If the individual either by legitimate modes or otherwise, wishes to satisfy his desires, the state of excitement becomes changed to one of action, and the genital organs then arrive at their greatest degree of power. All parts of the genital system are interested, and combine their actions: the testes prepare the semen: the excretory ducts convey it: the prostrate gland and the muciparous follicles secrete their special humours, and the mucous fluids flow to the sexual parts. The erectile tissue, which forms the whole of the glans, the cavernous bodies, the clitoris, and most of the external and internal labia, the vagina &c., solicits to itself and retains the blood, becomes swelled by as much as it can contain, hardens and enlarges to the utmost of its capacity. At the same time the genital sense passes rapidly through all the degrees of excitement: and finally arrives at that point beyond which it cannot extend: every muscle, every mature fibre in the genital system is then convulsed: the seminal vesicles, the muscles surrounding the urethra and those which are attached to the anus contract with violence, and the semen, the loss of which causes so much exhaustion even when discharged involuntarily, is convulsively expelled. The scene now changes: the genital apparatus, lately so full of life now becomes flaccid: the scrotum becomes loose and pendent, and a sensation of torpor, of fatigue, of chill follows. The convulsive motions are succeeded by a kind of paralysis, and all attempts at new excitement are vain. During this tumult and after this crisis, the general state of the patient conforms in every manner to that of the genital system. Thus the face reddens, the neck swells, the veins become filled; the skin is now burning and now moistened with sweat, the heart beats with rapidity; in fact there is a state of fever, which almost justifies us in placing the act of venery among diseases. At the same time the nervous centres, the cerebrum, the cerebellum, the spinal marrow, experience a very powerful impression. As the state progresses, consciousness is lost, and the subject is as it were in a state of delirium. The will is suspended, and the muscles are not controlled by it, but by the nervous centres which are so much irritated. Thus the trunk and limbs are agitated by involuntary motions and chills. This disturbance increases until the crisis arrives, when the convulsion affects the genital system; a fit of epilepsy as it were ensues: the sight becomes dim, the trunk stiffens and the neck is thrown back: and finally this state might be regarded as a violent access of disease if the beginning and end of it were not known.