consciousness. 
 
 Diurnal pollutions, 
 
 Spermatic urine. 
 
 Contraction of the foreskin. 
 
 Spasmodic or dull pains occasionally in the organs. 
 
 Varicocele, or varicose veins in the testicles. 
 
 Pimples on shoulder and forehead. 
 
 Premature emission during coition. 
 
 Priapism, or erections apparently without any excit- 
 ing cause. 
 
 Decrease of sexual desire or enjoyment. 
 
 * The terms "pollutions " and " emissions " refer to involuntary 
 escapes of seminal fluid. 
 
136 SELF DIAGNOSIS. 
 
 Sanguineous emissions. 
 
 Diminuition in size of the penis and other organs. 
 
 Want or imperfection of erectile power. 
 
 Climax — Impotence . 
 
 In reference to general symptoms, it is necessary to 
 observe that many, if not all, of these symptoms may 
 occur in and denote forms of ordinary disease ; but if 
 produced by spermatorrhoea, they will be aggravated 
 in degree, and will not yield to treatment known to be 
 eradicative of them in ordinary cases. This fact could 
 be illustrated in a variety of instances, but one may 
 suffice. In an otherwise healthy person an attack of 
 indigestion, originating in inattention to diet, will 
 yield to gentle purgatives, tonics, and other well known 
 paeans ; but if the symptoms of iodigestion exist in con- 
 sequence of the impairment of the nutritive functions 
 by seminal losses, the ordinary remedies for snch symp- 
 toms fail to produce their usual effect, as until the pri- 
 mary cause of the symptoms be removed, the effect will 
 not only continue but increase. In like manner dis- 
 orders in respiration and circulation may arise indiffer- 
 ently from spermatorrhoea, or from other causes ; in the 
 latter case the remedies usually indicated for such symp- 
 toms will remove them, but not so if they be caused by 
 spermatorrhoea ; and it may be mentioned that it has 
 been clearly ascertained that there is no single function 
 of the animal economy but may not become deranged 
 by long continued seminal losses. 
 
self diagnosis. 137 
 
 General Symptoms — Bodily. 
 
 Muscular, Respiratory, Circulative, and Nutritive 
 
 Systems. 
 
 Increased appetite or voracity (in early stages). 
 
 Gnawing, and heat of epigastrium. 
 
 Uneasiness, sinking, or faintness before taking food, 
 
 followed by disgust or nausea afterwards. 
 
 Want of appetite for plain kinds of food. 
 
 Weight of epigastrium. 
 
 Quickening pulse. 
 
 Flushed face. 
 
 Acid eructations. 
 
 Acrid heat at the upper part of oesophagus. 
 
 Alteration in secretions of liver and pancreas. 
 
 Evolution of flatus. 
 
 Colic. 
 
 Griping. 
 
 Difficulties of breathing, and cough. 
 
 Distension of stomach and intestines. 
 
 Muscular flaccidity. 
 
 Excessive mucous secretions. 
 
 Irregular action of the heart. 
 
 Apoplexy. 
 
 Liquid and unnatural stools. 
 
 Diarrhoea. 
 
138 SELF DIAGNOSIS. 
 
 Inflammation of rectum. 
 
 Constipation. 
 
 Loss of substance. 
 
 Cadaverous appearance of skin. 
 
 Hollow, sunken eyes. 
 
 Extreme sensibility to cold. 
 
 Rheumatism. 
 
 Loss of hair. 
 
 Pulmonary catarrh. 
 
 Indolence, or indisposition to exercise. 
 
 Lassitude. 
 
 Fatigue on slight exertion. 
 
 Climax — Confirmed Debility. 
 
 General Symptoms — Mental. 
 Nervous System. 
 Restlessness. 
 Sighing. 
 
 Sensation of congestion. 
 Want of energy. 
 Uncertainty of tone of Yoice. 
 Nervous asthma. 
 Vertigo. 
 Want of purpose. 
 
SELF DIAGNOSIS. 139 
 
 Dimness of sigbt. 
 
 Weakness of hearing. 
 
 Aversion to society. 
 
 Blushing. 
 
 Want of confidence. 
 
 Avoidance of conversation. 
 
 Desire for solitude. 
 
 Listlessness, and inability to fix the attention. 
 
 Cowardice. 
 
 Depression of spirits. 
 
 Giddiness. 
 
 Loss of memory. 
 
 Excitability of temper. 
 
 Moroseness. 
 
 Want of fixity of attention. 
 
 Disposition to ruminate. 
 
 Trembling of the hands. 
 
 Sudden pallor. 
 
 Lachrimosity. 
 
 Tremor from slight cause. 
 
 Pains in the back of the head or spine. 
 
 Pain over the eyes. _ 
 
140 SELF DIAGNOSIS. 
 
 Disturbed and unrefreshed sleep. 
 Strange and lascivious dreams. 
 Hypochondrias. 
 
 Climax — Insanity. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 NOTES FROM MY CASE BOOK. 
 
 I will conclude this essay with the narration of a few 
 cases which have occurred in my practice ; but, in so 
 doing, I wish it to be distinctly understood that no dan- 
 ger of publicity is hazarded by those who have already 
 consulted me, or who may hereafter place themselves 
 under my care. They are simply selected from hun- 
 dreds as illustrative of my treatment, or from contain- 
 ing some points of interest, and are published with the 
 full consent and approval of the gentlemen to whom 
 they refer. 
 
 CASES. 
 
 Milivaukee, III, 
 
 A. B., a farmer, aged 28. Whilst at school he had 
 been led into the habit of self-pollution, which he had 
 continued for some years. Having become aware of 
 the sin and danger of the act, he had discontinued it ; 
 but, on attempting to gratify his passions by the natural 
 means, he found to his dismay that he was totally un- 
 able to accomplish the sexual act. The penis was inca- 
 pable of firm and vigorous erection, and a discharge 
 
142 NOTES FROM MY CASE BOOK. 
 
 took place before an entrance could be effected into the 
 female organ. His general health seemed good, and his 
 frame robust ; this I attributed to his pursuits, which 
 obliged him to be many hours daily in the open air. I 
 would not undertake the case until he had given asolemn 
 promise never again to indulge in the vile practice of 
 Onanism. He was under treatment for ten weeks, dur- 
 ing which he had the pleasure of observing a rapid 
 improvement, and he was discharged thoroughly cured. 
 
 The following gratifying testimonial was lately re- 
 ceived : 
 
 " New Orleans, Jan, 25. 
 
 "My Dear Sir: — I am happy to inform you that 
 your treatment has been quite successful, although when 
 I first applied to you I scarcely expected any great bene- 
 fit ; for, as I wrote to you at the time, I had been suffer- 
 ing some years from debility and nervousness, which 
 my friends believed to be constitutional, but which I 
 know in my own mind arose from self-pollution. I 
 heard of you from a gentleman who had been under 
 your care, and was induced by him to consult you. I 
 am grateful to say I had not been under your hands one 
 month before I was very considerably better, and in 
 three months I was as well as ever I was in my life. 
 
 " I am, Dear Sir, 
 
 " Yours, ever faithfully and sincerely, 
 * "Ch. B." 
 
NOTES FROM MY CASE BOOK. 143 
 
 A gentleman from Boston called upon me about three 
 years ago. He had been married seven years, and was 
 very unhappy in not having children ; he possessed ex- 
 tensive landed property, which would leave the family 
 if his wife should die childless. His age was 33 ; his 
 wife's 26. I found that, although he had led a free life, 
 his virile powers were undiminished, and that he was in 
 the habit of having a perfect connection several times a 
 week. On examining his urine by means of the micro- 
 scope, I detected the spermatozoa, which proved a waste 
 of semen, and he admitted, though not wi fchout reluct- 
 ance, that in his youth he had practiced Onanism. By 
 treating accordingly, I was successful even beyond my 
 hopies. His lady became enciente four months after- 
 wards, and he has now two children. 
 
 C. D., captain of an American ship, aged 35 ; about ten 
 days ago had acquired a gonorrhoea ; he drank freely 
 the day before I found him suffering severely from ex- 
 cessive pain, and difficulty in making water ; the fore- 
 skin had swollen, forming a " phymosis ; n there was a 
 copious discharge of yellowish matter. C. D. was anx- 
 ious to be cured as quickly as possible, as he was going 
 to the East Indies in a few days. Ordered aperient and 
 sedative medicines, fall doses of the Napolitaine Pills, 
 and dismissed him thoroughly well on the eighth day. 
 
 Capt. E. H., Baltimore, three months before consult- 
 ing me, had observed a small pimple under the prepuce, 
 or foreskin, after a casual connection. Having rubbed 
 it off, it was succeeded by another rather larger ; when, 
 thinking it was the " heat of the body," he took mild 
 
144 NOTES FROM MY CASE BOOK. 
 
 aperient medicines. It remained stationary for some 
 weeks, and then began to increase rapidly; he also 
 noticed a large swelling in each groin Becoming 
 alarmed, he determined, by the advice of a friend, a 
 brother captain, to consult me ; but, unfortunately, 
 urgent business detained him some days longer in Bal- 
 timore. I immediately saw that the case was very 
 serious ; tne poison had acquired terrible virulence by 
 remaining so long in the body, and, in spite of the most 
 powerful remedies, he continued to get worse for some 
 days. The chancres progressed so rapidly as to threaten 
 the entire loss of the penis, and both buboes burst, 
 leaving a large cavity in each groin. However, by the 
 most energetic means, he was brought under the influ- 
 ence of the medicines, and began to improve, though at 
 first very slowly. This case required three months' 
 constant attention before a cure was effected, and even 
 then it was necessary to prescribe strengthening medi- 
 cines for some weeks longer. I instance this case to 
 prove the importance of an early application in cases of 
 syphilis. Had this patient applied to me in the first 
 instance, one week's attention would have been quite 
 sufficient to ensure a thorough cure, without pain or 
 annoyance. I was, however, compelled to order him to 
 give up a voyage — fortunately a short one — but, being 
 part owner of the ship, it was of less importance. I 
 have lately received a letter from Captain E. H., stating 
 that he is now thoroughly well, and as strong as ever. 
 A gentleman, aged 26, consulted me for an inveterate 
 gleet. About three years previously he had contracted 
 
NOTES PROM MY CASE BOOK. 145 
 
 a severe gonorrhoea, for which he applied to his family 
 doctor, who gave the usual remedies. But as soon as 
 he discontinued taking medicine, the discharge came 
 on again, though without pain or inflammation. He 
 applied to several medical men in succession, but with 
 the same result. On discontinuing medicine, the dis- 
 charge re-appeared, especially after connection. He 
 felt most anxious to be cured, as he was under an en- 
 gagement of marriage. I am happy to state that in a 
 few weeks after seeing me he was completely cured. 
 He has since married, and there has been no recurrence 
 of the disease. 
 
 A gentleman, living in the country, sent some urine 
 for examination, and stated that he was suffering 
 severely from gleet, which had rendered him very weak. 
 The microscope proved the presence of numerous sper- 
 matoza. I, therefore, requested him to forward a single 
 drop of the discharge, packed between two glass slides. 
 This he did, and I found unmistakable evidence of the 
 nature of his complaint. I wrote, in answer, requesting 
 a personal interview. A short time afterwards he 
 called upon me, and, in reply to my questions, admitted 
 that he was subject to frequent nocturnal pollutions; 
 he also endured great agony from piles, for which he 
 had been under treatment several times, and taken 
 enormous quantities of medicine. As it would have 
 been inconvenient for him to come often to the city, I 
 arranged to send him the required remedies by rail, 
 and six weeks afterwards received the following grati- 
 fying letter : 
 
146 NOTES FROM MY CASE BOOK. 
 
 St. Louis, Mo. 
 
 Dear Doctor : — According to promise I again write 
 to you, but really I do not see any necessity for taking 
 any more physic. But I leave myself entirely in your 
 hands, and, if you think it necessary, forward a bottle 
 or two to the same address. There has not been the 
 slightest discharge from the penis for the last four 
 weeks, nor have I been troubled with nocturnal pollu- 
 tions. No remains whatever of the piles ; and alto- 
 gether I feel better than I have been for years. Permit 
 me to thank you most sincerely for your kind attention 
 and skillful treatment. I shall not fail to call upon 
 you, to express my thanks in person, when I am next 
 in New York. 
 
 I remain, 
 
 Yours, most repectfully. 
 
 Boston, Mass. 
 
 Dear Sir : — Please to forward me two more boxes of 
 pills. I have no doubt they will be sufficient to com- 
 plete the cure, judging from the extraordinary effect of 
 the box I have taken. The discharge is almost stopped 
 and I no longer have any pain on making water. Ad- 
 dress, Post-Office (till called for.) I am, 
 
 D.H. 
 
 St. Albans, Vt. 
 
 Dr. Jordan: — I am suffering from spots and 
 blotches on the face and body, caused, I believe, by 
 syphilis some years ago, although I was salivated at the 
 
NOTES FROM MY CASE BOOK. 147 
 
 time, and thought myself perfectly well. Do you think 
 you can do me any good? If so, I will come over to 
 see you. I may say my age is about 35. I am unmar- 
 ried. My occupation requires me to be a great deal in 
 the open air ; in fact, I am a farmer. Enclosed is your 
 fee. Please to answer by return, and tell me candidly 
 what you think of my case. 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 M.N. 
 
 I wrote, requesting a personal interview, and accord- 
 ingly a few days afterwards, M. N. introduced himself. 
 The spots and blotches on his face and body exhibited 
 the true syphilitic character, and were exceedingly dis- 
 figuring in themselves, without taking after conse- 
 quences into consideration. M. N. became my patient, 
 and followed my advice carefully. In six weeks he 
 again wrote, stating that he was perfectly cured. 
 
 W. H. K. called upon me early in February, 1868. He 
 complained of greatly impaired health ; want of energy 
 both of mind and body ; bad memory ; a dizziness in his 
 eyes after reading and writing ; a singing and dull 
 noises in his ears ; and inclination to melancholy and 
 lowness of spirits, which all endeavors could not over- 
 come. When in company and addressed by any one, he 
 had a suffusion of blushes, and felt exceedingly irrita- 
 ble, which after passing away, left a trembling in the 
 limbs, and a sensation as if cold water were running 
 down his back. Age 27, Occupation sedentary. Came 
 
148 NOTES FROM MY CASE BOOK. 
 
 from Providence for the express purpose of consulting 
 me, having heard my. name casually mentioned by a 
 geutleman. On investigation, I found that he had been 
 practicing self-pollution for upwards of nine years, but 
 had given it up about four months. After obtaining his 
 promise to abandon this vile practice, I commenced 
 treating him by the most energetic means, and after 
 eighteen weeks received the following note : 
 
 Providence, R. L 
 
 Doctor : — I am happy to inform you that I feel re- 
 stored in every respect, and I do not think I shall re- 
 quire any more medicine. Even that symptom — fre- 
 quent blushing — which caused you so much trouble, 
 and me so much annoyance, has completely yielded. 
 Acting on your advice, I am now engaged to be mar- 
 ried ; and the first time I come to New York I shall do 
 myself the pleasure of paying my respects to you in 
 person. 
 
 I am, sir, 
 
 Very sincerely yours, 
 
 W. H. Ko 
 
 To Dr. Jordan. 
 
 I was favored with a visit from this gentleman, 
 January 1870. He reported himself in perfect health, 
 and the father of a healthy boy. 
 
 The first officer of the American ship, B., called upon 
 me early in April, 1869. He was suffering from a severe 
 
NOTES FROM MY CASE BOOK. 149 
 
 case of secondary symptoms. He had noticed chancres 
 soon after leaving Liverpool, for which he had taken 
 blue pills, and used sulphate of copper lotion. He was 
 slightly salivated, but the chancres healed, and he was 
 delighted to find himself " quite well." The passage 
 was fortunately a rapid one (indeed one of the most 
 rapid of the season). I say fortunately, for ten days 
 before his arrival, secondary symptoms broke out with 
 the greatest virulence. His throat was severely attack- 
 ed, spots broke out all over his body, his hair fell off, (a 
 common effect of mercury), and his constitution seemed 
 completely shattered. I also found, on careful examin- 
 ation and analysis of his urine, that he was suffering 
 from spermatorrhoea ; in fact, there was a loss of seed 
 every time he passed water. This case required very 
 prompt treatment, and for three or four days the dis- 
 ease continued to make head against the medicine. 
 However, I soon controlled it ; and, in the course of 
 seven weeks, Mr. R. was perfectly restored to health 
 and vigor. 
 
 The master of a ship from the coast of Africa wrote 
 to me in March, 1869, from Baltimore. His symptoms 
 were urgent ; and he also had imprudently taken large 
 doses of mercury. By prompt treatment I was fortunate 
 in curing him very rapidly. As he was unable to come 
 over to see me, the case was conducted entirely by cor- 
 respondence. The following is a copy of the last letter 
 received from this gentleman. It is dated April 17th, 
 1^69: 
 
150 NOTES FROM MY CASE BOOK. 
 
 Newark. 
 
 Dear Sir : — I was suffering from a most frightful 
 case of African syphilis, and, after persevering with your 
 medicines for a very short time, am happy to say I am 
 quite well. I should like another small case of Purify- 
 ing Drops, for which I enclose, so that, if any accident 
 should occur, I shall always have the medicine at hand. 
 I write this as a certificate and testimonial of grati- 
 tude, and hope it may be useful to you. 
 
 I am, dear Doctor, 
 
 gratefully yours, 
 
 Captain W. J., of the American ship, E. C, writes 
 from Boston, June 13th, 1869 : 
 
 Doctor : — Your French Specific cured me of a bad 
 gonorrhoea in three days. Accept nry thanks, and send 
 me six cases more for my medicine chest, for which I 
 enclose the money. 
 
 Remarks. — In this case, as in the previous one, I had 
 not the pleasure of seeing either of my patients. My 
 rapid success in curing them was due to the great care 
 with which I elicited every symptom, to the prompt 
 treatment I invariably adopt, and also to the intelli- 
 gence and regularity with which they followed out 
 my instructions and took my medicines. In the latter 
 case, I was satisfied, by an analytical examination 
 
NOTES FROM MY CASE BOOK; 151 
 
 of the urine, that there was present only an uncompli- 
 cated, though virulent, gonorrhoea, and treated accord- 
 ingly. Owing to the facilities afforded by the admirable 
 postal regulations, much of my practice is carried on by 
 correspondence ; and, from long experience, I do not 
 find it necessary to require a personal interview, 
 especially when inconvenient to the patient. At the 
 same time, care is requisite to be as minute as possible 
 in the statement of the symptoms. 
 
 Mr. N., provision dealer, from one of the towns in the 
 neighborhood of the city, called to consult me in Febru- 
 ary, 1868. His age was about 30. He had been under 
 medical treatment for upwards of three years, for what 
 was considered secondary symptoms of syphilis. On in- 
 quiry I found that he had suffered from chancres five 
 years previously, which yielded in a few weeks to treat- 
 ment, not without some little trouble ; a bubo having 
 formed, which had been punctured with a lancet, as a 
 slight remaining scar still testified. He remained per- 
 fectly well for nearly two years, when small spots, 
 nearly colorless and scarcely rising above the skin, 
 made their appearance on the scrotum and surrounding 
 parts, also a few on the arms and legs. At first he 
 scarcely noticed them, merely took a little cooling 
 medicine ; but the itching and irritation became so 
 great that he determined on having medical advice. 
 
 The medical man who had previously attended him 
 considered that it was an attack of secondaries, pre- 
 
152 NOTES FROM MY CASE BOOK. 
 
 scribed mercury (to slight salivation), hydriodide of 
 potassium, and large quantities of sarsaparilla. 
 
 Under this treatment Mr. N. remained for about eight 
 months ; the disease apparently made no progress, but, 
 on the other hand, he did not improve, and the par- 
 oxysms of irritation were as frequent as ever. Coming 
 to New York, he consulted a physician, who advised 
 him to remain for a few days. He first commenced 
 treatment with large doses of the bichloride of mercury 
 (corrosive sublimate), alternating with quinine and the 
 mineral acids. Under this plan he improved a little, 
 passed a few quiet nights, and began to have hopes of 
 recovery. But the improvement was not lasting ; less 
 than a month after his return to business the disease 
 made its appearance as severely as ever. It would be 
 wearisome to detail the history of the case the two fol- 
 lowing years. Suffice it to say that he placed himself 
 under hydropathic treatment, that he was twice sali- 
 vated by different medical men whom he consulted, 
 that he persevered in a course of arsenic (liquor arsen- 
 icalis, Fowler's) for nearly six months, and that, al- 
 though he sometimes was comparatively well for a 
 month or six weeks, on the whole the disease made 
 steady progress, and was daily becoming worse. 
 
 February 7th, 1868. He complains of sensations of 
 itching, burning, aud stinging, which nearly make him 
 mad, more particularly in bed at night. He had not 
 slept an hour at a time for several nights. Rubbing 
 the parts (the disease is principally confined to the 
 scrotum and surrounding parts) invariably makes him 
 
NOTES FROM MY CASE BOOK. 153 
 
 worse, the relief being momentary, but he can scarcely 
 refrain from tearing his flesh. Withal, his appetite is 
 good, general health much better than could have been 
 anticipated, constitution sound. 
 
 On making a careful analysis of the urine, I was con- 
 vinced, as previously from examination, that there was 
 no trace whatever from syphilitic virus. In fact, that 
 no connection existed between the disease and the 
 chancres from which he had suffered. This he would 
 scarcely believe, but I determined that he should decide 
 by the result. My diagnosis convinced me that the 
 complaint was a severe form of skin disease — " prurigo" 
 — with patches of " psoriasis " diffused on the body. 
 Mr. N. consented to place himself under treatment, 
 without much hope of relief. 
 
 February 14th, 1868. Mr. N. called again, according 
 to appointment. The irritation during the week had 
 been worse than ever ; he was nearly mad, and utterly 
 reckless and despairing. In fact, it is difficult to imagine 
 the torture of these cases, aggravated, and almost made 
 unendurable from want of natural rest. Withal, there 
 was a very decided improvement, and the case was pro- 
 gressing in a very satisfactory manner. But I refused 
 j}o continue treatment unless he would promise most 
 solemnly to remain one month under my care. I con- 
 tinued medicine as before, and, in addition, gave 
 lotions for outward application ; not with the idea that 
 they would be useful as remedies, for that was out 
 of the question, but to endeavor, if possible, to allay 
 the local irritation. 
 
154 NOTES FROM MY CASE BOOK. 
 
 February 21st. Not nmcli better. Still, some miti- 
 gation of the beat ; tbe itching not as severe. Had 
 slept two bours undisturbed tbe nigbt before. Con- 
 tinue medicines ; cbange lotions, to be applied after a 
 warm batb. 
 
 Marcb 1st. Decided improvement. Two nights' 
 comfortable rest. Psoriasis dying away on tbe body ; 
 burning in tbe scrotum entirely gone. 
 
 Marcb 21sfc. From tbe beginning of tbe month, in 
 spite of one or two slight relapses, the improvement 
 has been steady. He is now apparently well. But 
 such is the treacherous nature of these complaints that 
 I advised Mr. N. to continue medicine for at least three 
 months longer. 
 
 August 29th. I met Mr. N. to-day. In answer to my 
 inquiries, he said : "No return of my complaint, Doctor, 
 or you would have seen me without delay." 
 
 My principal object in inserting this very interesting 
 case is to prove that one must be careful in discriminat- 
 ing what is due to syphilis from what has really no 
 connection with 't. This is not easy, and can only be 
 acquired by experience. 
 
 General B. writes: " After trying hundreds of adver- 
 tised nostrums, I was induced by a friend of mine tQ 
 commence a course of your medicine for spermatorrhoea 
 and generative weakness, brought on in the first in- 
 stance by the unfortunate practice of self-pollution, and 
 much aggravated by sexual excess. 
 
 " I am sure you will pardon my peevish scepticism, 
 and almost ungentlemanly sarcasm during our first in- 
 
NOTES FROM MY CASE BOOK. 155 
 
 terview, and attribute it to the true cause — a wretched 
 state of health and unstrung nerves. Never shall I 
 forget the kindness and consideration with which you 
 behaved towards me. I need scarcely add that one 
 month's treatment restored me to health and manhood, 
 and I now feel a bounding, vigorous health of mind 
 and body such as I never before experienced." 
 
 This gentleman is now married, and has had no re- 
 turn of the disease. 
 
 A gentleman, a partner in a very extensive firm in 
 Chicago, wrote to me as follows : 
 
 Chicago, Feb. 11th, 1868. 
 
 Dear Sir : — Knowing your high reputation and pro- 
 fessional standing, I am induced to consult you respect- 
 ing my unfortunate position. I am one who through 
 ignorance (I may say fatal ignorance), have acted 
 against the laws of God and nature, and injured myself 
 I fear irretrievably, by indulging in the odious practice 
 of self-pollution. Would to heaven that I had read 
 your book sooner, or that some mentor had warned me 
 in time of the consequences of my sin. I am now 25. I 
 am a junior partner in one of the largest houses of this 
 
 City, the firm of . I first commenced the practice 
 
 of self-pollution at the age of 16 or 17, and have con- 
 tinued it to a very recent period, once or sometimes 
 twice a week. I now feel a heavy dragging pain in the 
 left testicle, which hangs rather lower than the other. 
 The penis seems small and shrivelled, and I frequently 
 have emissions at night. My water is quite clear and 
 
156 NOTES FROM MY CASE BOOK. 
 
 apparently healthy. I, therefore, do not think there is 
 any loss of seed in that manner ; but there is sometimes 
 a slimy discharge at stool, especially when I am hound 
 in my bowels, which is frequently the case. I find my- 
 self very weak, and often have pains in my back. I 
 am very anxious to marry, but know by experience 
 that my generative organs are to feeble for coition. If 
 I had married in my present state, I know I should 
 have made myself wretched for life. Nor is this all ; I 
 fear you must be wearied with this miserable confes- 
 sion ; but I think ifc best to give you my entire confi- 
 dence. I find my intellectual faculties are greatly im- 
 paired, my memory is bad, and my nerves unsteady. I 
 frequently suffer from headache ; I feel drowsy and lew 
 spirited, and my voice is husky and not so strong nor 
 so clear as formerly. I think I have now stated every- 
 thing, and forward, by Adams' Express, a small bottle 
 containing my urine ; though as I stated before, it 
 seems clear and quite natural. I forgot to mention 
 that when I pass water it frequently feels hot and in- 
 flamed at the end. I enclose your fee, and hope that 
 you will give me hopes that my case is curable. 
 I am, dear sir, 
 
 Truly yours, etc., 
 
 Extract, dated March 25th, 1868 : 
 
 All the urgent symptoms are much abated. I feel 
 toore energy and my spirits are first-rate. Appetite de- 
 cidedly improved. During the last three weeks I have 
 
NOTES FROM MY CASE BOOK. 157 
 
 had only one nocturnal emission, and that was very 
 slight. Please to direct my medicine as before. 
 
 Extract, dated April 30th, 1868 : 
 
 I consider myself thoroughly cured, and do not think 
 1 require any more medicine, though, if you desire it 
 of course I must comply. I have proposed to a young 
 lady whom I have long loved ; we are to be married in 
 about two months ; but, my dear Doctor, I will let you 
 know the date when all is arranged, as I shall insist on 
 your being present at the wedding. You will see me 
 next week. 
 
CASES. 
 
 ADDED TO THE PRESENT EDITION OF THIS WORK. 
 
 Important Notice.— Most of the folio wing cases have 
 occurred in my practice during the present year. But 
 patients are respectfully informed that every case pub- 
 lished, or in any way alluded to, is with the written 
 consent, and frequently at the request of the patient, 
 and that the most inviolable secrecy may be faithfully 
 relied on in all communications. Letters are destroyed 
 or returned to the patient at the termination of every 
 case. 
 
 No extra cases will be added to future editions of this 
 work, and, for convenience of reference, we have num- 
 bered them. 
 
 CASE I. 
 
 GENERAL DEBILITY, THE RESULT OP SELF-ABUSE. 
 
 One evening, in the summer of 1860, 1 was consulted 
 by a young man of a most prepossessing appearance. His 
 
CASES OF COMPLAINTS. 159 
 
 whole make spoke of a naturally powerful constitution, 
 and his face, when in health, must have been manly 
 and comely. But his step was languid, his bearing like 
 that of an old man exhaused and life-weary, and his 
 countenance overcast with gloom and anxiety. I ques- 
 tioned him as to his symptoms. It was the old sad 
 story. He complained of palpitation, trembling of the 
 limbs, dull pains in the back and loins, dyspepsia, con- 
 stipation, restless nights, frightful dreams, loss of mem- 
 ory and impaired vision ; but more especially of depres- 
 sion of spirits and the vague haunting fear of being in- 
 curable. 
 
 On my inquiring if he had any idea of the cause of 
 his sufferings, he frankly, though with evident shame, 
 ascribed them to the vice of self-abuse, into which he 
 had been enticed at the boarding-school where he was 
 educated, and which he had only recently entirely 
 abandoned. In addition to the constitutional symptoms 
 already particularized, he was suffering from certain 
 local affections. The generative organs were much 
 reduced in size and exceedingly relaxed. He had been 
 annoyed, he stated, by emissions, sometimes to the ex- 
 tent of two or three times a week. These, however, 
 had gradually ceased, whilst his general health, far 
 from improving, had decidedly retrograded. This led 
 me to suspect that he was suffering from spermatorrhoea 
 the constant and unconscious oozing away of the 
 semen, in consequence of relaxation of the ducts. To 
 place the matter beyond doubt I appealed to the micro- 
 scope, and upon a careful examination detected in the 
 
160 CASES OF COMPLAINTS. 
 
 urine spermatozoa in considerable numbers, most of 
 them, however, as is often the case, in advanced stage 
 of decease, broken and mutilated. When I had com- 
 pleted my examination the patient anxiously inquired 
 if I could hold out any hope of recovery, or even of 
 amelioration? I replied that his condition was cer- 
 tainly very unpromising, but if he would carefully fol- 
 low out my directions, and above all, beware of return- 
 ing to his former malpractice, he might reasonably look 
 forward to a complete recovery. This, my opinion, 
 seemed somewhat to reassure him, and he now confided 
 to me his greatest trouble. He was devotedly attached 
 to an amiable girl, the daughter of an old friend of his 
 father. He felt certain that she returned his love, and 
 that the match would be highly agreeable to both fam- 
 ilies. But he knew himself to be utterly incapablo of 
 performing the duties of married life. 
 
 After assuring him that nothing which my long ex- 
 perience could suggest should be wanting for his restor- 
 ation I supplied him with suitable restorative medi- 
 cines in doses suited to the exigencies of the case. I 
 also furnished him with a lotion for local use, and gave 
 him directions as to his diet and general mode of life. 
 In particular I sought to enliven his mind, and prevent 
 him from brooding over his disease. In a fortnight he 
 called upon me again, by appointment. There was 
 manifest improvement. A careful microscopic examin- 
 ation showed that the imperceptible escape of the sem- 
 inal fluid had very nearly ceased. Some of tne consti- 
 tutional symptoms were also abating. His sleep in par- 
 
CASES OF COMPLAINTS. 161 
 
 ticular was sounder and more refreshing, and he no 
 longer suffered from constipation and dyspepsia. I 
 directed him to persevere iu the treatment laid down, 
 with some slight modification which his increasing 
 strength indicated. At his next visit I had the pleas- 
 ure of ascertaining and informing him that the seminal 
 escape was entirely checked. This great point being 
 gained, my only remaining duties were to guard against 
 a relapse and to strengthen the constitution and eradi- 
 cate all traces of the disease. In these points I was 
 completely successful, and, in fact, within three months 
 of our first interview, he was restored to the full enjoy- 
 ment of health and perfect manly vigor. He was soon 
 afterwards married to the object of his affections, and 
 is now the father of a large and healthy family — a cir- 
 cumstance which sufficiently attests how complete was 
 the cure. 
 
 Remarks. — Had this young man contracted marriage 
 in the state in which he first called upon me, the conse- 
 quences must have been disastrous. For him to have 
 fulfilled the duties of a husband would have been im- 
 possible, and the very attempt would have aggravated 
 his symptoms to such an extent as to render a cure 
 highly problematical. The treatment of the case was 
 very much facilitated by the good sense of the patient, 
 who strictly followed out my directions, and never 
 showed the least tendency to relapse into his former 
 errors. 
 
162 CASES OF COMPLAINTS. 
 
 CASE II. 
 
 LOCAL DEBILITY. 
 
 Soon after the recovery of the patient mentioned in 
 the last section, I was consulted by a young man who 
 made a very rambling, incoherent statement. 
 
 He also had been enticed into the habit of self-pollu- 
 tion at a boarding-school and had practiced it to a 
 greater or less extent for some years.* About his seven- 
 teenth year he had abandoned the habit, and had sought 
 to gratify his desires in the natural way. In so doing, 
 however, he experienced very little satisfaction, a 
 highly significant fact. In course of time, being estab- 
 lished in business, he deemed himself justified in look- 
 ing out for a wife. He soon met with a girl who 
 seemed in every way suitable, and accordingly married 
 her. 
 
 To his surprise and alarm he found matrimonial in- 
 tercourse utterly impossible. His repeated efforts were 
 all in vain, and had served merely to exhaust his sys- 
 tem. He had been recommended to make free use of 
 stimulants, which proved unavailing. He had con- 
 sulted a variety of medical practitioners — some of them 
 of very high reputation, and after taking a variety of 
 
 * A very large proportion of my patients declare that they first 
 learned the baneful habit of self-pollution at boarding-schools, 
 and state that it was little short of universal among their com- 
 panions. This vice, in fact, flourishes wherever boys or men are 
 shut out from the companionship of females. Hence, it has been 
 aptly called '* The vice of monks obscene." 
 
CASES OF COMPLAINTS 103 
 
 medicines and undergoing sundry modes of treatment, 
 was pronounced incurably impotent. 
 
 The patient's condition was quite peculiar. His gen- 
 eral health was of course far from satisfactory; still, 
 there were no alarming and distressing constitutional 
 symptoms. But the generative organs were shrunk and 
 relaxed to an extent such as few practitioners have 
 ever witnessed, and we were by no means surprised at 
 the opinion that this was a case of confirmed impotence. 
 Passive spermatorrhoea was found ? on careful examina- 
 tion, to exist, and was doubtless of long standing, But 
 so minute and ill-developed were the spermatozoa that 
 they would have altogether escaped the notice of an in- 
 experienced observer.* 
 
 In a case of this kind ordinary modes of treatment 
 would be of little avail. I have, however, at length 
 succeeded in discovering and perfecting a valuable 
 remedy for impotence which may be justly termed an 
 extraordinary and wonderful specific, as it has peculiar 
 properties for saving and nourishing the seminal fluid. 
 This was at once ordered, along with a suitable course 
 of medicine for strengthening the general system. In 
 a few weeks' time my patient began to improve rapidly. 
 I had to make use of special application to prevent my 
 patient from putting his newly restored powers to pre- 
 mature and excessive use. By this means I succeeded 
 
 >■■ ■ ■ —* ~ 
 
 * In such cases a microscope of great defining power is absolute- 
 ly necessary for the detection and satisfactory recognition of sper- 
 matozoa. In every instance we invariabiy use the microscope 
 for the detection of disease, spermatorrhoea, and loss of semen. 
 
164 CASES OF COMPLAINTS. 
 
 in keeping him within the bounds of a wholesome re* 
 stiaint until the cure was perfected. 
 
 CASE III. 
 
 DEBILITY COMPLICATED WITH PULMONARY DISEASE. 
 
 Early in the spring of 1863, a gentleman, 27 years 
 of age, consulted me by letter. He complained of pro- 
 found languor and weakness, irresolution, confusion of 
 ideas, and aversion to business. At the same time he 
 was suffering from cough, emaciation, night sweats, and 
 pains in the left side and under the shoulder blades. 
 He had been treated for pulmonary consumption, but 
 his medical attendant found something abnormal and 
 puzzling in the case, and having heard of several per- 
 sons who, under my care, had recovered from very ad- 
 vanced stages of debility, he was induced to apply to 
 me. 
 
 As his letter was, on several points, inconclusive, and 
 as he lived in the immediate neighborhood, a personal 
 interview took place. I found that he was indeed 
 laboring under a pulmonary affection, coupled with a 
 general nervous prostration. He owned that he was 
 addicted to self-abuse, a habit which he had never for 
 a moment supposed to be injurious. Indeed, I had 
 great difficulty in convincing him that this unfortunate 
 practice was at the root of his malady. I found that 
 
CASES OF COMPLAINTS. 165 
 
 he was troubled with involuntary emissions, both dur- 
 ing sleep, and even in the daytime. 
 
 I informed him that, if he wished me to undertake 
 the case, he must completely abandon the habit of self- 
 abuse, otherwise there could not be the remotest pros- 
 pect of his recovery. To this, after some hesitation, he 
 consented. I next undertook the three-fold task of 
 checking the local drain upon the system, arresting the 
 consumptive symptoms, and combatting the nervous 
 weakness. In this difficult matter I was often rather 
 thwarted than assisted by my patient — one of that 
 numerous class who, because they have met with some 
 success in business, believe that they know everything. 
 Sometimes he omitted to take the medicines ordered, 
 and broke through the rules I had laid down for his 
 general conduct. Sometimes he thought proper to take 
 remedies which had been recommended him by ac- 
 quaintances, and once or twice he even relapsed into 
 his old error of self-abuse. Repeatedly I was on the 
 point of declining the responsibility of treating so in- 
 tractable a patient. 
 
 At last, finding that every deviation from my advice 
 was accompanied by a relapse, and that I never failed 
 to detect him, he became more rational, and conformed 
 steadily to my directions. From that time his recovery 
 progressed steadily, and, in ten months from the com- 
 mencement of treatment, I had the pleasure of pro- 
 nouncing him perfectly cured. This case, but for the 
 folly and obstinacy of the patient, would have been 
 brought to a satisfactory issue in less than half the time. 
 
166 CASES OF COMPLAINTS. 
 
 At my last interview with this gentleman I strongly 
 advised him to marry, lest he might be tempted, to 
 revert to his former unnatural and injurious habifc. I 
 have since learned that he has followed my advice, and 
 with most satisfactory results. 
 
 Remarks. — Pulmonary consumption — though not a 
 direct consequence of self abuse — is often indirectly 
 brought on by this unnatural indulgence. Wherever 
 a tendency to this fearful evil exists, any cause which 
 lowers the tone of the system, and acts as a drain upon 
 the vital resources, may call the latent evil into full 
 play. Now, as nothing can be more debilitating and 
 exhausting than self-abuse and its more immediate 
 results, spermatorrhoea, we need not be surprised at 
 finding the votaries of secret indulgence so often fall a 
 prey to pulmonary consumption. 
 
 Difficult as is the successful treatment of this disease 
 under any circumstances, it becomes simply impossible 
 when the strength of the patient is constantly drained 
 away through a channel of which the physician is ignor- 
 ant, and which he cannot, therefore, check. I was con- 
 vinced that many young men who die from consumption 
 might be saved if the evil were only traced to its ulti- 
 mate source, and attacked there. Indeed, in all cases 
 where the young are seized with gradual progressive 
 decay, I should advise their friends and medical attend- 
 ants to ascertain whether self- abuse and its immediate 
 results be not, in part, at least, the cause. 
 
CASES OF COMPLAINTS. 167 
 
 CASE IV. 
 
 EXCESSIVE INTERCOURSE. 
 
 A yottng man residing at consulted me. He 
 
 had never been guilty of self-abuse, but had from an 
 unusually early age been addicted to sexual intercourse 
 to a surprising extent. He had married before reaching 
 the age of twenty, and though he had from that time 
 abstained from promiscuous intercourse, he had in- 
 dulged with his wife till the health of both became 
 seriously affected. He complained of dizziness, deter- 
 mination of blood to the head, dimness of sight and a 
 failing memory, together with a rapid decline of 
 strength. Conjugal intercourse, which had for some 
 time been very imperfect and unsatisfactory, became 
 altogether impracticable. 
 
 On microscopic examination, I found that he was 
 suffering from passive spermatorrhoea, a conclusion 
 which the constitutional symptoms decidedly corrobo- 
 rated. 
 
 I ordered him at present to abstain entirely from in- 
 tercourse, and directed a course of powerful medicines, 
 together with my remedy for impotence, and certain 
 other preparations which the peculiar features of the 
 case indicated. As the young man had naturally a 
 vigorous constitution, and faithfully carried out my 
 directions, the cure was completed in seven weeks. 
 
 As soon as he was satisfied with his own progress, he 
 consulted me on behalf of his wife, who had suffered 
 very much from their mutual excesses. This patient's 
 
168 CASES OF COMPLAINTS. 
 
 case presented many difficulties, but I am happy to say 
 that in about three months , time she was completely 
 restored to health. At the conclusion of the case, I 
 seriously admonished these young people, as they valued 
 their own happiness, to guard against a repetition of 
 their former error. 
 
 Remarks. — Though excessive sexual intercourse, con- 
 jugal or irregular, is much less hurtful than the un- 
 natural habit of self-abase, it may, and often does, when 
 persisted in, produce results of a very similar kind. 
 Many persons foolishly imagine that if married they 
 may indulge to any extent with impunity. This is an 
 utter mistake. It must further be remembered that 
 matrimonial excess in many cases prevents conception, 
 and thus frustrates the prospect of offspring. 
 
 CASE V 
 
 SEDENTARY HABITS AND INTENSE STUDY. 
 
 A Gentleman, aged 31, consulted me on account of 
 rapidly increasing prostration of body and mind. His 
 employment compelled him to spend a very large part 
 of his time in the most complex and abstruse mathe- 
 matical calculations, and his scanty leisure was devoted 
 to abstract scientific research. According to his own 
 statement he found himself suddenly attacked with 
 
CASES OF COMPLAINTS. 169 
 
 pains in the head, dimness of sight, forgetfulness, and 
 especially with a confusion of ideas which threatened 
 to render him totally unfit for his position. He found 
 himself frequently overcome with sorrow, even to tears, 
 without any ostensible cause. His sleep was also rest- 
 less and unrefreshing, and he labored under confirmed 
 dyspepsia and the most obstinate constipation. He had 
 consulted various physicians and surgeons without re- 
 ceiving* any material benefit. 
 
 Here, too, the existence of passive spermatorrhoea 
 was proved by microscopic examination. But whence 
 had it arisen ? I very soon satisfied myself that my 
 patient had neither been addicted to self-abuse nor to 
 sexual excesses. He stated, and I have every reason to 
 believe with perfect truth, that he had never had any 
 intercourse with a female. It was plain that his seden- 
 tary habits had brought on constipation ; that intense 
 study had lowered the energies of the whole system 5 
 and that these two causes, together with the weakness 
 of the generative organs springing from total disuse, 
 had established spermatorrhoea. 
 
 In this case it was first of all very needful to over- 
 come the obstinate constipation, which by occasioning 
 chronic irritation of the rectum, had sympathetically 
 affected the spermatic ducts ; and then to obviate the 
 mischief already done, and impart new vigor to the en- 
 feebled system. For these purposes, I directed, as far 
 as possible, an entire alteration of the patient's habits. 
 I advised him to devote all his Jeisure to bodily exer- 
 cise and to enlivening society. The constipation yielded 
 
170 CASES OF COMPLAINTS. 
 
 to the employment of a purgative especially adapted to 
 such cases, whilst the general debility was overcome 
 by a course of regenerating medicines. In two months 
 he was completely restored to health, and could resume 
 his studies to his entire satisfaction. 
 
 Remarks. — Some persons, and even medical practi- 
 tioners, entertain the mistaken notion that sperma- 
 torrhoea can never arise except in consequence of self- 
 abuse or sexual excess. This mistaken and very un- 
 charitable view has, to my certain knowledge, deterred 
 persons who have been affected with this disease from 
 other causes, from seeking professional aid. Pernicious 
 as sexual intercourse when carried to excess undoubt- 
 edly is, its total neglect is, in persons of ordinary con- 
 stitution, little less injurious, and may lead to the very 
 same results ; a fine illustration of the truth of the old 
 saying that " extremes meet." 
 
 CASE VI. 
 
 RESULTS OP INTESTINAL WORMS. 
 
 A New York merchant, aged 36, applied to me under 
 symptoms different from those described in the last 
 case. He had been married for upwards of ten years, 
 and had several children. Latterly, however, he had 
 suffered from profuse and oft-repeated nocturnal emis- 
 sions, irritation in the rectum and bladder, causeless 
 and painful erections, together with dyspepsia, marked 
 
CASES OF COMPLAINTS. 171 
 
 and rapid decay of strength, and great mental depres- 
 sion. 
 
 The patient's habits were regular, active and tem- 
 perate ; he had never been guilty either of self-abuse 
 or conjugal excess : what then was the cause ? On a 
 little reflection some peculiar features of the case led 
 me to suspect the presence of intestinal worms. Fur- 
 ther investigation confirming my opinion, I ordered a 
 suitable anthelmintic, which caused the evacuation of 
 a large number of ascarides. Upon their removal the 
 local irritation at once subsided and the emissions 
 ceased. 
 
 A short course of Regenerating Medicine reinvigor- 
 ated his constitution, and in four weeks he felt, to use 
 his own words, " like himself again." 
 
 Remarks. — This is an exceedingly instructive case. 
 No disease can cease so long as its cause remains in 
 operation. Not all the strengthening and restorative 
 medicines in the world would have given this patient 
 relief, so long as a constant irritation was kept up by 
 the presence of the worms 
 
 CASE VII. 
 
 INVETERATE GLEET. 
 
 An engineer had suffered with gleet for five years. 
 
172 CASES OF COMPLAINTS. 
 
 He had consulted several surgeons, and according to 
 their directions, had used a variety of injections and in- 
 ward remedies. He had sometimes received temporary 
 benefit from treatment, hut upon fatigue, exposure to 
 cold and wet, the use of stimulants, or sexual inter- 
 course, the disease never failed to re-appear. The dis- 
 charge was ordinarily very trifling in amount, hut by 
 its long duration it had somewhat impaired his general 
 health. He was, moreover, engaged to be married, but 
 had been obliged to put off the affair from time to time, 
 fearing that he was still in a state to communicate in- 
 fection. 
 
 Having subjected specimens of the discharge to a 
 careful microscopic examination, in order to ascertain 
 whether the affection was complicated with sperma- 
 torrhoea, I proceeded at once with the active treatment 
 of the case. 
 
 I directed the use of the " Remedy," which, in ordin- 
 ary and recent cases, is alone sufficient to control affec- 
 tions of this nature. But, as the disease had become 
 so inveterate, and the parts had acquired what may be 
 called a morbid habit, I ordered a course of active and 
 strengthening medicine. Regenerating treatment was 
 finally used to invigorate the general system, and in 
 three weeks' time I had the pleasure of declaring him 
 to be radically cured, and in a fit state for marriage. 
 
CASES OF COMPLAINTS. 173 
 
 CASE VIII. 
 
 AGGRAVATED GONORRHOEA, COMPLICATED WITH SPER- 
 MATORRHOEA. 
 
 A young gentleman suffering from spermatorrhoea 
 in its active form, in consequence of self-abuse, unfor- 
 tunately contracted gonorrhoea. By the advice of a 
 friend he had procured an astringent injection, which, 
 however, he discarded just in time to escape an attack 
 of orchitis, in consequence of its injudicious applica- 
 tion. The local swelling and inflammation were in- 
 tense, the discharge not very plentiful, but dark-colored 
 and occasionally streaked with blood. The nocturnal 
 emissions were frequent and profuse, and were attended 
 with great pain of some hours' duration. 
 
 My first object was, of course, to remove the gon- 
 orrhoea, which, aggravated as it had been by improper 
 treatment, rapidly yielded to the Specific Pills, accom- 
 panied by certain subsidiary remedies, and within ten 
 days was entirely arrested. The nocturnal emissions, 
 however, continued as abundant as ever, though no 
 longer attended with such severe pain. These I also 
 succeeded in preventing by appropriate remedies, and 
 finally I strengthened the constitution of the patient by 
 the regenerative treatment. 
 
 Remarks. — This case, if treated with the ordinary 
 compounds of capivi, cubebs, etc., would infallibly have 
 been attended with serious complications, and in all 
 probability would have left behind it the harassing 
 sequels of gleet and stricture. 
 
174 CASES OF COMPLAINTS. 
 
 By my system of treatment the malady was totally 
 eradicated without leaving any lurking mischief be- 
 hind, and without injury to the constitution. And this 
 result, moreover, was achieved in a patient who had 
 been previously addicted to self-abuse. Now it is well 
 known that specific diseases in such persons are usually 
 obstinate and uncontrollable. 
 
 This case strongly illustrates the folly of those who, 
 when attacked with some specific affection, undertake 
 their own treatment. Had this patient consulted me 
 at once, without making use of his injection, he would 
 have been radically cured in two or three days, and 
 with much less both of expense and suffering. 
 
 CASE IX. 
 
 GLEET AND SPERMATORRHOEA. — THEIR SYMPTOMS, ETC. 
 
 A young man, engaged in a large drapery establish- 
 ment where many hands were employed, consulted me 
 a few months ago for an obstinate gleet. It was. at 
 once evident that he had been a votary of self-abuse, 
 indeed, he said he could scarcely escape, as all his com- 
 panions were more or less addicted to the habit. Some 
 two or three years back he read one of my books, and 
 became thoroughly alarmed and disgusted with the 
 propensity. He at length had recourse to illicit inter- 
 course, and thus contracted gonorrhoea, when, through 
 unskillful treatment, gleet was the sequelae. In this 
 
CASES OF COMPLAINTS. 175 
 
 dilemma he consulted me. Now, about this time his 
 symptoms were complicated and many. He was ex- 
 tremely weak, losing flesh, headache, cold perspirations, 
 eyesight much affected, especially the left eye, frequent 
 dizziness, especially when stooping, emissions, pains in 
 the shoulders and spinal column, urine thick, passed 
 frequently in small quantities. The result of my treat- 
 ment was the complete recovery of this patient, and 
 being restored to health, he sought up all those young 
 men whom he knew to be guilty of Onanism — warned 
 them of their danger, and induced them to apply to me 
 for the necessary treatment. They all had the good 
 sense to follow my instructions, etc., and were cured. 
 
 Thus, through the candor, conscientiousness, and 
 moral courage of one young man, a number of others 
 were rescued from vice, disease and misery, and brought 
 back to health and happiness. 
 
 Reader, do you know any youth who is gradually 
 succumbing to the effects of secret vice ? Let such not 
 perish without warning ! 
 
 CASE X. 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL SYPHILIS. 
 
 A gentleman, aged 32, consulted me in a state of no 
 little anxiety. He had in youth led a "fast" life, and 
 had repeatedly contracted both gonorrhoea and inflec- 
 tion of a more serious nature. For this latter disease he 
 
176 CASES OF COMPLAINTS. 
 
 had been treated with mercury in great abundance, and 
 had been pronounced cured. Believing this to be the 
 case, he had married and become the father of two chil- 
 dren, both of whom had lived only a very short time. 
 Latterly he had felt his health somewhat declining, and 
 was suffering from eruptions on the head, back and 
 chest, whilst an ulcer appeared to be forming at the 
 back of the throat. His wife, too, was evidently af- 
 fected in a very similar manner, with sore throat, cop- 
 per-colored eruptions, baldness, and very severe noc- 
 turnal pains. 
 
 The wife, who had not b.'en saturated with mercury, 
 rapidly recovered ; but her husband suffered as much 
 from the improper remedies used by his former medi- 
 cal attendants as from the disease itself. Ultimately I 
 succeeded in curing him both of the infection and of 
 the mineral poisons. 
 
 CASE XI. 
 
 AFFECTION OF THE NERVES AND NEEDLESS DESPOND- 
 ENCE. • 
 
 A commercial traveller, 26 years of age, consulted 
 me for nervous debility. . He had been compelled to re- 
 linquish a most satisfactory and lucrative engagement 
 in consequence of loss of memory, bashfulness and total 
 incapacity for business. Amongst the more prominent 
 
CASES OP COMPLAINTS. 177 
 
 symptoms he enumerated were trembling of the hands, 
 pains in the back and loins, and frequent emissions by 
 day and night — the result of a certain unhappy propen- 
 sity. He never had recourse io sexual connection, 
 being (as he stated) in fear of infection. At the time 
 of his first visit he was quite incapable of following his 
 business, and, to use his own expression, " only felt 
 happy when alone." With this patient I had unusual 
 difficulty. He was sunk in despondence, and, though 
 he agreed to follow my advice, felt persuaded that he 
 was incurable. I soothed and encouraged him as far as 
 possible, and after he had taken my medicines for three 
 weeks I had the pleasure to perceive decided marks of 
 amendment. The emissions had ceased to flow, his 
 sleep was sounder, his digestion better, and pains and 
 tremors disappeared. His mind became also more tran- 
 quil, and he felt once more a strong inclination for 
 work. These favorable symptoms increased his confid- 
 ence; after persevering with the treatment for four 
 more weeks, I had the pleasure of pronouncing him 
 thoroughly cured. He is now again on the road, and, 
 as he informs me, can go through his work with pleas- 
 are to himself and satisfaction to his employers. 
 
TO PATIENTS AND INVALID READERS. 
 
 Dr. Jordan, having for many years exclusively de- 
 voted his attention to the treatment of the diseases of 
 the Generative and Nervous Systems described in 
 the preceding pages, may be personally consulted from 
 Ten in the morning till Two, and from Five in the even- 
 ing till Eight, daily, at his residence, 51 East Tenth 
 Street, between Broadway and University Place, New 
 York. 
 
 I wish my readers to be distinctly informed on the 
 following points in my practice : 
 
 1st. — Each patient may always rely on seeing me per- 
 sonally on every occasion. I never consign a 
 patient to the treatment of an assistant. 
 
 2d. — I am always to be seen during the hours stated, 
 but can be seen at other times by special appoint- 
 ment. 
 
 3d. — I never undertake a case unless I can guarantee 
 a perfect cure. 
 
 4th. — Every case is strictly confidential. 
 
 By strictly adhering to these rules, I have, I am 
 happy to say, been successful in consolidating a prac- 
 tice inferior to none ; and have been equally successful 
 in bringing to a happy issue cases which have been 
 given up by some of the first men in the States. 
 
TO PATIENTS AND INVALIDS. 179 
 
 One personal interview, even ivith patients at a distance, 
 is highly desirable, where practicable. The advantages to 
 the patient are manifold when compared with mere 
 correspondence. A single visit will in most cases en- 
 able me to form an instantaneous and accurate judg- 
 ment, and thus facilitate the patienfs recovery. In the 
 first place, many important questions affecting the pa- 
 tient are likely to be suggested by a personal interview 
 which would in all probability be lost sight of in cor- 
 respondence. Secondly, a more correct diagnosis of the 
 disorder, and a better appreciation of the patient's con- 
 stitution can be arrived at, whilst a microscopic exam- 
 ination of the urine, where necessary, will render any 
 mistake impossible, especially in cases of spermator- 
 rhoea. And, thirdly, where the patient is laboring 
 under urethral discharges, which may or may not be 
 produced by impure connection, one personal visit with 
 a view to urinary examination, is eminently advantage- 
 ous ; and the correspondent will be more than repaid 
 the trouble and expense of a journey by the increased 
 certainty and rapidity of cure. 
 
 Country patients are informed that they can have the 
 necessary remedies sent to any address or directed to be 
 left till called for at any railway station, in a portable 
 compass, carefully packed and free from observation, 
 and they may be taken without confinement or any re- 
 straint. It is well that patients should consult their 
 own interest by being as minute as possible in the de- 
 tail of their symptoms, age, general habits of living, 
 occupation, etc, 
 
180 TO PATIENTS AND INVALIDS. 
 
 The communication must be accompanied by the usual 
 consultation fee, $5, or a P. O. order. In all cases 
 secrecy is considered inviolable, as all letters are either 
 returned to the writers or destroyed at the termination 
 of each case. When notes are enclosed in the letters, 
 it will insure their safety to register them at the post- 
 office. 
 
 For a long series of years most of the author's prac- 
 tice has been carried on by correspondence only, dis- 
 tance being no hindrance or additional expense to in- 
 valids resident in the most distant and remote parts of 
 the country. Hence, I have numerous patients whom 
 I have cured without a single interview, but whose 
 cases have been conducted entirely in writing. 
 
 It is perfectly indifferent to me whether patients cor- 
 respond in their own or in an assumed name, or by 
 initials Letters may be written in English, French 
 Italian, Latin, or Spanish. 
 
 Patients are requested to keep the same initials 
 throughout the correspondence, and each letter should 
 contain the address to which the writer requires the 
 answer to be directed. 
 
 As an examination with the microscope is frequently 
 of the utmost importance, any patient consulting by 
 letter is requested to forward me a flat two-ounce 
 bottle, filled with the urine passed on rising in the 
 morning, securely corked and sealed, and packed care- 
 fully in wool, (to prevent breaking,) in a seidlitz box, 
 which, with the flat bottle, may be obtained of any 
 druggist. The parcel to be addressed, carriage paid, 
 
TO PATIENTS AND INVALIDS. 181 
 
 to Dr. L. J. Jordan, 51 East Tenth Street, between 
 Broadway and University Place, New York. 
 
 Dr. Jordan particularly wishes to impress the pro- 
 priety, and, in many instances the absolute necessity, 
 of having, at all events, one personal interview, which, 
 by enabling him to form an exact judgment of the 
 nature of each case, will materially forward the cure. 
 
 Dr. Jordan may be personally consulted daily from 
 Ten in the morning till Two, and from Five till Eight 
 in the eveningy at his residence, 
 
 51 East Tenth Street, 
 
 Bet. B'dway & "University Place, 
 
 New York. 
 
A. STRIKING FBATTJRB 
 
 — OF THE — 
 
 GREAT METROPOLIS. 
 
 MUSEUM 
 
 — OF 
 
 Anatomy, Science & Art 
 
 489 SIXTH AVENUE, 
 
 Bet. 29th & 30th Sts., NEW YORK 
 
 Marvels, Curiosities, Mysteries, Wonders. 
 
 THE GREAT BOOK OF REVELATION LAID BARE IN 
 Nature, Science, Physiology, Art, Physics. 
 
 FOR GENTLEMEN ONLY. 
 
 Admission. - Twenty-five Cents. 
 

 
 
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