CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH RENDER THE ACT OF VENERY MORE OR LESS INJURIOUS TO
THE CONSTITUTION AND TO THE HEALTH.
These circumstances are of two kinds: some depend on the act itself:
others are independent of it and depend most frequently upon the
disposition in which the economy is at the moment of its occurrence.
Let us study in succession these two orders of circumstances.
§ 1. CIRCUMSTANCES CONNECTED WITH THE ACT OF VENERY WHICH RENDER IT
MORE OR LESS INJURIOUS.
We have seen in the preceding chapter that the influence of these
organs is much greater the more vivid their excitement is: that,
for instance, this influence has more intensity during the state of
excitement than during that of repose: finally that its greatest
degree is felt in the act of venery. The natural consequence of these
facts is that the greater the excitement of the genital organs during
this act, the stronger must be the impression caused by it. We may
then say that its power of doing injury, other things being equal, is
in direct ratio with the force and duration of the excitement which
attends it. And further this result is proved by observation.
Compare the two sexes together: the female presents instances of
venereal excess, much less frequently than the male. Whence is this
difference? Is it not because the genital sense in females is much
less susceptible of excitement than in males, and therefore the act of
venery causes them much less fatigue? I know that this fact has been
disputed: and it is asserted that the female is fully as sensual as the
male; and that if females show their feelings less, it is because they
are controlled by custom. I know also that the reluctance of females
to submit to the approach of the male is ascribed to a kind of tender
coquetry which tends to increase the ardor of the former. Finally, the
redness of the genital organs of females during the period of heat, has
been mentioned as proving the intensity of their sensations. (_Marc_,
_Dict. des Sc. med._, _art. Celib. etc._) But these arguments cannot be
maintained in opposition to that which daily experience proves to be
true, viz., that as a general fact, females are much less addicted to
the pleasures of love than males, and experience less fatigue during
sexual intercourse.
The inferiority or perhaps the advantage which females have over males
in this respect, depends on the passiveness which they naturally
exercise in the act of generation: and hence their desires are less
strong. The state of manners justifies their reserve in this respect,
and points out a physiological fact, or rather they are the consequence
of it. As to the pretended coquetry of animals, I do not believe in it
strongly; and in regard to that of females I believe that it has caused
more to err than their desires. If the venereal passion be equally
developed in the two sexes, why is onanism more common in males than in
females, notwithstanding certain conditions ought to produce a contrary
state of things? And farther do not many wives yield themselves to the
caresses of their husbands, without desire and without enjoyment? and
yet this indifference does not prevent conception, for the sensation
of love is not with them, as with the male, an indispensable condition
of the work of generation. Finally would there be any prostitutes,
if coition caused in females the same exhaustion as in the male?
Females then are indisputably less sensual than males; and when this
fact is taken in connexion with the circumstance that women are less
frequently victims of venereal excess, does not this tend to prove,
that, other things being equal, the act of venery is, as before stated,
less injurious, in proportion, as the sensations attending it are less
vivid? Perhaps this explains why females generally live longer by two
or three years, than males, notwithstanding the pains and dangers of
pregnancy, parturition and lactation: and this fact may be deduced
according to Sir John Sinclair, from the registers of mortality of
different countries, and from the rent tables which have been kept
in Holland for a hundred and twenty-five years. Farther, it is well
ascertained that every thing which contributes to give more force and
duration to the sensations attending the act of venery, also increases
the fatigue and disorder which follow it. Coition taken in its simplest
sense, and considered only as an excretion of semen, undoubtedly
causes much less injury than if it occurs with other sensations. Thus
intercourse with public women and generally with those who do not
excite strong sensations is generally attended with less derangement,
as Hunter has remarked, than if accompanied with violent passion. Some
authors however as Sanctorius and Tissot have advanced a contrary
opinion; but they have evidently confounded the state of the mind with
that of the body. When the soul is possessed of a violent passion, the
ardors of love continue a longer time, are not so soon satisfied:
but does it follow from this that the body presents more resistance.
Certainly not, but only that the pernicious effects are felt less at
the time; although at a later period they will be perceived.
One reason why masturbation is more pernicious than coition arises
from the state of mind during the two acts. The onanist, and here we
allude only to those who have some ideas of sexual intercourse and
love, having no material object which is the beginning and the end of
its pleasures, the imagination must supply and invent it. This mental
labor renders the sensations stronger and the body more disposed to
feel them. Added to these, the onanist is desirous of prolonging his
feeling, and having under his control certain circumstances which in
sexual intercourse hasten the denouement, he retards it. Thus with
fatal skill he gives to this destructive vice all the power it can
possess, and experiences all the evil which this vice can cause.
§ 2. CIRCUMSTANCES INDEPENDENT OF THE ACT OF VENERY, WHICH RENDER IT
MORE OR LESS INJURIOUS.
The economy is not equally affected by venereal excesses in all
individuals at all periods of life. There are some circumstances
which make it necessary for masturbation or coition to be more or
less frequently repeated in order to be injurious. Hence if we wish
to know the real influence of these acts, these circumstances must
be considered. These are numerous but they are not all known. Two
individuals indulge in onanism: one becomes ill in a few weeks: but the
other resists the pernicious habit longer. These two individuals were
certainly in different states, as the event proves. This fact however
was indicated previously by no circumstance: their age, constitution
and manner of living before this were similar: in fact the reason why
they were affected so differently cannot be told. The difference here
presented by two individuals may be observed in the same person, when
considered at different epochs and periods of life. He will resist the
excess of masturbation and coition to a greater degree at some times
than at others, although the circumstances on which these differences
depend are not known. There are then unknown circumstances which have
an effect on the consequences arising from onanism. These remarks are
highly important and seem to be well understood; and it is clear that
there is no possible security for the onanist: in vain does he look
for encouragement by comparing himself to others, or by remarking of a
comrade: “if he had been as healthy as I am, his health would still be
good, he would not have died:” or by saying “why should I fear what I
have indulged in so long with impunity.” This mode of reasoning is out
of the question when the truth of the preceding remark is admitted, and
it is then impossible for a person to deceive himself; and the reason
that so many abuse themselves is because they think themselves stronger
than others.
Besides these circumstances, there are some which are well known
and which contribute more or less to render the act of venery more
detrimental. These circumstances consist first, in the general state of
the functions at different ages and in the peculiar state of some of
them at different _periods_ of life; second, in a coincidence of action
between the act of venery, and other causes of disease; third, in the
alterations which the constitution may have already suffered, and in
the disposition existing to contract certain diseases; fourth, finally
in the state of the diseases with which the patient is afflicted, when
he indulges in the act of venery.
§ 3. INFLUENCE WHICH THE GENERAL STATE OF THE FUNCTIONS HAS AT
DIFFERENT AGES, AND WHICH THE PECULIAR STATE OF SOME OF THEM AT
DIFFERENT PERIODS OF LIFE MAY HAVE ON THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE ACT OF
VENERY.
Life is composed of three very distinct periods. In the first, the
body is developed and formed: it is a period of progress: while it
continues, the organs gain in force and substance: it terminates when
they have arrived at their greatest degree of perfection: and this
generally takes place about the twenty-fifth year. During the second
period man uses the organs as they are formed and constituted. The only
process which takes place in them is one of reparation, of renewal:
this is the period of maturity: it generally terminates about the
fiftieth year. The third period is the opposite of the first: it is the
period of decline. There is, during this latter period, a progressive
deterioration of the strength and of the tissues. It terminates with
life. Thus a state of development, that of maturity, and that of
decline are the three aspects under which life presents itself. Let
us trace the effect of venereal excesses in these different phases of
action.
_First period._ No animal, and particularly no one of the vertebrated
animals can procreate on entering the world. The genital organs
doubtless exist at that time, but their form is rudimentary, which
proves that they are incapable of doing much. These organs do not
acquire the power of fulfilling their special functions, until a more
advanced period of life, which period varies in different species of
animals, but is nearly the same in all individuals of the same species.
Until this time there is no secretion of prolific semen in the male,
nor creation of ovales in the female: the procreative power does not
exist.
Man is no exception to this common rule; his genital organs, although
distinct, are scarcely developed at the moment of birth. The penis in
males, the nymphæ and clitoris in females appear it is true to have a
certain size, but this size does not depend on the development of the
true spongy, erectile tissue of these parts. The genital apparatus
continues to grow, although slowly during infancy, but it does not
become filled for reproduction until after the rapid development seen
at puberty. Hence in man, as in all animals, the power of reproduction
does not exist until after some portion of life has elapsed. What is
this portion? why does not the power come earlier or later? this is of
but little importance: existence is necessary a certain time before
it appears. But as God has made nothing useless in this world, we may
fearlessly assert that those who before the age for procreation, excite
in themselves the feelings attending this faculty, do an unnatural act
and one which is necessarily pernicious.
Thus _à priori_, and by the application of general laws all premature
indulgences are reproved. This opinion is confirmed by the study of
the human body in the first third of its existence. This period of
life is marked by two facts of the highest importance. It is then
that the organs form, that they become perfect in substance, extent,
and texture. It is then also that they acquire in action and in the
power of receiving impressions the characters which form their special
constitution, that is, the state which considered at the same time
in all the organs, composes what is called the _temperament_. During
Infancy and in youth, the formation of the substance of the body and
of its constitution, is going on. Let us compare with this process, on
the regularity of which the health, and well-being of the individual
depends, let us compare, we say venereal indulgences, or rather
masturbation, for this alone is then possible; we shall then see why
the generative faculty was not born with us, and why the precocious
excitement of the genital sense is attended with so much danger.
The first result of this excitement is to hasten the material and
sensitive development of the genital organs. The preternatural size
which masturbation gives to the penis in children is so remarkable
that this alone is often sufficient to reveal this habit. Farther
this excitement not only awakens the venereal sense long before the
legitimate period of its appearance, but it acquires so much power
that the youngest persons brave all connective means to satisfy it.
Here then we have a system of organs forcing their development forward
at the expense of the other organs. This state undoubtedly causes
derangement and if we compare the genital organs with those which have
the least sensibility, we may form an opinion of the consequences
of it. If we reflect on the symptoms attending dentition which are
often severe; or those depending on too rapid growth of the bones, and
then measure the great difference between the vitality of the osseous
and genital systems, we can form an idea of the injury caused by the
premature enlargement of the genital apparatus. Although there may be
no real disease, yet the wasting of the body, the enervation which
results from excessive growth are often sufficient to give to a young
man the appearance of an onanist.
If such feelings arise simply from the osseous system, what must we
expect when onanism, with its train of moral and of sensual feelings,
forces the genital organs to take part in the efforts of growth. The
power which is then impaired is the same which we have seen extend
over all parts of the organization, that, whose action when regular,
contributes so much to make each tissue perfect, in fact that which
when removed gives to man the characters of an eunuch. Now consider
onanism as possessing this power and using to do injury all the
energy which it possesses to do good; what limits shall be assigned
to its injurious effects? and yet some authors question them. Many
general phenomena of puberty also appear prematurely, when premature
indulgences call them into development. Thus the beard appears on the
chin, the pubis is covered with hairs, the voice assumes a deeper tone,
and the first indications of virility show themselves much earlier than
is proper. These symptoms serve to trace the aberrations which onanism
causes in the formation of the organs. This vice too does not surely
hasten or retard; it deranges: for the derangement of the functions
is not generally manifested by irregularities in formation, aspect,
and texture, but by material alterations, by diseases. Hence why
inflammations of all kinds, and numerous organic affections result, as
observation proves, sooner or later from anticipated pleasures: now as
the susceptibility of the organs varies in individuals, and as in one,
the heart, in another the lungs, the stomach &c. is most liable to be
affected, we see why the list of diseases caused by onanism, comprises
most of those which afflict the human body.
Nor is this all; if the excitement of a sense, which affects all the
other organs, and to which they respond, occurs at a time when their
mode of action and of sensation, or their temperament is not formed,
this latter varies from what it would be, if developed calmly and
uninfluenced by this excited sense. Hence not only the _health_ but
the _constitution_ suffers from the too precocious use of the genital
organs. He who might have attained the age of manhood, with a robust
temperament by which his body resists numerous bad influences by which
it is constantly assailed, will after indulging in onanism, be exposed
to all these influences. This vice then compromises both the present
and future health of the body; the present by the diseases with which
it is accompanied, and the future by those for which it prepares.
Hence if the young man escapes with life, he is as it were loaded with
a tribute of ills which he must pay before long and perhaps always.
Thus the indirect influence of onanism in producing human suffering is
enormous. I consider it even as greater in proportion than that of the
most immediate consequences of this fatal habit. This is confirmed not
only by daily observation, but it cannot be otherwise. How much then
do those deceive themselves who seek for the diseases of masturbation
without believing in their existence, and who continue to indulge
because they do not see its abuses.
If premature indulgence cause so much injury it should be one of
the most interesting duties of humanity to prevent children and
young persons from abusing themselves, and although the practice of
onanism cannot be controlled by laws, legislators might however fix
the age under which marriages could not legally take place. We must
however admit that circumstances connected with the social state of
different people, with the power of procuring the means of subsistence
for a family and the necessity of having vigorous children have
contributed not a little to fix this age. Thus the laws frequently
present differences which can only be explained by taking into view
the necessities under which they were passed. Females however are
allowed to marry much younger than males: this depends on two facts,
first because puberty takes place earlier in females than in males,
and secondly because the latter require their organization to be more
advanced to resist the fatigue of generation.
The age at which the venereal power enters into full action, and when
its exercise is attended with the least detriment has been generally
determined on two distinct grounds: first, the physical aptitude for
sexual intercourse: second, the general state of the organization.
The marriageable age has been fixed at an earlier or later period
according as legislators have assumed one or the other of these bases.
The first served as foundations for the matrimonial laws of the Romans:
and probably the second served as a guide to Lycurgus, who prohibited
men from marrying before the age of thirty-seven, and to Plato who
recommended that every child born of a female younger than twenty years
old or begotten by a man less than thirty years, should be branded with
infamy. J. J. Rousseau too reasons in the same manner: “until the age
of twenty,” he says, “the body grows and has need of all its substance:
continence is natural, and if not observed it is at the expense of the
constitution.”
Although the physical aptitude for coition comes at the age of puberty,
this fact proves nothing except that the genital organs can then be
used. It does not follow that the genital power is fully developed
or that the body is in the state most favorable for its use. Who
would venture to say; that because masturbation is practicable in
early infancy that it is not more injurious than at a later period of
life? Hence the cause and degree of the evils attendant on premature
indulgence is to be sought for in the degree of perfection of the
organism as we have already stated. We therefore think ourselves
justified in saying that other things being equal the period of life
when the act of venery is attended with the least trouble, is that
which begins when the organization is completed, is perfected; and as
a reverse of this formula, we may say, that other things being equal,
venereal enjoyments anterior to this period, are more detrimental, the
less perfect the system is.
The _perfect state_ then is the point to which the system must
arrive, before the act of venery is permitted, and before marriage
is allowable. There is then no longer any fear of disturbing the
formative process. Look at animals, those at least which are not
domesticated; they do not indulge in the act of reproduction, until
they have attained their full vigor, and how often too do severe
battles take place for a female. The domestic animals live in a manner
which hastens the development of the venereal sense; and they often
indulge in procreating at an early period, but suffer for it, and the
genital faculties soon become extinct. It seems also to be proved by
the researches of Hofalker of Inspruch and Girou of Buzaringues, that
both in man and animals the age of the individuals has an influence
on the sex and quality of the offspring. But why look to animals for
proofs? Daily observation and the testimony of all authors, put beyond
all doubt the danger of precocious indulgence. There are certainly
numerous individuals of every age who indulge in venereal excesses;
but those cases which come under our notice, or whose histories are
related by authors, are generally those of young people. Different
causes I know may contribute to this result; one of the principal is,
that masturbation is the act of venery most frequently practised before
the adult age, and that this is generally more pernicious than coition.
We have already stated one reason for this difference; we may add that
as onanism does not require the concurrence of the sexes, it is more
liable on this account to excess. But do these causes alone explain
why the immediate consequences of venereal excesses are not seen with
but few exceptions except at an early period of life. The enormous
disproportion arises from the precocity of these excesses, and also
from the state of the economy before it is perfect.
We have now to determine at what period of life the body arrives at
its perfect state and the distance which separates it from this state
at the different ages which precede it. This period however is varied
by many circumstances, and it is far from being the same in every
individual, in the same country or in the same climate. We can then
present only mean results, deduced from those collected in France which
are the most numerous and authentic.
As we have already said, the organization of the human body is
composed of two parts: the development of the tissues and that of
the constitution. The economy then cannot be said to be in a perfect
state until this double development is finished, and the organs
have gained all their power and substance. Unfortunately the labor
of the constitution and its progress in activity and in receiving
impressions, cannot be estimated by positive rules: but it is connected
so intimately with the development of the body, that this can give a
sufficiently exact idea of its progress and state. We may then simply
by a glance at the development of texture, fix with a certain degree
of precision, the value of these words: _premature_ and _precocious
enjoyments_.
It would be out of place to examine the different organs separately and
trace their growth, and in the present state of science we cannot give
this labor the precision necessary to attain our purpose. But there is
one fact which can be measured, viz., the weight of the body. Let us
state then the varieties in weight presented at different periods of
life, as determined by Quetelet and Villermé.
The mean weight of a male child at birth is three kilogrammes and
twenty decimetres. Each year its weight increases in the following
proportion:
At 1 year he weighs 9 kil. 45 dec.
2 " " 11 34
3 " " 12 47
4 " " 14 23
5 " " 15 77
6 " " 17 74
7 " " 19 10
8 " " 20 76
9 " " 22 64
10 " " 24 52
11 " " 27 10
12 " " 29 82
13 " " 34 38
14 " " 38 76
15 " " 43 62
16 " " 49 67
17 " " 52 85
18 " " 57 85
19 " " 60 06
25 " " 62 93
30 " " 63 95
40 " " 63 67
50 " " 64 46
60 " " 61 94
70 " " 59 52
80 " " 57 83
90 " " 57 83
This table shows us that man attains the maximum of weight at forty
years of age. At this age then we may regard the economy as being
perfect. Now when we consider that persons from twelve to eighteen
years indulge most frequently in masturbation and that this habit may
be formed at a very young age, we may easily conceive of the ills
with which it may be attended. This consequence is seen more clearly
and exactly by the following table. The mean weight of man when the
organization is complete being sixty-three kilogrammes sixty-seven
decimetres, at the time of birth he has yet to gain sixty kilogrammes
forty-seven decimetres.
At 1 year old 54 kils. 22 dec.
2 " 52 33
3 " 51 20
4 " 49 44
5 " 47 90
6 " 46 43
7 " 44 57
8 " 42 91
9 " 41 02
10 " 39 15
11 " 36 57
12 " 33 85
13 " 29 29
14 " 24 91
15 " 20 05
16 " 14 00
17 " 10 82
18 " 5 82
20 " 3 61
25 " 0 74
30 " 0 02
Hence it will be seen that a man who at the moment of birth only
possesses about .05 of the growth he afterwards attains, will have at
most only a quarter of his full weight when 5 years old, at which age
many children begin to indulge in masturbation. When ten years of age,
he has yet to gain nearly .60 and nearly .40 of his weight when he has
arrived at his fourteenth year. When sixteen years old, one fifth of
his weight is still deficient, and at eighteen years nearly one tenth;
his growth although nearly completed at the age of twenty-five, is not
entirely attained, since even when thirty years old, the weight of the
body is capable of a slight increase.
_Of the effect of venereal excesses when the subject of them has
attained his growth._ The age of maturity is the period when venereal
pleasures are attended with the slightest derangements and dangers. At
this period these pleasures may not only not be injurious, but may even
be necessary. This last circumstance would be sufficient to distinguish
this period from those of the growth and decline of the body, when
these pleasures are never useful. Let it not be thought, however, that,
at the age of maturity, they may be indulged in to excess, or that the
pleasures of love are limited only by the power of indulging in them,
this is a great mistake; abuses are less frequent, but they do occur,
as is seen both by experience and by simple reasoning. Although at
the age of maturity the body increases but slightly, yet the process
of nutrition is not arrested. It is true that the size and weight of
the body no longer increase, but its substance is constantly renewed.
The act of venery may then interfere with and derange as before the
function of nutrition. The constitution also may be affected, and
although the regular course of its formation may not be deranged, yet
it may be deteriorated and its influence on the action and sensation of
the different organs is so great, that if this deterioration proceed
to any extent, these organs will suffer. Thus the health may be
injured and the constitution impaired in adults, by venereal excesses;
their influence however is resisted longer. The adult age may even
present more unfavourable conditions for venereal excess than the
period of growth. It may be attended with diseases transmitted from
preceding years. In the adult age, the errours of youth are atoned
for: wretchedness, debauchery, and excesses of every kind may leave
their mark upon the body. Venereal excesses then find the constitution
impaired, the health deranged, and they increase the evil already
existing. Those particularly who have indulged in masturbation in
their youth, perceive on arriving at the adult age, that if they wish
to taste the pleasures of love, even to a moderate extent, they are
affected with bad feelings which prove that premature indulgences must
be paid for with interest.
Different circumstances may render the act of venery injurious at the
adult age, but as these do not belong exclusively to this age, we shall
speak of them hereafter.
_Of the effect of venereal excesses in the period of decline._ The
faculty of procreating in mankind has its limits: as this power is not
attained till at a certain period of life, so too it continues only
for a certain period. The spermatic animalculæ, the microscopic sign
of the power of generating, are seen only during a portion of human
existence: they do not appear till puberty, and disappear in advanced
life. This is true also in regard to all animals: the rule is a general
one. God has willed that the period of maturity should be the only one
devoted to love: is it not a fair conclusion that those who transgress
this law expose themselves to its penalties? As the sense of venery
precedes, so too it may outlive, the procreative power; it then excites
to indulgence at too late a period of life. Examples of this anomaly
are very common; hence we need not refer for them to the works of the
old writers, we will merely say that a large portion of those committed
for attempts at rape are old men. Fortunately the venereal sense is
that which suffers the soonest from excesses; and if sometimes the
venereal desires are excited, the state of the genital organs prevents
their indulgence.
Sometimes, however, the case is otherwise: excited in different ways
the genital organs in old men, may for a few moments appear to have
regained a faculty which they considered to be lost; these imprudent
persons soon pay dearly for their indiscretion. Let us reflect a moment
on the state in which venereal pleasures find man in his old age.
His substance, instead of increasing or of continuing sound, wastes
away. We have seen in a former page, that after the fortieth year the
weight of the body begins to diminish; the tissues also vary in every
respect from the perfect state as seen at the age of maturity. Farther
the sensibility is diminished, the vital activity is enfeebled, the
faculties become enervated, in short the economy is impaired. Need
we now to make any remarks in regard to the most exhausting of human
actions to show its danger? And yet we have only pictured old age as it
progresses of its own accord, gently and slowly, without being hurried
on by any infirmity; but this rarely happens.
In speaking of the adult age, I have pointed out the affections with
which it is attended. But the case is worse in old age. All parts of
the body have suffered so many attacks, have been so often affected,
that hardly one of them can be called sound. Hence every cause of
disease is serious and important, the body being as it were ripe for
a diseased affection. What ought then to be the influence of the act
of venery? Will it not quicken into life, the seeds of disease which
are as it were already sown? In fact it often has a violent effect on
the system, and sudden death follows exertions which ought not to be
made. How many old men have yielded up their existence in the nuptial
bed, when their term of life might have been continued, if they had not
exhausted their strength in unnatural exertions.
We have said that the peculiar state of some functions may render the
act of venery more injurious at some periods of life than at others.
The functions to which we alluded, were digestion, menstruation,
pregnancy, and lactation.
Masturbation and coition are often practised after taking food.
Sometimes the general excitement attending the labor of digestion
extends to the genital organs, and excites to these acts. We cannot
say that they are then always injurious: as this would be contradicted
by facts; but that they frequently are is supported by the opinions of
all authors, who have written on the subject. “Coition after eating,”
says Sanctorius, “is injurious,” and he attributes the same effect to
thoughts of venery. His commentator Lorry confirms this opinion.
The act of venery during digestion, may injure in two modes. First by
deranging the digestive system, and by exposing it to the affections
which are the usual consequences of such a derangement. To this
must be referred most of the derangements usually presented by the
digestive organs of onanists, who merely watch their opportunities
for self-pollution, without regarding whether digestion is or is not
finished. Happily vomiting then sometimes rids the stomach of food
which might be badly digested, and thereby cause more disturbance.
The second mode in which the act of venery acts during digestion, is
by causing a general state of excitement, which adds to that caused
by the digestive process. All the organs as the heart, lungs, brain,
&c., are during digestion in a state of hyperemia, of congestion;
they are crowded with blood, as is indicated by a great number of
symptoms. It can easily be imagined that venereal excitement under
such circumstances, may become the cause of inflammations and organick
affections, or may, at least, contribute to their development;
by increasing also a congestion caused by an abundant repast, it
may immediately excite severe and fatal symptoms. Instances of
individuals who have died during the act of coition, after leaving the
dinner-table, are by no means rare. Campet states a case where a man on
quitting the dinner-table, at which he had drank freely, was accosted
by a public woman, went home with her, and died in her arms. A marshal
of France a few years since, met his death in a similar manner.
The act of venery, if indulged in during the period of menstruation,
may sometimes derange this function.
The injuries resulting from coition during pregnancy have never been
doubted; by some, however, too much importance and by others too
little has been attached to this state. Levret attributes most cases
of abortion, which cannot otherwise be accounted for, to this cause.
Zimmerman, Gardien, Murat, Dugès, &c., also regard this act as a
frequent cause of miscarriage. Different conclusions have been drawn
from these opinions. Some authors assert, that females have a right to
deny their husbands during gestation. Montaigne is of this opinion.
Some natives as the Mahometans, repudiate all intercourse with pregnant
females. In some African tribes, pregnant women are secluded, and no
one is allowed to have intercourse with them. Pallas states that the
Calmuck Tartars condemn the person, whose incontinence has caused
abortion, to pay a fine, the amount of which is directly in proportion
to the age of the fetus.
The most general opinion however of physicians on this subject, is
that coition to a moderate extent during pregnancy, and where there is
no disposition to miscarriage, is not generally detrimental: but that
when this act is repeated imprudently, it may cause great excitement in
the uterus, and be attended with abortion. Continence is particularly
recommended to nervous females, and must be insisted upon when there
is reason to fear abortion. We must however observe, that venereal
excesses have often been indulged in during pregnancy with evil
intents, but without producing the desired result.
Lactation has also been considered by some authors as contra indicating
the pleasures of love. Children it is said have been known to become
convulsed, when nursing just after their mothers had indulged in sexual
intercourse. Lascivious nurses have generally been regarded as bad.
Many mothers, however, admit the embraces of their husbands, and their
offspring does not suffer. We are far from thinking that the influence
supposed to be exercised by the act of venery upon the milk of nurses,
is entirely unfounded; hence this act should be used with moderation.
_Influence which the act of venery may have, when coincident either
with the action of other causes of disease, or with alterations in the
constitution and health._ When an individual suddenly changes his mode
of living, and the influences to which he has been exposed, and becomes
a subject to new influences, his health most generally suffers to a
certain extent. This is seen in the young man who comes directly from
the pure air of the country into the confined atmosphere of the city,
and in those who remove from the temperate to the torrid zone. The
action of powerful causes of disease, of excessive heat, of deleterious
exhalations, often adds to the simple change of habit. Thus all authors
who have written on the diseases of warm countries, consider the act
of venery, as one of the most active occasional causes of yellow
fever, of malignant fevers, of cholera morbus, and generally of the
severe diseases contracted by Europeans. A similar disposition may
be seen in young men, who pass many hours in the infected atmosphere
of hospitals, and particularly in dissecting-rooms, if they indulge
with females or in onanism: typhus fevers have been caused by it.
The individual who lives in a filthy neighbourhood, who experiences
privations, who indulges to excess in wine or spirituous liquors,
who labors hard either corporeally or mentally, who is deprived of
sleep, who is affected with sadness, &c., bears the act of venery
badly; it adds to the enervation already felt, and generally robs the
individuals of health. Venereal pleasures should be abstained from,
during the prevalence of epidemics: every person is then disposed to
the prevailing disease, and a single act of coition may produce it.
The influence of the act of venery is much more injurious, when the
causes which we have mentioned, and generally all those which may
impair the constitution, have affected it to a greater or less degree.
Diseases of long duration, if badly treated, excesses and the causes
mentioned above may bring the system to such a state, that enjoyments
even if seldom indulged in, may produce great suffering and disease.
Venereal excesses may also create predispositions and change them
as well as those which have a different origin into other morbid
affections.
It is well known that the venereal desires do not generally exist,
except the person be in a state of health. The same may be said too
of the generative power, if we may judge from Haller’s remark that
the spermatic animalculæ disappear during disease. It is ascertained
that the number of conceptions is in a direct ratio with the degree
of health enjoyed by a people; they increase in a healthy season,
and diminish in an unhealthy season. This fact is established by the
researches of Villermé in regard to the births and deaths in France,
Italy, England and Belgium, and also in regard to the marshy parts
of France at different periods of the year, (_Ann. d’hyg. publ._,
_January_, 1831.) Thus then the genital sense, like that of hunger,
and probably the power of procreating, like that of digesting, is
most generally suspended during disease. Is not this one of the many
warnings of the organization, as to the preservative power?
It is true however that individuals indulge in coition and masturbation
although even in an advanced state of disease. This is most frequently
seen in onanists. “I have seen,” says Pinel, “a person affected with
a dynamic fever who was entirely exhausted, and yet his passion for
onanism was so powerful, that on the sixth day of the disease he
still attempted to excite his organs, although death was coming upon
him.” Similar cases have been witnessed by every practitioner, which
we shall mention in the course of this work. Thus then even a severe
disease does not entirely prevent the act of venery. Let us now inquire
what is the effect when such people indulge. It must be admitted that
this indulgence is at least useless, except in very rare cases, where
continence is the cause of sickness. Strictly speaking, this may be
the case in certain chronic affections and in some few individuals,
but it is rare. The power of the act of venery is so great, and the
diseased organs are generally so sensitive to the impressions made
on the economy, that if there are apparently some diseases which
seem unaffected by this act, it is because the modification which
they experience escapes observation. We may then state as a general
rule that if the act of venery be indulged in by sick people, it is
injurious and generally to a great degree. How great is the injury when
the disease is caused by venereal indulgences.
It often happens that diseases resist to an unaccountable extent all
remedial agents: suspicion is excited and finally we find that the
patient, an onanist before he was taken sick, has continued to abuse
himself through his sickness: and again, the symptoms of the disease
under treatment gradually disappear: but the strength does not return,
nor does the patient become convalescent. Debility increases instead
of diminishing: the patient becomes thinner and the fever continues:
finally the sick person falls into a consumption and the fatal habit
is at last discovered. In others the disease seems to be terminated,
but is suddenly re-excited, the patient being too hasty to indulge
in masturbation or coition. This happened to a man fifty years old,
who was gouty, and much addicted to the pleasures of the table, and
whose case is related by Hoffman. Having indulged in coition soon
after he was convalescent from pleurisy, this man had a relapse which
was much more dangerous than the original illness. The same author
states a similar case, where the imprudence was followed by death.
Scrofula, rickets, gout, and stone are says M. Marc, diseases, which
on arriving at a certain point, are aggravated by coition. The same
remark applies to all other maladies. M. Falret mentions a female
affected with melancholy at the hospital Salpetrière, whose mental
affection has several times been re-excited by onanism, after she was
thought to be cured. Cutaneous diseases in particular may give an idea
of the influence exercised by the act of venery on those maladies
which are deeply situated. Alibert mentions the history of an herpetic
disease which was always more intense after the patient had indulged
in onanism: this unfortunate individual was then tormented by a severe
itching.
The irregularity and singularity of the symptoms of those sick people
who indulge in onanism, are particularly remarkable. The nervous system
evidently feels an influence in addition to that of the disease, or is
disposed to be particularly affected by all those which occur. This
fact, established by Tissot and Georget, should always be remembered
by physicians. We may form an idea of the derangement caused by the
act of venery in the progress and appearance of diseases by the severe
symptoms which it produces in wounds and particularly those of the
head. Tetanus, delirium, and other nervous symptoms have often been
caused by it. Fabricius de Hilden states the case of a young man whose
hand was amputated, and whose physician forbid having any intercourse
with his wife, who was also informed of the danger. But when all
the symptoms disappeared, and the cure was progressing rapidly, the
patient feeling desires to which his wife could not respond, procured a
seminal emission without coition; it was immediately followed by fever,
delirium, convulsions and other symptoms, and in four days the patient
died.
Death also often follows coition in patients affected with diseases
of the heart and large vessels. This was seen in the case of Corroy,
a servant at the hospital la Chardité. One evening while intoxicated
he met a courtezan with whom he proposed spending the night, but in
the midst of his transports he suddenly died. On examining his body it
was found that he had an aneurism near the commencement of the arch of
the aorta. The rupture of this tumor was evidently the cause of his
sudden death. Probably also a similar occurrence happened in the case
mentioned by Felix Plater. The patient having married a second time,
experienced, while consummating the marriage, such a violent degree
of suffocation that he was forced to suspend his efforts: the same
symptom re-appeared whenever he again attempted it. Having consulted
a charlatan, he was recommended to persevere: he did so, and died.
Examples of sudden death during coition are not rare. Death generally
arises from aneurism or apoplexy. Pliny the naturalist mentions two
cases, and Tabourdot in his _Bigarrures_, has preserved the epitaphs of
several who have perished in this manner.