[98] The elements furnished by the sense of touch in sexual selection have
been discussed in the first section of the previous volume of these
_Studies_.
[99] See Appendix A. "The Origins of the Kiss," in the previous volume.
[100] See, e.g., Art. "Erection," by Retterer, in Richet's _Dictionnaire
de Physiologie_, vol. v.
[101] Guibaut, _Traité Clinique des Maladies des Femmes_, p. 242. Adler
discusses the sexual secretions in women and their significance, _Die
Mangelhafte Geschlechtsempfindung des Weibes_, pp. 19-26.
[102] In some parts of the world this is further aided by artificial
means. Thus it is stated by Riedel (as quoted by Ploss and Bartels) that
in the Gorong Archipelago the bridegroom, before the first coitus, anoints
the bride's pudenda with an ointment containing opium, musk, etc. I have
been told of an English bride who was instructed by her mother to use a
candle for the same purpose.
[103] _Parthenologia_, pp. 302, et seq.
[104] The connection of this mucous flow with sexual emotion was discussed
early in the eighteenth century by Schurig in his _Gynæcologia_, pp. 8-11;
it is frequently passed over by more modern writers.
[105] The drawing is reproduced by Ploss and Bartels, _Das Weib_, vol. i,
Chapter XVII; many facts bearing on the ethnography of coitus are brought
together in this chapter.
[106] Onanoff (Paris Société de Biologie, May 3, 1890) proposed the name
of bulbo-cavernous reflex for the smart contraction of the ischio-and
bulbo-cavernosus muscles (erector penis and accelerator urinæ) produced by
mechanical excitation of the glans. This reflex is clinically elicited by
placing the index-finger of the left hand on the region of the bulb while
the right hand rapidly rubs the dorsal surface of the glands with the edge
of a piece of paper or lightly pinches the mucous membrane; a twitching of
the region of the bulb is then perceived. This reflex is always present in
healthy adult subjects and indicates the integrity of the physical
mechanism of detumescence. It has been described by Hughes. (C.H. Hughes,
"The Virile or Bulbo-cavernous Reflex," _Alienist and Neurologist_,
January, 1898.)
[107] Roubaud, _Traité de l'Impuissance_, 1855, p. 39.
[108] _Das Weib_, seventh edition, vol. i, p. 510.
[109] The influence of impeded respiration in exciting more or less
perverted forms of sexual gratification has been discussed in a section of
"Love and Pain" in the third volume of these _Studies_.
[110] See, e.g., the experiments of Obici on this point, _Revista
Sperimentale di Freniatria_, 1903, pp. 689, et seq.
[111] Summarized in _Archives d'Anthropologie Criminelle_, March, 1903, p.
188. The tendency to closure of the eyes noted by Roubaud, to avoid
contact of the light, indicates dilatation of the pupils, for which we
need not seek other explanation than the general tendency of all
peripheral stimulation, according to Schiff's law, to produce such
dilatation.
[112] Vaschide and Vurpas, "Du Coefficient Sexuel de l'Impulsion
Musicale," _Archives de Neurologie_, May, 1904.
[113] In the _Priapeia_ is an inscription which has thus been
translated:--
"You see this organ, after which I'm called
And which is my certificate, is humid;
This moisture is not dew nor drops of rain,
It is the outcome of sweet memory,
Recalling thoughts of a complacent maid."
The translator supposes that semen is referred to, but without doubt the
allusion is to the theologians' _distillatio_.
[114] A woman of 30, normal and intelligent, after conversing on love and
passion, and then listening to the music of Grieg and Schumann, felt real
and strong sexual excitement, increased by memories recalled by the
presence of a sympathetic person. When then tested by the dynamometer the
average of ten efforts with the right hand was found to be 28.2 (her
normal average being 31.1) and with the left hand 28.0 (the normal being
30.0). There was, however, great variability in the individual pressures
which sometimes equaled and even exceeded the subject's normal efforts.
The voluntary muscles are thus in harmony with the approaching general
sexual avalanche. (Vaschide and Vurpas, "Quelques Données Expérimentales
sur l'Influence de l'Excitation Sexuelle," _Archivio di Psichiatria_,
1903, fasc. v-vi.)
[115] Cf. MacGillicuddy, _Functional Disorders of the Nervous System in
Women_, p. 110; Féré, _L'Instinct Sexuel_, second edition, p. 238; id.,
"Note sur une Anomalie de l'instinct Sexuel," _Belgique Médicale_, 1905;
also "Analysis of the Sexual Impulse," in an earlier volume of these
_Studies_.
[116] J.P. West, "Masturbation in Early Childhood," _Medical Standard_,
November, 1895.
[117] Cf. the discussion of hysteria in "Auto-Erotism," vol. i of these
_Studies_.
[118] Hirst, _Text-Book of Obstetrics_, 1899, p. 67.
[119] The earliest story of the kind with which I am acquainted, that of a
widow who was thus impregnated by a married friend, is quoted in Schurig's
_Spermatologia_ (p. 224) from Amatus Lusitanus, _Curationum Centuriæ
Septum_, 1629.
[120] Janke, _Die Willkürliche Hervorbringen des Geschlechts_, p. 238.
[121] Cf. Adler, _Die Mangelhafte Geschlechtsempfindung des Weibes_, pp.
29-38.
[122] Féré, _Pathologie des Emotions_, p. 51.
[123] This is an instinctive impulse under all strong emotion in primitive
persons. "The Australian Dieri," says A.W. Howitt (_Journal
Anthropological Institute_, August, 1890), "when in pain or grief cry out
for their father or mother."
[124] Vaschide and Vurpas, _Archives de Neurologie_, May, 1904.
[125] F.B. Robinson, _New York Medical Journal_, March 11, 1893.
[126] Féré deals fully with the various morbid results which may follow
coitus, _L' Instinct Sexuel_, Chapter X; id., _Pathologie des Emotions_,
p. 99.
[127] With regard to the relationship of detumescence to the
blood-pressure Haig remarks: "I think that as the sexual act produces low
and falling blood-pressure, it will of necessity relieve conditions which
are due to high and rising blood-pressure, such, for instance, as mental
depression and bad temper; and, unless my observation deceives me, we have
here a connection between conditions of high blood-pressure, with mental
and bodily depression, and the act of masturbation, for this act will
relieve those conditions, and will tend to be practiced for this purpose."
(A. Haig, _Uric Acid_, sixth edition, p. 154.)
[128] A medical correspondent speaks of subjective feelings of temperature
coming over the body from 20 to 24 hours after congress, and marked by
sensations of cooling of body and glow of cheeks. In another case, though
lassitude appears on the second day after congress, the first day after is
marked by a notable increase in mental and physical activity.