Aphrodisiacs and Anti-aphrodisiacs: Three Essays on the Powers of ReproductionDavenport, John
Philosophy
Aphrodisiacs and Anti-aphrodisiacs: Three Essays on the Powers of Reproduction
Davenport, John
Phallicism; Sex; Sex customs -- France -- History -- 17th century
"_Thirdly_. The ardour of lechery is very much subdued and
mated by frequent labour and continual toiling. For by
painful exercises and laborous working so great a
dissolution is brought upon the whole body, that the blood
which runneth alongst the channels of the vein thereof for
the nourishment and alimentation of each of its members, had
neither time, leisure, nor power to afford the seminal
resudation or superfluity of the third concoction, which
nature most carefully reserves for the conservation of the
individual, whose preservation she more heedfully regardeth
than the propagation of the species and the multiplication
of human kind. Whence it is that Diana is said to be chaste,
because she is never idle, but always busied about hunting.
For the same reason was a camp, or leaguer of old
called--Castrum,[222] as if they would have said--Castum;
because the soldiers, wrestlers, runners, throwers of the
bar, and other such like athletic champions, as are usually
seen in a military circumvallation, do incessantly travail
and turmoil, and are in a perpetual stir and agitation. To
this purpose, also, Hippocrates writeth in his book, _De
Aere, Aqua et Locis_:--That in his time there were people
in Scythia as impotent as eunuchs in the discharge of a
venerean exploit; because that, without any cessation, pause
or respite, they were never from off horseback, or
otherwise, assiduously employed in some troublesome and
molesting drudgery.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account