Before proceeding to describe these symptoms, we would remark, 1st that the results of venereal excesses are so analogous to those of involuntary pollution, that it is impossible to point out any difference between them: 2d that the general effects of these pollutions, whether voluntary or involuntary, are also extremely analogous to those caused by the slow destruction of an organ; those for instance observed in phthisis pulmonalis, cancer of the uterus, profuse suppurations, chronic diarrhœa, &c. Thus then the results of masturbation and of coition are the same as those of involuntary seminal emissions, which is decidedly a disease of the genital organs, and as those of other severe maladies affecting different parts. Are not these analogies sufficient to prove that we were correct in regarding the state in which the genital organs are momentarily when abused, as a state of disease.
One of the most constant effects of excessive masturbation is the loss of flesh. This symptom shows itself more or less rapidly, and extends to a greater or less degree. We may regard it as one of the circumstances in which onanists most resemble those affected with phthisis, with diarrhœa, and generally, individuals confined with a severe and long continued illness. The loss of flesh arising from onanism has not unfrequently been attributed to a too precocious growth and vice versa. This symptom is much more striking in some onanists, as it is attended with excessive appetite and a healthy state of the digestive organs. How great must be the influence of the genital organs when abused, on the nutritive process, to cause this loss of flesh, even under the conditions most favorable for its gain. It is not uncommon to see onanists affected with a complete state of marasmus: their frame is reduced to a skeleton and presents in anticipation a picture of the state in which death will soon place them. Many parts, as the loins, thighs and lower extremities are often remarkable for their extreme emaciation. Sainte Marie who has observed this fact, attributes it and also the debility of these parts, to a morbid state of the spinal marrow, and not unjustly. The facility with which onanists regain their flesh on leaving off these bad habits, is equally remarkable with their rapid loss of substance. There are individuals however who remain thin and dried up through life, in consequence of abusing themselves while young.
The loss of strength generally follows the loss of flesh and returns also with it. At first debility only follows the act temporarily, but afterward it continues longer: new emissions of semen take place, and even before the subject of them has regained the strength exhausted by a previous indulgence. In the morning he rises from his bed with difficulty: during the day he is idle, stupid, and indolent, and pursues his avocations without any spirit. If he goes up stairs, or ascends a hill, his heart beats forcibly, and he pants very much. This debility, if the cause which produces it does not cease to act, may increase to a frightful degree. We have seen onanists whose bodies were bent down by the weight of the head and chest and curved as in old men: these individuals could not stand erect, their lower extremities could not support their weight, and at the least motion they felt giddy and faint, and finally terminated the remnant of their existence on a sofa or bed which they could not leave. Many authors, Sanctorius and Tissot among others, have asserted that this debility is greater or less according to the position of the body during the act of venery; but we attach but slight importance to this circumstance, although they may have some effect. We think more of Sainte Marie’s opinion, that the lower part of the body is frequently weaker than the upper, because the spinal marrow is affected by seminal emissions. As the flesh returns when the onanist ceases from his bad habits, so too does his strength, and generally rapidly. But there are many, who are affected during their whole lives with great debility, which unfits them for many occupations. It is very common to find individuals who complain of being incapable of any physical effort, and who request their physician to give them strength. On questioning them, almost all admit that in their youth they have been addicted to onanism. Some do not wait to be questioned but refer to their former excesses as the source of their troubles and denounce them as the cause of their actual debility. Most invalids however do not refer so far back to the origin of their illness or even do not dream of it: they remain at peace with themselves and their ignorance might deserve to be respected, if they were not or would not probably be fathers, and if it did not become us to excite their vigilance in regard to their children. Thus then venereal abuses may cause not only a transient debility, but an exhaustion which may be continued, as long as life lasts.
The loss of flesh and strength is not the only symptom of consumption which undermine gradually the onanist: many signs indicate that all the functions are affected as it were with a loss of strength. The countenance instead of the vermilion glow of health, is pale and without freshness, or of a yellowish, earthy, leaden, and livid teint; the lips lose their color, a bluish circle surrounds the eyes, the eyelids are puffed out with œdema: the flesh is soft and flaccid: the pulse is small and feeble: upon the slightest motion or during sleep, the forehead, chest and palms of the hands are bathed with profuse perspiration: in some patients the hands and feet are edematous: in short, the symptoms are those of general atony, which are attended with a slow hectic fever, denoting that the economy does not yield without reaction to the destructive disease.
We ought perhaps to wait before speaking of the disturbance of the digestive organs, which almost constantly attends venereal abuses, until we had finished describing the symptoms of voluntary spermatorrhœa and were stating the diseases resulting from it. In fact the digestion is deranged then only because the digestive organs are diseased, and are affected with dyspepsy, gastritis, erteritis, &c.; but these derangements are so common after the loss of the seminal fluid, that we think ourselves authorized to treat these derangements as symptoms. Venereal excesses may affect the digestive organs in several ways, first by disturbing digestion if they occur while this process is going on: this fact has already been stated. We might add that when food is taken too soon after masturbation or coition digestion is seldom performed well. This fact did not escape the notice of Sanctorius, who remarks, Cibus copiosior solito post immoderatum coition interimeret nisi succederet aliqua ciborum corruptela. Venereal excesses may also affect the digestive apparatus in another manner besides that of directly disturbing its functions. This system is so intimately connected with all parts of the human body that all are influenced by it. If then the digestive functions are disturbed by most morbid states, can they remain uninjured when so many symptoms are presented by the genital apparatus which has become the focus of so many symptoms! Certainly not: these functions also take a part and a large part in the disorders which are the usual consequences of venereal excesses. A moderate exercise of the genital organs may excite the stomach, render the appetite more keen and the digestion more rapid. Hence why young men who begin to masturbate or to indulge with women have frequently an insatiable appetite, which leads them to eat constantly, which is very striking inasmuch as debility and loss of flesh ensue in just the same manner. But such a state of things cannot long continue: thus numerous signs soon show that excesses in venery may act on the digestive tube in another manner than by rendering the appetite more keen and the digestion more easy. In fact the appetite does not long resist excesses of onanism: it first diminishes, then disappears, and is often replaced by a decided disgust for every kind of food; in some patients it becomes irregular, capricious: in others it remains: the latter have most cause of complaint, for it continues longer than digestion is performed. “My appetite remains,” writes an onanist to Tissot, “but it is a misfortune, as eating is followed by pain in the stomach and my food is rejected.” Many onanists feel pains of a similar character after eating. In others there is a sense of oppression, of fulness, in the epigastric region. In some there is a gnawing feeling resembling that produced by a want of food: this symptom is very common in girls, who in consequence of secret practices, have become affected with leucorrhœa. In some the face and cheeks present a redness which contrasts remarkably with their habitual paleness: onanists are frequently affected with headache, vertigo, flushed face, &c. In some the slowness of the digestion is indicated by eructations, which occur long after taking food: or the belly is tense and filled with wind. Food, which was formerly digested with ease, is now oppressive: and the list of articles of diet is shortened every day. Some onanists have been known in these cases to indulge in ardent spirits with the vain hope of exciting their appetite, and regaining their strength. Repeated vomitings, constant pain in the belly and a slow fever are also frequent symptoms of the deep-seated affections of the digestive organs. In many patients the intestinal canal is more liable to be affected by venereal excesses, than the stomach. Obstinate constipation in some, diarrhœa and borborygmi in others are the usual signs of the affection of this canal. Fournier and Begin mention the case of a young man, who almost constantly experienced after excess in coition, severe colics followed by excessive diarrhœa and an insupportable tenesmus. Rest, gummy drinks, the use of farinaceous food and a small quantity of red wine, soon dissipated these symptoms, which sometimes threw him into an alarming state of languor and debility. (Dict. des. Sc. Med., art. Masturbation.) Hoffman relates a similar case. We have more than once met with similar effects. A young man whom we attended in 1832 died, after excesses in onanism, with diarrhœa. This unfortunate individual, although in the last stages of consumption, still indulged as soon as he was left alone, in his deplorable habit. Diarrhœa, or rather intestinal ulcerations, which are then the cause of it, generally appear in onanists as in those affected with consumption, at the last stages of life. Thus a young man, nineteen years old, addicted to masturbation from childhood, died a few years since at Hotel Dieu. The most active watching and the strictest mechanical methods could not arrest his fatal manipulations. Diarrhœa was added to his habitual loss of semen, and he died three months after entering the hospital, in a perfect state of marasmus.
Many authors have repeated after the statements of Hippocrates, that individuals affected with consumption, arising from venereal excesses, have no fever. This is an error: they die as we have already stated, with true hectic fever, which is caused by the state of the different organs, and particularly by that of the genital system. Of this, numerous instances might be cited: the following is related by Dr. Federigo, the Italian translator of Portal’s work on consumption. “I knew,” says he, “a female who was affected for many years with extreme debility and entire loss of appetite. A slow fever every evening had rendered her extremely thin: her eyes were pale and sunken; her skin was very hot, and it was highly painful for her to stand erect: a profuse discharge weakened her still more; and she was in an advanced state of marasmus. All the active remedies, as preparations of iron, decoctions of cinchona and mineral waters were tried without success. She died in a most deplorable state of consumption. I attempted, by questioning her as to her mode of living, to discover the cause of this disease, but unsuccessfully. A month before her death however, she told me with tears in her eyes, that she brought her debility upon herself, by indulging constantly and for many years in a secret and murderous habit.” We will add that Sainte Marie having found that daily involuntary pollution occurred in diseases of languor, as soon as he became acquainted with the dissertation of Wichmann, discovered that many slow nervous fevers were kept up by this affection.
From our remarks on the influence exercised by the genital organs on the nervous system, even when simply in a state of excitement or repose, it will not surprise, if we should state, that in this system are seen the affections resulting most frequently from the abuse of these organs. In fact the diseases of motion, sensation or of intelligence, that is of the faculties which are situated in the nervous system, are in fact the most common consequences of masturbation, and of venereal excesses generally. We have already spoken of the gradual diminution in the locomotive powers of the onanist. That of sensation presents very different phenomena, it is exalted as much as the first is diminished. Farther it is admitted that these two faculties are in an inverse ratio to one another. This increase of the susceptibility may take place at any age in consequence of venereal excesses; but it occurs much more readily in young persons, that is at that period of life when the mode of sensation assumes those characters which at a later period more than all the others constitute the temperament. Thus the excessive susceptibility generally presented by onanists, does not belong to those transient symptoms which disappear when the habit ceases: but, on the contrary, it continues, long after the habit has ceased, and its influence is long felt. How many persons of every age complain of being extremely nervous. Some know that this depends upon their own conduct, which they deeply regret. Interrogate them, and many will admit the excesses of their youth. We have rarely neglected to verify this remark and the responses have generally confirmed my suspicions. These individuals are seldom free from disagreeable feelings, from pain and inconvenience of some kind: their symptoms may vary extremely, and change very suddenly, but they are generally or always indisposed one way or another. This can be readily imagined: every thing affects them: cold, heat, dryness, moisture, rain, snow, food, drink, exercise, rest, in fact all these modifying circumstances find in them an organization ready to be acted on. The act of venery, the first source of their nervous susceptibility, subjects them to constant privations. A young man, twenty-two years old, whom we attended a few months since, told me in a depressed manner the constant inconveniences which he experienced from onanism. The following is his narrative, which we shall give here because it presents a faithful picture of the state in which the nervous system exists in most persons who have indulged in onanism.
“At sixteen years of age,” said he, “I learned to masturbate; this habit, I continued, for several years, with a kind of fury. My health soon became affected, my strength failed and also my digestion. I soon perceived a heat and constant pain in my stomach: my throat was inflamed and my feelings were extremely bad. The advice which I received and the alteration in my health, caused me to renounce this habit. My situation soon improved and I gained daily, but at the same time my desires returned and I shortly relapsed into my former errors. The same cause produced the same effects and I again abandoned onanism, promising never to indulge again. For two years I kept my word: unhappily this time however my health was not restored as at first, and I continually experienced all the sufferings which I have described. Besides I have become so sensitive that every thing incommodes me: the least change in the weather and particularly a storm causes me a great deal of suffering. Farther I cannot say what temperature is best for me, for I do not experience much difference whether it be cold or warm. I have but little desire for females, and although indulging at times after long intervals, yet I have always suffered for several days afterward, in the same manner as after masturbation. I feel constant pains of a lacerating character in the limbs: sometimes also, but more rarely pains in the back; often also, I have pains in the stomach and colic. My digestion although better than before, is far from being good: I can take but a few articles of food, and the smallest portion of wine, spirit, or coffee produces great distress.” This was the young man’s statement: he was deeply affected by the slightest cause: his appearance was sad, he was tired of himself and was constantly tormented by thoughts of his former excesses. I have seen him several times since; and I have reason to believe that his obedience to my advice improved his health.
It may be said that this patient is a hypochondriac. I admit it: but what is hypochondria, save an excessive susceptibility, added to all the inconveniences which result from it, and the derangement of the digestive functions? And hence all authors who have spoken of this disease, and of hysteria, which resembles it in so many respects, have classed venereal excesses among their most common causes. I might cite in proof of this, Tissot, Louyer-Villermey, Fodéré, Foville and many others. Oppenheim, physician to the grand vizier, attributes the frequency of hypochondria and of hysteria among the orientals, to their abuse of the pleasures of love. Pinel gives the history of a hypochondriac who at the age of puberty abandoned himself to masturbation which was followed by frequent involuntary pollutions. In another place he speaks of a similar case: and almost every practitioner can mention several.
The affection of the nervous system in onanists consists not only in an increased susceptibility, but is indicated also, by a number of symptoms, as pains sensations and spasms of every kind. Angelot has related the case of a young man affected with constant discharge of semen, who, among other phenomena, presented so great a degree of nervous irritation that he experienced a vibration over his whole body at the slightest noise. Some patients experience pains in the limbs as if they had been beaten; others are affected with intense headache and pains in the loins which reappear at each pollution: or wandering pains, which however are sometimes fixed, are felt in the course of the nerves and are similar to neuralgia. We shall see hereafter that painful affections of various kinds have been the more or less direct consequence of venereal excesses. Sensations of giddiness, of formication or crawling, &c., may also be perceived: some patients experience cramps which at first are felt only during the act of venery, but which afterwards reappear at other times. Spasms, contractions and generally the convulsive motions so often observed in onanists usually result from severe affections of the nervous centres, affections which we shall speak of directly. A very frequent symptom and one too which has never deceived me as to its nature, says Georget, are palpitations of the heart attended with difficulty in the respiration, slight suffocating feelings, &c. He remarks also that fainting and partial or general trembling appears on the slightest contradiction and often without any known cause in onanists. These remarks are very true: palpitations and stifling sensations continue sometimes for years after onanism has ceased, and fainting fits, trembling sensations, &c. show themselves during or immediately after the act of venery.