A gentleman, twenty-four years old, says M. Sainte Marie, in order to avoid conscription shut himself up in an isolated chateau under the charge of an old and confidential domestic. There in order to lighten the ennui of his situation he gave himself up to onanism. After three years of this forced seclusion and dangerous excess, he reappeared in the world; he was excessively pale and thin, which was attributed to the extreme loneliness in which he existed. Marriage was urged upon him as a mode of relieving, by an agreeable establishment, this long ennui; his strength however failed him the night of his marriage, and he was unable, as Montaigne says, to consummate the nuptials. He became disgusted with himself, and this feeling soon settled into one of deep and fixed despair. One day he swallowed a large dose of arsenic, but vomited it soon after with the food which he had eaten. He then came to Lyons to seek a death which he considered more worthy of his birth and station. He followed very closely for several days a celebrated fencer, and finding an opportunity to insult him, did so, with no other intent than that of losing, sword in hand, a life which had become hateful to him. The fortune of arms decided otherwise: although feeble and languid, he wounded his adversary, and this slight advantage suddenly changed his resolution. He now saw that life was not a series of defeats and humiliations: he desired to live, and in this frame of mind he came to consult me. His impotence seemed but a slight symptom. I readily saw that it was only the symptom of a well marked dorsal consumption. I prescribed ice to be taken internally, iced water douches to be used along the vertebral column and a milk diet. After continuing this treatment three months, the patient’s health seemed perfectly restored. He left Lyons, and rejoined his family, who were much concerned at his long absence. I learn now that he is very happy, and that his wife has presented him with three living pledges of affection. (_Wichmann_, _p._ 91.)