The Plague of Lust, Vol. 2 (of 2): Being a History of Venereal Disease in Classical AntiquityRosenbaum, Julius
History
The Plague of Lust, Vol. 2 (of 2): Being a History of Venereal Disease in Classical Antiquity
Rosenbaum, Julius
Sexually transmitted diseases -- History
[177] Phlyctaenae (blisters) in erysipelas of the uterus are mentioned
by Hippocrates, De ant. mulierum, edit. Kühn II. p. 541. _Galen_, edit.
Kühn Vol. XVII. A. p. 358., ἴσθι γὰρ ὅτι τὰ ἐξανθήματα ἐν ταῖς τῆς
μήτρας διαθέσεσιν εἰς τὸ δέρμα ἐκραγέντα σημαίνουσιν ὅτι ἡ φλεγμονὴ
ἢ ἐρυσίπελας ἐκ τοῦ ἀποζέοντος καὶ λεπτοῦ αἵματος ἐν ταῖς μήτραις
ἐγγίνεται, ὡς ἐν τῷ περὶ γυναικείης φύσεως γέγραπται. (Be assured that
those eruptions that break out on the skin in certain morbid conditions
of the womb signify that the inflammation or erysipelas proceeds from
the deficiency and poorness of the blood in the womb, as is stated in
my Work, On the Female Constitution).
[178] _Aristotle_, Problem IV. 18.
[179] _Aëtius_, Tetrab, IV. serm. 1. ch. 122., Novimus quosdam
audaciores qui sibi ipsis testes ferro resecarunt; castratis enim non
in peius malum ipsum procedet. Neque enim temere reperias, inquit
Archigenes, ullum aliquem castratum elephantiasi laborantem, neque item
facile mulierem. Quare etiam quidam ex confidentioribus medicis manum
admoverunt, et quotquot sane ex eis ex sectione periculum evaserunt,
per consequentis curationis usum perfecte ab hac maligna affectione
liberati sunt. (We know of some bolder spirits who have amputated their
own testicles with the knife; for after castration the actual evil will
not then proceed to any worse length. For, says Archigenes, you will
not readily find any single case of a castrated man suffering from
elephantiasis, nor will you easily discover a woman at all affected by
this disease. Wherefore, in fact, some of the more daring practitioners
have operated, and there is no doubt that such of their patients as
escaped the dangerous effects of the operation, have been through
the employment of subsequent precautions completely freed from this
malignant complaint). Comp. _Hensler_, “Vom Aussatz”, (On Leprosy),
p. 401. With regard to _the immunity of women_, an assertion likewise
made in connection with _mentagra_ (p. 288), _von Roeser_ writes (loco
citato p. 67.) referring to Venereal disease: “Above all it is now the
case in Greece and Turkey that the practising physician,—and I have
been assured of the fact by many persons,—exceedingly seldom meets with
syphilitic female patients in his practice; that yet notwithstanding
this none of _the sequelæ and different forms of subsequent mischief_
that are usually found resulting from the disease when every kind of
medical aid is neglected, are seen in patients of that sex.”—P. 71.,
“Only poison would seem, as a result of the secretive process exerted
by the affected parts of the skin and the mucous membrane, which is
much more powerful in women than in men, to be more readily eliminated
from the body than is the case with men, so much so indeed that it is
an almost unheard of thing in Egypt to find a female patient under
medical treatment.”—still this does not justify the conclusion that
women _never_ suffered from Venereal disease, as even von Roeser
himself admits.
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