We Cure where a Cure is Possible.
THE FACE.—The facial expression consists of a pale and sallow tint of the skin, unusual development of acne,—red pimples,—especially on the forehead; a dark circle around the orbits; dilated and sluggish pupils; lustreless eyes, and an oblique line extending from the inner angle of the lids transversely across the cheek to the lower margin of the malar (cheek) bone. The face has a haggard, troubled, furtive expression.
THE MANNER.—The manner of the masturbator is peculiar. He is listless, shy, retiring, and easily confused; he avoids society, preferring solitude; there is a want of steadiness and decision in his locomotion; his inferior extremities seem deficient in power, and all his movements betray a mind ill at ease.
THE MIND.—His mental operations are confused; his speech is embarrassed, awkward, and without directness; his memory is defective, and he is absent-minded and given to reverie. If the habit has long existed, and been excessively frequent in repetition, epilepsy may be produced; or serious mental disorder, as delusional insanity, dementia, etc., may occur.
THE SEXUAL ORGANS.—The state of the genital organs varies with the length of time the habit has been indulged. In some young subjects, there will be observed an extraordinary development of the organ, owing to premature excitement; but the disproportion is not maintained. Prof. Barthalow says: "With the progress of the habit the organ becomes small and relaxed, the erections feeble, the corpora cavernosa either waste away or their vessels lose their tonicity, whereby an apparent shrinkage takes place; the corpus spongiosum and the glands also shrink, so that the prepuce (fore-skinappears unnaturally elongated. The testes may increase in size, become tender and irritable, or they may waste away to nothing but little strings; the latter is the more usual result.
“Pains in the small of the back, a sense of weight and aching in the loins, around the anus, and in the testes is experienced. The appetite is capricious, the digestion feeble, and the bowels are constipated, or constipation alternates with diarrhœa.
“The mind is deficient in power of attention, the imagination is constantly pervaded with vague erotic dreams, the moral sense is blunted, and the perceptions are dull and confused. Pains in the head, in the occipital and frontal regions (front and back of head), and a sense of fullness, and in serious cases alarming Vertigo (dizziness and falling); pains in the course of the principal nerves, and an extreme nervous susceptibility, are experienced. The organic nervous system manifests a functional disturbance in harmony with the disorder of the nervous system of animal life. Gastralgia and abdominal pain (pain in stomach and bowels) and uneasiness are in some cases very distressing symptoms.
“The distinctiveness of the foregoing symptoms will be determined by the extent and duration of the habit, and by the constitutional peculiarities of the patient. The more highly developed the nervous system, and the more it preponderates in activity over the muscular and digestive systems, the more serious the effects.
We hold out no False Hopes.