Part 29

[321] _Julius Firmicus Maternus_, Astronomica bk. III. chs. 7 and 8., In loco octavo ♀ ab horoscopo constituto ... si ☿ cum ea fuerit vel cum ☿ Venerem in hoc loco positam, malevola stella respexerit, vel per quadratum vel diametrum, vel si cum ipsis, in hoc loco fuerit inventa, omne eius qui natus fuerit patrimonium dissipatur vel qualicunque proscriptione nudatur, _mors vero illi per gonorrheam_, id est _defluxionem seminis_, aut contractionem vel spasmum aut apoplexin fertur. (In the eighth place determined by the horoscope stands ♀ Venus.... If ☿ (Mercury) be in conjunction with it, or if Venus standing in this place with ☿ (Mercury) be faced by an evil star, whether by quadrate or diameter, or if such star is found in conjunction with them in this place, all the patrimony of him who has been born under this conjunction is wasted, or is lost utterly by some proscription or another, and _his death is brought about by gonorrhœa, that is to say a flux of the semen_, or cramp or spasm or apoplexy.)

[322] Caelius Aurelianus, Morb. Chron. bk. V. ch. 7., Item antecedens causa supradictae passionis, quam _seminis_ appellamus _lapsum_, fuisse probatur, a qua discernitur, si quidem illa passio etiam per diem vigilantibus aegris fluere facit semen, nulla phantasia in usum venereum provocante. (Such is proved to have been another antecedent cause of the above named malady, which we call _discharge of semen_; but a distinct cause has to be assigned, if it so be that the malady in question makes the semen flow even by day and when the patients are awake, and though no dream provokes to the exercise of love). _Philagrius_ appears to have made this distinction quite correctly, when as quoted by _Aëtius_ (Tetrab. III. serm. 3. ch. 34.), De seminis in somno profluvio, Philagrii (On the discharge of semen in sleep, according to Philagrius), he says: Semen in somnis profundere dicuntur quicumque dum dormiunt, _naturae genitale semen_ emittunt, quod ipsum eis ut plurimum ob vitiati humoris materiam, aut materiae multitudinem aut ob partium seminalium robur contingit. Iam vero quidam et ob animi moestitiam aut inediam, per somnos praeter consuetudinem semen excreverunt, atque id materiae acrimonia irritati, non ob partium seminalium robur, pertulerunt etc. (They are said to discharge semen in sleep, whoever during slumber, ejaculate _the genital seed of nature_, because they possess it in the greatest degree of abundance either on account of the constituting material of the semen being vitiated or on account of the copiousness of this material, or else on account of the vigour of the seminal organs. But there are also many cases where men have emitted semen in sleep contrary to their wont in consequence of sadness of spirits or fasting, having done so because irritated by the acridness of the material, and not through any vigour of the seminal organs, etc.). The only pity is that Aëtius has not preserved for us his (Philagrius’) opinion as to gonorrhœa, and has not shown clearly exactly what belongs to Philagrius in the Chapter; for a great deal, as indeed is stated, is from Galen and referred by the compiler to gonorrhœa. Philagrius in fact only lived in the latter half of the Fourth Century,—A.D. 364 according to Sprengel, 300 according to Lessing.

[323] _Actuarius_, Meth. med. bk. IV. ch. 8., Convenit ad haec reliqua victus ratio, quae ad siccitatem declinet, sed non sit calidior, verum frigida. Insuper nutriendus aeger est, viresque modice reficiendae; namque ob continuam excretionem languet corpus et imbecillum est. Quies apta est, et balnea quae humectent tamen alioqui non sunt idonea. Animalia agrestia, quae refrigerantibus exsiccantibusque condiantur, sunt accommodata et vinum pauculum tenueque. (Consistent with this are the remaining rules of diet. This should incline towards dryness, but must not be at all hot, but cold. Further the sufferer must be adequately nourished, and his strength fairly well kept up; for owing to the constant ejaculation of semen the body grows languid and weak. Rest is desirable, and baths, in other circumstances used for moistening the body, are not here advisable. Game, seasoned with cooling and desiccating condiments, is appropriate, and a little thin wine.)

[324] _Celsus_, bk. IV. ch. 21. In hoc affectu salutares sunt vehementes frictiones, perfusiones natationesque quam frigidissimae. (In this complaint violent frictions are advantageous, also aspersions and plunge baths as cold as they can be borne).

[325] _Galen_, De sanitate tuenda bk. VI. ch. 14. (VI. p. 444.),—The best illustration in reference to the statements made in this connection by _Aëtius_ (Tetrab. III. serm. 3. ch. 33.), which indeed is superscribed as Galen’s and draws most of its material from him and from Aretaeus, showing however in many ways that it was based on personal observation or that the author had before him some better and older authority. Unfortunately the passage, previously glanced at, was subsequently mislaid by us, and so we are able merely to give it in a Footnote, with the request that the reader will complete from it what is said in the text. Profluvium igitur seminis, vasorum seminariorum affectio est, non pudendi, _quae dolorem quidem non ita valde inferre solet, molestiam autem non vulgarem et_ pollutionem exhibet ob assiduum et invitis contingentem seminis fluxum. Oboritur autem aliquando etiam ex seminariorum vasorum fluxione, _quandoque etiam satyriasi praecedente profluvium seminis succedit_. Contingit autem affectio maxime pubertatem transgressos citra decimum quartum annum, imo aliis etiam aetatibus. Est autem semen quod profluit, aquosum, tenue, citra appetentiam coeundi et ut plurimum quidem citra sensum, quandoque vero cum voluptate quadam promanans. Corrumpitur affectis sensim universum corpus ac gracilescit, praesertim circa lumbos. Consequitur et debilitas multa, non ob multitudinem seminis profluentis sed ob locorum proprietatem. _Non solum autem viris sed et mulierculis hoc accidit, et in feminis sane aegre tollitur._ Ceterum cura communis est cum ea quae in omni fluxione adhibetur. _Primum igitur in quiete et pauco cibo ac aquae potu affectos asservare oportet_; deinde etiam lumbos et pubem contegere lanis vino et rosaceo aut oenanthino aut melino madefactis. Neque vero ineptae sunt spongiae posca imputae. Sequentibus vero diebus cataplasmatis ex palmis, malis, acacia hypocisthide, oenanthe, rhoe rubro et similibus. Insessibus item adstringentibus utendum est, ex lentisci, rubi, myrti et similium in vino austero sive mero sive diluto decocto. Cibis autem utendum qui aegre corrumpantur et difficulter permutantur et resiccandi vim habent. Dandum etiam cum potu et cibis, viticis ac _cannabis_ semen praesertim tostum. Rutae item semen ac folia, lactucae semen et cauliculi ac nymphaeae radix. In potu vero quotidie pro communi aqua, _aqua in qua ferrum saepe extinctum est_ praebeatur. Quidam vero corticem radicis halicacabi ex aqua eis bibendum praebuerunt, neque ineptum fuerit huius aliquando periculum facere. _Antidotus_ etiam _haec magnae celebritatis_ tum ad hoc modo semen profudentes, tum ad assidua in omnis profluvia commode exhibetur. Seminis salicis ʒvjj calaminthae ʒvj seminis viticis albae ʒv rutae ʒjv seminis cicutae ʒjj cum aqua in pastillos digerito et ex eis ad Ponticae nucis magnitudinem cum poscae cyathis tribus praebeto. _Omnem vero acrium rerum esum et multi vini potum_ et olerum exhibitionem _vitare oportet_, diaetam vero universam resiccatoriam et adstringentem constituere. Post prima autem mox tempora ad unctiones et exercitatricem diaetam transeundum, per quam totum corpus et praesertim affecta, ad sanitatem perducantur, et plurima quidem tempora circa unctiones immorandum, paucies vero lavandum, si aut lassitudini aut cruditati mederi velimus. Bonum fuerit etiam, _si nihil prohibuerit, ad frigidae lavationem_ defugere, quae omnem morbum ex fluxione obortum depellere consuevit, maxime si medicamentaria qualitate aqua praedita sit, velut sunt in Albulis aquae, quae etiam in potu acceptae eis summe prosunt. Sunt autem sapore subsalso et tactu lactei teporis. Convenit item per intervalla quaedam illitionibus et epithematis et malagmatis uti, quae rubefacere et emollire possint, atque ea quae in profundo haerent ad superficiem transferre. _Decubitus_ porro _frequenter in latus fiat_, calaminthae foliis et rutae et viticis substratis. Epithema autem in eis usu venit hocce. Capillum Veneris multum contundito et terito cum aceto aut apii succo aut seridis aut psyllii eoque cochlearum carnes coctas excipito et simul in linteolum infarta coxendicibus imponito. Utendum vero et praescripto ad priapismum cerato et iis quae paulo mox ad seminis in somno profluvia dicentur. _Omnem autem de rebus venereis cogitationem excludere oportet._ (Thus we see excessive discharge of semen is an effection of the seminal vessels, not of the member. _This complaint does not indeed as a rule cause any very great pain, but it does occasion no ordinary degree of inconvenience_ and defilement in consequence of the constant involuntary discharge of semen. However sometimes it may arise from a flux in the seminal vessels, and _occasionally on an antecedent attack of satyriasis profuse discharge of semen supervenes_. The malady particularly attacks those who have passed the period of puberty but are under fourteen, but other ages are also liable. And the semen that is discharged is watery, thin, the discharge being unaccompanied with any desire for coition, and indeed as a rule without any feeling whatever, though at times taking place with a certain voluptuous sensation. The whole body of those attacked suffers and becomes wasted, especially in the lumbar region. There follows great weakness, not so much owing to the amount of the semen discharged as to the nature of the parts affected. _Again, this disease is not peculiar to men, but assails young women as well, and in the case of females is eliminated with very great difficulty._ However the treatment is the same as that applied in all fluxes. First of all therefore patients must observe rest and a scanty diet both in food and drinking water; then the loins and pubis should be covered with cloths moistened with wine, and _rosaceum_ and oenanthinum and melinum (oil of roses, of young vine buds, of melilot). Sponges soaked in posca (acid drink of vinegar and water) are also appropriate. Then on the succeeding days cataplasms of palms, apples, acacia, hypocisthis (parasitic plant growing on the cisthus), wild vine, red wild-poppy, and the like. Embrocations moreover should be employed of an astringent character, consisting of a decoction of the mastic, bramble, myrtle and the like, in hard wine, whether unmixed or diluted. Diet should embrace such foods as resist corruption and deterioration, and possess a desiccative quality. Along with the food and drink should be administered the juice of the agnus castus and of _hemp_, especially after boiling. Also the juice and leaves of rue, the juice of lettuce and colewort and the root of nymphaea (water-lily). As to drink for daily use, instead of ordinary water, water should be given in which _iron has been repeatedly tempered_. Some practitioners indeed have administered the bark of the root of the bladder-wort in water as a beverage for such patients, and it will not be inappropriate to make trial of this on occasion. Another _antidote of great renown_ is exhibited with advantage both for sufferers from this discharge of semen, as well as for constant fluxes of all kinds. Take of juice of the sallow Ʒvjj, of calamint Ʒvj, of juice of the white agnus castus Ʒv, of rue Ʒjv, of juice of hemlock Ʒjj; compound with water into small cakes or lozenges, and administer one of these of the size of a hazel-nut along with three cups of posca (vinegar and water). _But the patient must avoid all eating of acrid things and the drinking of much wine_ and the use of vegetables; the diet must be generally of a desiccative and astringent type. Moreover presently after the earlier stages embrocations and an active mode of life should be adopted, whereby the whole body and particularly the parts affected are brought into a healthy state; the embrocations should be persevered in for long periods of time, but washing on the other hand sparingly employed, if we wish to remedy the lassitude and acrid habit of body. It will be of advantage moreover, _if there is nothing to prevent, to have recourse to cold bathing_, which has the property of expelling all diseases arising from flux, more especially if the water is endowed with a healing quality, such as the waters of Albulae, which also are of the greatest use in these cases when taken as a drink. They are of a slightly salt taste, and of a milky warmth to the touch. Further, it is suitable to employ at intervals lotions and poultices and plasters, such as will redden and soften the skin, and bring to the surface those matters that lie latent underneath. Again, _rest should frequently be taken lying on the side_, the leaves of calamint and rue and agnus castus being spread as a couch. A poultice employed in these cases is as follows. Pound a quantity of Venus-hair and rub it up with vinegar or parsley juice or that of endive or fleabane, add to it the cooked meat of snails, pack all together in a linen cloth and lay upon the hips. Also the wax plaster prescribed for priapism should be employed, and the remedies to be mentioned presently for discharges of semen during sleep. Lastly _all thinking about love ought to be avoided_.)

[326] Similarly _Aretaeus_, Morb. chron. therap. bk. II. ch. 5., says: εἰ δὲ καὶ σώφρων ἔοι ἐπὶ τοῖσι ἀφροδισίοισι καὶ λούοιτο ψυχρῷ, ἐλπὶς ὡς ὤκιστα ἀνδρωθῆναι τὸν ἄνθρωπον, (And if he indulge with moderation in love and bathe in cold water, there is good hope that the man will rapidly recover manly vigour). This need surprise us the less, if we remember that the notion of a superfluitas seminis (superfluity of seed),—this was why Diogenes practised onanism, _Galen_, Vol. VIII. p. 419.,—was all the time in the background, and gonorrhœa according to Caelius Aurelianus and other authorities actually arose from too great self-continence. Si igitur Venerem exercere consueverit et crebriore uti concubitu, nunc autem continentius et purius innocentiusque degat, sine dubio a copia id sustinet cum partes illam ferre nequeunt. (If therefore a man is in the habit of practising love and indulging in fairly frequent cohabitation, well and good; but if on the contrary he live a too continent, pure and innocent life, without a doubt he endures this evil from the over-copiousness (of semen), as the parts cannot tolerate it.) This idea owed its origin partly to the confusion of gonorrhoea with nocturnal pollutions,—a confusion found even in the passage from Galen quoted a little above, and in especial was revived in the XVth. and XVIth. Centuries under the auspices of the monks and nuns. It at the same time gave occasion to the practice of resorting to copulation with a maiden as a cure for gonorrhœa. At any rate it was an opinion already found in Hippocrates, that copulation was a desiccative measure which in diseases arising from the phlegmatic humour (_Hippocrates_, Epidem. bk. VI. Vol. III. p. 609., _Galen_, XVII. A. p. 284.) is of advantage to hot and moist constitutions (_Galen_, Vol. VI. p. 402.)

[327] _Galen_, De sympt. caus. bk. III. ch. 11. (VII. p. 265.), ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ μοχθηρὰ διὰ τῶν ὑστερῶν ῥεύματα, καλεῖται δὲ _τὸ σύμπτωμα_ ῥοῦς γυναικεῖος, ἐκκαθαιρομένου κατὰ τοῦτο τὸ μόριον ἅπαντος τοῦ σώματος γίγνεται. (Besides there are the troublesome fluxes by way of the womb; and the _symptom_ of these is known as “female discharge”, and takes place as the whole body purges itself by this part). _Nonnus_, ch. 204. _Paulus Aegineta_, bk. II. ch. 63. _Rufus_ of Ephesus, bk. I ch. 44.

[328] _Aretaeus_, De sign, chron. morb. bk. IV. ch. 11., ἄλλος ῥόος λευκὸς ἡ ἐπιμήνιος κάθαρσις λευκὴ δριμεῖα καὶ ὀδαξώδης ἐς ἡδονήν. ἐπὶ δὲ τοῖσι καὶ ὑγροῦ λευκοῦ, πάχεος, γονοειδέος πρόκλησις· τόδε τὸ εἶδος _γονόρῤῥοιαν γυναικείαν ἐλέξαμεν_· ἔστι δὲ τῆς ὑστέρης φύξις, οὕνεκεν ἀκρατὴς τῶν ὑγρῶν γίγνεται· ἀτὰρ καὶ τὸ αἷμα ἐς χροιὴν λευκὴν ἀμείβει. (Another white discharge is the menstrual purging, white, acrid, and provoking a pleasurable itching. But in addition to these forms there is also a calling out of a moist, white, thick, semen-like discharge; and this species we have named “_female gonorrhœa_”; and it is an escape from the womb, because this cannot retain the moist humours. Further, it actually changes the blood to a white colour.) Perhaps too what _Galen_, De semine bk. II. ch. 1. (IV. p. 599.), says is pertinent in this connection: ταῖς δ’ ἄλλαις ἔλαττόν τε καὶ ὑγρὸν ἐκπίπτον φαίνεται πολλάκις ἔσωθεν ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν ὑστερῶν, ἵναπερ οὐρεῖ. (but in other women there appears to be a smaller and moist discharge very often, inside, coming from the womb itself, in micturition). Again _Theod. Priscianus_, bk. III. 10., says: Aliquando etiam spermatis spontanei et importuni fluxu feminae fatigantur, quod Graeci gonorrhœam appellant. (Sometimes too women are troubled with a discharge of involuntarily and unexpectedly emitted semen, a complaint the Greeks call gonorrhœa.) Comp. the passage quoted above from Aëtius.

[329] _Celsus_, De re medica bk. VI. ch. 18., Solet etiam interdum ad _nervos_ ulcus descendere; profluitque pituita multa sanies tenuis malique odoris, non coacta at aquae similis, in qua caro recens lota est; doloresque is locus et punctiones habet. Id genus quamvis inter purulenta est, tamen lenibus medicamentis curandum est.... Praecipueque id ulcus multa calida aqua fovendum est, velandumque neque frigori committendum. (Moreover the ulcer is wont sometimes to descend to the _cords_; and then there is discharged a quantity of phlegm, a thin _sanies_ of an ill odour, not congealed but like water in which a piece of fresh meat has been washed; and the place experiences pain and a pricking sensation. This sort, though it comes under the head of purulent complaints, should nevertheless be treated with mild drugs.... And above all this form of ulcer should be fomented with copious warm water, and should be covered and not exposed to cold). From the last sentence it may be concluded that it is not the acute form of blennorrhœa of the urethra that is in question here (bk. IV), but the chronic. The words _ad nervos_ (to the cords) have given occasion to some very extraordinary explanations. _Simon_, Krit. Gesch. Vol. I p. 23., considers it would be most natural to refer this to the inside of the member, to the urethra in fact, though as a matter of fact gonorrhœa of the glans penis might just as likely be intended in the passage. But in the latter case the interpretation is absolutely impossible, as the glans penis is never called _nervus_. The corpora cavernosa it is true are described in several places by _Galen_, e. g. De loc. aff. bk. VI. ch. 6., as “a pipe-like cord, for the body is cord-like in form, the whole being hollow like a pipe”, but he adds χωρὶς τῆς καλουμένης βαλάνου (always excepting the glans penis, as it is called), and indeed that _nervus_ generally signifies the penis is evident at once from Horace, Epod. XII. 19.; even the plural _nervos_ is found in _Petronius_, Sat. 129., 134.,—so the Greeks similarly use νεῦρον (nerve, cord) for the penis, sometimes with the addition σπερματικὸν (spermatic, seminal), as Eustathius points out,—Comm. on the Iliad, X. 1390. However Celsus had no idea of this in his mind; everything shows that with him the _ad nervos_ points to nothing but the _vasa deferentia_ or spermatic cords, as he distinctly declares himself in bk. VII. ch. 18: Dependent vero (testiculi) ab inguinibus per _singulos nervos_, quos κρεμαστῆρας Graeci nominant. (But the testicles hang from the groin by separate cords, which the Greeks call κρεμαστῆρες,—suspenders). Similarly _Columella_, De re rustic. bk. VI. ch. 26., Testium nervos, quos Graeci κρεμαστῆρας ab eo appellant, quod ex illis genitales partes dependent. (The cords of the testicles, which the Greeks name κρεμαστῆρες,—suspenders, because the genital parts hang by them); again _Pollux_, Onomast. bk. II. Ch. 4., κρεμαστῆρας δὲ λέγονται τὰ νεῦρα, τοῦς διδύμους ἀνέχει. (κρεμαστῆρες,—suspenders, is the name of the cords; and they support the testicles). The possibility of the suppuration extending to the seed reservoir and the spermatic cords is proved by the case lately observed and made known by _Ricord_.

[330] _Actuarius_, Method. med. bk. IV. ch. 8., Caeterum non est ignorandum, nonnunquam in interna penis parte exiguum tuberculum oboriri, quod dum disrumpitur, sanguinem aut exiguum puris effundit; quare quidam arbitrantur ex profundo ea prodire, citraque rationem metuere coeperunt. Verum res ex penis dolore deprehenditur. Venae autem sectione sola, victuque frigidiusculo aegrum a molestia vindicavimus. _Quod si vitium moram traxerit et vulnus_ (ἕλκος?) _altius pervenerit_, enemata morsus expertia, qualibus in lippitudine utimur, infundimus. Balneo ac omni mordenti evidenterque calefaciente tum cibo tum potione abstinemus, ita namque promptius aeger valetudinem recipit. (However it must not be forgotten that sometimes a small tubercle is established in the internal part of the penis, which on bursting discharges blood and a small quantity of pus; for which reason some suppose these symptoms to proceed from a deep-seated evil, and have been unreasonably alarmed. But the truth may be gathered from the pain in the penis. However by the mere opening of a vein and a cooling diet we have saved a patient from all inconvenience. On the other hand if the mischief has followed a protracted course and the sore (ἕλκος?,—ulcer) has penetrated farther in, we introduce clysters free from biting acridity, such as we make use of for blear-eyed patients. We forbid the bath, and everything acrid and manifestly heating whether in food or drink, for in this way the sufferer recovers his health more rapidly).

[331] _Paulus Aegineta_, bk. III. ch. 59., εἰ δὲ κατὰ τὸν καυλὸν ἔνδον τῆς τοῦ αἰδοίου τρήσεως ἀφανὲς ἕλκος γένηται, γινώσκεται ἐκ τοῦ πύον ἢ αἷμα κενοῦσθαι χωρὶς οὐρησέως. Θεραπεύεται δὲ πρῶτον μὲν ὑδαρεῖ μελικράτῳ _κλυζόμενον_, ἔπειτα δὲ γάλακτι, κἄπειτα μίξαντες τῷ γάλακτι τὸ τοῦ ἀστήρος κολλύριον, ἢ τὸν λευκὸν τροχίσκον, ἢ τὸν διὰ λωταριῶν ἐν μολυβδαίνῃ θυίᾳ παραπέμπειν, ἥγουν καὶ _πτερὸν_ βάψαντες διαχρίειν, εἶτα _λεπτὸν στρεπτὸν_ χρίσαντες ἐνθῆναι· κάλλιστον δὲ ἐστί καὶ τὸ λαμβάνων κηκίδος καὶ πομφόλυγος, ἀμύλου τε καὶ ἀλόης ἶσα, λειωθέντα ῥοδίνῳ καὶ χυλῷ ἀρνογλώσσου. (But if in the canal within the perforation of the member an invisible ulcer arise, it is recognized from the fact of matter or blood being discharged without micturition. And it is treated first by being _rinsed_ with a weak honey-mixture, and then with milk and afterwards by mixing with the milk the salve of the _aster atticus_, or the white lozenge, or a preparation of lotus pounded in a leaden mortar; _a feather_ should be dipped in this and it should be rubbed on, or else _a piece of thin material made into a twist_ should be smeared with it and the drug introduced by this means; but the best of all is by taking equal parts of gall-apple, flowers of zinc, starch-flour and aloes smeared with rose-sap and plantain-sap).

[332] _Caelius Aurelianus_, Morb. chron. bk. II. ch. 8., In iis enim qui ulcus habuerint, cum mictum fecerint, sanguis fluet attestante mordicatione et dolore et aliquando egestione corpusculorum, quae ἐφελκύδας Graeci vocaverunt. (In patients who have got an ulcer, whenever they make water, blood will flow and the fact be attested by accompanying biting sensation and pain and sometimes by the ejection of small particles which the Greeks have named ἐφελκύδες).