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
[347] _Galen_, De medic. sec. loc. bk. IX. ch. 8. (XIII. p. 317.).
_Paulus Aegineta_ bk. III. ch. 54. Both authors also make mention in
this connection of _sarcosis testium_ (swelling of the flesh of the
testicles). _Rambach_, Thesaurus Eroticus, a work which now for the
first time is within our reach to consult, quotes under _ova_ pro
coleis (ova,—eggs, put for testicles):
Vel tantus ad ora veniret
Aut aliis causis ita computresceret ovum,
Ne fieri posset quin crudelis medicina
Ova recidisset, medici reprobabilis usus.
(In fact such foulness appeared, or from other causes the testicle was
so rotten, that nought could be done but for cruel surgery to cut out
the testicles,—the horrid habit of doctors), and assigns to it the name
_Ovidius Pseud._ Is this perhaps a specimen of those old lines properly
to be ascribed to some mediaeval monk?
[348] _Galen_, Method. med. bk. V. ch. 4. (X. p. 325.), καὶ κατὰ
τοῦτο ἐπ’ αἰδοίων καὶ ἕδρας εἰς τὴν τοιαύτην ἀνάγκην ἀφικνούμεθα
πολλάκις, ὅτι ῥᾳδίως σήπεται τὰ μόρια διά τε τὴν σύμφυτον ὑγρότητα
καὶ ὅτι περιττωμάτων εἰσὶν ὀχετοί. (And in this respect with regard
to the privates and fundament we constantly come back to the same
conditions of causation, viz. that these parts are readily affected
by putrefaction, as well owing to their natural moistness as because
they are channels for excretions). Commentar. in Hippocrat. De humor.
(XVI. p. 414.), ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ φύσις τῶν τόπων οὐ μικρὸν πρὸς τὸ δέχεσθαι
σηπεδόνας ποιεῖ· καὶ γὰρ τὸ στόμα καὶ τὰ αἰδοῖα πολλὴν ὑγρότητα τῇ
φύσει κέκτηται· καὶ προσέτι τοὺς ἀδένας ἔχουσιν ἐγγὺς, ἄπερ πάντα τὰ
περιττὰ εἰσδέχεσθαι πεφύκασιν. (Moreover the nature of the localities
has no small influence on their liability to putrefactive changes.
For the mouth and the private parts possess much moisture of their
very nature; and besides this they have the glands close by, all which
circumstances tend naturally to make them the receptacles of excessive
moisture). De usu partium bk. XI. ch. 14. (III. p. 910.), ἤδε δὲ καὶ
περὶ τὴν τῶν αἰδοίων φύσιν αἱ τρίχες ἅμα μὲν ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἐγένοντο, θερμὰ
γὰρ καὶ ὑγρὰ τὰ χωρία. (Now this quality and the fact of the privates
being naturally surrounded with hair would seem to be necessary
consequences, because the localities are hot and damp).—_Cassius_,
Problem. 2., Cur supremae corporis sedes ad nomas sunt opportunae,
similiter et concavae? An quia noma putrefactio est quaedam et sensus
interitus atque extinctio. Supremae autem partes ob alimenti penuriam
calore facile destituuntur, ita ut hac de causa census ablationem
incurrant. Concavae vero ob humidae in ipsis materiae affluentem
copiam, cuius occasione putredine corripiunter. (Why are the extreme
parts of the body liable to nomae (eating ulcers), and likewise the
concave parts? It is because a _noma_ is a form of putrefaction and a
perishing and extinction of sensation? Now the extreme parts owing to
the scantiness of the nourishment they get are easily robbed of heat,
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