_Wilson_, p. 201, clearly shews that exception ought not to be taken against mere diminutiveness[307] of structure; extraordinary dimensions in length and thickness may certainly prove a cause of _relative_ impotence; there are besides certain enlargements in the neighbouring organs which may afford obstacles to the venereal congress, as remarkable obesity,[308] scrotal hernia, and hydrocele. It has been a question to what extent the penis might be mutilated, without the extinction of virility: repeated instances have occurred where the _glans_ has been lost, and yet the individual has retained his faculty of procreation. _Piazzoni_[309] relates a case where both the _corpora cavernosa_ were destroyed, but as the canal of the urethra was preserved, the person could perform the act of coition without difficulty. _Franck_[310] also states an instance in which so considerable a portion of the penis had been carried away by a musket shot, that when the wound healed, the organ remained curved, and yet it proved adequate to the performance of its functions. A Paralysis affecting the muscles of the penis is not a disease of very rare occurrence; it may depend upon various injuries of the nervous system, and while it remains, it is unnecessary to say that the penis is incapable of performing those sexual functions for which it is constructed, constituting the _Anaphrodisia Paralytica_ of Dr. _Cullen_. The continued erection of the penis (_priapism_) is sometimes the result of morbid irritation,[311] and occasions a temporary impotence, (the _Dyspermatismus Hypertonicus_ of _Cullen_) in consequence of the urethra being so closely shut up by the vigour of the erection, that the powers which throw the semen from the _vesiculæ seminales_ are unable to overcome it; gentle evacuations and a slender diet are the best remedies in such a case. Strictures in the urethra, or morbid affections of the prostate glands, may occasion a similar inconvenience, (_Dyspermatismus Urethralis_) and we perhaps ought to enumerate extreme costiveness under the same division of the subject. IN FEMALES. Adhesion of the Labia may take place in adult women from inflammation; in consequence of which the due secretion of mucus with which these parts are naturally clothed on their internal surface is prevented; or it may arise from the neglect of accidental excoriation. In children the labia frequently cohere in such a manner as to leave no vestige of a passage into the vagina, except at the anterior part for the discharge of urine; the disease, whenever it may occur, is easily and safely removed by the knife.[312] In some cases hard labour has given rise to preternatural union of the labia.[313]