The act of venery often causes, also, ganglionary swellings; but they do not resemble scrofulous engorgements, more than those which arise from the influence of puberty. “The first essay of venereal pleasures,” says Cabanis, “is often necessary to complete the development of the genital organs: thus, the general swelling of all the parts where the glands are situated, especially of the bosom, of the anterior face of the neck, is often the consequence of this great commotion. The characters which manifest this swelling are much more remarkable in females; hence, perhaps, the old physicians, and even some moderns, have stated the sudden swelling of the neck in young girls as a sign of defloration. But it is wrong to consider this as a general and certain sign: it is certainly not one.” If the act of venery can produce such an excitement in the lymphatic system, it ought to be still more manifest when a part of this system is already inflamed. This is confirmed by a fact stated by Lordat, in the bulletin of the scientific society of Montpelier. It relates to a young woman, in whom the jugular glands being swelled, a few days after her marriage, increased or diminished in size, according as she yielded to her husband’s embraces or not. Thus, then, if we consider the genital organs, either during the acute period of their development, or when the act of venery is indulged in, we see that they extend their action to the lymphatic apparatus, as they do to the other systems; but in a manner which seems the reverse of that reputed to favor the production of scrofula. Symptoms, however, analogous to those caused by scrofula, have been known to occur where there is evidence of venereal abuses. Two cases, which we have already quoted from M. Dalandeterie, are instances of this. The first relates to a young man, twenty-four years old, whose health, before he was addicted to masturbation, had been good; and whose parents, so far as could be ascertained, had never been diseased with scrofula, and had never presented any disposition to the disease. First, he was affected with numbness in the little finger of the right hand, and the ring-finger of the left hand; the articulations swelled, and formed in these parts tumors, which were regarded as scrofulous, and which were soon followed by ulceration and caries. The patient experienced no pain; and only felt an intolerable itching. The lymphatic ganglions of the groin and axillæ were permanently swelled; and the bodies of several vertebræ became, as we have seen, affected with caries.