Part 2

And is it surprising that the continual losses do drain away strength and vitality? This fluid is the only one charged with _life_--actual _life_; capable of producing _life_--of creating offspring--of impregnating and developing into perfect being, with thinking and reasoning brain and mind, pulsating heart, expanding lungs, sentient nerves, motive muscle, and all that beautiful, minute and co-ordinate mechanism that forms a perfect human being--the only secretion in the body capable of propagating species--carrying _life_ within _life_.

Surely this was not meant for waste. Surely the influence of its loss upon the system, especially of a boy or young man (growing and not fully developed), must be great, and it is. Many and many a young man thus wastes away before the eyes of his friends from no other cause. Many a one loses health and strength from this cause alone, yet does not know it. How much better if all this false modesty, social hypocrisy, and blundering medical dosing and drugging, without thorough examination and full understanding, were wholly done away with, and the young men, and old men too, were brought to understand two cardinal facts:

(a) The immense devitalizing effects of even small continued losses of vital fluid, and,

(b) The fact that many apparently strong and healthy, as well as weak and nerveless, men who find their sexual powers gradually or suddenly failing them, can, in nine cases out of ten, trace it directly to losses of vital fluid in the urine or otherwise, that have been going on--perhaps wholly unknown to them--for months or years past.

(See also chapter on "Hidden Spermatorrhoea")

ANALYSIS OF URINE.

At the first symptom of Sexual Decay or Nervous Exhaustion, the person thus affected should have his urine carefully and thoroughly analyzed by some competent person. In saying "competent person," we speak advisedly, for but few chemists and fewer physicians are competent to make such an examination and draw correct deductions from what is to be found there. Any person can, with the proper reagents, test his urine for the presence or absence of semen, but he cannot make the thorough, scientific, chemical and microscopical analysis that is sometimes needed in order to arrive at a full and perfect diagnosis and successful treatment.

{Illustration: Fig. 3. URINE OF A YOUNG MAN SUFFERING WITH SPERMATORRHOEA. 1. Epithelial Scales from the Prostate Gland. 2. Scales from the Kidney Tubes. 3, 4. Scales from the Kidney Tubes swollen and degenerated. 5. Spermatazoa, wasted, shriveled, imperfect and dead. (In this case the Varicocele had extended up the cord.)}

If losses of semen are taking place in the urine, it would be well to forward a sample of it at once, for a full and extended analysis, which will be made for the nominal fee of $2, merely to cover the cost of chemicals.

Our Chemical Laboratory is under the supervision of Mr. G. H. E. Du Bell, Ph.D., a thoroughly competent quantitative and qualitative analytical chemist, a graduate of the French and German Universities and also a licentiate in this country, who, with his able corps of assistants, makes all examinations and reports in full upon them to the Medical Chief of Staff, who in turn submits them with the histories of each to the full Consulting Board or Staff.

_CHAPTER III._

THE FORMS, SYMPTOMS AND CONSEQUENCES Of Masturbation, Spermatorrhoea, Nervous Exhaustion and Spinal Irritability.

In no disease known to us are the symptoms precisely the same in every case. They vary with the constitutional peculiarities of the individual. Yet in nearly every case there are certain prominent or leading symptoms (signs) that are rarely absent at _some_ stage of the disease. We give here the more noticeable ones at first laid down by +Lallemand+, the great French physician, who first gave us the name "Spermatorrhoea," who first wrote upon this disease, who was the first to discover the connection between the losses of semen and certain symptoms here given, and who, too, was the great originator of that treatment so successfully perfected by his successor, +Prof. Civiale+, and which is now the _standard_ treatment, recognized and adopted in all the French hospitals.

OBJECTIVE SYMPTOMS DUE TO MASTURBATION.

First, as to the appearance and actions of the +Masturbator+--he who is constantly and recklessly drawing drafts of exhaustion and decay on the nervous energy and strength of his coming manhood, and which are sure to bankrupt the most robust health.

If there is a man to be pitied on this earth, it is he who is walking about from day to day conscious of being guilty of ever having practiced this vice. Mark the man who is addicted to it in no matter how light a form; _his face tells the story of his sin_. See his +haggard looks+, his +deep, sunken eyes+, which he throws only half-way into the countenance of his friend. _Note the +blue+ or +black discolorations+ under the +eye+; the +nervousness+ to get away from a crowd, and the extreme +girlishness+ or +backwardness+ when +introduced+ into the +company of ladies+._

The victim of the most dangerous of all vices soon reaches a state which, if not promptly relieved by the proper remedy, will end in life-long misery or an early death.

Objectively considered, the masturbator is recognized by a marked facial expression, by a characteristic mannerism, and by a peculiar mental state.

THE FACE.--_The +facial expression+ consists of a +pale+ and +sallow tint+ of the skin, unusual +development+ of +acne+,--red pimples,-- especially on the +forehead+; a +dark circle+ around the +orbits+; +dilated+ and +sluggish pupils+; +lustreless eyes+, and an +oblique line extending+ from the +inner angle+ of the +lids transversely+ across the +cheek+ to the +lower margin+ of the +malar+ (cheek) +bone+. The +face+ has a +haggard, troubled, furtive expression+._

THE MANNER.--_The +manner+ of the +masturbator+ is peculiar. He is +listless, shy, retiring+, and +easily confused+; he +avoids society+, preferring +solitude+; there is a want of +steadiness+ and +decision+ in his +locomotion+; his inferior +extremities+ seem +deficient+ in +power+, and all his movements betray +a mind ill at ease+._

THE MIND.--_His +mental operations+ are +confused+; his +speech is embarrassed, awkward+, and +without directness+; his +memory+ is +defective+, and he is +absent-minded+ and +given+ to +reverie+. If the habit has long existed, and been excessively frequent in repetition, +epilepsy+ may be produced; or +serious mental disorder+, as +delusional insanity+, +dementia+, etc., may occur._

THE SEXUAL ORGANS.--The state of the +genital organs+ varies with the length of time the habit has been indulged. In some young subjects, there will be observed an _+extraordinary development+ of the +organ+_, owing to premature excitement; but the disproportion is not maintained. Prof. Barthalow says: "With the progress of the habit the organ becomes _+small+ and +relaxed+, the +erections feeble+, the +corpora cavernosa+ either +waste away+ or their +vessels+ lose their +tonicity+, whereby an apparent +shrinkage takes place+; the +corpus spongiosum+ and the +glands+ also +shrink+, so that the +prepuce+ (fore-skin) appears +unnaturally elongated+. The +testes+ may +increase+ in +size+, become +tender+ and +irritable+_, or they may waste away to nothing but little strings; the latter is the more usual result.

"_+Pains+ in the small of the +back+, a sense of +weight+ and +aching+ in the +loins+, around the +anus+, and in the +testes+_ is experienced. _The +appetite is capricious+, the +digestion feeble, and the bowels+ are +constipated+_, or constipation alternates with diarrhoea.

"_The+ mind+ is +deficient+ in +power+ of +attention+, the +imagination is constantly pervaded with vague erotic dreams+, the +moral sense+ is +blunted+, and the +perceptions+ are +dull+ and +confused+. +Pains+ in the +head+, in the +occipital+ and +frontal regions+ (front and back of head)_, and a sense of fullness, and in serious cases _alarming +Vertigo+ (dizziness and falling); +pains+ in the course of the +principal nerves+, and an extreme +nervous susceptibility+, are experienced. The +organic nervous system+_ manifests a functional disturbance in harmony with the disorder of the nervous system of animal life. _+Gastralgia+ and +abdominal pain+ (pain in stomach and bowels)_ and +uneasiness+ are in some cases very distressing symptoms.

"The distinctiveness of the foregoing symptoms will be determined by the extent and duration of the habit, and by the constitutional peculiarities of the patient. +The more highly developed the nervous system, and the more it preponderates in activity over the muscular and digestive systems, the more serious the effects.+

EFFECTS OF MASTURBATION ON THE MIND

"The most serious +mental effects+ are produced by +masturbation+. This vice, commenced at or before the period of puberty, interferes seriously with the development of the brain and the evolution of the mental faculties.

"That +spermatorrhoea+ will produce in one class of cases +mental disorders+, and not in another, indicates either that some predisposition to these disorders existed, or that the habit of +self-pollution+ was merely an expression of +mental alienation+ (insanity). The +images+ which pervade the minds of boys possessed of the highly-developed nervous organization of masturbators are those of +delusional insanity+.

"There is, however, a +cerebral+ (brain) +phase+ of spermatorrhoea which may be separated from the two preceding classes. It is characterized by _+indistinctness of vision+, +dilatation+ of the +pupil+, +amblyopia+ (near-sightedness), +diplopia+ (double sight); +diminution+ in the +sensitiveness+ of the +auditory apparatus+ (deafness); +feebleness+ of +voice+; +mental preoccupation+, +hebetude+ of +mind+, +confusion+ of +ideas+, and a +profound melancholy+._

"The termination of such cases is in _+suicidal monomania+, +delusional insanity+, etc._ In that variety of the cerebral form in which a decided predisposition must be admitted to exist, to disorder of the intellectual faculties, there are found various forms of mental alienation. The +chronic form+ is the most common, which corresponds to the _+melancholia+ of +Pinel+, or the +lypemania+ of +Esquirol+, terminating in +dementia+._ Several of the most characteristic cases which have happened under my observation correspond to the _+delusional insanity+ of +Bucknill and Tuke+_."--[Manual of Psychological Medicine, Phila. ed., p. 103.]

INSANITY FROM SPERMATORRHOEA.

Many writers are disposed to underrate the importance of this tendency in spermatorrhoea. The statistics of any of our large insane asylums will illustrate the influence of masturbation in the production of insanity. Mr. Holmes Coote, in a discussion which followed Dr. Drysdale's paper on the "Medical Aspects of Prostitution," read before the Harveian Society of London, remarked that "he still entertained the opinion that there were no worse evils appertaining to human weakness than this. He had opportunities of witnessing the fact that among the young there was no cause of insanity more common than indulging in habits which he would not further particularize, but which were known to result in the most complete bodily and mental prostration."--[British Medical Journal, Feb. 17, 1866.]

Dr. John P. Gray, the distinguished Superintendent of the State Asylum at Utica, New York (Twenty-Fourth Annual Report, 1867), thus speaks of the +influence of masturbation+ in the production of +insanity+: "The records of this institution show five hundred and twenty-one cases admitted directly attributable to this vice, and I am well convinced that the number is greatly understated."

We might add confirmatory testimony from a variety of sources, but the foregoing is sufficient for our purpose.

IMPORTANT.--_Peculiar, numb, dead, aching, or tingling sensations in the hands, arms, legs or feet, and headache and specks before the eyes on stooping or reading; also sleeplessness, too sound sleep, and apprehensive dreams should be watched for, and the moment they appear danger from Paralysis or Insanity is to be apprehended and proper treatment at once taken. These symptoms may mean nothing in some cases, but they are terrible harbingers of ill in others._

A CASE OF INSANITY FROM SELF-ABUSE.--(_Fig. 4._)

The following case, taken _verbatim_ from the Care Book of the Insane Asylum at Blackwell's Island, will serve as a _type_ of the many to be found in every hospital for the insane in this country. (_And a terrible and noteworthy fact is, that according to the recent annual reports of these institutions, both in this country and Europe, insanity, idiocy and dementia from Seminal Losses and Sexual Abuses, are increasing from year to year._)

{Illustration: Fig. 4. Appearance of James McC----, a few weeks before he died. (See below.)}

"James McC----, admitted to the Asylum ten days ago. Single, clerk, born in N.Y. State. Was found on 6th Avenue surrounded by a crowd who were attracted by his violent and frantic efforts to destroy everything within his reach. On being arrested and taken to the 29th Precinct Station House, he was recognized by the Sergeant on duty at the desk as having been arrested twice before within a week--once for violent shouting and disturbance in the street, and once for an attempt at suicide by drowning. As he had attempted his life by hanging the last time he was locked up, and had afterwards seriously injured himself by trying to dash his brains out, he was adjudged insane, and a watch set on him all night. In the morning, when taken before the magistrate, he was violent and abusive, using the most frightfully obscene and profane language. There he was held for examination and sent to Bellevue in a "straight-jacket," which was found to be necessary in order to control him. From the padded cell there he was sent here.

"Upon examination he is found to be suffering from acute mania, alternating with periods of intense melancholia in which he invariably attempts to take his own life. His language when excited exceeds in obscenity anything ever heard. During the intervals of quiet he is constantly practicing the vile habit which has undoubtedly been the cause of his insanity. He has lost all sense of shame and continues to practice before visitors, attendants and physicians. He makes no effort to go to the water-closet, and his clothes and cell are in a filthy and disgusting state. Ever since admission he has refused all food, and it has been necessary to feed him with a stomach pump. He is losing flesh and strength every day, and is fast wasting away.

"From his relatives who have twice called to see him it was learned that his mental trouble came on very suddenly, although his memory and faculties have been failing for some time past. They say that he complained of sleeplessness, numbness and tingling sensations in the arms and legs, headache, and a peculiar itching of the skin, for months before any distinct symptoms of insanity appeared. They attribute it all to self-abuse, which he has admitted practicing from an early age.

"AUGUST 28th.--Is now paralyzed in both lower limbs. Still violent.

"SEPT. 3d.--Died this morning about 1 A.M. Is so emaciated that he is little more than skin and bones. _Rigor mortis_ entirely absent. Shortly after death the skin of the whole body changed to a dark chocolate hue."

Truth is often stranger than fiction. What end more terrible than this!

_CHAPTER IV._

SPERMATORRHOEA, OR LOST MANHOOD.

SYMPTOMS.

Spermatorrhoea may be conveniently divided into three stages.

FIRST STAGE--IRRITATION, CONGESTION.

In this stage the sexual organs of the brain and nervous system first begin to feel the strain of early abuse, overwork, confinement, sexual excess, or whatever the cause may be in this particular case.

The Prostate Gland (_j_, _b_, _Fig. 5_) the Seminal Vesicles (_l_, _Fig. 5_), Cowper's Duct (_n_, _Fig. 5_), the Testicles and Spermatic Cord (_h_, _f_, _k_, _Fig. 5_), indeed all the sexual apparatus, including the bulbous sympathetic nerves lying just inside the spine, from the small of the back down to the end of the organ, become filled with dark, thick and stagnated blood. The Prostate Gland swells and becomes enlarged, the Seminal Vesicles become weak, baggy and filled with a thin, glairy fluid that oozes out into the urine and urine canal on any little strain, exertion or excitement; especially when, after being in the presence of the opposite sex, weak, feeble erections follow. The testicles become flabby and stringy and no longer make strong, healthy, fecund vital fluid. The constant calls upon them has exhausted them as also the nerves that gave them life, strength and vitality. A heavy dragging +weight+ is often felt in the +groin+, especially after walking or long standing. There is a feeling of +weakness+ and +exhaustion+ in the parts. Often +strange sensations+ shoot through the parts, and they are +cold+ and +clammy+ at one time, while +weak+ and +sweating profusely+ at another.

{Illustration: Fig. 5. MALE ORGANS OF GENERATION. [From Acton's Celebrated Work on "The Reproductive Organs."] _Side view of Body cut in half lengthways_ showing the course taken by the +vital fluid+ from the +Testicle+ (where it is made) to the Seminal Vesicles (where it is stored). The penis is shown cut off at dotted line _g_.

As shown here the +vital fluid+ secreted in the minute tubules of the healthy testicle is gathered into the vas deferens or conveying tube _k_, which passing through the groin dips behind the bladder _a_ and empties into the Seminal Vesicles or Storehouse _b_. From here it is thrown forcibly into the urethra (urine canal) _e_, when needed, and expelled anteriorly by the ejaculatory muscles of the urethra. To reach the urethra the Seminal Duct _m_ passes directly through the body of the Prostate Gland _j_-_b_. Upon the outside of the testicle, the tube or duct is found twisted and forming a slight bunch, known as the epididymis, _f_, _g_, _h_.

It is here that the pressure of a +Varicocele+ is first felt--here that it succeeds _in cutting off the free upward flow of vital fluid_ by pressure on these soft branches of the duct, causing +emissions+ by varying and irregular pressure and +Impotence+ by constant pressure. When the +Varicocele+ becomes very large, it then destroys the delicate tubing or the testicle itself.}

The general nervous system also feels the +strain+ and +drain+. +Memory and application+, +good judgment+, +decision of character+, and +clear-sightedness+ are not what they were. +Headaches+ are not uncommon. +Bashfulness and trepidation+, especially in the presence of females, is the rule. The person feels +clumsy+, +embarrassed+ and +ill at ease+. +Sleep+ is sometimes poor, there are occasionally +terrible dreams+, sometimes +lascivious ones+ accompanied by +emissions+, +drowsiness+ and a tired, languid feeling in the morning, and a +disinclination to rise+ and go to work are certain signs of +impending+ nervous exhaustion. +The eyes are dull and heavy+, often +black-ringed+ underneath. The pupils of the eyes are unequal--often very large--sometimes one small and one large. The hands tremble and perspire +easily+. The person is +absent-minded, melancholy, prone to brood, and fears the jests+ or ridicule of his companions. The +skin+, especially of the +face+, sometimes becomes +coarse and red, sometimes is pale and pasty+ and covered with +blotches or pimples+. There is sometimes +spasm at the neck of the bladder+, causing +some delay before the urine will flow freely+. Often it is passed in a +forked or twisted stream+, plainly showing the presence of either organic or spasmodic stricture. +Twitching of the muscles of the eyelid, face and limbs+ is often present, accompanied sometimes by +creeping sensations up the spine+, +flushings of the face+, +chills+ (slight), +dizziness and black spots before the eyes+ on stooping over and occasionally by neuralgic pains in the +head+ and about the heart. If unchecked, or if the baneful habit is still persisted in, the symptoms of the First Stage merge rapidly into those of the

SECOND STAGE.--CONGESTION AND INFLAMMATION.

Here all the symptoms of the foregoing stage are usually present, only somewhat more intensified. The +congestion+ and +irritation+ are +more decided+, the +weakness+ more marked, the +nervous prostration+ more decided. Any, many, or all of the following symptoms may be present, according to the degree of severity or the rapidity of the disease:

+Emissions+ (day or night), +Oozing of a glairy fluid+ under excitement and imaginings, presence of the opposite sex, etc., +Partial+ and +Imperfect Erections, Desire to Masturbate+, Formation of +Evil Pictures in the Mind+, +Flushing and Chilliness+, +Stupidity and Tendency to Doze or Sleep+, +Mental Hebetude+, +Failing Memory+, +Lack of Power of Application, Energy or Concentration+, +Restlessness+, +Pain and Smarting+ in passing urine, +Wetting the Bed+, +Pain in the Kidneys+, +Headache+, +Pimples+ on the face or body, +Itching or peculiar sensations+ about the scrotum (bag), thighs, legs, anus, etc., +Wasting+ of the +Organs+, +Stringiness and Softening+ of the +Testicles+, +Dyspepsia+, +Sluggish Bowels+, +Torpid Liver+, +Failing Sight+, +Pains in the Head+ (front, top and back), Chest, Limbs, etc., Sensation of the +Bowels Falling Out+, +Dizziness+ on stooping over or kneeling, +Specks+ before the +Eyes+, +Erotic Dreams+, +Melancholy+ (developing sometimes into +Insanity+), +Numbness+ of arms, hands, feet or legs (precursors of +Paralysis+), +Twitchings+ of the muscles of the eyelids and elsewhere (sometimes ending in +Epileptic Fits+ or +St. Vitus' Dance+), +Timidity+, +Diabetes+ and +Deposits+ in the +Urine+, +Troubled Breathing+, +Indecision+, +Loss of Will Power+, +Bashfulness+, +Burning+ of the face, +Coldness+ and +Clamminess+ of the feet and hands, also of the +Scrotum+ (or bag), +Palpitation+ of the heart, +Early Loss of fluid during connection+, +Feelings of Gloom, Despondency, Hopelessness+ of a cure, or fear of impending danger or +misfortune+, +Tenderness of the Scalp+ and +Spine+, +Dryness+ and +Itching of the skin+, +Sudden Sweating+, +Sudden Nervous Trembling+, +Noises+ and +Reports+ in the ears and brain, +Weight+ on the brain, +Weak+ and +Flabby Muscles+, easily tired after slight exertion, +Desire to Sleep late+ in the mornings and +failure to be rested+ by sleep, +Weakness+ and +Torpor+ the day after a nightly emission has occurred, the +Oozing of thick white fluid+ from the urethra when +constipated+ or +straining at stool+, +Varicocele+, etc., etc.

WEAKNESS AND WASTING OF THE ORGANS.

As a rule the +organs waste away+ rapidly or become +curved, twisted, or misshapen+. Oftentimes the testicles +dwindle away+ to almost nothing. +Settled gloom+ and +melancholy+ pervade the mind, and +hallucinations+, +morbid fear+, +unnatural lust+, +groundless jealousy+ and a +morbid desire for solitude+ show themselves. Undoubtedly the list of promotive causes is considerably augmented by maltreatment and the employment of injudicious remedies. We should therefore suggest to all prudent persons the wisdom and importance of consulting _competent authority_ only. Self-enervation in the first instance brings about that irritability which evinces itself in +nocturnal discharges+, afterwards in inappreciable but exhaustive +diurnal discharges+, and subsequently in complete debility of the whole generative system. This seminal fluid, such indeed as it is--weak, effete and devoid of all generative power--is undoubtedly the fluid which the organs suffer to escape; and to prevent further its flow, as well as to give a healthy tone to the secretory and retentive vessels ought to form our first care.