A Treatise on the Diseases Produced By Onanism, Masturbation, Self-Pollution, and Other Excesses.

by L. Deslandes

§ 1. INFLUENCE OF THE GENITAL ORGANS CONSIDERED IN A STATE OF REST.

It might be thought that when these organs are at rest, when they are neither used nor abused, when the venereal sense is as it were asleep in them, and they seem occupied only with their own development, and nutrition, it might seem I say that these organs take little or no part in what is going on around them: but this is a mistake. We shall see that this dull life which then occupies them is sufficient to make them a powerful focus of action; that all the other organs owe to them a part of their mode of existence their form and substance. By this we can judge of what the genital system is capable, when excited, and when by the hand or otherwise it is brought to the highest degree of activity.

Consider him who was born an eunuch, the man who has never had genital organs, whose body, mind, and heart are developed without their influence: compare him with other men and see in what he is deficient: for his physical moral and intellectual relations will of course be deficient in all that depends on the genital organs. This study will reveal to you their power, and will point out to you the difference between a man in whose development they have assisted, and one in whose development, the genital organs have taken no part.

Eunuchs are very seldom tall: they are frequently short and sometimes very short. A woman fifty-two years old, who had no uterus, and whose genitals were presented to the academy of medicine by M. Renaulden, was only three and a half feet high. The limbs of eunuchs when they are not percolated with white fluids, are generally thin and badly developed. Their bones have neither their usual size nor form, as has been remarked by many observers, particularly by M. Mojon of Geneva. (Alibert, Nouv. El. de therapeutique, 3d edition, vol. ii., p. 115.) This defect in growth is much more remarkable in the larynx. This organ which generally acquires two-thirds of its size at puberty, remains as in infancy, and the voice preserves that shrillness which it has in young people, but becomes a little stronger because the chest enlarges. The different tissues are not only less developed, but some are not developed at all. Thus in eunuchs the beard and the hairs on the pubis are deficient; their skin remains as free from hairs as in early youth. The genital organs then have a powerful effect on nutrition, because when they are deficient, the growth is defective or ceases entirely. This influence is manifested also by the characters presented by the different tissues after the action of the genital parts ceases. To understand these characters, we have only to compare the flesh of animals who have been castrated with that of those who are perfect; for example the flesh of the ox with that of the bull, that of the capon with that of the rooster &c. In the eunuch these characters are no less marked. His organization is in a measure stationary. When an adult, he preserves in great part the physical attributes of youth, and then when these are lost, those of old age, and not those of manhood, present themselves. It is the genital organs then which in a perfect man, give colour to the skin, give to the flesh more consistence and firmness and which gradually take up from the cellular tissue those white fluids, which prevent us from seeing the prominences of the bones and muscles. The organization of the eunuch is then unfinished, imperfect. The organs which should have appeared at the period of puberty are not seen: others acquire only a part of their growth: all retain a part of those characters which they ought properly speaking to lose and do not obtain those which belong to them. These facts are highly important. The study of them demonstrates the extent of the derangement caused by venereal excesses: for the organs abused by the onanist and libertine, are those which take so active and special a part in the internal economy of all our tissues: which stamp them with the seal of virility, of which the eunuch always remains destitute.

Consider the eunuch now in his life of relation: look in him for the thought, activity, and sensibility of the man. In these respects also how much he is deficient; he is inactive, indifferent, and destitute of energy. The lymphatic temperament is marked in him by his insensibility, his apathy, no less than by the delicacy of his flesh, and the whiteness of his skin. He has preserved from infancy the disposition given by feebleness, to be excited by the least cause: hence he is timid and pusillanimous and cowardly. Devoid of any internal feeling which renders the soul gay, he is morose and wearisome. He is destitute of those feelings which attach man to man and render one capable of attachment, love, and devotion. He lives, he vegetates only for himself: he is a perfect egotist: if he has any sentiments they are those of envy or hatred: in fact they are repulsive sentiments: but most frequently he has none or they are very slight. The crimes of the eunuch come in fact less from the sentiments he has, than from those he has not. His mind, like his body and heart, remains a perfect waste. His intelligence is but moderate and he is never known to conceive or execute great ideas. This picture is not drawn from the imagination; it is the result of long continued observations at all periods, in all places, and upon all kinds of eunuchs. One of them observed by M. Bedor embodied in himself the principal features of this picture. He was an eunuch from birth who had become a conscript. His appearance was humble and languishing; his eyes were downcast and averted; he was very timid and cowardly, was afraid of dead bodies, and of darkness. He admitted that he had never been attached even to any member of his family: but he was also incapable of dislike. He was not pleased with musick, and had no idea of singing: finally he was insensible to all enjoyment. He did not however complain of his situation. His intelligence was very slight, his conversation was obscure and incorrect, and he was so incapable of being instructed that although he had lived in the barracks a year he had none of the moral habits of the soldier. (Journal de med. chir. et phar. vol. xxv. p. 75.)

Such is the eunuch. The operator in mutilating him mutilated his heart, his senses, his mind. The development of the moral and intellectual faculties then like that of the body is connected with the existence of the genital organs. Deprive a child of a limb of his four limbs, that is of the half at least of his frame, and he will continue to be developed, the same as if no part had been taken from him. But take away the testicles, and all his tissues, all his faculties will bear indelible marks of this mutilation. These organs alone then have much more power than the four extremities. It is with these, with this power, that the onanist trifles from childhood, without hesitation and without moderation. Is it necessary now to follow this train of reasoning to show that his course of conduct is dangerous? It is also to the influence exercised by the genital organs on other parts that the sexes owe their peculiar differences. Their organization, influenced by a different genital apparatus, presents a different mode of existence, action and sensation. Thus the sexual characters are slightly marked at birth, become distinct as the genital organs develope themselves, suddenly enlarge at the period of puberty, exist in the greatest degree when these parts have come to their perfect state, and lose their energy in old age. The destruction of the testicles in the male and of the ovaries in the female prevents the regular development, or even alters the special distinctions of sex. We have already seen that this destruction renders man effeminate: we will add that it renders the female more masculine, and gives her characters, which in the natural order of things belong exclusively to the male. This conclusion is drawn from facts which seem authentic, and it is strengthened too by the fact that when the activity of the genitals is destroyed by age, the voice becomes rough, resembling that of the male, the upper lip and chin are covered with hairs, the moral character acquires more firmness, the taste and habits are much modified and approximate those of the male. A similar thing occurs in animals according to Dumeril. (Dict. des sc. med., art. continence, p. 118.)

It is not only by comparing the sexes that we see that different genital organs have a different action, but it follows also from observing those doubtful beings termed hermaphrodites. In these individuals the genital organs disturbed in their regular development, present doubtful appearances and belong at the same time to the two sexes. In these individuals the organization being influenced in another manner is developed differently. Faithful to these organs which generally impress in the body the seal of sex, the general state of the body becomes equivocal like them and presents a mixture in different proportions of the male and female attributes. Thus in a girl whose history is stated by Beclard, and who among other imperfections of the external genital organs which rendered her sex doubtful, presented a complete closure of the vulva, and a clitoris so much developed that it resembled a penis, the larynx and voice were like those of a youth: the upper lip, the chin and cheeks presented a white beard, long and coarse hairs covered the lower extremities and surrounded the anus; finally the proportions of the trunk and limbs and the formation of the pelvis resembled those of man. (Bull. de la Faculté de med. vol. iv. p. 273.) It would be easy to refer to similar facts which have been frequently recorded. The general state of the economy, then, is somewhat connected with that of the genital parts, varies like them and takes part in the changes which they undergo. Hence it is astonishing to see libertines and onanists render themselves effeminate, and demoralize their constitution by using these parts in such a manner as to fatigue and change them: and to observe women robbing themselves in the same manner of their beauty, the delicacy of their form and the charm of their voice.

When man has attained his perfect development, the bonds which unite the genital organs to the rest of the body become less apparent and probably less intimate than before: they however are not destroyed. Castration certainly does not deprive the adult of all the characters, of all the faculties which had been developed by puberty: but it modifies them very much. The beard has been known to come out after the loss of the testes as if its existence were connected with theirs, as an effect is with its cause. The intellectual faculties particularly lose much of their energy, when the genital organs are removed. Those persons who have been mutilated not unfrequently become melancholy and finally commit suicide. (Orfila, Leçons de medicine legale, 1823, p. 126.) A remarkable case of enervation was observed by Richerand, in some soldiers whose testes had been shot away in action. Among other cases, he mentions a soldier who had previously been celebrated for his activity and valor, and who, after his mutilation took an aversion to any violent exercise, and to gain his livelihood, applied himself to such labours as are carried on by females, particularly to sewing gloves. (Richerand, nosographie chirurgicale, 2nd edition, vol. iv. p. 292.) Compare these facts with what takes place when age, that great operator, extinguishes the principle of virility. When one is old, is he as affectionate, as sensible, as devoted, as intelligent, as he was in youth? do not the general characters of an eunuch gradually come upon him? The genital organs then, even when in repose, regulate in more than one respect and at every period of life, the rest of the human body.

But it is particularly before and during puberty that these organs deserve the most serious attention, for then they possess the most power. This power commences with them, and like them increases every day. Thus the tastes, the characters, the inclinations, and generally all which distinguishes the sexes in a moral and physical point of view, are marked from infancy. That poverty of body of heart and of spirit which characterizes eunuchism, is seen in young eunuchs, in those for instance who are born destitute of genital organs. The soldier whose case is stated by Bedor, always presented that indifference and languor common to eunuchs; he always avoided all trials of skill at wrestling, running, leaping and finally all youthful exercises, and as we have already remarked, never exhibited attachment to any one, even to his parents. The influence of the sexual organs then commences with life. But it does not attain all its intensity until puberty.

At this period, which in our climate commences from the twelfth to the sixteenth year, a little sooner in females than in males, the genital organs have the most vitality. Until that time they are developed slowly and almost imperceptibly; they suddenly increase with great activity, and their growth is not arrested till they have arrived at perfection. This is not the place to enter into details as to the labour which then takes place in them: we will merely remark that the change is often so intense as to present all the characters of inflammation. It is then admissible that in such a state these organs should exercise on the economy a much more powerful action than before, when their development was imperceptible, and also than they do afterward, when they have only to preserve themselves. This in fact is proved by observation. At no period of life, does the body grow as rapidly as during puberty. The researches of Quetelet and Villermé on the weight and height of men at different ages, (Annales &c. p. 26) leave no doubt on this subject. Thus the annual increase in the weight of the body which until the period of puberty was only from three to three and a half pounds, suddenly rises to five and six pounds when this period commences, and gets to be twelve pounds when it is at the summum of intensity. And it is worthy of remark that in females who arrive at the age of puberty about two years earlier than males, this increase of growth also commences two years sooner. A similar fact is observed in those monsters who present in early infancy traces of virility: in them the mass of the body is in a direct ratio with the development of the genital system; hence their height and weight are enormous. This is proved by a great number of facts related by authors and particularly by Moreau, Fages, J. G. Smith, Gedike, Meckel, Dupuytren, &c. Let us now compare these facts with those pointed out when speaking of eunuchism, and it will be shown that the power of the genital organs in its nutrition follows in its variations those which they experience: that the general growth conforms to theirs, that if one advances the other does, and if one be imperfect, the other is imperfect.

This increase in the activity of the nutritive powers during puberty, is not shown simply by the increase of the substance of the body, it manifests itself by other symptoms. More heat is generated in the tissues, as is indicated particularly by the facility with which individuals at the age of puberty resist cold, and by the interesting remark of Quetelet and Smitz, that the summer of all seasons of the year is most fatal to them. Ailments of every kind too show in most subjects, that the influence of the genital organs on all parts of the body may be so great as even to derange the functions: of this character are pains, heaviness in the head, vertigos, redness of the face, numbness in the limbs, dulness and oppression, palpitations of the heart, bleeding from the nose, painful engorgements of the lymphatic ganglions, different inflammations, &c. &c. Finally the body responds like an echo, to all that takes place in the genital system. Need we say that nothing of the kind takes place in eunuchs.

The active development of the genital parts exercises an equal influence on the functions of the life of relation, in the faculties of sensation, action, and thought. These faculties, which are so feeble in the eunuch are extremely active during puberty. This is the age of muscular activity and agility. If those who are growing up, sometimes are reluctant to take exercise, this feeling of reluctance depends on a hyperemia of the nervous centres, which soon disappears. Numerous different and generally transient sensations, denote the part which the nervous system takes in what passes in the genital system; and this is proved also by the frequency of convulsive and spasmodic affections at this period of life. The moral susceptibility is then still more exalted than the physical susceptibility. The mind directed and controlled by the most vivid, most varied, and most transient impressions, takes up and lays aside the most opposite opinions, and adopts the most hazardous enterprises. This disposition has existed to so great a degree as even to constitute a kind of monomania, so transient as to be almost imperceptible, and during which crimes, (particularly that of arson) were committed. This fact rests on the authority of Osiander, Henke, of the faculty of medicine at Leipsick, of Marc and of many other authors. (See Marc’s memoir on incendiary monomania, Annales d’hyg. October, 1833.) But the mental state resulting from the change of puberty is characterized particularly by the readiness with which one shares the affections of others, partakes of their sympathies, and sympathizes with them. This is the moment of generous ideas, or as is remarked by those, whose minds no longer feel the action of organs which have become mute, the period of illusions. How much experience ought not the mind to gain when passing through this moral tempest? Is it astonishing then to find weak minds and cold hearts among eunuchs? Being deprived of these organs which at the period of puberty give so marked an impulse to the system, they do not feel it: the most active of all moral excitants is absent. Judge from this of its power, and yet it is this stimulant which is so much abused by the onanist.

Let us resume our remarks. We have seen by comparing the eunuch to the perfect individual, the male to the female, and the hermaphrodites to those persons whose genitals are perfect, that the genital organs, from the simple fact of their existence, exercise a well-marked influence on the physical intellectual and moral constitution of individuals. We have also seen by comparing the period of life when the genital organs are actively developed, with that when they are simply preserved, that the influence which has been spoken of, is exercised with a variable degree of intensity, and is in a direct ratio with the vital activity which exists in these organs. We may then state as a positive truth, that the genital system modifies extensively the action and sensation of all our organs, and modifies it in proportion as it is itself excited. This fact stated, the question whether venereal excesses can or cannot do much injury is resolved. We may, à priori, affirm, that when the genital organs pass from a state of repose to that of excitement, and from this to a state of action, their influence on the other organs is always in an increasing ratio. To prove this requires no new facts. This action and this progressive increase of power, result, inevitably from the comparisons we have made. Life is so mysterious and on the other hand, coition is so transient, that what takes place in the tissues during its continuance is concealed from view: but we may be certain that something takes place in them, that some disturbance there occurs and that the disturbance is greater during the act of venery than during the preceding states. This act then exerts more influence than it appears to exert, as it affects all parts of the organization. If when the genital system appears at rest, it exercises so much influence on the vitality of the other organs, what must be its power when the venereal sense is excited in it, and further when this sense is carried by masturbation or coition to the greatest degree of excitement. How much then must these secret functions be modified, whose exercise is so intimately connected with that of the genital organs! Certainly those who say that the possible consequences of venereal excesses are exaggerated, have not taken this view of the subject.