[344] Aretaeus, De sign. chronic. bk. II. ch. 8., θώυμα δὲ τουτέων μέζων, εἰς ὄρχιας καὶ κρεμαστῆρας ἀδόκητον ἄλγος ἐπιφοιτῇ· πολλοὺς τῶν ἰητρῶν ἥδε ἡ ξυμπαθείη λήθει· καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἐξέταμόν κοτε τοὺς κρεμαστῆρας, ὡς ἰδίην ἔχοντας αἰτίην· (And there is another thing more surprising than this, when the pain suddenly shifts to the testicles and spermatic cords. Now this sympathy between the different organs escapes many physicians; and sometimes they actually cut out the spermatic cords as if these contained the special cause of the suffering). In the edition due to Kühn’s industry the word κρεμαστῆρες is translated by musculos cremasteres dictos (the muscles called cremasteres). The expression is also found in the “De sign. acut.” II. 6., and Petit in his Commentary on the first named passage declares in all seriousness that the sympathy was sufficiently well known to anatomists, arising from the connection of the cremasteres muscles with the peritonaeum and its processes, which statement appears to rest on the datum of Galen, De usu partium bk. XIV. ch. 11. (IV. p. 193.) and De semine bk. II. ch. 5. (IV. p. 635.), where the cremasteres certainly are called μυώδη σώματα (muscular bodies) and compared with the round ligaments of the womb. Still Galen says distinctly in the latter passage that they contained arteries, veins and the spermatic ducts, in the Isagoge ch. 11. (XIV. p. 719.) ὃς (γόνος) φέρεται ἐπ’αὐτοὺς διὰ τῶν κρεμαστήρων (it,—the seed,—is conveyed to them through the cremasteres). On the other hand in the “De musc. sect.” Vol. XVIII. B. p. 997., the musculi cremasteres properly so called are clearly described, and the statement added: Τὸ δὲ ἔργον αὐτῶν ἀνατείνειν τὸν ὄρχιν· ὅθεν ἔνιοι κρεμαστῆρας αὐτοὺς ὀνομάζουσι (but their duty is to hold up the testicles, for which reason some name them the cremasteres,—suspenders). Neither Blancard-Kühn nor yet Kraus’s Lexicon give under the word “Cremaster” any meaning but that of the muscles; the same is true of Schneider. Comp. Paulus Aegineta bk. VI. ch. 61., where the spermatic cords are also called παραστάται (supporters), as also by Galen, Defin. med. XIX. p. 362. and De semine bk. I. Vol. IV. p. 565., where they are spoken of as κιρσοειδῆς παραστάται (varicose parastatae). A denomination Herophilus first made use of (Galen IV. p. 582.) and which according to Athenaeus Deipnos. bk. IX. p. 396. was likewise given to the testicles.
[345] Hippocrates, Epidem. bk. V., edit. Kühn Vol. III. p. 548. Besides Hippocrates mentions almost exclusively the sympathetic swellings of the testicles that occur in cases of interruptions of the respiration, particularly in coughs. Sextus Placitus Papyriensis likewise, ch. 92. 4., ch. 101. 2., speaks of prurigo veretri (itching of the privates).
[346] Galen, De semine ch. 15. (IV. p. 564).
[347] Galen, De medic. sec. loc. bk. IX. ch. 8. (XIII. p. 317.). Paulus Aegineta bk. III. ch. 54. Both authors also make mention in this connection of sarcosis testium (swelling of the flesh of the testicles). Rambach, Thesaurus Eroticus, a work which now for the first time is within our reach to consult, quotes under ova pro coleis (ova,—eggs, put for testicles):
Vel tantus ad ora veniret
Aut aliis causis ita computresceret ovum,
Ne fieri posset quin crudelis medicina
Ova recidisset, medici reprobabilis usus.
(In fact such foulness appeared, or from other causes the testicle was so rotten, that nought could be done but for cruel surgery to cut out the testicles,—the horrid habit of doctors), and assigns to it the name Ovidius Pseud. Is this perhaps a specimen of those old lines properly to be ascribed to some mediaeval monk?
[348] Galen, Method. med. bk. V. ch. 4. (X. p. 325.), καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο ἐπ’ αἰδοίων καὶ ἕδρας εἰς τὴν τοιαύτην ἀνάγκην ἀφικνούμεθα πολλάκις, ὅτι ῥᾳδίως σήπεται τὰ μόρια διά τε τὴν σύμφυτον ὑγρότητα καὶ ὅτι περιττωμάτων εἰσὶν ὀχετοί. (And in this respect with regard to the privates and fundament we constantly come back to the same conditions of causation, viz. that these parts are readily affected by putrefaction, as well owing to their natural moistness as because they are channels for excretions). Commentar. in Hippocrat. De humor. (XVI. p. 414.), ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ φύσις τῶν τόπων οὐ μικρὸν πρὸς τὸ δέχεσθαι σηπεδόνας ποιεῖ· καὶ γὰρ τὸ στόμα καὶ τὰ αἰδοῖα πολλὴν ὑγρότητα τῇ φύσει κέκτηται· καὶ προσέτι τοὺς ἀδένας ἔχουσιν ἐγγὺς, ἄπερ πάντα τὰ περιττὰ εἰσδέχεσθαι πεφύκασιν. (Moreover the nature of the localities has no small influence on their liability to putrefactive changes. For the mouth and the private parts possess much moisture of their very nature; and besides this they have the glands close by, all which circumstances tend naturally to make them the receptacles of excessive moisture). De usu partium bk. XI. ch. 14. (III. p. 910.), ἤδε δὲ καὶ περὶ τὴν τῶν αἰδοίων φύσιν αἱ τρίχες ἅμα μὲν ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἐγένοντο, θερμὰ γὰρ καὶ ὑγρὰ τὰ χωρία. (Now this quality and the fact of the privates being naturally surrounded with hair would seem to be necessary consequences, because the localities are hot and damp).—Cassius, Problem. 2., Cur supremae corporis sedes ad nomas sunt opportunae, similiter et concavae? An quia noma putrefactio est quaedam et sensus interitus atque extinctio. Supremae autem partes ob alimenti penuriam calore facile destituuntur, ita ut hac de causa census ablationem incurrant. Concavae vero ob humidae in ipsis materiae affluentem copiam, cuius occasione putredine corripiunter. (Why are the extreme parts of the body liable to nomae (eating ulcers), and likewise the concave parts? It is because a noma is a form of putrefaction and a perishing and extinction of sensation? Now the extreme parts owing to the scantiness of the nourishment they get are easily robbed of heat, so that for this reason they incur loss of sensation. On the other hand the concave parts owing to the excess of moist matter that collects in them, which is the occasion of their being attacked by putrefaction). Comp. what was said above under the head of “Climate”.