The nymphomaniac woman seeks to attract men by indecent language, by lascivious conduct, by personal adornment, perfumes, talk of marriage, by the exhibition of her feet, legs, neck, breasts and other parts of her body, and, at the height of her excitement by invitation ad congressum, aperto stupro manu, nudatione muliebrium et motionibus initus pelve. She is often seen in the physician’s office and desires gynaecological examinations for the gratification of her excitement. Such a case was recently observed by the author.
The patient, about forty years of age, was suffering from endometritis and came to the office for treatment. At the first touch of the introitus vaginae by the finger, the patient suddenly agitata est. She tightly closed her eyes, the respiration became panting, the abdominal muscles contracted, which made the combined examination impossible, her face became red, her entire body was seized by a convulsive tremor, and her pelvis made omnes motiones commixtionis vehementis. At the end of one or two minutes the paroxysm ended with a deep sigh, and the examination could be continued. The attacks were repeated at the beginning of every treatment, and the same had to be discontinued. Without offending the patient, she was told that she needs a curettage. This advice caused her to stay away from the office.
In the pronounced cases of nymphomania, the woman will accept the embraces of any man and will solicit even boys. To him who yields to her wiles she brings misery and calamity. She is an object of attraction and carries ruin in her lap for those who become the slaves of her eroticism. A piece of destructive sexuality dwells in the bosom of these women, something of the Delilah-nature, for all who come in contact with them. They consume men’s strength and vigor physiologically and psychologically.
The nymphomaniac woman is not able to free herself from the thraldom of eroticism. Her sexual instinct is irresistible and untamable. Nymphomania leads the sufferer to any degradation, to the practice assidui stupri manu and even to bestiality.
Magnan mentions the case of a lady of forty-seven years of age, who from her early childhood manifested excessive voluptas. She was always nervous, eccentric, and of a romantic disposition. When she was only ten years old she began to practice concarnationem. At the age of nineteen she got married, but although her husband was sexually perfectly normal, he could not satisfy her often enough. Qua re jugiter cum aliis viris commiscebatur, and although this infidelity made her entirely unhappy and miserable, she was powerless to overcome her insatiable desires.
In another case of Magnan, the patient had a passion for men from her earliest youth. She was of good family, well bred, of pleasant disposition, and exceedingly modest. As a little girl she was the terror of the family. Scarcely was she alone with any male, child or adult, statim aperiebat muliebria et poscebat satisfactionem voluptatis, even going so far as to lay hold of the person. Marriage did not cure her intense desire. She loved her husband passionately, yet indiscriminately petebat placationem voluptatis a quovis viro with whom she happened to be alone, were he her servant, laborer, or even school-boy. This insatiable passion continued to possess her after she had become a grandmother. At the age of sixty-five she was yet recklessly passionate as before.
The anomaly of nymphomania is generally due to a cerebral lesion. Hence little relief can be afforded by the removal of the clitoris or the ovaries, or by any other therapeutic measure. The affection shows all the stigmata of degeneration and moral insanity. The nymphomaniac woman belongs to the type of the “deliquenta nata.”
Nymphomania is often found in periodical insanity. The case of Anjel is a good illustration.
The patient, near the climacteric period, is nowise of a passionate nature, sexually, but after a hystero-epileptic attack has the impulse to embrace and kiss boys, about ten years of age et contrectare virilia. She has no desire for coition while suffering from the attack. In the intervals she is very modest.
This paedophilia in women, suffering from hyperaesthesia, is not rare. The patients are intensely excited by young boys, while they possess only normal inclination toward adults.
Magnan’s case is interesting in this respect. The patient was a lady twenty-nine years of age. For eight years she had a strong desire complexus venerei with one of her five nephews. First her desire went toward the oldest boy, when he was five years of age. Then she transferred this desire to each of them in turn as they grew up. The sight of the child in question was sufficient to produce ejaculation and orgasm.