Every deformity, disease or operation which destroys the sexual glands in the child, or prevents them from developing, gives rise to the phenomena which we have described when speaking of castration. This is the case, for instance, with cryptorchidism in which the testicles remain in the inguinal canal and become atrophied, instead of descending into the scrotum. The following case is an example, and is interesting in other respects:
A young man was affected with imbecility and congenital cryptorchidism with atrophy of the testicles. A eunuch from birth, he developed no sexual appetite and no correlative masculine character. To make a man of him, his too eager aunts married him to a strong girl, who was anything but innocent. She attempted by all kinds of manipulations to cure the sexual blindness of her husband; but this was a waste of labor, as the unhappy wretch only regarded the performance as disgusting and filthy. He was violently excited and became somnambulistic.
Soon afterwards the wife consoled herself with a lover of normal sexual power, and they both overwhelmed the poor eunuch with raillery. The latter, becoming furious, offered his wife a cake poisoned with arsenic on her birthday, but she saw through the stratagem. The poor wretch was sent for trial and condemned to a long term of imprisonment for attempted poisoning. I consider this judgment as a legal crime. In spite of my protests, imbecility was not admitted, and the somnambulism was looked upon as simulated.
On the other hand, the same lesions when they occur in the adult neither destroy the correlative sexual characters, nor the power of coitus, nor the voluptuous sensation of the orgasm.
In man, aspermia sometimes occurs; the testicles appear to be well formed, but the semen contains no spermatozoa. In spite of this the aspermatic individual generally has erections, a certain amount of sexual power and orgasm, and is capable of amorous feelings, although his sexual functions are generally feeble. But he is incapable of fecundating a woman.
Some women who have never menstruated possess normal ovaries and may become pregnant.
Tuberculosis, tumors and inflammations of the testicles and ovaries may cause sterility.
The erection of the penis is often rendered impossible by certain deformities, such as hypospadias and epispadias, in which the urethral canal opens respectively below or above the penis.
Involuntary emissions of semen without erection, with or without voluptuous sensation, is called spermatorrhea. This is often a result of onanism, nervousness or constipation. Too much importance has been attached to it. In hypochondriacs spermatorrhea becomes a bugbear, which often makes them the dupes of charlatans. The less attention is paid to it the quicker it disappears; especially when it is of purely nervous origin, as is usually the case.
Phimosis, or narrowness of the opening of the prepuce is nearly always of embryonic origin. It prevents the glans penis from becoming exposed, at least during erection. It is a very common condition and very disagreeable. If the prepuce is forcibly drawn back behind the glans penis before erection, as is often the case in masturbation, the penis is gripped by the prepuce so that it cannot sometimes be drawn forward and inflammation with oedema results; this condition is called paraphimosis, and may become dangerous. Secretions, urine and semen accumulate and decompose in a phimosed prepuce, cause irritation and lead to masturbation. All cases of phimosis should be operated upon in infancy, by complete or partial circumcision.