For some time, the patient was in this sad state, when he experienced a crawling sensation, like that caused by ants, descending along the back: he experienced, in the same region, a severe and fatiguing pain, which extended into the ribs and loins. These symptoms subsided; but at the lower part of the dorsal region appeared a hard tumor, which at first was small; but it gradually enlarged, as long as the patient continued to masturbate. This tumor was evidently formed by the curve of the spine, and the projection of three spinous processes.
In three months, the patient was improved by the use of moxas and of antiscrofulous remedies, by a suitable regimen, and particularly by abstaining from onanism, for which he had conceived not only disgust, but even a horror. The abdominal limbs regained their strength, heat, and sensibility; the patient could walk on crutches, and could even stand erect for a few moments, and could take a few steps unaided.
In this case, which is remarkable in more than one respect, the symptoms of myelitis preceded the curve of the spine, and then disappeared, although the spine did not regain its primitive rectitude. The debility, numbness, retraction, and paralysis of the limbs, appeared long before the pain in the back, after which the curve in the back began to appear; and then these limbs regained their sensibility, force, and motion, while the gibbosity remained always the same. This curve, then, could not be the cause of the paraplegia, because the latter appeared first, and the spine remained curved after the paralysis was removed. The development of symptoms apparently scrofulous, in a man more than twenty years old, who had hitherto presented nothing analogous, and whose parents were healthy; the loss of his hair; the affection of the seminal passages, and the state of the genital organs, &c., &c.—facts to which we shall recur hereafter—all contribute to render this case interesting.
We shall see, in the following case, also related by M. Dalandeterie, an instance of vertebral caries in an onanist:—
A cook, forty-five years old, of bad constitution, but having always enjoyed robust health, indulged in masturbation, although not to very great excess. Eighteen months before his case was published, he perceived pains and weakness in the loins, frequent colics, often followed by brownish dejections, and sometimes by obstinate constipation. He suffered, too, from flatulency; and in the left haunch there was a pain, which increased or diminished with this flatulence.
The patient, notwithstanding the progress of these symptoms, continued to masturbate. Debility and pains in his loins extended into the abdominal limbs, and increased so much, that he was obliged to keep his bed: he could only lie on his left side; but in this position his motions were easy. The diminution in the natural heat, the livid color of the skin, the softness and flaccidity of the flesh, debility, loss of sleep and of flesh, thirst, constipation, &c., were added to the symptoms already mentioned.
At the same time, a hard, indolent tumor, the size of a pullet’s egg, was formed at the lower part of the dorsal region. This tumor, which did not enlarge, evidently resulted from the prominence of the spinous processes, and consequently from a curve in the spine, which was doubtless caused by a softening of the bodies of the vertebræ.
Nearly at the same period, there was developed, at the lower part of the sternum, a hard, indolent tumor; the color of the skin was unchanged: it gradually became the size of a nut, suppurated, and assumed the appearance of a scrofulous ulcer. The lymphatic ganglions of the neck, which were somewhat swelled, now returned to their natural size. The treatment was similar to that used in the former case, and was attended with the same result: the strength, bodily heat, and appetite returned. Finally, the patient was able to walk with crutches; and could stand, unsupported, for a few moments.
The circumstances in this case are not detailed with sufficient accuracy, to enable us to follow exactly the cause of the symptoms. We would remark, however, that one of these seen first was the neuralgic pains, which extended from the loins into the lower extremities. Now, as this symptom belongs to irritation of the medulla or its membranes, more than to their compression, there is reason to think that this irritation preceded the curve of the spine. In this patient, also, as in the preceding case, the affection of the marrow had not so much influence in causing the destruction of the bodies of the vertebræ, as a disposition to caries—a disposition which was evidently increased by onanism, and which appeared at the same time in several bones.
The following case, from Meyrieu, is not sufficiently detailed, to affect in any manner the question, how caries of the vertebræ is produced in onanists; but it is interesting, as it shows that the disease may extend to the soft parts which cover or are adjacent to the affected vertebræ.