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
[344] _Aretaeus_, De sign. chronic. bk. II. ch. 8., θώυμα δὲ τουτέων
μέζων, εἰς ὄρχιας καὶ κρεμαστῆρας ἀδόκητον ἄλγος ἐπιφοιτῇ· πολλοὺς
τῶν ἰητρῶν ἥδε ἡ ξυμπαθείη λήθει· καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἐξέταμόν κοτε τοὺς
κρεμαστῆρας, ὡς ἰδίην ἔχοντας αἰτίην· (And there is another thing
more surprising than this, when the pain suddenly shifts to the
testicles and spermatic cords. Now this sympathy between the different
organs escapes many physicians; and sometimes they actually cut out
the spermatic cords as if these contained the special cause of the
suffering). In the edition due to Kühn’s industry the word κρεμαστῆρες
is translated by _musculos cremasteres dictos_ (the muscles called
cremasteres). The expression is also found in the “De sign. acut.” II.
6., and _Petit_ in his Commentary on the first named passage declares
in all seriousness that the sympathy was sufficiently well known to
anatomists, arising from the connection of the cremasteres muscles with
the peritonaeum and its processes, which statement appears to rest on
the datum of _Galen_, De usu partium bk. XIV. ch. 11. (IV. p. 193.) and
De semine bk. II. ch. 5. (IV. p. 635.), where the cremasteres certainly
are called μυώδη σώματα (muscular bodies) and compared with the round
ligaments of the womb. Still _Galen_ says distinctly in the latter
passage that they contained arteries, veins and the spermatic ducts,
in the Isagoge ch. 11. (XIV. p. 719.) ὃς (γόνος) φέρεται ἐπ’ αὐτοὺς
διὰ τῶν κρεμαστήρων (it,—the seed,—is conveyed to them through the
cremasteres). On the other hand in the “De musc. sect.” Vol. XVIII.
B. p. 997., the musculi cremasteres properly so called are clearly
described, and the statement added: Τὸ δὲ ἔργον αὐτῶν ἀνατείνειν
τὸν ὄρχιν· ὅθεν ἔνιοι κρεμαστῆρας αὐτοὺς ὀνομάζουσι (but their duty
is to hold up the testicles, for which reason some name them the
cremasteres,—suspenders). Neither Blancard-Kühn nor yet Kraus’s Lexicon
give under the word “Cremaster” any meaning but that of the muscles;
the same is true of Schneider. Comp. _Paulus Aegineta_ bk. VI. ch. 61.,
where the spermatic cords are also called παραστάται (supporters), as
also by Galen, Defin. med. XIX. p. 362. and De semine bk. I. Vol. IV.
p. 565., where they are spoken of as κιρσοειδῆς παραστάται (varicose
parastatae). A denomination Herophilus first made use of (Galen IV. p.
582.) and which according to _Athenaeus_ Deipnos. bk. IX. p. 396. was
likewise given to the testicles.
[345] _Hippocrates_, Epidem. bk. V., edit. Kühn Vol. III. p. 548.
Besides Hippocrates mentions almost exclusively the sympathetic
swellings of the testicles that occur in cases of interruptions of
the respiration, particularly in coughs. Sextus Placitus Papyriensis
likewise, ch. 92. 4., ch. 101. 2., speaks of prurigo veretri (itching
of the privates).
[346] _Galen_, De semine ch. 15. (IV. p. 564).
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