A Treatise on the Diseases Produced By Onanism, Masturbation, Self-Pollution, and Other Excesses.Deslandes, L. (Léopold)
Science
A Treatise on the Diseases Produced By Onanism, Masturbation, Self-Pollution, and Other Excesses.
Deslandes, L. (Léopold)
Masturbation
Pains in the loins and extremities were very marked in an individual
of whom Serrurier remarks as follows:--“A patient whom I attended
was reduced to a most dreadful state of marasmus, in consequence of
nocturnal pollutions, determined by venereal excesses. I prescribed
a tonic mode of treatment, and varied it in every form; but the
patient died, after four months of frightful pains in the loins and
articulations.” There was apparently, in this case, an affection of
the lumbar part of the medulla, or of its membranes. A similar malady
existed, probably, in a man whose case was published by Hattè, and who
was affected, in consequence of excesses in coition, with a lumbago,
which alternated with satyriasis. There is no doubt, in regard to
the affection of the spinal marrow, in the following case related
by Van Swieten:--“For three years” says he, “I used all the aids of
medicine for a young man, who, in consequence of onanism, was affected
with general wandering pains--with a sensation, sometimes of heat,
sometimes of cold, which was extremely unpleasant, over the whole body,
but particularly in the loins. After a time, these pains diminished
slightly; and then the thighs and legs were so cold, that although
these parts, on being touched, seemed to preserve their natural heat,
yet he was constantly warming himself at the fire, even during the
warmer days of summer. I observed, particularly, a constant rotation of
the testicles in the scrotum; and the patient felt a similar motion in
the loins, which was very troublesome to him.”
Was the spinal marrow perfectly healthy in the onanist who wrote to
Tissot the following:--“My nerves are extremely weak. My hands have no
strength: they tremble constantly, and perspire freely. I have violent
pains in my stomach, arms, and legs; and sometimes in the kidneys,
chest,” &c. Persuaded, also, from a great many cases, that most of
the pains termed rheumatic are neuralgic, and that many neuralgias
depend on an affection of the spinal marrow; I think there is reason to
suspect this affection, whenever it is found in onanists.
The following case, related by Dr. Bertini of Turin, presents, as a
principal symptom, convulsive trembling of the lower extremities. The
disease commenced, as is frequently the case, under the influence of an
accidental cause; but when this had occurred, the patient presented for
a long time symptoms of an affection of the medulla; and it is evident
that their origin must be ascribed to onanism.
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