Farinaceous substances, and especially bread, rice, potatoe, &c., are very suitable, because they are nutritious, and but slightly stimulant; but they are often bad to digest.
The rule little and often, is the rule to follow, in regard to the division of food. The patient has always taken too much food: if he feels perfectly satisfied, or if he experiences any inconvenience after it, the quantity of nourishment should be so regulated that nothing of this kind could occur. The meals should be taken frequently, only because they are small. We prefer to give broth warm, or more frequently still, cold, by spoonfuls, and have seen a benefit from it.
Drinks are not very nutritious, and generally stimulate much. Those which are given to strengthen, only do so for a few moments. They excite, and do not nourish. If the patient takes them to quench thirst, he should take as little as possible, for they also must be digested. In this respect wines may be useful. To choose among them, the experience of the patient must be consulted. A general rule governs the use of drinks at meals, viz.: to attain the proposed end with the smallest quantity of drink. Very dry wines, liquors, coffee, tea, &c., ought not to be permitted, unless absolutely necessary to digestion. The use of Selzer water, and particularly of Spa water, may be very advantageous. Very cold drinks are often the only ones suitable to the stomach.
Medicines have often been administered, either to strengthen the system, or to re-establish the digestive powers. Of these, the most useful are preparations of iron, quinine, and bitters. It is possible to improve the digestive organs with these drugs, and also with others; but this is not the place to give the treatment of diseases which are marked by difficulty of digestion. I know that some tonics may be used with great advantage, especially if they are given in such doses as to have no direct and immediate effect, particularly if their local action on the stomach and intestines be not too powerful.
Very cold baths, like every remedy capable of having an intense effect, should be forbidden to patients exhausted by onanism. But if the baths are simply cold, and particularly if they are taken in running water, or in the sea, they may strengthen the constitution. Dry, or aromatic frictions on the limbs, or along the vertebral column, are useful. The exercise should be moderate exercise, for too much fatigue exhausts the strength, instead of increasing it, and might excite or hasten the development of one of the diseases produced by onanism. A pure and dry air, like that breathed in hilly countries, may also have a favorable influence on the economy generally, or on digestion.
APPENDIX.
The preceding pages may seem to many of our readers more particularly adapted to France; and it may be presumed that onanism is not so frequent in America. This however is a mistake: an able writer in that valuable periodical, the Boston Med. and Surg. Journal, when treating on the subject remarks as follows:—
“The pernicious and debasing practice of Masturbation is a more common and extensive evil with youth of both sexes, than is usually supposed. The influence of this habit upon both mind and body, severe as it has been considered, and greatly as it has been deprecated, is altogether more prejudicial than the public, and, as is believed, even the medical profession, are aware.
“A great number of the evils which come upon the young at and after the age of puberty, arise from masturbation, persisted in, so as to waste the vital energies and enervate the physical and mental powers of man. Not less does it sap the foundation of moral principles, and blast the first budding of manly and honorable feelings which were exhibiting themselves in the opening character of the young.
“Many of the weaknesses commonly attributed to growth and the changes in the habit by the important transformation from adolescence to manhood, are justly referable to this practice.