SECTION III.
TREATMENT OF IMPOTENCE.
In venturing upon this part of the subject, it will be as well, first, to distinguish those cases that are curable from those that admit of no relief. Among the latter may be enumerated all those arising from an original or accidental defect in the organs of generation. Where, also, old age is the cause, little is to be done: medicines are of no avail, and temporary stimuli not unfrequently worse.
That certain medicaments, aliments, and so forth, do possess an aphrodisiac power, is not to be denied; but when adopted by those weak beings, whose bodies are either worn out by age or excess, and who pin their faith to such restoratives, the little remaining sensibility in their frames, the source of life and energy, can not sustain the shock of reaction; and the result is, total annihilation or death.
From what has already been stated, it will be perceived, that the mind exercises no inconsiderable influence over the functions of the organs of generation: and as the state of the mind depends upon the particular circumstances under which it may be placed, any attempt to establish a code of instructions, applicable to every instance in which a sportive fancy, or disturbed imagination, constituted the prevailing cause, would be abortive, and might be considered as pandering to a vicious and depraved appetite, whereas the object of this treatise is only to encourage the diffident, to assist the afflicted, and render a service to those legitimately deserving it.
As excess in sexual indulgence impairs the generative power, no less injurious may entire abstinence be considered. The due exercise of an organ tends to its perfection, as the neglect or misuse of it, to its impairment. Besides, there is not any wonderful virtue in abstaining from the proper use of the sexes. Why, in the name of morality, were such powerful impulses and desires bestowed upon us? Why were such wonderful organizations given to us, if they were not originally designed to be used by every one who is possessed of them? Society, in its present form, is not perhaps constructed with a philosophical regard to our own natural instincts, and our own original rights.
Among the causes that induce impuissance, or that distressing condition known under the cognomen of nervous debility, there is not one more reprehensive than the unworthy and pernicious practice of self-abuse. It is much to be regretted, that some medical writer, of talent and estimation in society, has not turned his attention to the subject, and given the influence of his name in denouncing to the world the misery and devastation which are the unerring consequences of this sordid and solitary vice. It is indeed an unpleasant and thankless task; and there probably exists in most minds, an unwillingness to enter upon a subject in which there is so much difficulty in selecting language sufficiently appropriate to exhibit the folly in its true colors, without offending the ears of the chaste and virtuous.
But a question of such paramount importance should not be sacrificed to any false and prudish notions of delicacy; I shall therefore offer such observations, as I may think calculated to check the progress of a vice, that has done more to demoralize the human mind than the whole catalogue of existing causes besides. It may be deemed an exaggeration, when it is stated that full three fourths of the insane owe their malady to the effects of masturbation: but the assertion is corroborated by one of the first writers on medical jurisprudence, and is fully borne out by the daily experience of proprietors of lunatic asylums. The practice of self-abuse usually has its origin in boarding-schools, and other places where young persons congregate in numbers; and there are few of us who may have observed the vice practised, although it may be unpleasant to avow as much, that could resist the contamination.
“One sickly sheep infects the flock,
And poisons all the rest.”
And thus it is, though ninety-and-nine be pure and spotless as the driven snow, if the hundredth be immoral, the poison is soon disseminated, and the whole flock become initiated into a vice, which, if indulged in, will blast their intellectual faculties, and probably consign them as outcasts of society; rendering them slavering idiots, or the inmates of a lunatic asylum. It is not only in private schools that this sin rages, our public foundations and colleges are not exempt from it. The heads of our universities are particularly scrupulous in driving from their neighborhood the frail fair, lest they should contaminate the votaries of learning; while a vice far more degrading in its practice, and infinitely more baneful in its effects, rages within the very sanctuaries of classic lore. Many a brilliant genius has sunk into fatuity beneath its degrading influence. Loss of memory, idiocy, blindness,[15] total impotence, nervous debility, paralysis, strangury, &c., are among the unerring consequences of an indulgence in this criminal passion. I need not bring a greater proof of the dire effects of an indulgence in the practice of masturbation, than the deplorable state of mind to which it reduced one of our greatest poets.
The treatment of this delusive and mentally annihilating propensity, falls equally within the province of the philosopher and the physician. Without a total abandonment of the practice, the case is hopeless; and he to whom the consequences shall have been portrayed and heeds them not, is unworthy of our sympathy, but deserves the evils he entails upon himself.
Now, as the consequences of all criminalities continue to ensue so long as the provocative be kept up, it is very evident that, as a first step toward the restoration of order and health, the cause must be removed or withheld. The mere will or resolution is seldom sufficient: virtue, like vice, has its allurements, and those belonging to the former must be called into requisition as antagonists to the snares of the latter. Physic can not check bad principles, or bad indulgences. No method is or can be superior to that full employment of the mental faculties on noble and intellectual subjects, on objects worthy the high ends for which Nature has adapted them. And though the difficulty will be great in inducing new and good habits, to the exclusion of such as are unworthy and degrading, yet the effectual accomplishment of such a resolution is not of uncommon occurrence; and the sufferer may be placed under circumstances where good habits may be more frequently called into action naturally, to the exclusion of vicious propensities. The time should be well filled, so as to leave no room for flying to the various usual sources of amusement that fill up the life of the thoughtless and gay. Every hour and every minute should be provided for, so as to exclude the admission of idleness and sloth, the forerunners of mental and bodily disease. Studies connected with education should be encouraged. Modern languages have a great claim on the consideration of all who are engaged in business to any extent, and are of incalculable use after they have fulfilled the immediate end for which their culture is here recommended. The various sciences bearing more or less on the pursuits and employments of every man, are earnestly recommended to the choice of the unfortunate victim of sensuality. Geology and botany would call him into the healthful fields, or fill up his time by his fireside, in studying the many excellent works on those subjects: the still higher utility of chemistry, as being made of practical use in almost every business, and demonstrating the else unintelligible phenomena of a multitude of natural processes and changes, may be held up as another inducement to call forth his best energies.
Travelling, to those who can afford the expense or the time, is one of the best means of conquering this baneful habit. The numerous objects thereby presented to the eye of the invalid in the manners, government, and productions of art and nature, of the countries he visits, are an incessant source of pleasing and useful excitement, and can not fail, especially if the traveller be accompanied by an intelligent and moral friend, to weaken and eradicate the bad impressions of the past.
To diverge, and at the same time to conclude this part of the subject, I have only to offer a few remarks relative to the medical and therapeutic treatment of those cases of impuissance, that age, disorganization, and total incapacity, do not exclude from consideration. I have already expressed my belief that generative imbecility is consecutive to general debility; hence, whatever tends to improve the latter, tends also to remove the former. The diet, therefore, should be full and generous, with a liberal proportion of spices; but all stimulating liquids, such as wine, brandy, and the rest, should be avoided.
Bathing, in its various forms, constitutes no unimportant feature in the treatment; the cold plunging, the tepid shower, the douche, the warm and the vapor baths, possess their several influences. The various medicines that come under the denomination of aphrodisiacs, are not wholly uninfluential, such as stomachics, aromatics, gums and balsams, oils, musk, opium, cantharides, strychnine, and others; but as their administration can only be permitted under professional direction, no real utility can follow any specification or formulary of their proportions.