We have already remarked several times, that the respiration in onanists is frequently affected. Their breath is often short; they pant on the slightest exercise; are subject to stifling, &c. These symptoms, the existence of which cannot always be explained by that of any organic alteration in the heart or lungs, finally assume, in some individuals, the characters attributed to _nervous asthma_. The authors who have written on this subject, have all classed venereal excesses among its most frequent causes. “Individuals of a nervous temperament,” says M. Ferrus, “seem most particularly liable to it. But the influence of certain bad habits--as masturbation, the abuse of venereal pleasures by young persons, excesses of the table in old men, &c.--contribute, as powerfully as individual predispositions, to produce this disease.” Jolly remarks, in nearly similar language:--“Venereal excesses and masturbation,” says this distinguished physician, “have appeared in some cases to produce asthma. And if some authors think that too much importance is attached to this cause, they may readily appreciate its value by observing the effects of the venereal orgasm on the pulmonary circulation.” Daily observation proves that persons affected with asthma have generally used the goods of this life freely. To admit that venereal excesses often prepare for or excite an attack of asthma, we have only to regard an attack of asthma, whether excited or not by an organic lesion, as consisting in a spasm of the glottis; or, as Reisessen and Cruvelhier think, of the ramifications of the bronchi.