Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 1: The Evolution of Modesty; The Phenomena of Sexual Periodicity; Auto-ErotismEllis, Havelock
Science
Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 1: The Evolution of Modesty; The Phenomena of Sexual Periodicity; Auto-Erotism
Ellis, Havelock
Sex; Sex (Psychology)
It is somewhat remarkable that, so far as I have observed, none of these
authors refer to the possibility of any heightening of the sexual appetite
at the monthly crisis which they believe to exist in men. This omission
indicates that, as is suggested by the absence of definite statements on
the matter of increase of sexual desire at menstruation, it was an ignored
or unknown fact. Of recent years, however, many writers, especially
alienists, have stated their conviction that sexual desire in men tends to
be heightened at approximately monthly intervals, though they have not
always been able to give definite evidence in support of their statements.
Clouston, for instance, has frequently asserted this monthly
periodic sexual heightening in men. In the article,
"Developmental Insanity," in Tuke's _Psychological Dictionary_,
he refers to the periodic physiological heightening of the
reproductive _nisus_; and, again, in an article on "Alternation,
Periodicity, and Relapse in Mental Diseases" (_Edinburgh Medical
Journal_, July, 1882), he records the case of "an insane
gentleman, aged 49, who, for the past twenty-six years, has been
subject to the most regularly occurring brain-exaltation every
four weeks, almost to a day. It sometimes passes off without
becoming acutely maniacal, or even showing itself in outward
acts; at other times it becomes so, and lasts for periods of from
one to four weeks. It is always preceded by an uncomfortable
feeling in the head, and pain in the back, mental hebetude, and
slight depression. The _nisus generativus_ is greatly increased,
and he says that, if in that condition, he has full and free
seminal emissions during sleep, the excitement passes off; if
not, it goes on. A full dose of bromide or iodide of potassium
often, but not always, has the effect of stopping the excitement,
and a very long walk sometimes does the same. When the
excitement gets to a height, it is always followed by about a
week of stupid depression." In the same article Clouston remarks:
"I have for a long time been impressed with the relationship of
the mental and bodily alternations and periodicities in insanity
to the great physiological alternations and periodicities, and I
have generally been led to the conclusion that they are the same
in all essential respects, and only differ in degree of intensity
or duration. By far the majority of the cases in women follow the
law of the menstrual and sexual periodicity; the majority of the
cases in men follow the law of the more irregular periodicities
of the _nisus generativus_ in that sex. Many of the cases in both
sexes follow the seasonal periodicity which perhaps in man is
merely a reversion to the seasonal generative activities of the
majority of the lower animals." He found that among 338 cases of
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