The Old Man Young Again (1898)

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/ OF THE \

/old man\

/ to the condition \

/ O* THE \

/strength of youthtide\

\ Df THX /

\ POWER /

\ of x

\ COPULATION. /

V/

Deux exemplaires de cet ouvrage, destinis aux Collections National*s ont ete deposis conformbnent h la loi.
En consequence, FEditeur se reserve tous droits de
reproduction et de traduction et poursuivra tout contrefacteur ou dibitant de cmtrefagons.

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PARIS

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THE OLD MAN

YOUNG AGAIN

or

in tl)t flotwr of Conropterfnr*

LITERALLY TRANSLATED FROM THE ARABIC

by

AN ENGLISH "BOHEMIAN"
"Kitab

Rujua as-Shaykh ila Sabah Fi-l-Kuwwat 'ala-l-Bah"

WITH TRANSLATOR'S FOREWORD,
numerous Important Notes illustrating the Text, and an Excursus on the
HISTORY, NATURE and USES OF APHRODISIACS.

PARIS

CHARLES CARRINGTON,

13 FAUBOURG MONTMARTRE. 13

m.d.cccjccviii.

J

of the "OLD MAN YOUNG AGAIN"

FIRST PART.

TRANSLATOR'S FOREWORD:

(I) The Age & Authorship of the Book......... 3

(II) Arabian Medical Science..............21

(III) The Strength of Man in Copulation.........40

(IV) On the Various Kinds of Impotence with a Description of

the Degrees of Virility and the Power of Erection etc. 55

SECOND PART.
PUBLISHER'S NOTICE
THE OLD MAN YOUNG AGAIN.

SYNOPSIS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

CHAPTER I.

On the formation of the Yard..............101

CHAPTER H.

On the formation of the Testicles.............115

CHAPTER III.

Concerning the evils produced by over-indulgence in copulation. 115
CHAPTER IV.

The results which arise from the ill effects of excessive Coition. 120

CHAPTER V.

What ought to be taken after Coition...........124

CHAPTER VI.

The advantages of copulation...............125

table of contents.

CHAPTER VII.
Of suitable and unsuitable times for copulation......127

CHAPTER VIII.
Certain information necessary to be known before composing
the medicines favourable to Coition..........136

CHAPTER IX.
Description of those simples and other drugs which increase
the power of copulating........ ....... 137

CHAPTER X.

Of medicines intended to Increase the power of Coition . . 138
CHAPTER XI.

A description of certain Oils which have the same Effect . 139
CHAPTER XIL

Of Unguents for the same Purpose............140

CHAPTER XIII.

Of dressings and bandages for the same purpose.....141

CHAPTER XIV.
Frictions which make the sperm more abundant and increase
the power of Coition.................142

CHAPTER XV.

Electuaries which increase the power of copulation .... 143
CHAPTER XVI.

Medicinal powders for the same purpose.........144

CHAPTER XVII.

Injections which strengthen the lust-power........145

CHAPTER XVIII.

Suppositories for the same purpose...........146

CHAPTER XIX.

' Of various medicinal pastes...............147

CHAPTER XX.
Incenses which heighten the power to copulate and render
man strong......................149

CHAPTER XXI.
Odeurs which increase Coition..............151

xi

CHAPTER XXII.

The composition of certain foods.............153

CHAPTER XXin.

Various things which diminish Coition..........155

CHAPTER XXXV.
Relating to the lengthening and thickening of the Yard . . 157

CHAPTER XXV.
The preparation of medicines which render copulation more
delightfol.......................176

CHAPTER XXVI.
Concerning those substances which help to make a woman
pregnant.......................177

CHAPTER XXTO.
The knowledge of those drugs which prevent conception. . 180
CHAPTER XXVIII.

Various things which psomole Cattian..........181

CHAPTER XXIX.
The inscription of certain words which Increase the power
of copulation. ...................185

CHAPTER XXX.
An enumeration of the tastes and peculiarities of certain persons in the affairs of love and sexual passion.....188

THIRD PART; EXCURSUS.

I. The Romance of the Genital Instinct..........193

II. Aphrodisiacs, their History, Nature and Uses......209 IH. Description of the Beauties and Varieties of Wild Coyntes

by a Priest of Coynte> tamers.............251

3atne* 3tktti*0n,
preface to «Mtbical Bibliography".

(Since therefore tye Inotortebge anb duroey of Dice id in
tyid toorlb do neceddary to tlje constituting of yuman btrtue,
anb tye Scanning of error to $e confirmation of truty, bote
can toe more Safely, anb toitlj tedd banger Scout into tye
regions of din anb falsity tyan by reabing att manner of
tractates, anb Rearing aU manner of readon?

HUItati. ZtvtopAQxtu*.

and

AUTHORSHIP OF THE BOOK.

The Work here offered to the Student and Anthropologist is without doubt, excepting only *The
Scented Garden the most remarkable of its kind.
We esteem that the books which have hitherto appeared , treating of similar subjects, pale into insignificance before the present one.

We perhaps have no need to say that our work is
not intended for the Vulgar-minded, the Infidel, or
the Profane. Such people are bound to misinterpret
our motives, for they are only capable of seeing evil
and indecency in matters of the most innocent nature.
An old French proverb says: aShamed be he who in
such things ought wrong doth see; vwhile a great
man once put it on record that aTo the Pure all
Things are Pure," and we believe that the thoughtful
judgment of right-minded men confirms his dictum.

The subject of the present book is as old as the
world and yet none, in these our modern times, is
more studiously avoided. The Author discourses of
the Mysteries of the Physical Venus. He holds the

(i) "Hony soit qui mal y pensel"

view that Woman is the Life and Glory of the World.  Without any hesitancy of expression and yet with a certain reserve, he classifies, divides and subdivides the things pertaining to physical love with the patience and discrimination of a German philosopher.
We can only regret that he thought fit to abridge
his chapters and that he did not possess the light of
Modern Science to guide him in his researches. Physicians and Men of Learning to day are far more
capable of treating the vital questions raised by our
Author, if the hand of Dame Grundy were not placed
upon their lips. Boys and young men, at school and college, are taught a number of things that are never
likely to prove of the slightest use, while the right
conduct of the u Instrumentum paratum plantandis
civibus" is neglected with a studied criminality that
becomes terribly manifest in all the years of Puberty
and Manhood. Such questions are cried down as
"pornographic", but the true Pornographers in our idea
are those who in them see anything evil at all. Preachers orate on all topics short of that connected with
Sex, and yet nothing is more urgent, nothing more
really sensible and practical, nothing, — if looked at
from a right point of view, — saner and more absolutely
necessary to combat the corruptions of these times.

We are reminded in this connection of the sane
words of Denis Diderot, author of the Encyclopaedia,
far more intelligent in his day and generation than

the so called "Children of Light": — a____J'ai fait

apprendre l'anatomie k ma fille, et c'est ainsi que
j'ai coup6 racine k la curiosity. Quand elle a tout
su, elle n'a plus rien cherch6 k savoir. Son imagination s'est assoupie et ses moeurs n'en sont rest£es
que plus pures. C'est ainsi qu'elle s'est instruite sur
le p6ril et les suites de l'approche de l'homme. C'est

ainsi quelle a appr£cie la valeur de tous les propos s^ducteurs qu'on a pu lui tenir. C'est ainsi qu'elle a pr£par£e au devoir conjugal et & la naissance d'un fils ou d'une fille."

The translation here presented may appear bizarre,
unreal and phantastic, and some, who are not Arabic
scholars may perhaps fancy that the work is not a
genuine one from the Arabic at all. Such people we
are fiappy to be able to refer to the tenth volume
of Sir Richard F. Burton's clever and justly esteemed
version of "The Thousand Nights and a Night" (page
201), where under the title of "Woman" he mentions
the present work. We state this as a proof that the
Arabic originals actually exist. Burton will hardly be
doubted on this head. We may go further; Rehatsek
who has since died, prepared two or three chapters
out of the sixty contained in the book; but he was
unable to go on with it, either on account of illness
or because no London publisher would have cared
to face the storm of oppositon that the launching
of such a work in England would have provoked.
Burton was himself threatened with a Treasury prosecution over the "Nights" and — in the face of old Vize-telly's fate — sentenced to eighteen months hard
labour for having Englished and sold "La Terre" and
"Nana" of Emile Zola, books sold on the Parisian
Boulevards for half-a-crown — no London publisher
is likely to run similar risks in the present benighted
state of English law.

The present Work dates back as far as the thirteenth century, when men were not so mealymouthed as they are to day, and in a country where
people hold the Doctrine that "Naturalia non sunt
Turpia", living none the less moral for that. Although
Manuscript copies of the Arabic original exist in the

libraries (among others) of london, paris, leyden
and Gotha, strange to say this quasi-medical treatise
has hitherto never yet been rendered into any European language. But portions of it have been stolen,
as we farther on shall show, and issued under another
name.

Among the first questions put by the student of
a book of the present character is "who wrote it
and when was it written?" The world is always
anxious to get behind the mystery of a work that
interests, stirs, and moves it. Of no class of writings
is it more important to know something about the
Author than in the medical, or the semi-medical, for
it is evident that here the name gives value to the
production. If penned by some fledgling who escaped
only by the skin of his teeth in the final exam., the
"plucking" he deserved; it would obviously carry
far less authority than the well-weighed judgment of
a sheikh grown grey in the service of science. More
than one sceptical reader, who felt tempted to acquire a copy of an earlier-issued book: "The Book
of Exposition in the Science of Perfect Coition",
wrote to us that they doubted whether it was a
genuine translation out of the Arabic. We gave of
course, every proof as to its Oriental origin, even
adducing one of the M.S.S. upon which it was based. The M.S. from which we
worked chiefly, when Englishing the little book named, is N°. 3060 in the
Catalogues des Manuscrits Arabes compiled by M. le
Baron de Slane of the Paris Bibliotheque Nationale. It is most beautifully written by a modern
scribe and, with it, is bound up the abridgment of an
Arabic copy of "The Old Man Young Again".

Our little work we regret to say, obtained for us
the bad opinion of a few, but for which we were con-

soled by winning the esteem of others, — scholars and
travellers, whose goodwill was worth the while. One
man wrote that the book "ought never to have been
printed and that he had put it on the fire." As this
gentleman had paid for his copy and was a rich manufacturer, we were naturally little interested that
he took pleasure in an auto-da-fe in the privacy of
his bedchamber.

Another subscriber wrote that he "would be glad to
have a second copy for a friend"; another that he
"was highly satisfied and judging from a short inspection , not having had time yet to read it, he thought
it well worth the money." Letters of thanks and
appreciation flowed in from students of Anthropology
in all parts of the world. How different was the
action of one or two heads of public libraries! A
gratuitous copy sent to the British Museum Library
with a polite letter was returned after about 6 weeks,
in a filthy condition, having evidently been sedulously
thumbed, with a note from Dr. Garnett that he "feared
he could not place it for acceptance before the Committee." Well, it was hardly a gain to us, the book was
sold at an inferior price — and we felt sorry that
the "Committee" had been robbed of a pleasure.

In tracing back the birth and antecedents of the
curious pages of "The Old Man Young again," we have
been fortunate in obtaining the help and counsel of
some of the highest Arabic scholars in France. These
gentlemen however, occupying official positions, have
requested us not to divulge their names; they feared
that their assistance would be misconstrued into an endorsment of the contents and character of the book;
and of course, we have no other desire than to obey
their wishes.

The Autographed copy, sufficiently current in Cairo

of aRujuca as-Sheikh" bears for author's name, Ahmad
ibn Solaiman, known under the name of Ibn Kam£l
Pasha. This piece of information is borrowed from
the Kaschf-ath-Thounoun of Hadji Khalifa, of which
mention is made in an article (Fliigels Ed. vol. Ill,
p. 349) and reproduced on the first page and underneath the title of the work, the date being given
as 940 of the Hegira (1533 of our Era) for the death
of the presumed author. Against this attribution of
Authorship there may be adduced such very serious
objections that the greatest connaisseur of Arabic
Litterature, W. Ahlwardt, prefers to abstain from
all conjecture. (See: Verzeichniss der Arabischen Handschriften der Koeniglichen Bibliothek, at Berlin, Vol.
V. (1893) p. 610).

Ahlwardt says: "Verfasser nicht gekannt" and goes
on to give the following description: "Das Werk
handelt von dem Umgang der beiden Geschlechter
und den Mitteln, den Reiz derselben zu erhohen und
die Fahigkeit dazu zu erhalten und zu starken. Der
Verfasser hat das Buch aus dem Grunde geschrieben,
um die zu dem Umgang Unlustigen dazu zu bewegen
als zu einem gottwohlgefalligen Werke." 1

The Manuscript of Gotha 2055 (W. Pertsch, Katalog IV, p. 85) contains a large number of marginal
notes in a very small Naskhi handwriting and we
must add that this M. S. contains only 50 chapters
(instead of sixty) although Dr. Pertsch has described
the M.S. as being complete. It informs us that this
Arabic Work is anonymous and has been translated

(1) aA work treating of Intercourse between the two sexes and of
the means of augmenting their charms, and of the possibility of
preserving and giving greater force to the same. The author has
written the book for the purpose of exciting to connection those
who are indifferent thereto, as to a work well-pleasing to God."

into Turkish by Ibn Kamal Paschi for the Sultan,
Selim the first. For our part we have no doubt that
it was a copy of this version which led into error a
bibliographer as expert as Hadji Khalifa. We may
add that the afore-mentioned M. S. of Gotha having
been finished in "Shawwal" in 868, (June 1464), "The
Old Man Young Again" must have been written before
that date.

With reference to the Turkish translation done for
Sultan Selim, we here take the opportunity of referring to the only European part-translation known
to us. This Version consists of an incomplete and
badly executed rendering of a portion of the stories contained in the second part; and it was issued
"sous le manteau" about 1883 at Brussels, under
the title of: "Le Livre de Volupt6," the Author
being given as Abd ul-Haqq Effendi, and the place
"Erzeroum, chez Qizmich-Aga." In a catalogue styled
"Biblioth£que Secrete consacree aux Femmes et k
I*Amour" (dated 1894) the work is briefly described
as "Traduction d'un livre £rotique turc. Les raffinements des plaisirs du S£rail y sont amplement
d^crits." The Turkish Translator's Preface is worth
transcription, he says:

"The Holy Book hath recorded: "Women are your
Field, go in therefore into your Field, as ye shall
desire!" and the Sacred Commentary explains this as
meaning: — "Go into your Field as ye desire, that
is to say use your Women, standing up, or seated,
or extended upon the Back, or upon the Belly." The
Work which here follows is simply the Amplification
of this infallible Doctrine. For nothing is more pleasing
unto thy Lord than to see Man's Appreciation of his
Gifts. To classify these Gifts under all their Forms and
to seek to draw out from each one of them the largest

Amount of Satisfaction and of Pleasure, is the best
Way to render Him Hommage because Conduct is a
Prayer that nobly supplants the Spoken Word. May
the following work then lead the Reader to glorify
God by tasting in a Spirit of Gratitude, all the Voluptuousness of which it has pleased Him to make Woman
the Home! May a Portion of the Merits thus acquired
fall both upon the Author and the humble Translator
of this Book! And may finally each of us relish as a
Surcharge and for a Reward, the Delights of the
Divine Houris reserved unto the Faithful who work in the Right Way — in the Way
of Peace!" This so-called translation commences right away with the
stories and gives no account of their origin beyond that indicated
on the title page. It is without any literary merit and was
evidently issued for the purpose of exciting the passions. We have
made enquiries of Scholars and Bibliographers, and in all the
principal European Libraries without being able to hear of any other
Version, or Part-Version, in an European tongue.

Pertsch in the aGotha Katalog" of M.S.S. describes
it as: ttein sehr obscdnes Buch ueber den Coitus; der
Verfasser wird weder in dem vorliegenden noch in
dem folgenden Exemplare genannt." and states that
the M.S. copy of ttThe Old Man Young Again" in the
possession of their Library gives as the source (als
Quelle) of the work the following Arabic M.S. "Kitab
Al-Idah fih-Asrar in-Nikah (the Book of Exposition
of the Secrets of Married Fruition.)

This latter manuscript is to be found in the Gotha
library (N°. 2040) and the author of it is stated to
have died in the year 565 1 of the Hegira. Pertsch

(l) Wiistenfeld, Arabische Aerste. (n«. 179.)

adds: "ist diese Angabe richtig, so ist dadurch fiir
das Alter unseres Werkes wenigstens eine Grenze
nach oben gewonnen, waehrend die nach unten durch
das Alter der Handschrift (Jahr 868) gezogen wird."

Besides the Turkish Translation, there exists a
Version concerning which Dr. Rieu, the late courteous
custodian of Oriental Manuscripts in the British
Museum may be consulted with advantage. In his
very able catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts, (Vol.
II. p. 471,) he states that it is a "translation of an
Arabic work bearing the same title and treating of
the means of increasing, or restoring, the virile powers.
The translator of this Persian rendering is stated to
be "Muhammad Sa'id ut-Tabib-B. Muhammad Sadek
ul Isfahani." This Persian translator ascribes the composition of "The Old Man Young Again" to Ahmad
Bin Yusuf ush-Sharif and describes it as "the best of
treatises written on the subject," and states that he
translated it into Persian at the request of Sayyid
Jabir." This Version is divided like the Original,
into two parts (Juz') each of which comprises thirty
chapters."

It is difficult to distinguish here who is the author
of the Arabic original. The author desired evidently
to observe a strict anonymity. And it is for that
reason that he is not named in the generality of the
M.S.S. known. In the Paris M.S. (N°. 2057) he is
called "Shams ad-Din Abou-l-Barakat Mohammad
at-Tifashi." If we turn to the Manuscript of the
Khedivial Library in Cairo, we find that the author's
name is there given as "Sharaf ad-Din Abou '1-Abbas
(or Aboti '1-Fadl) Ahmad ibn Yousouf at-Tifashi."

This man is the same who composed the celebrated
"Treatise of Precious Stones." He died in 1651 of
the Hegira (1253 A.D.). Further information may be

had by reference to the catalogue of the Khedivial
Library, (Vol. VI. p. 16.) and also from Herrn K.
Voller's article published in the "Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlaendischen Gesellschaft" (XLIV 1890.
p. 386.) under the heading: "Aus der Koeniglichen
Bibliothek zu Berlin." We may point out that the correctness of this information appears to be strengthened
by the assertion of the Persian translator who names
Ahmad ibn Yotisouf ash-Sharif, as the author of the
original Arabic.

I would like also .to call attention to the fact that
Ahmad ibn Yousouf at-Tifashi has composed other
works of a similar kind. The student may refer to
Slane, (Catalogue p. 543 = N°. 3055) where he is
given as the author of the following fascinating book:
"Nuzhat al-Albab fima la Yujad fih Kitab," which
means in English aThe Gladdening of Hearts concerning the Things, that are not to be found in
other Writings"; Ahlwardt's Verzeichniss also (Vol.
V. p. 606 N°. 6382) follows, ibid.; perhaps also
Hadji Khalifa (Vol. III. p. 597; Vol. IV. p. 486.)
At-Tifashi signifies that the Author was born at
Tipasa, a city in the province of Constantine in
Algiers. On this point, the Student may refer to
Slane page 500 (art. 2773;) and for Ahmad-at-Tifashi further information may be obtained from
Leclerc's "Histoire de la M^decine Arabe" (Vol. II.
pages 237—39).

If these researches into the mystery of the authorship
of this strange old book teach us anything at all, it
is obviously, that the pages of "The Old Man Young
Again" have received in full measure the consecration
of the hand of Time. We are no worshippers of the
Past, because the Past. We believe that Man today gives birth to things just as great and strange

and valuable as any of those who have toiled in the ages
that are gone. We only regret that so few modern
physicians have the courage to handle these questions
from the standpoint of to-day's knowledge. Is it not
curious to follow these old Authors, and Doctors, and
Searchers of the Past, in their curious, half-blind gropings for the way that should lead to the secret of
restoring Strength and Virility to men?

Sexual love is generally seen to die out with age. The
heat of passion which nourishes the soul and sustains
it, dries up the body, and enervates and exhausts
in it the source of that superabundant sap which
gives the blossom to Youth, the fruit to mature Age,
and to Senility regrets and desires. Such is the ordinary march of Nature. It however sometimes pleases
her to infringe her own laws: she produces singular
exceptions: she forms athletic constitutions, men with
iron bodies, who, in brief, are always young, although
outwardly they bear all the signs of old age and of
caducity. We give a case in point:

"A working man, of middle stature, of hasty temper,
used to a hard and rough life, aged ninety-six years,
three years ago married a woman, who was only
ninety-three years old, and who, until the day of her
marriage had carefully preserved her virginity. A
possession so carefully saved up, no doubt whetted
the desires of our old uTiton", but who, more vigorous and more lucky than this famous god, managed
to fulfil his marital duties three times every night,
as vigorously as the strongest man."

I can positively, says our informant, certify to the
truth of this fact. What is still more astonishing is
that after three successive years of this exercise the
aged athlete had suffered no injury whatever to his
health.

There have always been enthusiasts who believed
that some day an Elixir would be discovered that
should restore the power and glory of wasted
Youthtide. Far be it from us to scout their fancies.
Our only hope in offering the present rough-hewn
version of this Arabic work to Students is that, even
though it may reveal no fresh truth, it may yet
prove a means of stimulating enquiry and suggesting
more valuable ideas upon a subject which is of so
vital importance to Mankind.

Occasionally a curious work is issued sub rosa
which seems to offer new ideas concerning the conduct of men and women in the privacy of the Boudoir and Bedchamber. We have one of these now
before us, bearing the following appetising title: "The
Battles of Venus, a Descriptive Dissertation of the
Various Modes of Enjoyment of the Female Sex, as
practised in different Countries, with some curious Information on the Resources
of Lust, Lechery, and Licentiousness to Revive the Drooping
Faculties and Strengthen the Voluptuous and Exhausted. From the
French." "Wine, Women, Warmth, against our Life combine, But what is
Life without Warmth, Women, Wine!" This book, stated to be from the
pen of Voltaire, it is superfluous to add, has not the remotest connection with that remarkable man. It is rather a
philosophical disquisition on physical love-making,
cleverly and pleasantly written, each point being
argued out with logical accuracy. The work is very
rare and we venture to think that the student will
be grateful for the following short extract: —

The Philosophy of Physical Love.

*In spite of the numerous modes which have been
invented for enjoying a woman, the two most natu ral
ones are the most agreeable. The first and most
obvious mode of enjoyment was undoubtedly that
practised by the generality of mankind, and which
is perhaps the most conducive to generation.

"To behold the naked body of a beautiful woman
in front, her juicy mouth, her heaving breasts, her
firm pouting belly, will be allowed part of the finest
gratifications of a voluptuous fancy, and consequently
to feel and enjoy those parts must be ranked amongst
the sweetest delights of sensual fruition.

Now supposing that in the other modes of fruition,
a man is in actual enjoyment of the ultimatum in a
woman, and experiences emission either in or out of
her body, yet he enjoys not that delightful pressure
on those parts above mentioned, he feels not that
delicious heaving, neither can insinuate his tongue
within her warm lips, kiss or suck them, nor catch
her ardent sighs created by her convulsive motion.

The next in degree of pleasure to this mode is
perhaps that of enjoying her frt> m the rear.

In this species it must be confessed that, besides
the pleasure of novelty and variety, the breast and
belly of the woman are not unenjoyed by the roving
and pressure of the man's hands, and moreover there
are certainly two additional gratifications not known
in the former instance, namely, the feeling of her
plump, warm buttocks planted in his lap, and the
pleasure of handling the delightful mount of Venus,
at the same time that he is fixed in, and enjoying
it behind.

A woman may be enjoyed by two men at the
same time: "The performance would, doubtless, require an extension of parts, but whoever reflects on
their proverbial extensive quality, will not doubt of
their admitting with ease two guests, after a trial or
two, and with sufficiency of natural or artificial lubrication , provided themselves could accomodate their
entrance to the convenience of each other.

"And in the way above alluded to, I am confident that
that might be effected. The woman mtfst lie straight, on either side, and the
man who attacks her in front must, after entering her, lift her
uppermost leg on his buttock. The antagonist in the rear must then
accomodate himself to her posture, and glide in likewise.

"The men may knock her as hard as they will, so
long as the woman is careful to keep herself exactly
straight, and not to withdraw from one or the other,
their violent shocks will only serve to make her more
fixed and steady."

The author argues that "the enjoyment of a woman is more luscious when dressed than when naked,"
provided that stays, so effectually unpropitious both
to dalliance and enjoyment, and other similar encumbrances be removed."

The delight a woman experiences in the act of
coition is more exquisite than that felt by a man:
"First, it is a probable conjecture, that nature would
bestow the sensation of the most pleasure on that
sex, which was to undergo all the pain and hardship
annexed to the fruition. And whoever considers the
collection of misery comprised in the whole period
of gestation, commencing from conception, and not
even terminating with that dreadful and unspeakable
agony which effects the delivery, will allow, that

twice the pleasure of enjoyment were but an inconsiderable compensation for the consequent sufferings.
From all which, Man, the author of them, is utterly
exempt.

"Secondly, the restraints of education, having operated more powerfully upon the female sex, render
a woman, when she is emancipated from them, and
come to the enjoyement of the bliss, more susceptible of delight than a man who has not been bound
by those restraints, and whose curiosity and lust have
been early, gratified. Add to this, that these restraints
also create in the mind of women a curiosity after
things so cautiously hidden from them, that concurs
with the corporal restriction they have suffered to
aggravate their delight.

"And thirdly, it is self-evident that the party
which enjoys the pleasure of emitting and of receiving emission, must feel just twice the pleasure that
is perceived by the party which only emits. Consequently, the woman being in the former predicament,
must enjoy the effects attending it."

The desire to deflower/ a virgin is an acquired taste,
but it is nevertheless the acme of sensual delight.

"Is the prevalent desire of enjoying female virginity in preference to charms that have been already
surrendered, an original dictate of natural lust ? or is
it a symptom of refined experience, or impotent
fastidiousness?

"For my part, I am disposed to impute this to
observable desire to the two last causes since any
man may, I fancy, recollect the time when, upon
the birth of his first and earliest wishes after woman,
all he sighed for was the possession of one of the
sex, abstractedly from the circumstance of her virginity. The object of his warm imagination was only

a

fruition, and one handsome woman at that time
would have been the same to him as another. Nay,
I question whether a youth not initiated into the
mystery of Venus, would not prefer a woman who
had been accustomed to dalliance, before one as shy
and as modest as himself. For in men (as well as in
women) there is at first a timidity towards familiarity
with the other sex, which requires to be dissipated
by the lively airs of a courtezan, ere the stripling
can enjoy or exert his vigour, 1 and which would
damp his efforts, if encountered by a female equally
reserved and inexperienced.

"The youth himself is conscious of that shame respecting certain actions, implanted by education and
custom, he secretly wishes to receive confirmation
and encouragement in what he is going about, and
he is gradually warmed into delight by the boldness
and familiarities of the practised fair, in the same
manner as the innocent yet wishful virgin is artfully
seduced into enjoyment by the contrivance of her
fortunate admirer.

That this eagerness after virginity is not an original lust, I must, indeed, prove from the opinion of
certain strange peoples who esteem the taking of a
maidenhead as a laborious and illiberal practice, which
they delegate to men hired for that purpose, ere themselves condescend to lie with their wives, who are returned with disgrace to their friends, if it be discovered
that they have brought their virginity with them. a

(i) In the edition (1760) from which I transcribe, the two words
"his vigour," fall at the bottom of p. 24, and are repeated at the
beginning of the first line of the following page, although the correct catch-word is *and".

(a) See ttUntrodden Fields of Anthropology" (Vol. II, pages 123
to 135. Paris, 2nd edit. 1898) for documented details on this subject.

"How fortunate would the men of pleasure esteem
themselves, in countries where Opinion chances to
differ, to act as the precursors even without fee or
reward, of these squeamish and delicate gentlemen.

This lust, then, after the untouched morsel, I take
not to be of an original nature, but to result from
much experience with women, which has been demonstrated to lead to novelty of wishes, from fastidious
impotence, which, indeed, is only a farther degree or effect of that experience, or from both united.

ttYet, in truth, I esteem the fruition of a virgin to be, with respect both to
the mind and body of the enjoyer, the highest aggravation of sensual
delight. In the first place, his fancy is heated with the prospect of enjoying a woman, after whom he has perhaps long sighed and had been in pursuit, who he
thinks has never before been in bed with man, (in
whose arms never before man has laid) and in triumphing in the first sight of her virgin beauties, and
first fruition of her virgin charms. This precious operation , then, of fancy, has been shewn
in the highest degree to prepare the body for enjoyment.

aSecondly, his body perceives in that of a virgin,
the cause of the greatest aggravation of delight. I
mean not only in the coyness and resistance which
she makes to his efforts, but when he is on the point
of accomplishing them: 'arrived', as the poet sings,
Bon the brink of giddy rapture', when in pity to a
tender virgin's sufferings, he is entreated not to break
fiercely in, but to spare 'savage dilaceration and dire
pangs." The resistance which the small, and as yet
unopened mouth of bliss makes to his eager endeavours, serves only, and that on a physical principle,
to strengthen the instrument of his attack, and concurs with the instigation of his ardent fancy, to rein-

force his efforts, to unj,te all the co-operative powers
of enjoyment, and to produce an emission copious,
rapid, and transporting.

"Fancy has been known repeatedly to heighten
fruition. In this case, part of the delight arises from
considering that the lewdest part of your body is
fixed in the delicious centre of her body, that you
feel the convulsive wrigglings of the chaste nymph
you have so long adored, and at last feel her diffuse
her warm juice throughout her dewy sheath, and
moisten the hot, ruby crest of your firm-fixed instrument."

The author then animadverts on the pleasures of
rape: "I cannot conceive a higher banquet to a man
of lustful humour, than to see a modest and beautiful
woman forcibly stripped naked; to observe her struggling, and discording (sic)
her hidden beauties by degrees, until she comes to her last shift, and then to
lay her down, and, notwithstanding her efforts, rifle
all her charms, and penetrate even into her honoured
treasure. For here are supposed resistance of both
kinds, with modesty and beauty, and on the man's
side, an imagination prepared by lust, and a body
disposed to make the utmost advantage of its mandates."1

(l) In a book bearing the following curious title: "The Lustful
Turk, or Lascivious Scenes in the Harem of an Eastern Potentate

an interesting history, founded on facts, by E. Barlow" and thus
described in a catalogue: — "A series of letters from a Young and
Beautiful English Lady to her Cousin in England giving the full
particulars of her Ravishment, of her complete Abandonment to all
the Salacious Tastes of the Turks, the whole described with that
Zest and Simplicity which always gives Guarantee for its Authenticity",
we remember having read a most exciting description of a woman
raped after a whipping given to her by slaves in order to stop her

Time when a virgin should be enjoyed: "The time
of enjoying immature beauty, seems to be a year ere
the tender fair finds on her the symptoms of maturity:
whilst yet no ringlets deck the pouting mount, but
all is like her lily hand, both bare and smooth, before the periodical lustration hath stained her virgin
shift, whilst her bosom boasts only a general swell rather than distinct orbs, and whilst her tender mind
is ignorant of what man can do unto her, excepting
what she has gathered from novels, and the information of Nature, her companionsK and the maids*"

Arabian Medical Science.

The introduction of printing has proved a source
of serious detriment to the cause of learning. The
remarkable facilities offered by the invention of Caxton and Gutenberg have put within the reach of
every wretched little dabbler in science the means of
pestering the world with his embryonic ideas. In
days when books had to be written out painfully
one by one, men were more mindful to know well
what they wished to say before they said it. The
Arabian Physicians were for the most part distinguished
men, whose minds had been vigorously fortified by
the study of mathematics. If sometimes they resorted
to charlatanism it was because they were obliged to
do so, even against their own convictions, owing to
the demand of their countrymen for the strange and marvellous. While calling themselves disciples of

straggles and then of the enjoyment she herself afterwards found
in the coition that followed; which seems to confirm the views of
the Author of the "Battles of Venus".

Aristotle, they left untried none of the means that
Magic and Astrology placed at their disposal, that they
might influence more energetically the superstitious
character of their clients. We have traces of these
strange conjurings in the first part of "The Old
Man Young Again." At any rate we have little right
to quarrel with them on this score, for their magical
talismans were nothing more than the amulets of the
Greeks, and the abracadabras of the founders of the
Empire of the Decadence and from this sprung that
mysterious Science of the interpretation of Dreams in
which the Arabs excelled

We have no space here to give the history of the
origin of science in the schools of Arabia. This subject
has already been treated by thoroughly competent
writers and, besides the two mentioned in the footnote,
the Student will consult: Leclerc's "Histoire de la
Medicine Arabe"; Draper's "Conflict between Religion
and Science"; S^dillot's "histoire des Arabes"; and
Dr. Andrew D. White's "History of the Warfare of
Science with Theology."

We would simply mention that the physicians
of Arabia may be divided into two schools; the
first comprising the Greek and Arabic, whose greatest
lights were Rhases and Avicenna, and the Spanish
school, which was able to number men like Aven- Zohar, Averoes, and Abd-ul-Caziz. The story of the
lives of these men are as exciting as that of any of
the most thrilling book of adventures; as interesting
as the novel which set Society by the ears last season.

The names of these men may be ranked with those
of the greatest Greek physicians. They thought boldly

(i) Refer to: *Essai Historiqve et Littiraire sur la Medecine des
Arabes" par Amoreux, Montpellier, 1805; * Histoire de la Medecine"
of Freind, and above all, that of SprengeL

and spoke out boldly their thoughts. For them Nature
had no secrets that should not be touched. The human
body and the secrets of generation were as worthy
of being known and taught as the principles of
Mechanics or the procession of the Stars. They failed to
see any shamefulness in the muscular body of the man,
or the rounded voluptuous form of the woman. They
called things by their names, and described the sexual
forces with no more reticence than would be used to state
that a rose was sweet and gave forth a delicious odour.

If we to day find, that "The Old Man Young
Again" is obscene, is it not owing to the perversion
of our taste, to the mock-modesty of our education,
to the criminal hypocrisy of our progenitors who
affect to condemn the generative act that called us
into life ?

Master Pietro Aretino, the famous author of the
"Raggionamenti" and a Moralist in his way if ever
there was one, indignantly demands: "What harm
can there be to see a man mount a woman? Are
then beasts to have greater freedom than we? To
me it seems that the instrument given to us by
Nature for her own preservation ought to be worn
suspended from the neck as an ornament, and on
the bonnet as a medallion, it being the vein from
which spring the streams of future generations, and
the ambrosia that the world drinks on solemn occasions. By it have you been procreated, you who are
one of the greatest of living surgeons 1; by it was I
procreated, I who am better than bread; by it were
produced the Bembo, the Molza, the Varchi, the
Dolce, the Fra Sebastiano, the Sansovino, Titian,

(i) This passage is taken from a letter addressed to one of the
most celebrated physicians of the period, Dr. Battista Zatti, of
Brescia.

Michel-Angelo and, after them, Popes, Emperors,
Kings; it has engendered healthy children and lovely
dames, cum sancto sanctorum. Feast days ought to
be consecrated to it, with Vigils and Festivals,
instead of being locked up in a piece of cloth or of
silk. It would be much better to hide the hands,
which play with money, are raised to bear false witness,
to lend at usury, to do you injury, tear, seize, give
you blows, wound and kill you. What think you of
the mouth that blasphemes, spits in your face, devours,
swills to drunkenness, and vomits? In brief, the Lawyers
would confer an honour upon themselves by adding
to their conjuring-book an article in honour of it,
and I think that they will come to that."

We hope that no reader will imagine that the present
work is a compendium of mere sensual imaginings,
but rather, as Burton himself has said, *an intelligent
study of the art and mystery of satisfying the physical
woman at a certain stage and period of maris life"
From many points of view indeed, it is a curious.
Anthropological Work, embodying observations
and directions of an intimate nature. The most astonishing to our mind, is that European Physicians
affect to disdain the questions relating to mans sexual
life. Except in certain purely erotic treatises, the
nice handling of the genital powers is entirely ignored. We ourselves are not really surprised at this.
In fact we fail to see how this obstinate mutism and
taciturnity anent things sexual may be broken down.
For if an able man, bolder than the rest of his fellows , dares to handle these questions, save in a scientific gibberish that few can grasp, he is sure to be
hounded out of society, prosecuted by the Treasury
and may consider himself fortunate if he is not forced
to expiate his intellectual audacity by two years of

oakum-picking in one of H. B. M. "Houses of Public
Hospitality". The reader will recall, as a case in point,
the recent iniquitous prosecution of Dr. Havelock Ellis'
work on "Sexual Inversion", for selling which, to a
detective sent expressely to entrap him, Mr. George
Bedborough, the Editor of "The Adult" was summarily arrested and, at the present
moment, is awaiting his trial for having sold an "obscene" book. How
differently are these things envisaged by the Oriental. There we
have none of that false, stupid, and sometimes infamous, mock-modesty which, every now and
again, renders England the laughing-stock of the World.

In spite of the decline of the Arts and Sciences,
and the state into which Civilization has in the East
too often relapsed, the relation of the sexes has never
ceased to occupy the attention of capable men, the
purity of whose motives lie beyond all question and
reproach. On this point, we may again be permitted
to quote Burton; he says: — uThe mock-virtue, the
most immodest modesty of England and of the United
States in the XIXth Century, pronounces the Subject
foul and fulsome; "Society" sickens at all details; and
hence it is said abroad that the English have the finest
women in Europe and least know how to use them" As
is well known, the Saracens possessed a profound
knowledge of many sciences when Europe was still
plunged in the night of ignorance. By the Moslems,
Astronomy was cultivated to a very high pitch; and
uthe Science of Chemistryas Gibbon points out, ,owes
its origin and improvement to their industry" ] while
the Medical Schools that flourished under the Caliphs
of the Abbaside dynasty became famous throughout
the world for their vast learning and culture.

No subject probably, in the world, interests the bulk
of men so nearly, as that dealing with the resuscita-

tion of the genital organs. Whether Prince or Peasant,
(more often for obvious reasons, the Prince), all alike
are concerned with the questions that concern the conservation of sexual vigour. No branch of the knowledgetree is, notwithstanding, treated with grosser, one
might even say, criminal, neglect. Multitudes of neverending Isms, Ologies and strange, new-fangled sciences,
"falsely so called", crop up every day — the Science of
Sexuology has yet to be born. "Throughout the East these
studies are aided by a long series of volumes, many of
them written by learned physiologists, by men of social
standing, and by religious dignitaries high in office.
The Egyptians especially delight in aphrodisiac literature, treating, as the Turks say, " de lapar tie au-dessous
de la taille."

These men hold the doctrine that Man alone in the
realm of Nature is able to raise himself to the level of
Voluptuousness. They believe that it is his duty to
taste "the fruit of the Tree of Life" to appreciate and
to live on it. Voluptuousness gives us above all the
conviction of our existence and makes us feel the
greater fulness of life without sensualtity. "To forsake
the pursuit of pleasure, cried Charron, in his "Sagesse"
is mere madness; to regulate pleasure is the chief
work of Wisdom. Wisdom does not condemn our
pleasures; She would only teach us to control them.
Those who make profession of piety, people that we
call Saints, despise all kind of relaxation and try to
go through this life without any sort of amusement.
Not only is recreaton regarded by them with suspiscious eyes, but even the very necessities that God
himself has spiced with pleasure, they submit to as a
duty and accomplish only with regret.

"Let no one deceive himself, for this is nothing
but pride, weakness, folly, bigotry, the desire for

distinction. They want to be Angels on Earth, but
they have only the vanity of those who are cast out
of Heaven. Man has a body for which he is responsible. To ill-treat it, hate it, torment it, is simply a
sort of Suicide; it is against Nature and consequently
displeasing to God. An act is not vicious because it
is natural. God has bound up together necessity and
pleasure; Nature has given us voluptuous tastes and
ordained that these tastes be allied with reason. Those
who flee from them corrupt Nature's laws and condemn
what she has prescribed."

The author of aThe Old Man Young Again" in his
'Muquaddamat' or Introduction, which we give farther on, names some half a dozen different erotic works
to which he had access. The reader will recall many
others, the principal being "Ananga Ranga, or the
Hindu Art of Love"; the "Scented Garden" (ofwhich
the writer of these lines has now the only complete
Arabic Manuscript to be found, and of which an
uncastrated translation will be later offered to amateurs); the "Kama Sutra" from the Sanscrit, together
with many more, which have never yet been rendered
into the tongues of Europe.

We have already stated that no similar work exists
to our knowledge in English treating of the rehabilitation of decayed sexual
powers. Dr. William Acton's work on "The Functions and Disorders of
the Reproductive Organs" is interesting but does not go far
enough, nor does it indicate the means of winning
back lost power. Some of our correspondents, on
receiving an announcement of "The Old Man Young
Again", appear to have thought that it would prove
a re-concoction of a short erotic tale bearing the following curious title:

ABISH AG

A LUSCIOUS TALE

of a &utte££ful gSpgiotogftal ^eatrfj

AFTER REJUVENESCENCE,

Fully disclosing the Secret of the only natural and
true Elixir capable of effecting such a
desirable necessity.

This book, by an unknown author is stated to be
"strictly true and the faithful result of the experiments of the Author/' The theory enunciated is so
curious that we reproduce the story here. We believe
that it is very rare; and its curiousness and rarity are
our excuse for its reproduction.

""Let there be sought for my Lord the King, a young
virgin; and let her stand before the King, and let her
cherish him, and let her lie in thy bosom, that my Lord
the King may get heat. (The First Book of Kings,
Chap I, verse 2.)

"Thus spoke the servants of old King David when
he was about eighty years old, and the old man's
acquiescence in their suggestion shows that at least,
in that respect he was wiser than his renowned son
Solomon, who after being used up by his seven
hundred wives and three hundred concubines went
decidedly cranky and all wrong in his old age, when
he wrote 'all is vanity and vexation of spirit,' and
turned after the worship of Moloch, Chemosh, Ash-

toreth and Co., no doubt in the hope that their
cruel, bloodthirsty, and otherwise obscene rites, might
tend to restore his lost vigour, and enable him yet
in some small degree to continue to realize the Delights
of Love.

This incident at the end of David's life has always
had a peculiar charm for me, and I have often pondered over the delicious warmth that the soft belly
of the lovely Abishag must have imparted to him,
when, at the same time, no doubt, he caressed and
sucked her virgin nipples, one of his ancient hands,
moulding those snowy orbs of love, whilst the other
was of course "nowhere", for does not the sacred
text (or rather its translators, for the sake of decency)
tell us that "he knew her not." At any rate, my faith
in. the Bible is not strong enough to believe that
David, old as he was, could resist such a temptation.

I am considerably over middle age, and in my
salad days could futter any woman six or eight times
a night, and sometimes three or four times during
the day as well. I got married, and was awfully
pleased with my wife for about six months, then,
being slightly blast, happened to kiss her maid one
day, when we were alone in the house. The girl was
rather shy at first but I soon induced her to return
my kisses, and give me her tongue between my lips,
her soft warm face and luscious lips made the blood
thrill in my veins. I trembled with emotion, as, pushing
her back on the sofa, I first opened her dress, till
I got possession of her bubbies, and kissed the little
strawberry nipples of a white, firm bosom, every way
more inviting than that of my wife.

Edith, that was her name, blushed up to the eyes,
and putting her hands over her face for shame, gave
me a splendid opportunity of attack lower down! One

hand raised her dress, her legs twitched close together,
but these gradually gave way to the insinuating advance,
till my fingers were in full possession of her soft
"furbelow", and revelled in a slightly open slit, already
brimming with a thick, creamy emission.

Ye gods! what a cockstand the touch of her spendings gave me. I felt actually bursting. So pushing
her back on the sofa, I found no difficulty in entering
a path which had been opened up before, but which
had been very little used, as I could plainly tell by
the voluptuous state of trepidation into which my
attack had thrown her.

That she both wanted me and was also afraid at the
same time, was too plainly evident from the profuse
perspiration on her belly, coynte, and parts adjacent.

She lay almost motionless, neither speaking nor
moving, as I began to fuck her, keeping her hands
firmly over her face and eyes all the while. I was
literally boiling, and suddenly fearing I might get
her in the family way, jerked out my lingam, and
spurted the essence of life all over her belly, just as
there was a knock and ring at the door.

A few days after this, my wife went on a visit to
her family, and feeling a little unwell, sent me a<
telegram to say that she should not come home that
evening, so when Edith brought up the supper, I
made a little arrangement to pass the night in her
room, which was on the floor above my bedroom,
in which two other uninteresting "slaveys" slept
together.

Slipping up to her room, I got into her small, hard
uncomfortable bed, hardly big enough for one person.
Her lips responded amorously in the dark to my
wanton kissing and tongueing, whilst my hands, groping her cleft, found the parts about that region in

the same state of tremulous perspiration as before,
which at that time I concluded to be quite natural
to her under the circumstances.

After one vigorous ride, I complained of the smallness of the bed, and persuaded her to follow me
downstairs to my own room.

Once there, I threw her on to the soft, springy bed
hitherto kept sacred to my matrimonial duties, the
very sense of doing wrong adding to the piquancy
of my forbidden pleasures. Subject to very little opposition, I removed her nightdress, and throwing off
my own robe de nuit, we were both naked, side by side.

Heavens! what caresses we exchanged; kissing and
almost sucking each other's breath away, whilst our
busy hands roved over each other's bodies, exploring
all the parts sacred to love.

I may say, without vanity, that I was a finely made
man, about thirty, of medium height, and furnished
with a very useful-sized prikle of rather more than
seven-and-a-half inches. Her tremulous perspiration had
quite gone, and my hands wandered all over the
charms of her person, my lips kissed and sucked those
delicious and enchanting bubbies, whilst one or two
of my fingers tickled and frigged her excited clitoris.
How she did spend! Such a creamy emission was
quite a novelty to me; the touch of it thrilled me
through and through, till the prick she was fondly
caressing became so rampant that I pressed towards
her, and her own fingers instinctively guided his glowing
head into the seething haven of love.

What a bout that was! I spent once, twice, thrice,
and yet she clung to me, whispering, "more, more;
oh, let me have it again. I'm coming. How delightfully it shoots up into my womb! Ah! Ah!! There,
you touch the place. You will love me always, won't

you, dear?" she asked, squirming and heaving and
dying away in a final spend.

Never shall I forget the delights of that night, but
there is no occasion to repeat more of my exploits
with the darling Edie who was discretion itself, and
never by word or look betrayed our amours, during
the three years she remained in our service, leaving
at last to be married.

My wife was about five years older than myself
and now in that prime of life that so many men
profess to prefer. Very hot-blooded and amorous, she
looked for a good deal of attention from "John Thomas"
who began to get considerably used up. Very often
he would not stand unless she caressed him with her
hand, and as to a second performance, he could
seldom get through it without losing his stiffness, and
failing almost at the critical moment when my wife
was about to come. This was never the case whilst
the pretty servant was with us; many a time, when
we had a sly put-in, I left her so unsatisfied that
my wife has had the benefit of it; and besides,
when I did ram my wife, I always increased my
pleasure by fancying I was having the other.

What could I do but explain to my better-half that
I was not so young as I used to be, and that she
must really not be too hard on failing nature?

She was so amorous, and often so pressing about
the matter, and would feed and pamper me up, in
hopes of improving the vigour of my nature, that I
got almost disgusted at having to operate her at all,
and often pleaded exhaustion. Strange to say, my
experience with the girl Edith never put any idea of
the proper remedy into my head.

"Fresh coynte, fresh courage," was the only motto
upon which I acted, so when I often passed an after-

noon with different iice little whores, who amused
me much better than my wife, who, although really
a splendid mount, would never tolerate any fanciful
notions, my gay lady friends took trouble to please
me, and raise my desires, by gamahuching, little
birchings, and other inventions, and when I did
futter them, used all the artful motions and contrac-
tions of which they were capable, but none of them
could spend like Edie, and even my wife was getting
rather dry in that respect.

The older I grew, the slower my poor old printle
was to "come" when wanted. Even my wife complained
that when I did buck her, I tired her out before I
could come.

I didn't care if my wife did get any one else to
ride her; it was quite a friendly act to relieve me of
the ever irksome duty1, and I was always glad when
she would take the two children to the seaside, or
anywhere else on a visit.

At length my eyes were to be opened to the real
invigorating essence', which I ought to have found
out long ago. In fact, I had been like a man who
picking up a precious stone, had never perceived its
true worth. My experience with Edith, ought to
have enlightened me.

Out of charity we took as an assistant to the cook,
a young orphan girl of about eighteen, who had
never been in service before; this girl was not par-
ticularly handsome, but she had such beautiful brown
eyes shaded by dark lashes, from under which they
seemed to look me through, also lovely teeth and

(i) We doubt the sincerity of this. The lewdest roysterer agoing
is often the most jealous, and the watchful envy of the old and
impotent is proverbial (Edit.)

3

sweet cherry-coloured lips. Somehow she exercised
a peculiar fascination over me, but I was careful not
to show it, although I felt certain the girl knew her
power.

It was impossible for my wife to suspect such a
worn-out man, so she had not the least scruple in
going to qhurch one Sunday evening, having also
allowed both the other servants to go out, saying
Folly might stop at home to answer the door and
attend to anything I wanted.

Attend to me I made up my mind she should, so
directly the door was closed on Mrs. Pokington, I
rang the bell and ordered Polly to set out some
wine and cigars. There was a slight flush on her
face as she placed the things on the table.

•Now, Polly" I said, "will you have a glass of
wine??"

"Oh, no thank you, sir, it might upset me!"

"Not so much as your eyes upset me, Polly when
you look under your eyelashes so!"

How she blushed; so springing up from my chair,
I caught her round the waist.

"Polly I must kiss you, your eyes are enough to
bewitch any one!" I said, as she turned her face
on one side, but I pulled her on my knee kissing
her again and again; presently I could perceive she
was in a state of considerable agitation, her bosom
heaved, and she could scarcely restrain her suppressed
sighs.

Always "strike when the iron is hot," so I at
length got her to return my kisses, and even give
me the tip of her tongue, my whole frame trembled
with emotion, and she was more confused every
moment.

"What lovely titties you have," I said, opening

f

her dress without resistance. (I always made my
advances against a maiden fortress by the same progressive tactics). They were loves, and I kissed them
for a few minutes, increasing her agitation more and
more; then one hand gently raised her clothes, till
it rested on her naked thighs; she wore no drawers.

•Lift your legs, Darling, and let me feel the little
nest you have there," I whispered, UI can give you
such pleasure."

Her eyes closed, and she hid her face on my
shoulder, as her thighs slightly gave way, and my
finger at length found her chink. It was just the
same as my experience with the white-thighed Edie
some years before; such warmth, and all humid with
perspiration, the slit itself swimming in an emission
almost as thick as the white of an egg, so creamy
and glutinous. The very touch electrified me; I had
a really tremendous cock-stand.

Overcome by the excess of her emotions, she never
made the slightest resistance, as I stretched her on
the sofa, and proceeded to get into her, but that
was easier than I expected, — there was no maidenhead—, and my prick speedily revelled in those luscious spendings.

I came in a moment, withdrawing and spending
over her thighs for fear of the consequences, but the
dear girl's hand clutched the object of her desire
and tried to put it in again, which I allowed her
to do, after carefully wiping the spendings on her
chemise.

I never lost my stiffness, and had a most lovely
ram. She did not move much, but to judge by her
pleasurable sighs, the intensity of her enjoyment
quite equalled my own. My prick swam in those
delicious spendings, which seemed to excite it so

much that I soon had to withdraw again and spend
outside.

•Get off now," she said, innocently. ■Don't do it
again, sir."

She sat on my knee till my wife returned from
church and assured me, among other things, that
she had never before had a man, but that another
girl had played with her and forced her finger into
her, a long while ago, when she was about fifteen.

A few days after this, I persuaded Mrs P—. to
let Polly sleep in a little dressing room, opening out
of the children's room next to ours, so that she
could attend to the children in the night, as we were
both such heavy sleepers.

The very first night of this new arrangement I felt
so excited at the thoughts of the contemplated bliss,
that I gave Mrs P—. a really good rogering, and
sent her to sleep perfectly contented.

I laid by the side of my slumbering wife, feeling
my cock and wondering whether it would stand
again presently for Polly. I rubbed myself, but
could only raise a limp affair; still I knew she expected me, so slipping away out of bed, I went to
look at the children, who I found as sound as little
roaches. (I have often wondered how roaches do
sleep). Then slipping into Polly's room, I found her
asleep also.

Slightly chagrined at her apparent indifference, I
gave her a little shake, and soon roused her without noise; she threw her arms round my neck and
kissed me, as I slipped into bed by her side. My
hands fondled her bubbies, then slipping lower down,
found her coynte moist with perspiration, and I
could feel her bosom heave as she gave several little
sighs of desire.

Cocky began to lift his head at once, and stiffened
more and more at every movement, as my fingers
revelled in her voluptuous rift which was already
overflowing.

Her face was as warm as a toast, whilst her belly
was even still hotter than mine pressing against it,
and she held my throbbing priapus in her hand, impatient for me to begin.

This was the first time I had had her without any
clothes on, which are such a hindrance to enjoyment, and I was as rampant as possible, so, turning
her on her back, I was soon into her boiling crater.

Such warmth, such juiciness! Oh, heavens! It made
me spend in a moment, before I could withdraw, and
I never shall forget the way in which she opened
her legs, and wriggled herself still closer to me, the
warm sheath of her vagina contracting spasmodically
on my electrified tool. It was one of those awfully
delicious moments one can never forget. I wanted to
draw it out as long as possible, but the little devil
twisted, squirmed about and moved herself so ravishingly, that, in spite of
myself, the seed shot into her longing tiger-cleft in a greater
flood than before. After this, she reluctantly allowed me to return
to my own bed, but not to sleep; my thoughts would run on the
wonderful resurrection of my manly vigour. I had been searching for rejuvenescence, taking
"Pepper's quinine and iron," and other invigorating
tonics, whilst my wife stuffed me in vain with oysters and stout, or dishes made hot with stimulating
condiments.

Now I recollected the exactly similar results I had
experienced with Edie, her soft, warm face, her belly
and coynte like a furnace, at first all humid with the
perspiration induced by the trepidation caused by

r

finding herself in the hands of a man, and how it all
tallied with the results I had with Polly.

"By Jove," I thought, "the warm, thick spendings of
a young girl who has never been ridden or at least
is not used to it, must be the only true reinvigorator. What cockstands they both gave me! Eureka!
That must be it. I will tell my wife!" And so at last
I fell asleep.

"My dear, you were uncommonly vigorous last night.
What have you been taking ?" asked Mrs. P. at breakfast next morning, with a smile so loving that it was
quite a treat for me, as generally I had to put up
with being twitted on my uselessness.

"You would never forgive me if you knew, my
love," I said, meekly. "I was so happy to please you."

"Yes, I would. I would forgive anything that enabled you to poke me like that pretty often," she replied.

"If you promise on your honour, I will let you
into the secret, but not otherwise."

"There, don't be solemn. I'll give you my word
and will swear it on the Bible if you like, that anything you do or take to make
you roger me well shan't give offence." Thus encouraged, I let her
into the secret, but I noticed that she turned pale and bit her lips
to restrain herself: "The little whores, to think they could make
him stand like that." However, she recovered her composure, and we
agreed to keep the secret to ourselves, and she was not to notice
Miss Polly, as long as I did my duty. I am afraid that Polly got so
amorous that she did not get enough of the thing, so she left, and
married a particulary well-hung young butcher.

Mrs. P—. said, "Never mind, my dear, I'll engage

another young girl to keep up your poking, so leave
that to me."

The next girl was pale-faced and cold, and though
she would let me kiss her on the sly for half-a crown,
was so different to Polly as to quite fail in having
the desired effect.

My wife soon changed her for another of the right
sort, always making a change every three months or
so, as fresh girls are most effective.

We have now carried on this investigation for five
or six years, and find the right sort of girl never
fails to have the desired result.

Mrs. P—. now very often has the girl in our own
room to give me a cockstand, of which she takes the .
advantage, allowing the girl to get me up again for
her own benefit, whilst she looked on and used a
dildoe as we did the futtering in front of her.

As the result of our investigations we find that
no whore is any real use, however young; after a
good deal of thrusting their spendings are quite different to the virgin emission, the effect of which is
so electrical.

Whores, however young, are comparatively cold and
dried up, even those who spend well often, get decidedly cooler, as the fucking goes on, instead of increasing in heat and excitement.

The real, proper sort of young girl may range from
15 to 25; they must, if they are not maids, have
had but very little commerce with a man;-she must
be altogether of a warm temperament, which can
easily be judged by the warmth of her face. There
is something exquisitely delightful in the warm glow
one feels in the face of a young girl like this, and
I have found that only girls who are almost unused
to men have that profuse perspiration when first tou-

ched; those that have been well futtered never fear
a prick and have no such trepidation.

Reject a girl with a cold face. She might do for a
wife, but not for a re-invigorator. She has none of that
creamy juice about her when touched by finger or
prick, which makes one thrill with desire, and increases the effect the more you go on.

Whores may induce unnatural effects by their artful touches, sucking or other operation, and the birch
ought by all means to be avoided, as erections procured in this manner only tend to enervate and make
a man still more effete.

By all means then, if single, or if married (with or
without consent of your wife) make haste to secure
such an Abishag as will restore the Blessing of Rejuvenescence."

We leave the Reader to judge of the practical
value of this effusion. Not many wives, we fear, would
be complaisant enough to lend their servants for such
a purpose even at the price of being themselves rogered, before or after the operation on the domestic.
Then of course, there would be further danger of the
servants getting in the family way and demanding
compensation, and if the girl happens to be under
the legal limit of age, the further risk of falling into
the claws of Justice.

Man's Strength in Copulation.

Montaigne gives the following cynical definition
of love: "Love is but the thirst for the enjoyment

of a desired object, and Venus but the pleasure of
disgorging one's vases."1 This is a diabolical definition,
but unfortunately it is true physically. That is why
the entire hygiene of love ought to consist in drinking
when you are athirst, and "Venus" perfect would be
no more than disgorging of one's vases.

"But the problem", says Mantegazza, "is not so simple
as it looks. Hardly is voluptuousness known to us
than we feel that second desire, more imperious than
the first, to experience it again, to study its forms,
to taste of its delights in every degree. We find
that the measure assigned by nature to pleasure is
too restricted, and by our will, our imagination,
our pride, by the excitation of our nerves, we
endeavour to extend its limits. Thence proceed many
factitious wants and an artificial thirst; this it is that
renders so difficult the application of Montaigne's
keen ideas.

"I cannot, nor ought I, busy myself with the
moral problems of Love, but only with its Hygiene,
and because the measure of pleasure must be based
entirely on the satisfaction of genuine, natural,
spontaneous wants. Every desire does not proceed
from the limpid source of the genital organs; every
erection does not indicate the need to operate. The
genuine, physiological want, must be genital and not
proceed from the brain; it must be imperious, irresistible, almost brutal. After satisfying such a want
not only does one not feel exhausted, nor sad, but

(i) Quoted by Mantegazza, Professeur d'Anthropologic (at Milan).
We take this opportunity of acknowledging our indebtedness to this
very suggestive author, with whom we have had the pleasure of
talking over these questions personnally. The "Cavaliere" has probably the most
extensive acquaintance with the Questions and Problems connected with Sexuality of any expert we know.

on the contrary the breath is drawn into fully expanded lungs, as if life's horizon had been extended.
One has the feeling of having done a good deed,
and returns thanks for it to nature, who, in this vale
of tears, has presented- this joy and consolation. The
ancient author who wrote the phrase: "Animal post coitum triste," must have been a misanthropist and
an impotent, who had never satisfied but factitious
and lying wants.

But men would rather obey than reason; they
prefer dogma to criticism, and in matters of genital
hygiene, they call for precise figures; they refuse to
remember that the average man exists only in books
and that cyphers in the concerns of life are violences
against nature. I also would lay down my rule of love
Between the age of twenty and thirty, a man of robust
health may with impunity sacrifice to Venus three or
four times a week; but from thirty to forty-five he
would do well to follow the precept of Luther:

In der Woe he twier
Macht des Jahren hundert vier;
Das schadet weder dir noch mir. *)

After forty-five, I said that one connection, and even
less per week, ought to suffice, and I advised that in
early puberty the rule should be the same. Every

(1) The brilliant exploits of those heroic futterers, Messrs. Clinton
and De Vaux who figure in the pages of erotic novels and tales
such as Randiana\ or of "Captain Devereux" in Venus in India; as
well as others in Flossie; The Wolf in the Fold; The Birchen Bouquet;
and The Green Mask must be not interpreted quite literally, as I fancy
that few men living possess the genital energy of a Clinton even
when aided by a marvellous "elixir".

(2) ... In the week twice

Makes in the year one hundred and four;

Which to thee nor me can do much harm.

man must, of course, take this hygienic rule for what
it is worth, and recollect that these figures, for the
most part, far too high for some, are not high
enough for others. There is nothing more capricious
than the amorous necessity in different individuals.
After the brain, nothing is more variable in man
than the testicles. In proof of this we call to mind
the following historical cases, which the Student may
easily verify: — The Emperor Honorius was devoid
of passion and impotent, and his wife Mary, died a
virgin after ten years of marriage.

Attila, however, was quite the other way; of him
we read: "Attila, ut Priscus historicus refert, extinctionis suae tempus puellam Ildico nomine decoram
valde sibi in matrimonium post innumerabiles uxores
... socians ... Filii Attilae, quorum per licentium
libidinis pene populus fuit ..."

If we are to believe Tradition, Attila died suffocated
by a flow of blood, when he lay for the first time
with the lovely Ildico; and modern Hungarians pretend
that Attila, at the age of one hundred and twenty
years espoused a great number of women

Charles the Fifth had also a great fondness for women
and was a huge eater: "He was every where very
intemperate in venereal pleasures with women of high
and even of low degree." (Relations MSS. de Federigo
Badonaro, 1537.) Mocenigo, in a narrative written in
1548, says: "The Emperor was and is still, according
to what is said by his physicians and by those who
approach him, greatly inclined by nature to sensual
pleasures." (Mignet, Charles-Quint.)

That curious old author, now we fear little studied.

(1) Gibbon's, "History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empirevol. VI, p. 364.

Dr. Venette, in his useful book "The Pleasures of the
Marriage Bed cites the case of Zeno, who touched his
wife but once in his lifetime, and that only because
politeness obliged him to do so."

Dr. Tarnowsky, in his suggestive work on the "Sexual
Instinct", (Paris 1898) 1 mentions cases of sudden fits
of copulative energy where children, old women and
even dogs, as the occasion offered, were seized upon
to appease the terrible phrenzy. Men living may still
recollect an affair that took place some twenty years
ago, where the Court of Assizes of the Department
of Ain sentenced a certain Mathieu Grange, of Firminy, to twenty years penal servitude with hard labour, for a rape committed upon an old woman
aged ninety years.!!

The Emperor Proculus is reported to have deflowered ten virgins in the space of one night.

Montaigne in his "Essays" states that: "Boleslaus,
and Kinge his wife, monarchs of Poland, voluntarly
made a vow of chastity, and lying together in their
nuptial couch, did maintain their chastity in the face
of all marital commodities."

Genital Power of Men Today.

Mantegazza in the "Elements of Hygiene" produces certain facts, which he says "I
have collected, and (1) "The Sexual Instinct and its Morbid
Manifestations from the Double Standpoint of Jurisprudence and
Psychiatry". By Dr. B. Tarnowsky, of St. Petersburg. Translated by W. C. Costello, Ph. D.,
Allinson, and Alfred M. A. Oxon., Paris: Charles Carrington. Roy.
8vo. Pp. XXIV. 232.

which may give an idea of the extreme limits of
genital power in men of our own race, today: A
plaster-modeller, notwithstanding his skill, could not
succeed in becoming rich on account of his continual
want of women. He had connection three and four
times a day, even up to the age of fifty years. I
knew a Romagnol, about fifty years old, of dull
aspect, with the face of a satyr, whose health was
much compromised, and who, in his youth, had been
able to have connection with seventeen women in
the same day. He was able during many months to
continue .this effort three or four times a day. A
young Argentine lived for a year with a young woman,
and devoted himself with her to the pleasure of Venus
twice a day. A woman at Zurich was ridden by the
same man eighteen times in one night. She was afterwards ill for a whole week. I know a young man
who performed the amorous act fourteen times in the
same day, and another who accomplished the feat
ten times without being fatigued. A young Englishman,
whom I knew, shut himself up in a room with a
pretty young girl, having taken provision of substantial food and of generous wine; he then endeavoured
to find his death in excess of amorous adventure;
after four days of repeated connections, he fell ill,
but did not die. One of the most valiant generals of
our Italian army, at the age of forty-nine years, was
still able to possess his mistress five times in the
space of three hours; he could also during many days
running, sacrifice daily several times to love.

"Some of these facts may seem somewhat exaggerated,
but, I admit as scientifically proved, the possibility
of from ten to fourteen connections in a day, without
injury to health.

"On the other hand, I know of a man perfectly

healthy, in all the power of his virility, who, though
married sacrifices but twice a year to Venus, and I
know many others who, during twenty or thirty years,
have never loved but twice or three times a month,
and have been able to remain chaste without inconvenience during many months and years.

With so many individual differences it is easy to
understand how variable are all rules; for so many
individuals there should be as many rules. The severest
of puritans will tell you: *Sentel in die malum, semel
in hebdomada bonum, semel in mense optimum

The Queen of Aragon determined by royal decree
that the number of six connections was the just daily
tribute from the husband to his wife; and this is how
Montaigne with his usual humour records the fact:

"... Contestation which arose in Catalonia in the
question of a married woman, who complained of
the too assiduous assaults of her husband; not that,
in my opinion, she was thereby much incommoded,
(for I believe in miracles by faith only), but in order
to restrain, under this pretext, and to put a curb
upon, the fundamental act of marriage; that is, the
authority of husbands over their wives, and to show
that their spites and malignity go beyond the nuptial
couch and trample under foot the graces and joys of
Venus; to this complaint the husband, a man really
brutal and unnatural, replied that even on fast days
he could not do without ten; then came the notable
decree of the Queen of Aragon, according to which
after mature deliberation of her Council, this good
Queen, to give sound rule and example for all times,
of the moderation and modesty required in marriage,
ordained, that six times per day should be the just
and necessary limit, leaving and putting aside the
want and desire of her sex, in order to set up, as

she said, an easy and therefore permanent and unchangeable form, against which
the doctors exclaim: "What must then be the feminine appetite and
concupiscence, since their reason, their reformation and
their virtue are taxed at such a price" K

'In our opinion" continues Prof. Mantegazza, *La
puissance amoureuse of the woman far surpasses ours,
and even when she does not lend her sensitiveness
to the ardour of the male, the woman is able to
copulate dozens of times a day, without any other
inconvenience than that resulting from the friction of
two epitheliums and of two mucous membranes. When
she participates in the voluptuous sensation of her
partner, she may feel exhausted, but always less
than we men V

The Dangers of Excess.

There are two periods in life when venereal ex-

(1) Montaigne, Essays, lib. Ill, cap. V.

(2) Lovinil Lennio gives the following wise advice to husbands:
uBut these widows, or old maids, having taken a husband, and who make use of
marriage so as to begin to sow abroad their garnered seed, become
fresh and rosy, amiable and charming, rid themselves of all those
little sicknesses which they previously experienced, and more
particularly if their husband is young and vigorous, and knows how
to acquit himself towards them. And although matrimonial association does not entirely consist in that, nevertheless is the tie between husband and wife considerably lightened by
that same, and the husband can do no better to preserve this affection of his wife than to repeat the act as often as he can. And in
that way are often assured the peace and tranquillity of the household/' Moreover same author says elsewhere: "They are sooner fatigued than satisfied, which proves that in this caress a woman
expends more and experiences more voluptuousness and pleasure
than a man.*

cesses are particularly dangerous. That is the moment when the man attains his virility and the
moment when he is about to lose it. The young
man is happy and vain of this new force, and the
thirst of enjoyment, added to the natural vigour of
a function which manifests itself for the first time,
readily leads to facile abuses. The intellectual faculties
are the first to suffer; memory, attention, reflexion
and resistance to the fatigues of thought become suddenly weakened; on the other hand the imagination,
eloquence and the musical sentiment are sometimes
over-excited. If the excesses are continued, activity
and motility may be compromised, a great prostration of the active forces supervenes, followed by hyperesthesia of all the senses and a state of agitation
absolutely contrary to the realisation of a calm and
happy state of health. Digestion itself becomes disturbed and a veritable state of marasmus
may supervene, leading directly or indirectly to a fatal termination. Death from venereal excesses, however,
nearly always occurs in an indirect manner. The
organism is generally rendered through weakness more
vulnerable to external agencies, or to the developement of morbid latent germs. The patient falls an
easy prey to cancer, or any prevailing epidemic.
The genital organs, moreover, are directly influenced
by the abuse, to which they have been subjected.
This fact is proved by the more frequent occurrence
among libertines of genito-urinary affections, and the
prevalence of uterine maladies in gay women. On
the other hand no proof has yet been furnished that
venereal excesses have frequently caused locomotor
ataxis.

When life begins the decline, between the age of
forty and fifty, the virile faculties diminish. Our

49

natural pride and grief at the loss of one of the
greatest joys of life make us feel all the more inclined to commit excess. An increase of desire impels us to enjoy a vanishing pleasure, while there is
yet time, and to seize love ere its final escape.

Excess at this age usually produces hypochondriasis,
or a gradual affection of the intestinal tube. There
are many men, who shorten their existence, or spend
the last portion of their lives sadly, because they
cannot reconcile themselves to the fasts, which old
age compels. Here are some little known and very
curious verses by one of the old poets:

DE NOGUMENTIS COYTUS IMMODERATII:

"Ut tibi pollicitus fuerat Damianus amanti,
Scribit, quae nimii coytus incomoda quanta
Surgant, ut cui nunc uxor formosa marito
Traditur, hoc cautus juvenis bene carmine fias.
Quisquis saepe fuit veneris proclivis ad usum
Corporis amittit vires, frigescit et aret,
Quo calor innatus, liquido pereunte, fovetur;
Restaurare quidem sueti nam plurima chimi
Suppressi pars excutitur, pars spirituumque
Magna perit; certe coytus quanto mage quemque
Delectat, quia plus nati vacuare caloris
Noscitur, hinc fertur tanto mage debilitare
Bor, jecur et cerebrum, nucham, nervos, stomachumque
Dicitur et visum, cunctos quoque ledere sensus;
Accelerat senium, caput ellapsisque capillis
Calvificat, canos, etsi stent, mox facit illos
Adde quod iste viros pugnare effeminat ausos;
Citrinus coytu color accidit; hunc ubi multa
Precessit nigredo mali presaga futuri.
Hie quia crura dolent, vix sese sustinet, immo

4

Interdum cadit; hinc veluti sua membra pererrant
Formice; ad dorsi finemque a vertice sentit.
Hinc tremit, hinc vigilat, nimis hinc febrit acriter, osque
Hinc fetet, colicam hinc patitur, fitque hinc dolorosus
Multotiens, venter graviter sic digerit escam;
Hinc modo uterque oculus foris eminet, hinc fugit intro
Sepius, hinc macies, frons arida, tempore plana,
Optata fieri vita properante recessu;
Sepe solent (dolent) dente infirmo; solet inde putrere
Tabide diffundens fluidum gengiva cruorem.
Hinc dorsi renumque dolar contingit, et inde
Versice labor est vehemens quandoque. Quod ultra
Plura noto, nimio coytu languescere cuncta
Membra puto; idcirco quisquis vult vivere longo
Tempore, quisquis legit, fugiat discrimine prudens."

We have much pleasure in giving a translation of
these extraordinary lines:

ON THE HURTS
ATTENDING IMMODERATE COPULATION:

"To fulfil the promise he made his friend, Damian
writes to you, to describe how great are the harms
that come from excessive copulation. A fair wife is
even now committed to your marital care; may these
my verses make your young blood discreet and cautious. Whosoever has been often times given up to
the practice of love, loses his bodily strength, grows
cold and dull, that humour perishing whereby the
intrinsic heat is cherished. Indeed the main part of
the chyme, whose wont is to restore the vigour, is
suppressed afhd lost, and a part of the spirits perishes
along with it. No doubt of this, the more delight a
man takes in copulation, — for the reason that he

is seen to be proportionately devoid of inborn
heat, — the more is it held to weaken heart, liver
and brain, back, sinews and stomach, nay! it is
even said to spoil the eyesight, and injure all the
senses. It hastens on old age, and makes the head
bald by falling away of the hair; even if the hair
remain, it presently whitens it. Remember again it
makes women of men once bold in fight. A yellow
skin goes with over copulation; when great darkness
of complexion underlies this, it is a presage of mischief to come. The man can
scarce stand, his limbs pain him so; sometimes he actually falls
down; presently comes a feeling as of ants crawling over his
limbs, and this extending from the head to the bottom of the back. Then he trembles, and cannot
sleep, and is extremely feverish; his mouth is fetid,
and he suffers from colic, and endures pains of many
sorts, while it is with difficulty the stomach digests
the foot he eats. Then on occasion the eyes grow
prominent and staring, or more frequently sink back
deep in the headhead; then follows emaciation and
a dry, hot brow, falling in at the temple. Very often suffer he from bad teeth; and so the gums are
wont to grow offensive, giving off a discharge of
blood and putrid matter. Then pain in back and
loins supervenes, and this makes the bladder task
most difficult to perform. Not to note further details,
I hold every one of the members to be weakened
by over-copulation; wherefore whosoever would live
long, sir reader, let him be prudent and discreet,
and avoid excess" !).

There is no definite period for the disappearance

(i) Fragments of an unpublished poem by Gilles de Corbeil, discovered by Daremberg in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. See
"Notices et Extraits de Manuscrits Mldicaux. etc." Paris 1853.

of virility. Some lose their powers at the age of
fifty. In other cases septuagenarians, and even octogenarians, still retain desires, and are able to satisfy
them. As a general rule, it would be prudent for
everyone to live on the past, and to restrain desire
when once the age of sixty has been attained.

I do not think it necessary to describe, nor define,
the erotic temperament. Many individuals of both
sexes, however, certainly present special characteristics, indicating great
aptitude for love, and seem predestined from their cradle to a life
of libertinage or prostitution. Licentious men are as a rule thin
and of a dark complexion. Women, who by dint of numerous comparative studies have acquired a long experience in
connection with this subject, confirm the truth of
the proverb "A lean dog for a bitch."

Licentious women may be fat, but they are more
usually thin and of a dark skin; even in our own
race they are of a marked pale gray colour and the
upperlip is nearly always furnished with a light down.

Aphrodisia may, under many circumstances, amount
to a veritable torture, — for instance, in the case
of a virtuous youth; or a priest, who has made a
vow of chastity; or a wife, whose husband is weak,
or but little inclined to love. Montaigne sums up in
four lines the whole law of love. It were hard to
say more, or to say it better: "If anyone were to
ask me," he writes, "what is the first rule in love,
I should say it is knowing when to act; the second
and the third rules are but a repetition of the first.
With this knowledge all things may be performed."

The Castrator of Swine.

You will, I imagine, possess little desire to have
recourse to the amputation, which Origen recommends, nor imitate the castrator of swine, of whom
Wier speaks: 'Sic quidam nomine Joannes ab Essex,
ab illustrissimo Cliventi duce, numerate certa pecunia
castrandi jumenta et pecora in marchia comitatu potestatem pro se solo impetrarat. Hie ubi quenda
familiarius conjunctiusque sua frui filia animadverteret,
ira incitatus, earn manu injecta e vestigio in cubiculum abripit, violenterque uterum eidem, quemadmodum
pecori solet, execat, conceptionique porro inidoneam
sanat. Hujus facinoris ergo centenorum aliquot dalelorum multu a Principe punitur, nec quidem immerito." (Johannis Wieri opera omnia. Amstelodami,
1660).

"Thus a certain man named John of Essex had by
payment of a sum of money acquired from the most
illustrious Duke of Clive the sole right of gelding draught animals and cattle
within the borders of that County. The said individual, noting how a
certain man was going with his daughter over familiarly and closely,
flying into a rage, lays hands on the girl, drags her away on the
spot to a chamber, and there by force cuts the woman's privates as
he is in the habit of doing with beasts, so rendering her henceforth utterly incapable of conceiving children. For
this crime he is punished by the Prince with a fine
of some hundreds of dollars, — and well did he deserve it.!" (John of Weir, Works, Amsterdam 1660.)

You will not wish either to imitate the Priors of
the middle ages, who used to bleed the monks at re-

gular intervals, in order to keep them chaste. You do
not think that to tame the flesh it is necessary to
adopt the extreme temperance of the primitive hermits, who perished of hunger so
as to remove the stings of love. St. Jerome deemed it impossible to
be chaste without having recourse to these violent measures. "Non quod Deus universitatis creator et Dominus, intestinorum nostrorum rugitu et inanitate ventris, pulmonisque ardore delectetur; sed quod aliter
pudicitia tute esse non possit." (See also Cassiano, De
castitate et de illusionibus.)

"It is not that God, Creator and Lord of the Uniniverse, takes pleasure in the
groaning of our bowels, the emptiness of our belly, and the torment
of our bosom; but only because in no other way can continence be safely guarded."

Young men who seek to lead a chaste life would
rather gain their end, we imagine, by means less
ferocious than dephallicisation and even men of hot
blooded temperament who find in the wedded state
that one women is not sufficient to sustain their amorous prowess, would
hesitate a long time before deciding on the extirpation of the emblems of their
virility. Ardent gentlemen of this stamp should bear
in mind that "there are other ways to kill a cat, besides drowning." The professor of Anthropology we
have already quoted, wisely points out that.

"Anaphrodisiac treatment should in the first instance be moral. Shun above all things the opportunity to sin. Does that live alone become on heat
every two months, while those that live with males
are so much more often. Close all the doors, through
which lascivious images are apt to enter the brain,
subsequently affecting the seat of the evil. Shut your
eyes, and stuff your ears. Avoid perfumes and too

close a proximity to the fair. When you have thus
shut the door in the face of the enemy, try to find
allies to help you. Be ambitious. Entertain noble
friendships. Endure bodily fatigue. With a strong will,
one can always find power to sustain those two shameful weights, which dwell in a very humble part
of the house, but which have power enough to drag
featherless bipeds down into the mire.

An anaphrodysiac regime is, however, sometimes a
useful help in our struggle against love. Plenty of
water should be drunk, but very little wine, take little
meat, no fish; no aromatics; no liqueurs, nor strong
cheese. I have no fear of coffee, tea, nor beer. With
regard to medicine, I would especially recommend
bromide of potassium, the dose being increased from
half a gramme to six or ten, gramnes a day. Hemlock, emetics in small doses, alcalines, strong purgatives, or camphor, may be tried after bromide which
I consider to be the most powerful subduer of venereal desire. Hydropathic treatment may also render
important services, but it should be under the directions of an intelligent medical man, otherwise
quite a contrary result might ensue."

The Various Kinds of Impotence.

With a Description of the different Degrees
of Virility and the Power of Erection, together
with an Examination into the Causes of
Genital Hypochondria.

Before showing a man, no longer able to ride successfully in the "lists of love," how to get back the

coveted gift it is most important to examine carefully
the causes of his loss of virility. For, as Mantegazza 1
has been careful to observe, Bthe genital organs of
a male may be weak, without being diseased. The calls
of love are then very rare and weak, but the act of
copulation is accomplished in a normal manner, and
erection is accompanied by voluptuous spasms. If the
individual, who is so formed, is contented with his
condition, and if his companion is satisfied, all is for
the best in the best of all possible worlds; and there
is no reason why hygiene, or medicine, should interfere. I would even advise such weakly lovers to be
contented with what they possess, and not try to use
physical and moral stimulants, especially if the genital
organs have always been feeble, and of small developement. If, on the other
hand, their weakness results from a long and enforced chastity, a
wisely ordered course of bed treatment would restore their
normal strength.

Nature has meted out with very different measure
voluptuousness among men, and has shown great injustice in the bestowal of this capacity. I knew a
young Jewess, who fainted with excess of pleasure
after every embrace; and everyone is aware that the
great Napoleon under similar circumstances succombed
to a veritable epileptic fit. I know men, who, drunk
with voluptuousness, roar like wild beasts, and women, who present all the symptoms of posterior tetanus, accompanied by cynical laughter, hiccoughs,
and hysterical convulsions; others lose conscience and
gnash their teeth together1. Others, however, deem

(1) Igiene dell Amore. Milano. Palo Mantegazza, Professore di Anthropologia 1877.

(2) Doctor Salter qnofes a case of asthma, in which the venereal

f

the pleasures of love far inferior to those of the bottle
and the pipe; they perform the act of copulation with
sovereign indifference. This state of things is more
frequent in women than in men. More than one woman has come to me in despair at her inability to
share the pleasure of husband, or lover, and asked me
for a remedy for this unlucky indifference. Science,
however, has very little power. There exists less excitability, or a genital anesthesia, which does not necessarily prevent woman's fecundity, and which in
a man may accompany complete virility. Sometimes,
but rarely, this coldness is only relative. The woman
experiences no pleasure because she does not love,
or because long abuse renders her indifferent. At other
times, the absence of voluptuous pleasure proceeds
from purely physical, causes. Thus it may result from
a disproportion between the size of the male and female
organs. In such cases a little good-natured ingenuity,
a quality women rarely lack, soon finds a remedy.

The real evil begins when desire is out of proportion to the means to satisfy it, and when a man,
between the age of eighteen and sixty, is incapable
of performing his virile duties. Here also, however,
it is difficult to draw the line, which separates physiology from pathology. A
perfectly healthy man has a right to expect forty years of virility,
but such virility describes a kind of parabola, formed of an
ascending line in the first instance, and afterwards of
a descending line. Genital vigour is not lost in a
single day, but disappears gradually and very slowly.
It is, therefore, quite in accordance with nature that
a state of things, which is physiological in a man of

act brought on an attack, and Cnllen in his Nosology admits the
existence of venereal asthma.

sixty, is a serious affection in a man of twenty, or
forty years of age.

The period of virility may, in my opinion, be
conveniently divided into two very distinct periods,
whith an appropriate motto for each: aI perform
when I choose", and the other, less boastful: "I perform when I can".

From eighteen to thirty-eight, or even fifty, a man
can satisfy love's call whenever he likes, in the daytime, or at night; with, or without embraces; with
the consent, or half-consent of his companion, no
matter where, nor in what position. After thirty-eight,
or fifty, according to the individual temperament, a
man may yet sacrifice on love's altar, but to do so
with due effect he must choose his own temple and
time, and he sometimes cuts but a sorry figure. At
certain moments he can accomplish great feats, but
there is many an hour, when he must avoid all compromising ventures. At other moments the time is a
matter of indifference, but he requires the three celebrated c's referred to in an Italian proverb (caresses,
warmth, and a convenient time)Unforeseen attacks
are forbidden him; if he would capture the citadel,
he must adopt the old-fashioned method, establish
advanced outworks, and trace parallels. It not unfrequently happens that an old man, or one of a ripe
age, can still furnish proofs of his virility, but only
with one particular woman, who has shared his couch
for many years; the boundless confidence and the
expansion, which habit affords, are necessary.

These two genital periods in the life of every man
contain infinite degrees, marking the slow passage
from one to the other. Quite independently of age

(i) Carene, Colore, Conveniense.

there is a genital force, which, starting from zero,
gradually reaches a most prompt and enduring virility.
I submit this scale, which I have not established
arbitrarily, but from positive observations made during
a long practice.

Genital Dynamometer.

o° No desire. No erection.
i° Erotic desires, but no erection possible.
2° The possibility of a semi-erection, by masturbation, fustigation, or the introduction of hard substances
into the anus. 3° Vigorous erection after the same stimulants. 4°
Spontaneous erection in the morning. No erection at other times, no
matter what means be adopted. 5° Erection at any time, but
incomplete, suitable for copulation, but not for defloration; always
produced by loving caresses, but not by direct excitement.

6° Erection provoked by similar caresses, but fit
for any enterprise.

7° Spontaneous, but very gradual erection, under
the influence of an excitant of any kind.

8° Spontaneous and very prompt erection under
the influence of the slightest desire.

9° Spontaneous and vigorous erection, provoking
and compelling its gratification, several times repeated
both in the daytime and at night.

io° Erection as in the 9th degree, but so fully
under control that it lends itself to numerous consecutive embraces, with or without emission, as desired;
or allowing double and complete copulation, without
the occurence of an interval of placidity.

We must pause for a moment to study the phenomenon of erection, if we would thoroughly comprehend
the various degrees of virility. All physiologists are
not aggreed as to the explanation of its mechanism;
but no purpose would here be served by a discussion
of the various theories suggested. It is enough that
we are aware that, in order that there may be an
erection, the virile member must show evidence of a
considerable congestion of the blood, caused by a
nervous current proceeding from the brain, and the
spinal cord, and transmitted through the intermediary
of the nerves. Even when the irritation causing the
erection proceeds from the genital organs, it must
first affect the nervous centres, and return afterwards
to the organs in question. Thus, the force, which is
proved by the rigidity of the penis, springs directly,
or indirectly, from the centre, immediately after the
peripheric irritation has been produced.

There are various degrees of erection, according to
the amount of nervous force, and the quantity of
blood, which slows into the cavernous bodies. An
incomplete erection may enable one to perform the
act of copulation in vestibulo veneris, or in a temple
which has already been sanctified on more than one
occasion; while, with complete erection, the defloration of a virgin is always possible. That young Arab
mentioned by Doctor Albert must have been in a
terrible state of erection; he was between fifteen and
sixteen years of age, and while in the act of deflowering his wife aged twelve he perforated her vagina,
and peritonitis, and killed her

(l) Memoirts de medeeine et de ehirurgie militaires, f6v., 1870,
p. 142. Albert, Perforation du vagin par les approches conjugates
chex une jeune kabyle impubere.

Erection is the indispensable element of copulation,
as well as the most natural and frank expression oi
erotic desires; but the penis may be in a state of
rigidity without desire, or even when there is a repugnance for love. An erection, which is caused by
no erotic motive, may be produced by the excitement of the peripheric nerves while riding on horseback, or in a carriage; or by the mechanical pressure
of the seminal vessels, from whatever cause it may
arise; by stones in the bladder; or by worms in the
intestines. A horizontal position, or the warmth of
the bed, nearly always causes an erection, which is
especially powerfull towards morning, its rigidity being
greater in proportion to the hardness of the bed, as
has been often remarked by those who are accustomed
to sleep on straw, or on the ground. In a work, which
provoked the sarcastic comments of Le Mouvtment
Midical1, Dr. Prompt furnishes some curious observations respecting the time at which erection usually
occurs. He concludes in the following manner." The
penis is at its minimum height during the early hours
of the night. It attains its maximum elevation between
four and six a. m., diminishing until sleep ceases."

The rule is not quite as invariable as Dr. Prompt
imagines. Individual differences are numerous. It is
true, however, that most young men and adults have
the penis erect on awaking, and the degree of erection
is a good indication of the state of the general health,
and a means of judging the healthiness, or otherwise,
of the genital parts. I have observed that a cessation
of the matinal erections is among the earliest symptoms of the beginning of the debility of the genital

(i) Grog Prompt, * Recherches sur Us Variations physiologiquts de
la Frequence du pouls

organs. When the health from one cause or another
becomes enfeebled they cease altogether, although
-they have been constant for many years. This phenomenon, I think, requires study. We should perhaps
discover important facts concerning the cycle of the
vital functions, all of which may be represented by
lines of a greater or less degree of curvature, ending
in a minimum, or a maximum. Most authors believe
these morning erections to be due to a distension of
the bladder, but I consider this to be only one of the
secondary causes of the phenomenon, which occurs
also when the bladder is empty.

A permanent and painful erection of the virile
member is termed priapism. This may, in very rare
cases, be merely the expression of imperious genital
needs; but it is more often the symptom of a
disease of the nerve centres, or of the genito-urinary
organs.

I have made a study of two elements in erection,
which have not hitherto met with the attention of physiologists: the amount of
blood, which enters the cavernous regions to produce the necessary
congestion; and the elevation of temperature, which is the
consequence thereof1. The experiments were made
on dogs and on men.

Experiment on a Dog.

The penis of a large dog is cut at the root, and
the arteries are injected with defibrinated blood from

(i) Mantegaxza, Sulla congestion*; ricerche dipatologia sperimentale.
Milano, 1864. Ga%. mid. ital. lombarda.

the same animal. It acquires very marked rigidity,
equal to a physiological erection.

Before erection 53 gr. 30

After erection 63 gr. 79

Deducting the weight of the bone of the penis, the
following is the result.

Weight before injection 44 gr. 80

Weight after injection 57 gr. 20

Congestion has thus increased the weight of the
member by 27.7 per cent.

Experiment on Men.

The arteries of a member, very small in size, of a
man thirty-three years of age, are injected with defibrinated blood, until the
penis becomes of the same consistence as at the beginning of an
erection. Weight of the member before erection 32 gr. 005 » . , »
after „ 43gr-405 Increase 35.7 per cent. Third experiment. — Member
of an adult similarly injected. Weight of the member before erection
80 gr. 05 it it 1, after „ I03gr.02 Increase 28.1 per cent. Fourth
experiment. — Member of a young man injected until semi-erection is obtained.

Weight of the member before erection 76 gr. 05
» » » » after „ i03gr.70

Increase 35.5 per cent.

Fifth experiment. — Member of an old man injected
so as to give it consistence enough for coition.

Weight before erection 69 gr. 09

, after „ 100 gr. 06

Increase 58.1 per cent.

Sixth experiment. — Member of a young man aged
22. Injection up to the maximum of vascular tension.
Rigidity more than enough for coition.

Weight before injection 58 gr. 90

» after „ 98 gr. 65

Increase 73.4 per cent.

These experiments give us only approximate results,
but they prove that the virile member, in order to
obtain medium rigidity leaving it still, however,
powerless, must receive enough blood to increase its
weight from 28 to 35 per cent; and that for intense
erection it must receive an amount of blood equivalent to 73.4 per cent of its weight. In corpses only
the sanguinary congestion can be estimated, but in
the living body the voluntary and involuntary action
must also be taken into account.

Another fact is proved by these experiments, viz.
that for a dog's penis to arrive at complete rigidity,
a much smaller quantity of blood is necessary than in
a man's, since an injection of 27 per cent suffices to
render it fit for coition, while the same amount barely
suffices to give the virile member a slight consistence.
The latter requires almost three times the amount of
blood, before there is intense erection. Our knowledge
of comparative anatomy might have led us to expect
this result before its confirmation by actual experiment, since in man rigidity of the penis is produced
only by an afflux of blood and muscular contraction,

while dogs have a special bone, which greatly assists
in giving the consistence required.

With regard to temperature I have ascertained that
in a healthy man the temperature of the organ is
increased by mechanical congestion alone from o°.84
to 6°.41 C. (or an average of 2° 645); but I found
that in a member in a state of flaccidity and of erection respectively the difference of temperature was
from 0°.23 to 10.24. I made only three experiments,
however, in connection with this subject.

Complete erection, which is one of the best methods
of giving a woman pleasure, as well as affording man
thorough enjoyment, has the further advantage of
increasing the force of projection of sperm, which $
can be expelled to a great distance through a well
distended urethra, impregnated with prostatic humour.

In regard to this matter, I have made a curious
observation, which I have not yet published, and
which threws light on a question concerning the male
genital mechanism.

On carefully washing a youth's member with water
after perfect coition and an emission, and on pouring
his urine immediately into a glass, and very carefully
examining under the microscope the matter deposited
at the very bottom of the liquid, I never found a
single zoosperm; although on a repetition of the same
observation on the same individual after a naturnal
pollution, I have constantly noticed that some spermatozoids remained in the
urethra. The following is the cause of the difference: In coition,
erotic excitement fills the urethra with a very limpid prostatic
humour, and the sperm, emitted through a veritable
liquid cylinder, is wholly expelled. Nocturnal pollution, on the other hand, usually occurs after less
strong and less natural excitement; prostatic humour

5

is not secreted, or is so in a smaller quantity; the
emission is weaker, and consequently a small amount
of sperm remains in the canal.

"I am convinced, continues Mantegazza, from these
observations and others it is useless to mention, that
in normal and perfect coition, the whole of the seed
is expelled into the female organ to the last grain,
and nature accomplishes the feat by a most ingenious
hydraulic artifice.

We have been examining some of the facts connected with erection. Let us now see if we can define
some of the forms of semi-impotence, which are far
commoner than is generally supposed. Among my
papers are numerous letters from weakly lovers, who
have applied to me to help them to acquire a more
normal and certain virility, and have furnished me
with a large quantity of materials for this study.

Some complain that they have only an incomplete
erection; others that it does not last long enough;
and most of my correspondents say that an erection
occurs only at long intervals. They are vigorous today, but half so to-morrow, and perhaps next day
they are quite impotent. They feel as if they could
perform the feats of Hercules when they least wish
to, and cut but a sorry figure when a good opportunity presents itself. One of these poor fellows will
spend half an hour with a fair companion amidst a
profusion of kisses and caresses, until she says, in an
effort to hide her desire under the cloak of modesty,
"You may kiss me, but you must not do anything else."
The unfortunate swain obeys, for he feels he is incapable of pursuing his advantage. Half an hour later,
sitting beside a far less seductive and less beautiful
damsel, he feels more of a man than ever again, and
wonders what is the reason of this contradiction.

Another unhappy lover is about to enjoy his lady
love. The usual preliminaries have already taken place.
The lance is full tilt, and everything is going well;
but when the spoils of victory are to be gathered the
lance bends and turns into papier tnachi.

There will never be any real progress in the treatment of impotence until we make a distinction between
the numerous forms, which are due to very different
causes, and require very different remedies. In the days
when the laws of physiology were little known, and
doctors did not know how to examine patients, nor
how to minutely analyse a case, the variations in impotence were looked upon as a question of degree,
and excitants were the only remedy used. People know
nowadays that an illness cannot be cured unless a
careful study of its etiology be first made. I shall,
first quote the nosological distinctions of Benedikt
a very well qualified authority in these matters; and
shall next give my own.

Impotence is characterised by an impossibility to
perform natural coition, at least as often as the act
could be done normally.

Such impotence is sometimes merely relative: coition
can be accomplished only in an unnatural manner;
or only with certain women, and under special physical conditions; or with the help of violent and extraordinary stimulants, which are not of a purely physical nature."

Unnatural Copulation.

The most common form of the first kind of impotence is found among persons accustomed to practise

coition in an unnatural manner, or among Masturbators. Impotence exists because stimulants, as generally understood, have no effect on them. If they can
perform coition without any sign of weakness, such
patients can easily be cured, by making them sleep
at night with women of experience, until erection
comes naturally.

If they constantly practise natural coition, they will
soon discover that those who prefer it are not stupid,
and they will then be cured. Fathers, who have themselves been schoolboys, have not unfrequently been
known to put women in their sons' way, in order to
free them from their bad habits before it is too late.

Patients usually present themselves for observation
after spontaneous erections have ceased to be of sufficient intensity, or duration. Care must be taken not to
make the mistake of attributing a psychical origin to
the evil, but the requisite galvanic treatment must
be begun.

In the case of masturbators it is often necessary to
begin a course of treatment, when vigorous erections
result during attempted onanism. The best cure for
onanism is the frequent practise of natural coition.

Excesses with Women.

The second form of impotence is characterised by
irritability and incapacity. The spirit is willing but the
flesh is weak. This form is usually due to venereal excesses,' and is generally accompanied by spermatorrhea.

The patients are sensual, erections are incomplete,
and emission is apt to occur before penetration into

When this form exists only in a slight degree, it
is often cured by regulating coition, and removing a
patient's want of confidence in himself. In order to
make my patients understand their state, I sometimes
tell them the motto of a man of the world, who used
to say. "An old cock says: I do it when I can"; a
young one crows aI do it whenever I choose". An
impotent- youth is in the same condition as the old
cock. He must not be ever on the look-out for an
opportunity to perform coition; but must arrange so
as to be able to profit by an erection that is directly
natural. An energetic use of therapeutic measures may
also be recommended. In this form cyanosis and cooling
of the member, local anaesthesia and trophic troubles
of the testicules may appear, leading insensibly to
the following form.

Inability to "Stand."

The third form of impotence is the genuinely
paralytic form. Pleasure is moderate, or scarcely exists.
There are incomplete erections, or they are altogether
absent. This form proceeds from the two forms above
mentioned; or it is congenital; or it is a symptom of
spinal, or even, cerebral affection. In old age it represents the terminal stage of the physiological developement of sexual life; but in some cases it occurs before

old age; while at other times old men of over sixty
may yet be dangerous companions. Such patients are
much to be pitied, especially if their impotence is
acquired. It has a most depressing influence on the
feelings, the will, and thoughts. Anesthesia is frequent
in this form; electricity has no effect; the member
is cyanosed and cold.

Prognosis of the first form depends more than anything else on the patient's moral condition. When
the general indisposition is very great, one may hope
for a cure. The treatment, as already mentioned,
consists in having resource to a normal coition, whenever there is violent
natural desire. If weakness still continues, therapeutic means must
be adopted, and the prognosis is the same as in the other forms. In
the second and third forms, the prognosis is generally a good one,
when these occur subsequently to the first, or as the result of
pollutions, or venereal excesses, especially if the patients are
relatively young. The age, at which the period of potency ends,
varies greatly; but it may be granted that, under the circumstances already quoted, a reestablishment of potency may be hoped for up to the age of forty. In
younger persons vigour is often wholly restored. In
the case of a patient of twenty, who showed all the
symptoms of the third form owing to his habits of
masturbation I was obliged to use all my influence to
make him change his place of abode, for he became
ill again, as soon as he was cured, from an abuse of
sexual pleasures with his landlord's two daughters.
Old folk must be very prudent, and even hesitate
about a literal obedience to Luther's precepts.

Prognosis, in the third form, is less favourable, when impotence is symptomatic,
or is a sign of decrepitude. Treatment offers great difficulties, when it

Special treatment should be adopted in cases of
symptomatic impotence, when recognised as such; i. e.
when there are not isolated prodomic symptoms, such
as I observed in one of my colleagues; or as often
happens in tabes. Impotence frequently disappears
under a course of general treatment. In tabes a restoration to potency is usually uncertain.

The electric treatment is the same as in the case
of pollutions. If there is spermatorrhea in addition to
impotence special treatment by the catheter must be
adopted. In anesthesia, and when certain organs evince
special insensibility to electricity, the electric pencil
should be used. I have also adopted a course of strong
'galvanic shocks in very obstinate cases of the second
form. I placed the copper pole on the cervical vertebra, and applied the zinc pole along the vertebral
column.

The condition of the testicule should be observed
with particular attention. In some cases, it has not
positively diminished in volume, but the tissues are
flabby, and that is enough to produce impotence. I
observed this condition of things in a man, forty
years of age. There was also a certain amount of
feebleness in passing urine. Galvanisation of the testicule soon restored matters to the satisfaction of the
young wife. There often exists marked atrophy, accompanied by diminution of the testicule. Galvanising
the testicule by means of continuous currents is in
such cases clearly indicated, and I have thus obtained
good results.

The state of the cavernous bodies is also important. I attended a patient, who was afflicted with
partial atrophy of one of the cavernous bodies. The

member during erection was twisted like a screw,
and the seed afterwards fell in drops as the penis
grew smaller again. A cure was effected by faradisation of this part of the cavernous body. One of the
earliest favourable results in galvanic treatment of the
second form of the disease, is a diminution of abnormal desires. This usually alarms patients, but it is a favourable sign.

We have already spoken of the regulation of coition, in those cases in which this means suffices to
effect a cure. We may add that moral treatment is
all that is requisite with some persons, who are lacking in self-confidence; an
unimportant drug may be administered, with a hint that it is
exceedingly powerful in its action. Even in more serious cases of
impotence, the regulation of coition is important.

Those who are afflicted with impotence are always
wanting to have proofs, and some patients constantly
worry their medical attendant to let them try their
strength. This must not be allowed, however, until
erections have become strong and regular, for if the
patient does not succeed in his first attempt, he
loses all confidence; this becomes an obstacle in the
way of future experiments, for he makes both himself and his physician uneasy.
He must above all be prevented from a precipitate attempt at
coition, and he should have by his side all night long a fair companion, on whom he can perform, if he feels an
erection.

Treatment should last at least six weeks; a longer
course is often necessary, and sometimes treatment is
required after some time has intervened.

Should marriage be recommended to those who are
cured? Undoubtedly, for those who are inclined to
the too frequent indulgence of their passions, Marriage

cannot be refused even to those who have recovered
but a certain degree of potency. They should be warned that they must take into serious account the
disposition of the woman of their choice, and that
most women during the first years of marriage are
less ardent, and are content with occasional satisfaction. Moreover, they must be told that women after
their first accouchement readily resign themselves to
abstinence, but that a need of pleasure often succeeds this temporary lull in the passions, which is
all the more dangerous for a man, his caprices being
usually directed elsewhere. He must think seriously
about this probable awakening of female lust.

Marriage must be discountenanced when impotence
is a prodromic symptom of tabes or other nervous
diseases. A return of virility may, however, be hoped
for, if the impotence is a symptom of spinal meningitis, or if all the symptoms have disappeared.

A medical man should dissuade persons from a too
hasty marriage. He should wait until he is convinced that the cure is permanent;
this is not usually the case when marked impotence occurs
immediately after the first proofs of virility. The following case
proves, however, that impotence of this kind can be radically cured.
A legal student, aged twenty-two, had early profited of his liberty
to taste love's pleasures; but he lacked strength for full enjoyment, and
had failed at every attempt. I undertook the case in
the winter, and he made his first try a few weeks
later. The first time emission took place too soon;
during the night he had connection twice normally.
Some weeks later he came to me in great concern.
He had deflowered a young girl, and she had been
bleeding for twenty-four hours. I consoled him, and
ordered vaginal injections.

Men sometimes marry without there being any
great desire. Desire and power become gradually
apparent. A father, who wanted his son to get married, noticed that he was absolutely without passion.
He took him to a woman, who spent several weeks
in trying to rouse him, and at length succeeded. Hydropathy is, after electricity, the most powerful
means of treatment. I have observed that in pollutions, and spermatorrhea, it yields slight results.
Spontaneous loss of seed is, perhaps, more frequent
during hydropathic treatment. In spermatorrhea, accompanied by violent desire, I often use shower-baths
with water heated to a medium temperature, and at
a slight elevation. These means act as a calmative. In
cases of impotence, especially of the third form, I
often prescribe a cold water treatment, local showerbaths, and baths of running water, which frequently produce surprising results. I knew a soldier,
who treated a blennorrhagia with injections of brandy. They produced most marked
impotence of the third degree, which was cured fifteen years later,
after seventeen galvanic applications.

The genital organs may be strengthened by thermal springs; but I have never
known them cure sexual paralysis. Symptomatic impotence, such as is seen
in spinal meningitis, may, however, be excepted;
for in such cases, thermal springs do produce some
effect. Aphrodisiacs are of no advantage, and are often harmful. Tonics have no
effect in cases of complete impotence."

I propose now to submit my own list, which embraces , I think, all the common forms of impotence
and semi-impotence

(i) Dr. Hammond, the American Author of "Sexual Impotence in ,

IMPOTENCE DUE TO COMPLETE CHASITY,
OR A LONG ABSTENTION
FROM THE PLEASURES OF LOVE.

This is a very rare form, for chaste men are rare.
I have, however, had opportunities to observe a few
cases.

I knew a very remarkable young man, who wished
to concentrate all his powers of thought to attain the
highest regions of science, and made a vow of chastity
which he strenuously kept until he was over thirty
years of age. When he had gained his end, he wanted
to make up for lost time, and thought about love,
but that divinity turned his back on him. He vainly
had recourse to the most attractive seductions; the
capricious son of Venus refused to listen to him. He
then consulted me. It took me a long time, but I at
last succeeded in effecting a perfect cure.

I have known men cut a sorry figure after a long
voyage, when they expected to be able to show themselves most valiant, on account of the reserve of
strength, which they had accumulated. The generative
functions obey the general law of the organism. They
are weakened by prolonged repose, while wisely ordered
exercise promotes vigour.

This form of impotence, which sometimes appears
very grave, because it may result in complete anathe Male" divides the failure of the power to act into four classes:

I. Absence of sexual desire. — II. Absence of the power of erection
and of consequent intromission. — III. Absence of the power of
ejaculating the seminal fluid into the vagina. — IV. Absence of the
ability to experience pleasure during the act of copulation and at
the time of the emission of semen.

phrodisia, and entire absence of erection, can always
be cured, provided the sufferer is still young, and
his testicules are not in an advanced state of atrophy.
Treatment consists in a course of genital gymnastics,
and the use of aphrodisiacs, as is elsewhere shown.

IMPOTENCE DUE TO GENERAL WEAKNESS.

The genital organs have a special sphere of action
up to a certain point, and are to some extent independent of the general health. When, however, they
do not receive the nutrition, which they require for fulfilment of their functions, they languish, and sleep
the sleep of death. A man, who is exhausted by an
abundant hemorrhagy, or a long race, will not turn
his thoughts to love's combats, or, if he does so, he
may experience temporary impotence. Impotence may,
at other times, last as long as general weakness lasts.
When the blood is renewed, and the body has recovered its normal strength, virility returns.

IMPOTENCE DUE TO MATERIAL INJURIES
TO THE GENITAL ORGANS.

These cases belong rather to medicine or even
surgery than to hygiene. A member of excessive size
may be, but rarely is, an obstacle to coition. The
contrary usually occurs; but the same inconvenience
is produced by a member, which is too small. Under
such circumstances, a woman will complain more
than a man.

Dr. Roubaud speaks of a very curious case, that
of a young Brazilian, who was impotent because his
member was only two inches long, and not much
larger than a porcupine's quill at the moment of erection. Roubaud had an indiarubber cylinder made for

him, of the same size as an ordinary member, in
which his diminutive member had room to move.
Thanks to the case thus provided coiton became possible, and the penis increased
in volume. Among less common cases of impotence from organic causes I will quote that described by Dr. Parona.
A young man of thirty had been addicted to onanism
in his youth. When he attained the age of eighteen,
he wished to have connection with a woman, but
found he could not accomplish the act of copulation,
the erection of the penis being insufficient. Several
other attempts failed for the same reason. Desire,
however, existed, and the secretion of sperm was
normal. After an inoperative course of hydropathic
treatment Dr. Parona examined him, and noticed a
manifest varicosity of the dorsal vein of the penis,
which was about twice as large as in the normal state.
He supposed that during coition, because of the increase in the volume of the vein, the blood destined
for the maintenance of the distension of the organ
escaped too easily. .With a Pravaz syringe he injected
into the dorsal vein, at its point of origin, half a
gramme of chloral, dissolved in an equal quantity of
distilled water, at the same time pressing hard on the
vein with his left hand. Next day the swelling was
less apparent, affording more resistance to the touch,
and was somewhat painful. On the third night the
patient had a complete erection, and was afterwards
able to effect copulation in a satisfactory manner.
Four months later, it was observed that the dorsal
vein and its ramifications were reduced to an almost
imperceptible size; and had become colourless and firm. Dr. Dorothea speaks also
of impotence due to alteration of the cavernous bodies.

The surgeon must be called in to remedy these ab-

normal cases, whether the cause, which prevents coition
is mechanical, or pathological.

IMPOTENCE DUE TO LOCOMOTOR-ATAXY
OR OTHER INJURIES TO THE SPINAL
MARROW.'

This form is only a symptom, or secondary accident,
proving the existence of very grave, and almost invariably incurable affections. Sometimes, however,
persons, who are affected with ataxy may continue,
during several years, to have sexual relations; I know
a very healthy young man, who is the exact image
of his father, who was, however, ataxic, and had long
been confined to his bed when his son was born.

IMPOTENCE DUE TO ABUSE OF THE
GENITAL FUNCTIONS.

This form is nearly always accompanied by semi-
impotence, or an intermittent potency. It rarely amounts
to complete impotence.

It is the most frequent form, and I could fill a
volume, with the observations I have collected. Masturbation, and all the artifices of voluptuaries, who
prefer new and strange pleasures to the physiological
pleasure of coition, are the most usual causes of this
semi-impotence, which I have observed in many
nevropaths, especially among Jews, or those who
have used their brains to much.

In these cases semi-impotence often accompanies
other symptoms, which Dr. Leyden has well described as spinal irritations due to
debilitating influences.

A strong young fellow had reached the age of
thirty, and had never had any connection with wo-

men, because he felt the most absolute indifference
to the female sex. Another acquaintance of mine,
who only loved goodlooking boys, tried to convince
me that pederasty is not a vice but a legitimate
passion

He had, perhaps, been educated in the school,
the shutting-up of which gave rise to the following
epigram: "Of Latin you are ignorant! Do not call
it sacrilege, if your school is shut; for you put into
the masculine, what should be placed in the feminine
gender." He was impotent with women, and he
wanted me to find a remedy for his complaint, which
is entirely one of a moral nature, and not susceptible
to drugs or medicine.

I know a strong and robust young man, who has
become impotent from a long continued habit of
practising love through unusual channels. He sought
pleasure, where kisses alone should be culled

I have collected under a single heading a few cases
of genital impotence, due to various causes, but

(1) This is in accordance with the views of Plato, and many classical
writers. Socrates held that an army composed of boys and their
lovers would be well-nigh invincible. Burton mentions several illustrious persons, who preferred a "beautiful boy in the flower of his
youth," including Shakespeare, Molifcre, Sainte-Beuve, Napoleon,
Frederick II of Prussia, Louis XIII and Louis XVIII, William II
of Holland, Peter the Great, the Grand Condi and many others.
Midshipmen in the Mediterranean Squadron are to this day forbidden to go ashore alone, their fresh English faces and handsome
appearance proving an irresistible attraction to the lusty inhabitants
of the villages on the seaboard.

(2) In the "Yoshiwara", or whore's quarter, in Japan, little girls
are kept for this purpose. One of these, whose presence in such a
place, surprised a foreign visitor, remarked with sublimely unconscious
imfudeur, "I am not old enough to f—} but I know how to s—."
In Saigon, the capital of the French colony of Cochin-China,
small Anamite boys perform a like service.

almost always of analogous, and even identical form.

Abuse of the physiological act of coition very
rarely causes impotence. It usually affects other
functions of the organism, and may even produce
death, but potency exists up to the final stages.
Disgenesia anticipate is more likely to result. In any
case, when there is semi-impotence, due to genital
abuse, complete chastity and hydropathic treatment
will nearly always restore virility. When, however,
genital weakness is due to unnatural vice, the treatment is always very long, and the physician must
exercise much wisdom and tact, and the person affected a great deal of patience. One must not be
discouraged if there is a relapse, after a marked improvement, leading to
imagine a cure. After such relapse, a more certain improvement may
be anticipated.

Hydropathy and a moderate exercise of the affected organs are the two principal
features of the treatment. By exercise I do not mean love, which is
sold at so much an hour, and which is least advisable
for semi-impotents and nevropaths; but I mean true
and sincere love, affecting the heart, the breast,
and even the genital organs. Many semi-impotents
cannot be cured, because they will, or can not pass
a whole night in the arms of a woman, whose motto
is "I await my star."

Besides a hydropathic treatment, and judicious
exercise of the organs, aphrodisiacs taken internally,
and local application of tonics are also very efficacious.

HYPOCHONDRICAL IMPOTENCE.

Hypochondrical impotence is one of the most distinct forms. It is connected with virility by the

occurrence of a temporary impotence due to various
emotions, such as fear, disgust, or surprise.

At the supreme moment of the highest eroticism,
it seems as if the whole nervous energy were concentrated in the nervous fibres of the genital organs.
If a particular region of the nervous centres experiences a violent impression, the organs of love may
be deprived of the currents necessary for the accomplishment of the act of impregnation, tuto, cito et
jucunde.

A disagreeable sight, or smell, an infirmity, or
deformity, may suddenly disarm the most intrepid
warrior; and most of my readers will have experienced
instances of the kind. At other times too lively and
prolonged desire exhausts a lover, and strength is
lacking at the most important moment. Timid and
nervous men may also cut a sorry figure, although
in full possession of virile power.

It is easy to realise, that in the good old days,
when people believed in sorcerers, it was enough to
threaten to tttie a man's knot" (in other words render
him impotent by magic means), for fear to render
him really impotent. It is easy enough to understand
too, that men sentenced to give public proof of
their virility, seemed really impotent, although quite
the reverse. The worthy Venette, who was more
advanced than his age, says very reasonably (in
the work already quoted): — "There is perhaps
not one among a thousand, who can prove himself
victor in a public assembly. Our natural parts do
not obey us when we will; much less will they show
obedience to judges. They often cover themselves
with dishonour against our will; and are frozen when
the heart is most on fire. When we are most disposed to love, we lack courage; we are panic-

6

stricken; hatred seizes our heart, and modesty resists
a libertinous effrontery."

The same author tells the following curious tale,
which may serve as an example of temporary impotence due to fear. „ Pierre Buriel, a cooper by trade,
and afterwards a brandy distiller, who used to work
for my father in one of his country-houses, made
some insulting remark about me. The next day I
revenged myself by telling the cooper I would punish him for it by "tying his
knot," when he married. As he intended shortly to marry one of our
neighbours' servants, he really believed what I said;
and although I was only joking my threat made such
an impression on his mind that it was a month before he could sleep with his wife. He sometimes felt
a desire to embrace her affectionately, but when he
tried to execute his resolve, he found he could do
nothing, his imagination being filled with desires of
spells and withcraflt."

Impotence in those days used to be cured by making the husband piss through his wife's ring. On this
occasion, however, the priest, without having recourse
to the ring, 'persuaded the husband that he was as
healthy as a man can be, and cured him both of
his terror and his impotence.

Venette even in the last century spoke — in this
respect resembling our Arab Author — quite seriously
concerning the non-existence of spells. He wrote as
follows on the subject: "Marriage is a sacrament,
over which the demon has no empire. The Prince
of Darkness cannot destroy the work of God, nor
ruin what Jesus Christ has established by His Holy
Laws. I cannot believe that there is any connection
between the workings of such an art and the mysteries of nature and grace. True Christians should

have no fear of the malice of demons and the perfidy of sorcerers. People have ceased to believe in
sorcery; but a belief in the potency of spells still
exists. Sometimes a man who has mocked at the
notion fails in his amorous efforts, and attributes the
fiasco to a spell. It becomes a fixed idea, and his
life is a burden to him. Such a case borders on
genital hypochondriasis, a terrible form of impotence,
which may end by poisoning a man's existence, and
lead to suicide.

Dr. Semelaigne has published some instances of madness and self murder, produced
by impotence. Here is an extract from his works: "There are some
subjects, which make one smile, although sad enough in all
conscience. "A too thorough sacrifice to Venus" — such was the title
of an article in The Lancet, giving an account of an Englishman, who
was a widower and forty-five years of age and whose second wife was young. Finding in his nuptial couch
that he could not perform the duties expected of a
husband on the first night of matrimony, in a fit of
despair he tore out his genital parts, in the hope of thus
doing himself to death. His attempt did not succeed.

Similar resolves are not unknown. Impotence is
known to be one of the causes of suicide. A man of
ripe years, but worn out and melancholy, whom I
saw on his deathbed, had also married a young
woman. The first embraces were not attended with
success. Either through lack of self-confidence, or
the beginning of unsound ideas, (for delirium soon
set in), he did not dare to repeat the attempt. His
intellectual faculties were apparently sound, but he
spent his nights in a mysterious manner. The patient
secretly left his home every evening. He took all
kinds of tonics. His jealousy became intolerable.

He burst out occasionally into most extraordinary
fits of passion. He finally committed suicide, after
nearly killing his wife.*

A few years ago, a gentleman of about fifty came
to see me. He seemed sad and downcast. His wife
accompanied him. His marital position was the same
as in the previous case. He had renewed his efforts,
but always to no purpose. He had more than once
attempted to commit suicide.

A fit of madness was the result, in another case,
of too great an anxiety on this score. Of severe morals, this individual had, until his marriage, lived a
life of the most absolute continence. A few days
after his wedding night he got up in the middle of
the night (he occupied a separate room), tried to
get out into the street through the window (his room
was on the first floor), and fractured his scull. He had
intended to go and get instructed by another woman.

Mark quotes the case of a young man, who wrote
the following words before he blew out his brains.
"I am impotent. Consequently I am good for nothing
in this life." "

Persons, who are afflicted with spermatorrhea, or
who are "tabescent", often become impotent, and
hypochondriacal, and commit suicide. One of these
unfortunates, entrusted to my care, had tried to cut
his throat."

Genital hypochondriasis is the ever-present fear of
being impotent, and actually does produce semi-
impotence, or the most complete impotence. It must
be fought against without a moment's delay, to prevent it from becoming a veritable morbid habit, a
second nature of the nervous centres and nerves.
Many persons do not get married because they suffer from this strange nervousness, and because they

have not the courage at the outset of their illness to
cure themselves, or entrust their case to a skillful
and prudent physician. A hypochondriac of this kind
could cure himself, if he could calmly examine his
own condition, and make a scientific analysis of his
own trouble; but if he did possess this calm, he
would cease to be a hypochondriac. He must, therefore, be helped and be given the strength, which
he is incapable of acquiring unaided.

Instances of spontaneous cure of this kind of impotence by the sole force of will are very rare, and
a doctor has a very difficult part to play. He must
use all his experience, tact and influence to restore
a very miserable man to happiness.

The oldest method adopted for the cure of genital hypochondriasis consists in prescribing a mild remedy,
while formally affirming that this aphrodisiac will
bring back the normal vigour. Every author quotes
instances of the success of this moral treatment, and
in speaking elsewhere of the effect of coca 1 I have
narrated a curious anecdote, showing the marvellous
effect produced by two grains of calomel. I cannot
resist the temptation of quoting the following passage
from Montaigne, in which he tells a story of how he
acted as physician."

Montaigne's Celestial Cure.

"A Count, of very ancient lineage, of whom I
was an intimate friend, married a fine lady, who had

(i) Mantegazza, Quadri delta Natura. Feste ed Ebbretu. Milano,
1871. II, p. 552.

been greatly beloved by one of the guests present at
the wedding feast. The circumstance of his presence
caused much concern to the bridegroom's .friends,
and especially an old lady, who was related to him,
and who presided on the occasion, giving the entertainment at her own home, out of fear of the lover's
sorceries, as she told me. I prayed her rely on me.
I fortunately had in my coffer a small piece of flat
gold, on which some celestial figures were engraved,
— sure ward against sunstroke and headache, when
properly placed upon the head —, and to hold it in
position, it was attached to a ribbon, which was
fastened under the chin. All this foreword is germane to my story. Jacques Peletier, while a guest
at my house, had made me this singular present. I
determined to put it to some use, and told the count
he could face fortune unaffrighted, like any other
man; but he must tie him to his couch boldly; I
would, on my part, do him a friendly act, aivd
would not fail on his behalf to work a miracle,
which lay in my power, on condition that he promised on his honour to keep it very faithfully a secret.
Only, when his supper was brought in to him, if he
did not feel things were going well, he was to make
me a sign. He had been so terrified by all he had
heard that his imagination was troubled; and he
made me the signal aggreed upon at the hour appointed. I whispered to him to get up, as though
he would send us away; and to take my dressinggown (we were about the same size), and put it on,
wearing it until he had carried out my directions,
which were to retire to make water, as soon as we
had left the room; to say a cabalistic sentence three
times, accompanied by certain movements. As he
repeated the sentence he was to tie round him the

ribbon, which I gave him; and to place the medal
upon his loins, with his face turned in a certain direction. Having done this, and at the last repetition
of the sentence, made the ribbon quite tight to prevent it from slipping, or
moving at all, he might return in all confidence to his spouse; but
he must not forget to throw my dressing gown on to his bed so as to
cover them both. These nonsensical prescriptions are the chief factor in the cure, our mind
being convinced that such strange means must come,
from some abstruse science, and their inanity gives
them weight and they are reverenced accordingly.
In short, there can be no doubt that my celestial
figures were more venereal than solar, serving actively rather than preventively V

"All cases, 'writes the Chevalier/ are not so simple as the foregoing, nor have
they such a happy ending. A terror, that has become a daily habit,
that accompanies every act, every thought, and every desire, is not
so easily conquered as a temporary fear. If the hypochondriac sees a handsome
woman, he immediately thinks that if she loved him
he could not enjoy her charms. He sees two lovers
in each other's arms; and, sighing, envies them. In
society, he trembles at the idea of being left alone
with a lady. At night he dreams of conquests he
has made, offering their fair forms to him; but he
lacks strength to enjoy them.

Sometimes too, in an evening he goes to a bro-

(i) Montaigne, Essays. Liv. i. Ch. XX. The ancients considered
dust mingled with saliva to be an amorous philtre. In the "Satyricon", by Petronius, an old woman cures a libertine of his impotence by putting dust mixed with saliva on his forehead. She then
calls on Priapus, and bids her client to spit three times, and throw
little stones wrapped in purple three times on his breast.

thel, but lacks courage to choose his own companion,
and lets hii&self be taken by the first who embraces
him; and alone in the presence of her nude charms
he forgets the easily won pleasures that thus offer
themselves to him, and wonders if he is capable of
sacrificing to love. The thought is paramount in his
mind; he has no strength, nor energy; the most
experienced kisses, and the most skillful caresses,
are of no avail. He is petrified, and finally goes away.

Some strong and powerfully built men can only act
lovingly with the woman they cherish. They do not
need to alarm themselves. This is rather an enviable
refinement. With them love preceeds excitement.

Genital hypochondriasis has rarely its origin except in some pathological condition of the genital
organs. Sometimes extreme nervousness causes the
first failure, and makes other failures dreaded. At
other times it is due to congenital weakness, or to a
slight spinal affection. Whatever is the cause, however, it is absolutely
necessary to make it disappear before treatment of the illness is
undertaken. Hypochondriasis is in itself a dangerous enough foe to
make it indispensable to remove other minor difficulties. The principal evil will then be more successfully attacked. I regard hypochondriasis as an hyperaesthesia, or often even a paraesthesia of the conscience.
It is a kind of magnifying-glass that exaggerates the
size of even the least important things.

Shame Thrown Off with the Chemise.

When once minor difficulties have been removed I

endeavour to obtain a great victory by whatever
means possible.

In this case success not only means the cessation
of evil, but is a return to the pure springs of strength.
I, therefore, have no hesitation in using the strongest aphrodisiacs. When once the hypochondriac is
relieved of his gloomy meditations by this unexpected
victory, I tried to retain the ground I have won by
more rational hygiene of the genital organs. Then I
gradually cease the use of pharmaceutical excitants,
and use in their stead natural stimulants. Apprehension thus gradually disappears; and love becomes
a pleasant habit, which should never be interrupted.
When hypochondriasis is of an old standing, it is
rarely cured without the help of love, or marriage,
which may morally be two very different things, but
which from the hygienic standpoint must be regarded
as similar. Venal love nearly always aggravates the
disease. It only affects the grossest of the senses,
while we wish to act powerfully on the psychical
centres of thought and sentiment. I have often had
to acknowledge myself beaten in the case of patients,
who refused the only means of a certain cure, viz.
to take into their home a woman, who would be
the companion of their every hour, always patient,
and full of encouragement. I have often advised
marriage to such patients, and I have never regretted
doing so. How many fears I have had to vanquish,
especially with regard to the fatal first night! How
many things to explain, and what a lot of advice
to give!

Montaigne, however, gave wise and beautiful counsel
in these matters, long before me. "Women, he
writes, should not receive us with those quarrelsome
and angry looks, which both quench and kindle us.

Pythagoras' daughter-in-law used to say that a woman,
who sleeps with a man, should put aside shame with
her petticoat, and resume it when she dons that
garment. The assaillant, ever ready to take fright,
is easily lost; and a man, whose imagination has
once disgraced him, becomes enfevered at the accident, and his spite thereat remains on future occasions.
The disgrace, be it borne in mind, will only be apt
to occur on the first encounters, in proportion as
they are ardent and sharp; and especially by reason
that one is terrified lest he may fail, in this first
opportunity of making his worth known. Married folk,
who are in no hurry, should not hasten the enterprise,
if they be not ready for the fray; and it would be
better to fail in the first night of the marriage couch,
full of feverishness and agitation, than to experience
perpetual and life-long misery, from astonishment and
despair at the first refusal."

Dr. Tarnowsky points out that many men are not
capable of sexual intercourse unless the Woman is
dressed in a special and peculiar manner. We have
no room here to specify all the extraordinary idiosincrasies discussed by this author, but the case of
the prelate who could not copulate except on a
supposed corpse is one of the most singular. This case,
he says is attested by L£o Taxil in "La Prostitution
Contemporaine \ And we may here state that the laws that govern these genital
anomalies will be very fully set forth and investigated in a work on
the "Psychopathy of the Sixth Sense", which Dr. Jacobus X...

1 has handed us to publish.

The Publisher of this book finds himself in a
dilemna. He entrusted the translation of the work
to two different Arabic scholars, and announced to
his Subscribers that the Book would be finished and
published in its entirety by a certain date. The Second
Part, which was by far the longer, and contains about
65,000 words, was completed nearly within the time
stated; but the Translator of the First Part had still
made but little progress with his portion of the work,
on account, as he said, of the numerous technical
difficulties which he encountered in identifying the
various drugs mentioned in the recipes or prescriptions which formed the whole
of the book. He further alleged, as an excuse for the delay, that his
portion of the Book, being hardly more than a list
of drugs, was so utterly devoid of interest, that
translation became a drudgery, and to work for more
than an hour or two at a time was almost impossible,
on account of the mental strain it involved.

At last the work was finished and sent in, and on
looking through the M. S. the Publisher was bound
to confess that the translator's statement was in no
wise exaggerated. The whole of the Part (some 40000

words) consisted of recipes, most of them horribly complicated and containing a number of ingredients (in
many cases over 40). They formed dull and uninteresting
reading though in some instances an unintentional touch
of grotesqueness or absurdity lightened the page.

Not wishing to be guided by his own unsupported
opinion, the Publisher placed the M. S. in the hands
of a well-known literary man, with a request that
he would read it through and report thereon. The
reader reported that, though he had found the Second
Part interesting, the First was extremely dull indeed,
it was difficult to imagine that they had been written by the same man. He was inclined to believe
that the book was the production of master and
pupil; — that the First Part had been written by
some grey-bearded sage, in whose bones the marrow
had long since dried up, whilst the second was the
work of some younger man, still endued with virile
strength, and sudayed by sexual passion.

Whether this hypothesis is correct will never be
known, nor does it greatly matter; what interested
the Publisher far more deeply, was the opinion expressed concerning the contents of the book.

"Whilst I find", wrote the critic that the Second
Part is bright, amusing, and lively and teems with
anecdotes, and curious humorous touches, I find also
that the First Part is sadly deficient in all these
qualities, and — to speak frankly — is 'unreadable*.
Few indeed will those be who will struggle through
the arid and stony wastes of that "Arabia Petrea,"
the First Part, to arrive at the "Arabia Felix" of
the Second."

"My opinion is that the sale of the book would
be injured by the inclusion of the First Part, for
scarcely any reader would ever get to the Second

Volume, unless indeed he followed the plan adopted
by the Irishman when he had his teeth out, and
began with the second. As a book of this nature
cannot be advertised publicly, and demands for it
are largely due to personal recommendations, the sale
of the book would be injured, and a great portion
of the large amount expended in translating and
bringing out the work would consequently be lost".

Such was the opinion expressed by the literary ^
man who had been commissioned to read the book,
and the Publisher could not help confessing to himself that he quite agreed with it. But he found himself between Scylla and Charybdis. Either he must
run a risk which almost amounted to a certainty of
losing a great deal of money and having most of the
copies of the book left upon his hands as an unsaleable
remainder, or he must break faith with his Subscribers, and issue only one part of the work instead
of two.

He again consulted with his literary adviser, who
pointed out that there was a way out of the difficulty. As a wily and eminent statesman, who has now
retired from the politics of this life, once said:
"There are three courses open to us". And this third
course was to give a synopsis of the First Part which
should contain everything that was essential to be
known about it, with copious quotations from the
more interesting portions. This would prove his bona
fides by showing that the First Part really had been
translated, and save the reader from having to peruse
a number of recipes which would not interest him,
and which were impracticable and absurd enough to
form dull reading, but only occasionally grotesque
enough to be amusing. A scholar was therefore engaged to make aan abridgement of all that was plea-

sant" in the old Arab author's obsolete technicalities,
and omit all which was neither quaint or useful
enough to amuse or instruct readers in these modern
times. The task was far from an easy one, but it is
hoped that he has acquitted himself of it fairly well
when the nature of his work is considered.

Notice concerning the Title of the
Present Book.

A word of explanation is perhaps necessary with
regard to the title of this book. "The Old Man Young
Again" is not a literal translation of the Arabic text.
In the original the title runs as follows: — "The
Return of the Old Man to the Condition of the Strength
of Youthtide in the Power of Copulation;" while the
title: "The Book of Age-Rejuvenescence in the Power
of Concupiscence" is the alliterative rendering that
Sir Rich. F. Burton made, when referring to a MS.
he had seen of this work; but he did not of course,
translate the book itself.

" - XP ■

Synopsis of the First
Volume.

Candour compels the conscientious critic to say that the unknown author of "The Old Man
Young Again" though he knew
something of Physiology, was a
poor Pharmaceutist. Pelias, an old man who wished to be made young again, and
who was boiled in a cauldron for that purpose, met with a relatively
pleasant death in comparison to the aged Arabs who may possibly have
ventured to try some of the astounding recipes recommended by the
author of this book. But the knowledge of physiology displayed,
though, of course defective, is rather remarkable when it is remembered that the work was, — learned professors of

7

Arabian Literature believe, — written in the XIII century. Many of the theories though ridiculous in our eyes,
were current in Europe to a much later date. It should
also be borne in mind that the Quran forbids all
Moslems to practise dissection, and that consequently
an Arab could know little, or next to nothing, of
anatomy. With these excuses for our Author's shortcomings, we will proceed to examine the book.

Each part of The Old Man Young Again is divided
into 30 chapters. The First Part, which alone we have
to consider, is by far the shorter, being barely more
than three sevenths of the whole work, and if the
writer had condescended to read his work after he
had written it and omitted those recipes which were
"doubled", it would have been still further reduced.

The "Muqaddamat", or Introduction is very fine
and in true Oriental style. It runs as follows: —

3n tf)e ttarae of 3Ual)

tfie <£ompa$fonatfng, tJe Companionate!

alhamdollilah: praise to the lord who created Things by his. Power and perfected them
with the Delicacy of his Art and administrated
them Wisely according to his Wisdom. I extol
him for His Grace and pray for Mohammad,
the Best of His Creatures and for his People
and Companions and Branches of his Family.
Saith the Author of this Book:

When i observed all the Lusts known under Names of Voluptuousness stretching out

Hands for Coition, and beheld Wielders of
Power and the Lords of Wealth and the Heads
of the People of every country in this our
Age and those that have foregone of Ages

and times; the desire that they manifested for

Intercourse with Women which are scattered
about in the Houses of Amusement and their
Ardour to satisfy the Whims of Womankind —
Nor saw I anyone of them free from Love
of woman, or without Attachment to a Maiden
and Desire for Uncleanness, and I Learnt

THAT THEIR KNOWLEDGE CONSISTETH IN THAT UNTO
WHICH THEIR DESIRES ARE DRAWN AND TO WHAT

their Souls pursue, and the Power of Lust

over swayeth them and the benefits thereof
bulk and biggen in their slght.

— These Things moved me to write this
Book, and I deemed it fit to limit the Length

THEREOF TO THE DISCUSSION ONLY OF THE REMEDIES

of Lust; my Book I therefore composed from
other Books of different Kinds concerning Copulation and its conjoint subjects, such as: —

(I.) Kitab al-Bah- 1 by Al-Nahli.

(2.) Kitab al- 'Ars wa al-' Arais (Book of the

Bridal and the Brides) by Al-Jahiz.
(3.) Kitab al Kiyan (Maiden's Book) by Ibn Hajib
al-Nu'man.

(4.) Kitab al-Izah fih asrar al-Nikah (Book of the Exposition of the Mysteries
of Married Fruition.)
(5.) Kitab Jami' al-Lizzah (The Compendium of
Pleasure) by Ibn Samsamani.

(1) "Bah", is the popular term for the amatory appetite: hence
sach works are called Kutub al-B&h, lit. = Books of Lust.

(6.) Kitab Barj'an 1 Yarjan wa Janahib.
(7.) Kitab al Munakahah wa al-Mufatahah fi
Asnaf al-Jima wa Alatih. (Book of Carnal
Copulation and the Inquisition into the

mode of coition and its instrumentation)

by Aziz ad-Din al-Masihi.

And, in its composition I have not Aimed at a
superfluity of naughtiness, neither the Seeking
out of Sin, nor the Aidance of the Pleasure-
' lover whose delights consist of Rebelliousness, deeming that lawful which God most High

HATH DISALLOWED. BUT THEREIN HAVE I SOUGHT

the Helping only of him whose carnal appetite is Unequal to the Attainment of his
Desires in that coition which is Lawful and
is the Source of the Earth's Peopling through
the Abundance of Progenity, even as. Mohammad, our Prophet, upon whom be Salvation and
Peace, hath said:

"COrfABIT TOGETHER AND BRING FORTH OFFSPRING
AND VERILY BY YE WILL I DAZZLE THE NATIONS IN

the Day of Resurrection".

(1) Burton wrote of this: — 81 can make nothing of this title nor

can those whom I have consulted: my only explanation is that they

may be fanciful names proper". We have been equally unsuccessful.

©n tl)? formation of ttje ijarii.

This first chapter, on the principle of "beginning at
the beginning*', starts with the information that "the
penis is composed of veins and nerves which resemble
muscles". Then the Author proceeds to explain how the
semen is formed, and how it descends from the head by
"the veins behind the ears", adding, naively enough,
in parentheses, that, "a man who had these veins
cut has no sperm". It would certainly impair a man's
powers in other ways than the sexual to have his
jugular veins cut.

The use of the penis is to throw off superfluous
vapours, but its utility in this respect is often impaired by various derangements, local or general, in
one of which "the member swells, lengthens, and
stands in an inordinate degree, without however,
experiencing any desire"; which would seem to imply
that chordee was not wholly unknown amongst the
Arabs. This is caused by "a thick kind of humidity"
(rather a confusion of cause and effect) and is to be
cured by cooling applications of rose water, oil of
camomile and white wax, which last does not seem
to be altogether suited for the purpose.

"These drugs should be of good quality in order

that they do not cause inflammation. Mix nenuphar
with the food, and, towards the end of the malady
let the patient eat rue".

We may note that the anaphrodisiac properties of
nenuphar (water-lily) are still believed in by the French.
The chapter concludes with the pious aspiration:
•And may Allah heal His servants; He can do all
things".

It is a pity that our Arab friend gave us no particulars with regard to the various maladies that the Membrum Virile is subject to. It would have been
most interesting to have learnt his opinions concerning the dimensions of the instrument of generation
amongst his compatriots. We remember reading 'in
Poggio of the Young Wife who complained bitterly
of the Shortness of her husband's tool. It appears that
a young Nobleman, of handsome figure, married the
daughter of a Florentine knight, Nereo de Sazzi, a man
of distinction and eminence in his generation. A few
days after the wedding, the young wife, according
to custom, called on her father; but, far from looking
all smiles and cheerfulness, as other brides usually
do, she was sad, down-cast, and seemed' disheartened.
Her mother took her aside in her private room, and
asked if all worked smoothly: *— Lack-a-day —"
wept the poor girl, "you have not married me with
a man: he is deficient in manly parts, and has nothing,
or scarcely anything, of what is the object in matrimony". The mother, grieved at her daughter's mischance, imparted the thing to her husband: it gradually leaked out among the relatives and women
who had been asked to the entertainment, and the
whole house was filled with expressions of sorrow
and regret that such a beautiful girl should have been,
not wedded indeed, but sacrificed. On his arrival, the

bridegroom, in whose honour the entertainment was
being given, noticed all those faces looking so disconsolate and pained, wondered at the strange fact, and
enquired what had happened. Nobody ventured to
confess openly the motive of the general sadness:
until one, at last, bolder than the rest, told him that his
wife says he is defective in the masculine attribute:
"That shall not trouble you long, nor disturb our
convivial mirth," cried the young man cheerfully:
"that charge shall be soon disposed of'. Men and
women, they all sat down to table. Towards the close
of the repast, the youth rose to his feet, and said:
"My dear relatives, you shall adjudicate upon the
charge that is preferred against me". And, raising
the short habit which was then in fashion, he trotted
out a priapus of splendid dimensions which, having
placed upon the table, he asks the company, surprised
at the novelty and grandeur of the sight, whether
such an article deserves disapproval or rejection. Most
of the women wished their husbands had been as
well supplied; many of the men felt they had met
with their master, so, they all turned towards the
young wife and strongly upbraided her for her folly: —
"Why do you blame or reproach me?" she asked:
"our jack-ass, I saw recently in the country, is nothing,
but a beast, and yet his tool is as long as that' (stretching out her arm); 'my husband, a man, has not
more than half'. The simple girl fancied.that men
were bound to have more than beasts.

Probably women often repine in secret over the
shortness of their husband's instrument, but surely
it is seldom that a woman is to be found seriously
complaining of the too great length and stoutness of
this portion of her male partner's body. Yet such was
the case, according to old Dr. Martin Schurig, with

a Bavarian peasant-woman. She wrote the following
letter to the legal authorities of her day, claiming a
divorce. We give a translation of this letter in extenso
as probably it is not to be duplicated in all the
literature of the world?

"To Your Eminent Lordships, Gracious Excellencies,
and Highly Honourable Worships, be presented my
request as from your most obedient and humble
handmaiden who, in deepest humility, and in pious
prayer to God for you this day, begs for separation
between herself and H. K., for which is necessary
a judicial decree. Whereas, in my urgent plea of the
ioth ultimo, from timidity and shame before your
eminent ears and eyes in reading it, I hesitated to
describe the size and thickness of K's manly member;
because in the inspection, above stated, it was seen
when n than it really is. Consequently have I shown forth
nolens volens in this present circle the real condi-
tions of its thickness.

"Now, highly intelligent and sympathising Christians
will not take it for human, but be more inclined
to compare it to that of a horse. How then, could I,
a weak vessel, a poor little creature; endure such an
impossible bigness, and let myself be forced, split
open, and reduced to the state of a crippled being?
Who then would tender me a crust of bread to still
the hunger of my soul? Had there been indeed in
me the capacity to stand it out, he would have
been able to have managed it within the space of
two-and-twenty weeks,' and have opened me out. The
impossible is always impossible.

That which hath been branded by God and by
Nature should be shunned.

Is there not a difference, made and acted upon, for
mares, between big and little horses, lest the motherhorse and her foal be together spoiled in a lump in
the foaling, and remain together and die.

But this indecent and shameless fellow has many
a day, in the open fields, thrown me to the ground,
in the presence of all the cow-herds, and without
decency, without being able to work his will upon
me, still less bring about the possibility of it, with
such a big and thick one, which he unpeeled like
a white turnip, he wanted to open me out wider
than God had made me. To this end also, he had
been encouraged by his father-in-law and other friends,
so that if he could not enjoy my body, he might
carry me to the woods, bind me to ^a tree, shoot
me dead, and then up and away where he listed.

Wherefore, that it may please, etc.

We give on the opposite page a fac-simile of the
original circle, as a proof that we are not imposing
upon the Reader's credulity.

How vastly different were the sentiments of the
brave English housewife whose disappointment concerning the size of her husband's yard is recounted
in the following clever lines.

"A Handsome fellow, t'other day,

Easy* genteel, exceeding gay,

A fair, tho' arrant prude, addrest,

Was half in earnest, half in jest.

At first, the lover sigh'd and vow'd,

No greater freedoms were allow'd;

In time she heard him tell his pain,

She heard, but heard him with disdain:

He sigh'd, he wept, he pray'd, he swore,

No real lover could do more;

Whole hours at Madam's feet he lay,

And ogling fast his time away;

But she, still deaf to all he said,

Declar'd she'd live and die a maid.

The lover saw this would not do,

He must another course pursue,

He found his sighs and tears were vain,

And but augmented her disdain,

But being impudent and rude,

Perhaps might gain upon the prude.

He wholly bent on her undoing,

Thus brought about the fair one's ruin.

A thousand apish tricks he play'd.

And sitting one day by the maid,

Held both hands out, and smiling said: —

ttOne, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight,

Nine, ten; I'm sure I've told them right;

All this I can do in one night,

And, without boasting, I defy

A man on earth to do't but I."

This said, the cunning sp*ark retir'd,
While Madam, with the story fired,
Her fingers told. "What, eight, nine, ten!
It cannot be, then told again.
It is ev'n so, yet I, forsooth,
With scorn beheld this matchless youth,
Despis'd his love, despis'd his charms,
But now the man my bosom warms.
I thought he made a little figure,
And therefore treated him with rigour;
But now he seems another creature,
Improv'd in shape, in air, and feature.
Oh! would the youth make love again,
He should no longer sigh in vain;
Tho' I'm a young and tender maid,
I am not of his strength afraid;
I'll hug the dear and charming man,
Then let him kill me if he can."

Next day the bragging lover came,
And shew'd his fingers to the dame.
The charmer, who had laid aside
Her airs, her prud'ry, and her pride,
Put on a smile, and thus began: —
To me you seem the boldest man
I ever knew; strange things you tell,
You say you all the world excel; .
Suppose I have a mind to try,
It you spoke true or told a lie,
And you of your account fall short,
When I've giv'n up my maiden fort,
What do I next?" The wicked youth
Swore he had only told the truth,
What he had promis'd he'd make good;
And taking up a piece of wood,
On it ten scores with chalk he drew:

Take this,' said he, 'And see that you,
(When I a finger shall make good,)
Rub out one score from off the wood.*"

On this the Fair one was content,
They stripped, and to the bed they went,
Awhile the silent pair were dumb,
But soon the prude rubb'd out a thumb;
A finger likewise disappear'd,
And other two were quickly clear'd:
Long time he kiss'd, then made a shift,
With much ado, to clear the fifth.
Thus far did he his promise keep,
Then quietly lay him down to sleep.
On this, the Fair one, all in rage,
Her wearied lover did engage.
"What! traitor, am I thus betray'd;
Is 'thus you use a trusting maid?
Half of your number is to come,
You want four fingers and a thumb;
You promis'd ten; say, did you not?"

The lover, who enough had got,
Without once changing of his hue,
Did gravely answer: "Very true,
I promis'd, but I can't perform;
But yet, my dear you need not storm.
I've done but half, I must confess,
But many are content with less,
And I, if you '11 forgive my crime,
Will do the rest another time."

We regret to notice that modern medical writers
either avoid altogether the subject of the abnormalities that are to be met with in the shape and size
of the human penis, or else treat this fascinating
subject in a very cursory manner. For instance, we

find that Dr. Jacobson in his profound work on the
"Diseases of the Male Organs of Generaton" 1 dismisses the question of the "unusual size of the penis"
with almost a contemptuous waive of the hand and
makes only the following inadequate observations:
"Most of the recorded cases occur in Ancient writers.
Cases occasionally occur in which dysparennia may
be produced by a disproportion between the genital
organs, but such cases yield to patience and common sense treatment." If
definite statements as to the normal dimensions of the penis are
required, the following may be referred to. In the Army Medical Museum at Washington
there are two injected specimens, divested of skin.
These measure, in length, respectively, from the
meatus to the pubis, 6ll2 and 51/* inches; from the
extremity to the termatioii of either crus 93/4 and
8s/4 inches; in circumference, 4s/4 and 4^/4 inches.

The great importance of that subject was fully
recognized by that quaint and now neglected practitioner, Dr. Venette. We give
the following quotatation because of its appropriateness

"Casuists and Jurisconsults treat these matters quite
as well as doctors; but they treat them in a quite
different manner. The first think themselves obliged
to speak of them for the salvation of souls, in refusing marriage to those whom they consider incapable
of performing its duties, and in separating for some
time the man and the woman whom some incommodities of the parts would have troubled in marriage.

Jurisconsults also feel impelled to agitate the same
questions, in the interests of justice and for the good

(1) London, Churchill, 1893.

(a) Tlu MytUries of Conjugal Love Revealed\ (Paris, Carr'mgton, 1905).

of the State. They wish thereby to ascertain the
causes of the dissolution of marriage, in order to
correct its abuse. But, as these difficult matters have
often been very badly treated by either of them, I
will endeavour to render clear the difficulties which
are connected with them, so that it may afterwards
be possible to judge soundly differences of opinion
which may occur among those who may have to be
either judges or arbiters.

When the natural parts of the man cannot unite
with those of the woman, the cause is often to be
assigned to natural defects in the parts of the one
or of the other; but in order to understand how
these defects occur, it must be borne in mind that
the spirit which has the mission to make a boy
within the womb of the mother, not always finding
sufficient substance to form the natural parts of a
child, it is obliged to make these parts defective,
and because the parts that are essential to life are
far more necessary than those which contribute to
the propagation of the species; that further these
are formed earlier than the latter, so it sometimes
happens that the spirit employs to form the parts
essential to life nearly all the substance which was
destined for the secret parts, and in such wise the
latter, in the end, become very small, their substance
having been reserved for other parts. This it was
that gave rise to one of the observations of Platerus,
who remarked that he had seen a man who had. only
a gland covered with its prepuce, instead of the
virile member. *

The defects of the secret parts, as well as of the
others of which we are mostly composed, are not
always .natural; and the gentleman of whom Paul
Zachias speaks, would never have engendered, if he

had been wanting, even from the womb of his mother, of one half of his natural parts.

Mortification of the flesh and chastity are often
powerful causes of the diminution of our natural
parts. The example of Saint Martin amply shows
this to us, he who during his life had so macerated
his body by unheard of austerities, and so resisted
all the licence of his time, that if we are to believe
Saint Sulpice, his penis was so small, that it would
not have been found, if the place it should occupy
had not been known.

Too long or too thick members are not the best,
neither for copulation, nor for generation; they incommode women, and produce nothing: so that for
the commodity of .the action, the man's member
should be of middling size, and that of the woman
proportioned to it, so as to join one to the other,
and to touch each other agreably in all parts.

There is no other cause to this natural defect than
the abundance of matter in the first weeks of conception: although the spirit that directs the formation
of this part as well as of that of the others, not
knowing what to do with the superabundance of
matter which remains after the constitution of the
principal parts are formed, it makes use of it to make
a big and long member.

If it is true, that which our physiognomists pretend, that men who have long noses have also long
members, and that they are more robust and more
courageous than others, we must not be astonished
that Heliogabalus, whom Nature had favoured with
large genital parts, as Lampadius assures us, chose
his soldiers among those who had big noses, in order
to be able, with a smaller body of troops, to undertake some warlike expediton, or more vigorously to

resist the efforts of his enemies; but he did not at
the same time perceive these big-membered fellows
were the most giddy and stupid of men.

Little men have often a bigger member than others;
some indeed were formerly met with, who had it so
long, if we are to believe Martial, that they were
able to smell at it: and I do not know whether this
poet was not alluding to Claudius, who violated
Pompeia, the wife of Caesar, in the Temple of the
Goddess Bona, who, according to History, was possessed of a yard as prodigious as the two biggest
concerns that could be put together.

It is doubtful whether the semen is prolific after
passing through so long a member. Aristoteles, and
after him Galen, have mooted this question. They
are both of opinion that the spirits there abounding,
being spread over such a length, the semen is afterwards no longer able to
reproduce. But several doctors, among others the learned • Hucher, are of a
contrary opinion; because the semen going directly
into the heart of the uterus, without being impaired
by contact with the air by any other exterior cause,
has all the necessary qualities for generation, and
the information supplied to us on the subject by this
great physician, shows us conclusively that the truth
is altogether on his side.

Unless, as I have already said, the two genital
parts in both sexes are mutually well proportioned,
there is no likelihood of their uniting closely one
with the other; for if the man is rather powerfully
membered, and the woman very narrow, the conjunction is not agreable, and they cannot suffer each
other. But if the same man joins in amorous intercourse with another woman who is wider, he will
touch her only with pleasure, instead of the complaints

and pains he caused to the first: so that it is true
to say that he who has given us so many remedies
against love, has left us in writing, that when we
love persons whose inclinations and parts are proportionate to ours, our flame is a happy one, and our
legitimate love can produce but lawful fondness and
delights.

In reality, if the two women of whom Platerus tells us the story, had been able
to stand their husbands, they would never have complained to
justice, and the judges would never have unanimously consented to invalidate their marriages, with injunction
on the women to retire into solitude, and on the
men to take other wives, who were not so foolish,
after marriage, as to complain of the bigness of their
husbands' rods.

I do not speak here of the prodigious size of the
member of certain men: it is known that they are
not fit for marriage; and it would have been very
wrong to have wanted to remarry the man mentioned
by Fabricius de Hildan, who had it as big as the
body of new-borne babe.

Too big and too little concerns are not the only
defects they present among men; they are also defective if they are badly formed, or if all the parts
composing them are not in their proper place: for
nuptials having been instituted among christians for
the sole purpose of procreating children, there can
be no doubt that if a mans parts are so badly conformed that he cannot consummate marriage, and
that such defects are incurable, the mariage must be
declared invalid.

Lastly, there are so many other defects which
deprive the virile member of its ordinary action, that
it would be necessary to make a special discourse on

8

the subject, in order to describe them all; for to
speak briefly, no one could agreably caress a woman,
and still less engender; if he were suffering from
gonorrhoea with chordee, or from a virulent nodus;
if the natural parts were afflicted with excrescences,
ulcers or cicatrices; if the prepuce is of prodigious
size; if the penis is tied down by the string of
the gland, or lastly if attacked by one of those
diseases which prevent connection with a woman,
and which are often the causes of dissolution of
marriage.

These observations on the strength and weakness
of the virile member may prove of use, because the
subject is not treated in other works. We offer them
for what they are worth. We trust that they may
suggest to every reader the means of acquiring the
splendid dimensions referred to by the excellent
Poggio who states that the following story was one
day related to him, "in company, by a friend of mine:
A Florentine of his acquaintance had a handsome
wife who was courted by a crowd of admirers. Some
of these frequently serenaded her, as they say, with
the customary lighted torches, in the street opposite
her house. One night, the husband, a most jolly
fellow, aroused from his sleep by the sound of trumpets, jumped out of bed, came to the window with
his wife, and seeing the noisy and frolicsome assemblage,
requested them, with a loud voice, to look up, in
his direction. All eyes were instantly turned towards
him, when he laid hold of a most respectably sized
tool of his, and exhibited it erect out of the window: — uYou are taking pains to no purpose", said he, afor,
as you see, I am better provided with the means of
satisfying my wife than you can be yourselves. I
therefore advise you to spare me a repetition of this

annoyance?" This amusing sally put a stop to any
further pursuit."

CHAPTER H.

Mingled with a good deal of nonsense there are a
few well-known facts in this chapter. That the sperm
is generated in the testicles, and that the sperm of
the woman is as needful for procreation as that of
the man, are undoubted facts, but the theories con-
cerning the constitution and temperament of the tes-
ticles are devoid of any scientific basis, and it would
be a waste of space to quote them *).

CHAPTER m.

Conrmtmg t\)c Us produce* bt) titorrintmlgenre in Copulation. "In some cases
the harm caused by excess is extremely great", says the Author, "but in some cases
it does little harm, and in others it is even bene-

(i) In a The Ethnology of the Sixth Sense, (i. e. The Genital
Sense), its Anomalies, Crimes, Follies and Perversions", (now in M.S.
and shortly to be published), a mass of curious information is given
by Dr. Jacobus X... the Author, concerning these "Storehouses of
precious Human Seed."

ficial", — in which latter case it may be remarked
it is hardly to be called excessive.

The description of the symptoms caused by excess
is graphic. "Excessive coition destroys the natural
heat, weakens the organs, produces results which are
contrary to nature, saps the virile force, diminishes
the energy and movement of the body, wears out the
stomach and lever, interferes with the digestion, and
so impairs the health of the whole body, taints the
blood, enervates the muscles, fatigues the limbs,
hastens decrepitude and decay, causes the hair to fall
off, even to the extent of baldness, reduces the blood,
injures the nerves and causes trembling, destroys voluntary movement, does harm to the heart and lungs,
flattens (i. e. empties) the veins, and produces weakness and impotence in all these."

These lines might be used by a quack doctor, in
place of the old familiar "dimness of sight, loss of
memory."

Some sense is mixed with some nonsense in the
description of the persons to whom excess is more or
less hurtful; but the advice to "old men and those
who commit excess not so much from lust as from
sensual vice, to guard against copulation as they
would against an enemy who lay in wait to kill them",
is certainly excellent.

The autor cups his theories with extracts from
Aristotle and Rhases, the latter of whom found by experiment, "that fornication"
destroys the hair of the head, the eyebrows, and the eyelashes, "but
it increases the growth of the beard, and the hair on the body." The
following lines from Dr. Acton prove that the advice of the old
Sheikh tallies with modern medical science, the counsel of the
English doctor differing but very little from that of his ancient colleague.

"The immediate effect of the act on the Male deserves
some few remarks. Even in the healthiest and strongest
person, a feeling of fatigue immediately follows."

This nervous organism is very powerfully exhibited
in some animals. The buck-rabit, for instance, after
each sexual act, falls on his side, the wites of his
eyes turn up and his hind legs are spasmodically agitated. The cause of this, and the corresponding phenomena
in other animals, is the nervous shock which particularly affects
the spinal cord. The way in which this shock affects a healthy man
is, generally, to make him languid and drowsy for a time. This
temporary depression has not escaped the observation of the Ancients, who have remarked —

*Laeta venire Venus tristis abire solet"; and again:

* Post co'itum otnne animal triste, nisi gallus qui cantat."

So serious, indeed, is the paroxysm of the nervous
system produced by the sexual spasm, that its immediate effect is not always unattended with danger,
and men with weak hearts have died in the act.
Every now and then we learn that men are found
dead on the night of their wedding, and it is not
very uncommon to hear of inquests being held on
men discovered in houses of ill-fame, without any
marks of ill-usage or poison. The cause has been,
doubtless, the sudden nervous shock overpowering a
feeble or diseased frame.

However exceptional these cases are, they are
warnings, and should serve to show that an act
which may destroy the weak should not be tampered
with, even by the strong.

A French physician has well described the test
which every married man should apply in his own
case: — "When connection is followed by a joyous

feeling, a bien etre gbtiral, as well as fresh vigour;
when the head feels lighter, the body more elastic
and ready for work; when a greater disposition to
exercise or intellectual labour arises, and the genital
organs evince and increase of vigour and activity, we
may infer that an imperious want has been satisfied
within the limits necessary for health. The happy influence which all the organs experience is similar to
that which follows the accomplishment of every functions necessary to the economy."

How serious — how vital an act, so to speak,
that of copulation is, appears from the marked changes which accompany its performance in some animals. It is a well-accreditated fact that in the rutting season buck-venison is strong, lean and ill-flavoured.
At this time we are told, the flesh becomes soft and
flabby, the hair looks "unkind"; and in birds, the
feathers, after the season of breeding, are in a ruffled
state, and droop. The horns of stags fall off, and the
blood is occupied in supplying the consequent demand
for new ossens matter.

It is before the spanning season has passed, that
we prefer the herring, and it is only while it is filled
with roe that we care to eat the mackerel. A spent
salmon is not fit food for man; and, at this period,
as all Fishermen are aware, the vivid colours of the trout disappear; and the
fish retires exhausted and impoverished, until the vital forces are
regained." Leaving aside the discussion of "spent salmon", we are
happy to offer the following "Aphorisms bearing on the Hurts of
Love," which we have translated from the Latin of that curious and little known
old writer, Benedict Sinibaldus 1.

(i) J. B. Sinibaldus: Geneanthropeia> Bk. IX. cols. 975,976. Romae, ^642. From the VI^ Book of Sanctorius the Younger's * Static Medicine."

TWELVE APHORISMS ON THE HURTS OF LOVE.

I. After inordinate copulation a fourth part of the
wonted transpiration is wont to be stayed.

II. By inordinate copulation the natural heat is
lessened; by lessening of heat transpiration is lessened ; by lessening of transpiration the breatching and
the heart-beat.

III. Inordinate copulation causeth the body to transpire crude matters, which
presently chill the flesh. IV. In the act of Love much crude matter
is transpired, and if, the while it doth yet continue, crude
matters be carried from the centre to the periphery
of the body, obstructions are occasioned; and for this
cause the belly is constipated.

V. The immediate injury from inordinate copulation
is chilling of the stomach; that which doth appear later,
checked transpiration. Whence readily come twitchings
of the eyebrows, and tremblings of the limbs, and eventually of the members holding chief place in the body.

VI. Copulation is more hurtful in Summer, not because the body doth transpire more, but because
digestion being then less active, what is lost is not
so readily renewed.

VII. Inordinate copulation hurteth the sight, because
it doth draw away from the eyes a very great quantity of the spirits resident
therein; hence the coats of the eyes growing over hard and
shriveled, the passages of the same are rendered less permeable.
VIII. Copulation doth heat the liver, and the kidneys, because the heat called forth is not adequately
exhaled. On the contrary it doth chill the stomach,
brain, and heart, because by reason of the passages
being more freely opened, the heat that is called forth

is itself entirely resolved, and the proper heat of those
organs in some degree dissipated for the same reason.

IX. Wherefore inordinate copulation doth occasion
in the liver, bile; in the kidneys, nephritic trouble;
in the stomach, crudity of juices; in the brain, catarrh; and in the heart, palpitation and syncope.

X. After excessive copulation with a woman that
hath been coveted with exceeding great concupiscence,
lassitude is not immediately felt. For the comfort and
satisfaction of the mind do then assist the heart's
transpiration, and enhance the vigour of the same;
wherefore as concerns that very matter which is lost,
there is a more ready renewing thereof.

XI. Such men as in copulation do not, of set purpose, emit their seed, are very like to find themselves attacked with swelling of the testicles; for the
seed is incapable of suffering transpiration.

XII. These are the signs that copulation hath done
no hurt: urine as well compounded as before; activity
of body; easier breathing, and the weight of the body
continuing well nigh the same as ever.

CHAPTER IV.

3Ll)r lUaulte ttiljid) arte? from tlje
3ll-<£ffecte of <£xct**m Coition.

In this chapter the author treats of the cure of the
diseases caused by excessive Coition before the evil
becomes too great, and starts with the statement
considerably in advance of the medical knowledge of

the times that, "Men who futter frequently ought not
to be bled, or get over fatigued." They should eat
and drink plentifully before going to bed, of white
bread, mutton, and sweet syrup.

The lust is a testimony to the nutritive power of
sugar which agrees singularly with the most recent
researches of chemists. Ginger, cinnamon, and long
pepper are also recommended, but acid or salted foods
should never be eaten.

If the patient desires to eat poultry or kid he should
"counteract the humidity it would cause by stuffing
the meat with those things which have a contrary
effect." The drink should be "old wine, or still better
syrup of honey." The former seems rather peculiar
advice for a Mussulman to give. That many persons
experience a trembling sensation after copulation is
possibly true, but it seems doubtful if half a drachm
of bran in marjoram-water would cure the symptoms;
but the author is careful to add that if it is of no
avail, more violent remedies such as colocynth, nettleseeds and other things are to be employed.

Dimness of right may be cured by bathing the head
with vinegar and rose-water, and making the patient
"go into the water keeping his eyes open." To overcome the feeling of lassitude,
he proposes that the patient should quickly go to bed and sleep a
little, then eat something of a purgative nature, then wrap himself
up again and take a long nap." Should this not prove effectual,
bathing and pure wine should be tried. The subject of this chapter
is so important that the following practical remarks by a qualified
medical man are of some value and we owe no apology for introducing them.

"I am quite certain, he writes, that marriage, even

late in life, contributes to a man's longevity, if the
woman he chooses is suitable as regards age, disposition and temper. If the
newly-married man will but be moderate and commit no excesses of any
kind, I am an advocate for his marriage, rather than that he should
remain single. The reader should recollect that in these cases the
physician does not advise all elderly people to marry but he sees no
valid reason why an attachment already formed should be broken off,
merely because a hale and hearty bridegroom is advanced in life. I
am cognizant of many instances of persons who are now living very
happily together, who have married late in life. In these instances
no ill consequences have happened. If, however, an elderly man is disposed to marry beneath him, or to
contract marriage with a young and worldly woman,
I think his medical adviser should do all in his power
to dissuade ^nd warn him of the danger he is about to incur. Nevertheless,
experience teaches us that the advice is but little needed. I am
well aware that many cases can be cited in which men have married
late in life, and had families. Undoubted instances of virility at the age of nearly one hundred years are on
record; but in these cases the general bodily vigour
has been preserved in a very remarkable degree. The
ordinary rate seems to be, that sexual power is not
retained by the male to any considerable extent after
the age of sixty or sixty-five.

The impunity with which some plderly men continue the practice of sexual intercourse is certainly
surprising; still, abuse or excess, whichever we may
term it, must sooner or later tell its tale. In some,
its effects assume the form of hypochondriasis, followed by all the protean miseries of indigestion; in
others, of fatuity; in the more advanced stages, pa-

ralysis or paraplegia come on, accompanied by softening of the brain, and its attendant consequences.
What in early life was attended by temporary languor,
is in age not unusually followed by the train of
symptoms alluded to above; and, when the medical
man is called in, it is to late to do aught but palliate
them.

I am every day becoming more convinced that many
of the affections of the brain, under which elderly
persons suffer, and to which a certain proportion annually succumb, are caused
by excesses committed at a time when the enfeebled powers are
unequal to supporting them, and I think it the duty of the medical profession to put such sufferers in possession of
these facts. Kind advice and sympathy would thus,
I am sure, save the valuable lifes of many a man
who errs from ignorance.

Parise who has written the best word on the diseases of old age inveighs against
ill-assorted marriages of elderly persons. "There are great risks
run; for in the extreme disparity of age, and often times of condition
— as when the man is rich and the girl is young — Nature avenges
herself by spreading scandals— doubts about paternity, and domestic troubles;
everything is at variance, age, disposition, character,
tastes, and amusements. "What shall I do with him,
and what will he do with me?" said a clever young
girl of eighteen, whose parents wished her to marry
an old gentleman. With regard to health and vital
force, it is easy to foresee what will become of them
in these unequal marriages, where a young and fresh
girl is 'flesh of the flesh* of a man used up from age,
and mayhap from excesses. Evidently she commits a
suicidal act more or less certain or rapid. On the other
hand, experience shows that the elderly man who

thus risks his repose and his existence, speedily finds
his health grievously affected.

"Would you," continues Parise, "know the difference between love in youth and in old men? It is
this, 'of a truth great folly appertainetk to the first
love, but great feebleness to the last* Hereby hangs
a tale, for sudden danger lies in the path, and the
siren sings upon the very serge. Blessed should the
old man deem himself who can put up with calmness,
happiness, and reason, instead of craving after those
senile accessions of delirium, tob often the parents of
regret and remorse without end. The chastisement of
those who love the sex too much is to love too long.
Is Nature silent ? "Tis that she would not speak! Would
you provoke or excite her? It is a crime against her
— a crime for which she will some day claim a deep
revenge. Why, then not listen to the voice of Wisdom — for those who sit at her feet, and listen to
her awful counsels, shall be delivered from strong
passion, and many sore straits, and much folly?"

CHAPTER V.

tOljat ouciljt to be taken after Coition.

The subject of this chapter concerns those thoughts
proper to use after Coition, and we note that the
author shows no slight knowledge of restoratives. Soup
made of meat "boiled till all taste has gone out of
it," and yolks of eggs seasoned with cinnamon, cloves,
and squills. The latter appears rather a peculiar re-

medy, considering the medicinal effects of the plant,
but it is used also in many other prescriptions given
in the book.

Some of the remedies are of a very unpleasant nature; and would inevitably turn a European stomach.
Thus a man who fornicates after a long journey on
foot, should eat meat upon which a little castor oil
and oil of rue has been poured! Meat, apples, and
onions boiled in wine, sounds more efficacious and
rather more pleasant, but it is doubtful if the effect
would be greatly increased by the addition of the
brain of a cock, steeped in oil of myrrh, oil of roses,
and duck fat.

Pains in the limbs caused by excessive fornication
are cured by the curious principle of bandaging the
opposite limb; thus, for a pain in the right arm the
remedies must be applied to the left leg. Sparrows
are recommended as a food, — more, perhaps, on
account of their amorous, than their nutritive qualities, and for drink honey-water, which Gabriel ben
Jossie, — a still older authority on the same subject,
seemingly, — says, "brings back the fluid in the
spinal column to its proper condition."

CHAPTER VI.

Zl)t 2ttw After having descanted on the diseases and ill-effects
caused by excessive copulation, the author here treats
of the benefits which may be derived from moderate

fornication. He starts by saying that some people
maintain that under no circumstances fornication can
be of benefit to a man, and he combats this assertion
by quoting Galen, with whose writings he seems to
have been very familiar.

The "Father of Medicine" says; "Young men of great
vigour, being forbidden to fornicate (either for some
kind of philosophical reason, or some other cause)
found that their bodies became cold, their movements
difficult, shivers ran through their frame, melancholy
seized upon them, their appetite disappeared, and
their digestion was injured. I have seen a man, who
having escheaved fornication after having practised it
at intervals, lost his appetite, digested with difficulty
the little he did eat, and became a prey to melancholic thoughts: when he began to fornicate again,
these symptoms quickly ceased." Rhases, an Arab
writer, asserts that a person who discontinues copulation after having practised it to a great extent is
liable to a desease which, as he describes it, seems
identical wich Chordee. He declares moderate indulgence to be excellent for a man, and that strangury
of the womb, — an incurable desease, — only occurs in women who abstain from copulation.

The author of the present work argues that copulation must be good because there is no gift of nature
that is not meant to be used. But he has the good
sense to remark that it is not good for all persons
alike. A man who is full-blooded, and makes plenty of
semen, will suffer, especially if young, from fever, want
of appetite, oppression of the heart, and other distressing
symptoms, and persons of a hot, humil, bilious temperament, will also "derive much advantage from having
a woman whenever they feel like it," but about other
sorts and conditions of men the author is not quite sure.

CHAPTER VII.

far Copulation.

Those hardy futterers who are always ready for the
amorous fray, will do well to read and abide by the
sage counsels offered in this chapter treating of "the
times when copulation is desirable and when it is
objectionable, also of proper conditions and vicious
forms of copulation." He states, — what perhaps many
of us have found by experience, — that it is not
proper for a man to fornicate when his stomach is
full; but it is doubtful if anyone is so well acquainted
with his own internal economy as to know when his
stomach has completed the first and second digestions
and is in the midst of the third.

It is, perhaps, supererogatory to advise a man to
abstain from copulation when he has cholera, diarr-
hoea, or vomiting, or wants to make water or go to
the stool. That he should abstain during hot weather
in a hot country, may be good advice, but if follo-
wed, would have a serious influence upon the birth
rate of most tropical countries. Spring and winter he
thinks the most suitable times.

If it be true that to fornicate whilst drunk causes
pains in the joints, this would account for rheumatism
being so rife. To fornicate when in anger, or worried,
or after long watching, causes a waste of strength,
and excessive joy "dissolves the body too much." For
the guidance of those who are not able to choose

their own conditions, he assures his readers that they
had better be too hot than too cold, and surfeited
rather than fasting when they enter the arena of Venus.

Pure wine he does not consider an advisable drink
after fornicating, but at least it does not chill the
liver and cause convulsions, as cold water is apt to do.

Then follows an enumeration of the different constitutions, for which copulation is more or less good,
and the chapter concludes with a paragraph on improper positions, in which good advice is given with
some brutal frankness.

"In futtering standing, you get pains in the thighs;
to futter lying on the side is bad for anyone who has
any member or limb on that side at all weak; when
seated the semen flows with difficulty, and causes
pains in the kidneys and the belly, and very often
a swelling of the penis. The best position is to lay
the woman on her back on a soft bed, and then get
upon her; it is best for the woman to raise her thighs
as much as possible, because that is very tempting,
and it is very nice to bend back her thighs upon
her belly".

Few persons probably will care to dispute the authority of the Arab sage on this point. Sinibaldus also
gives some good advice, and we cannot do better than
translate him textually. He says, in the chapter entitled: 1

AT WHAT TIMES MAN AND WOMAN DO FIND THE
GREATER DELECTATION IN THE AMOROUS CONTEST.

Albeit in things of love men do always taste the
sweets of pleasure; yet are they used to quaff a

(i) J. B. Sinibaldus Geneanthropeia (Bk. X, cols. 1021—1024).

greater or a less satisfaction according to diverse conditions and times. Now first as to general times, —
it is well known men do win more delight therein in
winter, women in summer, as elsewhere we have
enough set forth, and generally that each sort of
animals is at that particular season specially stirred
and enticed by the pleasures of love at which they
do receive from Nature's self the spur of kindling
passion, forasmuch as at certain determined seasons
she doth urge to genial embraces. And most often
the said season is the Springtime.

But now coming down to particular times, — some
have deemed that it is at night the greater pleasure
is enjoyed, whereto the words of Naso in his third
Book of the aDe Arte" are held to allude:

aNec lucem in thalamos totis admitte fenestris,
Aptius in vestro corpore multa latent."

(Nor yet let in the light through quite uncurtained
windows; in your body are many things better half hid).

Again that master of dalliance, Theocritus: "For
Venus loveth the dark; but with light doth come
necessity of constraint." The same notion hath Plutarch in his book against Concupiscence thus followed:
ttWhy dost not wanton where all men may see? for
it seemeth as though in very shame thou didst shun
thine own self, trusting to night alone and darkness, all witnesses away, thy
disgraceful deeds and lustfulness." The same hath been very elegantly expressed
by Jovianus Pontanus in the first Ode of his "Amores":

Nox Amoris conscia, quae furenti
Ducis optatam iuveni puellam
Grata Diis magnis, et arnica blandae

Nox bona lunae.

9

Quam colunt una Geniusque Hymenque
Et suo gaudens Erycina nato,
Cum ferus diras acuit sagittas,

Tendit et arcum.

O voluptatis comes, et ministra,

Quae bona ex te fert thalamus thorusque?

Quas sopor fert illecebras iocosque

Deliciasque ?

Quas simul iuncti faciunt amantes
Inter amplexum, trepidumque murmur
Inter et ludos, tenerasque rixas,

Dum furit ardor.

Dum micant Unguis, animaeque florem
Ore deducunt querulo, parique
Concidunt motu, resoluta postquam

Grata libido est."

(Night the confidant of love, thou that bringest
the coveted maid to the arms of her fevered lover;
Night dear to the great Gods. Night good comrade
of the complacent Moon. Thou art courted by Genius
and by Hymen, yea! and by her of Eryx whose
delight is in her boy, when the cruel wretch doth
sharpen his dread arrows and stretch his bow. Thou
companion and ministrant of pleasure, what joys doth
the wedding chamber win of thee, and the bridal
couch! what allurements doth sleep bring, and merry
jests and soft delights! Delights that lovers twain conjoined in one do work, amid embraces, and trembling whispers, and tender games, and sportive contests , while the heat of Love's ardour glows. Tongues
quiver, and the very flower of the soul is breathed

forth from their moaning lips, as they fall back with
one accord, now their voluptuous longing is assuaged).

In this context may be appropriately cited the comic
Epigram of Cruceius given in Septalius on Aristotle's
"Problemata":

"Quaerenti Ersiliae, quaenam hora salubrior esset
Ad Venerem, Medicus sic ait Hermogenes,
Mane salubre magis Veneris decerpere fructus,
Iudice me fuerit; vespere dulce magis.
Hie ilia arridens formoso ait ore, voluptas
Mi curae fuerit vespere, mane salus."

(Ersilia one day asked what hour was the more
healthy for Love; Hermogenes the Physician told her;
at morn I hold it the more healthy time to pluck
the fruit of Love, at eve the pleasanter. The maid
replied, a smile on her fair lips: Be it mine at eve
to have the pleasure, and at morn the health).

Still albeit night is the more friendly time for Love,
yet is a candle thought to enhance the pleasure of
lovers; wherefore harlots used of old to stand for hire
by the light of lamps. To this Juvenal in his Vlth.
Satire doth make allusion, speaking of Messalina:

"Obscurique genis turpis, fumoque lucemae."

(Disfigured with darkling cheeks and the lamp's
smoke). Horace again in the Second Book of the
Satires (Sat. 7) says:

"........acris ubi me

Natura incendit, sub clara nuda lucerna
Quaecunque excepit turgentis verbera caudae,
Clunibus aut agitavit equum lasciva supinum."

When nature's sharp sting provokes me, whatsoever

girl, stretched naked beneath the bright lamp-light,
hath taken the thrusts of my swollen member, or hath
ridden with wanton movements the horse that lay
upturned beneath her haunches.)

Martial (Epigram XI) says in jest to his wife:

uTu tenebris gaudes: me ludere teste lucerna,
Et iuvat admissa rumpere luce latus."

(You rejoice in the dark; 'tis my delight with a
lamp as onlooker and with light let in to ply your body).

But according to the Astronomers, we must hold
that portion of the day to be fitted for the better
tasting of the pleasures of Love when Venus is in the
ascendant among the Stars. For they teach how the
seven Planets have the hours of the day apportioned
among them, so that for instance the first hour of
the natural day, with some minutes to boot, is ruled
by Saturn; the second with its minutes by Jupiter;
the third with its minutes by Mars; the fourth with its
minutes by the Sun; the fifth with its minutes by
Venus; the sixth with its minutes by Mercury, the
seventh with its minutes by the Moon; the eighth
again by Saturn; and so on, in the selfsame order,
until the circle of the twenty-four hours is completed.
Thus the lines:

"Cinthia, Mercurius, Venus etSol, Mars, love, Satur,
Ordine retrogrado sibi quivis vindicat horas."

(Cinthia, Mercury, Venus and Sol, Mars, Jove,
Saturn, taken in retrograde order, each claims certain hours as his own).

And inasmuch as the number of the hours doth
exceed the series of the Planets taken three times
over, hence it cometh that anyone of these hath

dominion over the space of one hour, and besides a
period of some minutes. See Christopher of Samberg
on the first Book of the "Sphere" of John de Sacrobosco. Thus it is that when the star of Venus is in
full ascendant, a more abundant share of amorous
delight is enjoyed.

But among the other Planets, it must be supposed
those have more influence on Love's pleasures which
come nearer to Venus in familiar approach; and such
as do exactly coincide, as the Astronomers would
have it, with that division that is used to be made
of the several humours. For it is said the humours
of our body do hold each his own hours of the day,
wherein that particular humour doth hold precedence
in the human body. Thus in the first, second and
third, blood is dominant; in the fourth, fifth and
sixth, bile; in the seventh, eighth and ninth, black
bile; in the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth, phlegm.

Now if this be really so, we must recognise how
that will be the special moment of time for men to
taste greater delight in love's commerce when the
blood is traversing his proper sphere. Thus at early
morn in the hours before the light, and at evening
up to the third hour of the night, will Venus come
with lustier joys. But as to other times, we must
count them to afford more or less intensity of delight,
according as they come nearer or less near to the
hours wherein the blood is dominant; so after the
blood, will come in the second degree, hours of the
true bile; in the third degree, those of the black bile;
in the fourth, hours of the pituitous humour. The
order is the selfsame as that we gave to the Planets;
for that the four humours do agree with the quaternary (fourfold system) of the Planets. Thus do they
correspond respectively: the black bile to Saturn, the

bile to Mars, the pituitous humour to the Moon,
while the blood doth answer to the Sun, Venus and
Mercury; for these three last named Planets do complete their orbit in almost the like space of time. But
why is Jupiter left out? The answer is, he is not left
out; for that he doth not rule over any one determined humour, but over the
whole and general temperament or constitution which doth spring forth and
arise from the said four humours. But enough of these matters. Further it may be
asserted men find more pleasure in the second than in the first turn
of Love. Though on the face of it this may be judged a false conclusion, on the ground that in the first attack men
do possess a greater affluence of seed and of spirits,
whereby pleasure may be thought to arise for them
in greater measure; yet none the less doth Aristotle
affirm the same in the "De Generatione Animalium"
(Bk. II. ch. 4), where we read as follows: "For much
of useless humour is found also in the menstrual discharges, as is the case likewise with the seed of the
male as concerns its most fluid portion, and this as
well in one and the same emission as in several; for
the first emission is less fruitful than the second, for
as much as it doth contain less animal heat by reason
of the crudity thereof, — where as that which is
better digested is thicker and of greater body." I will
only add that if, as saith the Philosopher and as is
shown by most manifest experience, more crudity is
found in the first emission of seed, and less heat, it
cannot but follow that the pleasure, which same doth
flow from the heat-bearing and spiritual virtue of the
seed, must be diminished, and more dulled by a
greater proportion of excrementicial moisture, and
more sluggish. But as this doth not happen so in the

second bout of Love, the sensation of pleasure is
therein keener and more highly wrought. Yet another
reason is, that in the first connexion the seed, either
because of its copiousness or of its more serous nature, doth flow forth at once; but as we have proved
above, the pleasure is more lasting and more intense
in proportion as Love's dance is longer kept up,
whereby the spirits do themselves issue forth in better
condition, and do consequently set up greater pruriency of desire and more voluptuous satisfaction.

Again, Love is lusty when the body is fasting more
than when it is full, for this cause, that after digestion is ended, the body is not stuffed with food;
whereby the spirits have a more unhindered access to
the genitals, and themselves being refreshed are in
more vigorous plight.

Lastly, it will be found the sweetness of Love's
pleasure is more fully tasted, when before the amorous struggle, man and woman have some little while
exercised their members, either by a walk through
pleasant scenes, or by dancing, or any other sort of
gymnastic activity. Thereby will the spirits, being
stirred and invigorated, the more readily answer the
prick of wantonness, and the more vigorously display
the titillation of desire; in which manner likewise
will the seed itself be made more fruitful.

CHAPTER Vm.

Certain information Her e**art) to be
&nom before Composing tlje
iSletJirine* Jaoourable to Coition*

Here begins the list of recipes which continues
throughout the rest of the first volume, or rather,
the preliminary information which is indispensable to
be known by anyone who would compose medicines
to promote Coition.

Some very erroneous notions of physiology appear
to be indispensable to the student of this neglected
branch of medicine. Our author appears to be like
the judge who was recommended never to give his
reasons, for though his judgment might be right, his
reasons were pretty sure to be wrong.

Thus for instance he agrees with the modern chemist in recommending dried
chick-peas, but not as the latter would, because they are a valuable
nitrogenous food. The Arab puts them down as nourishing,
it is true, but he adds that, being swollen, they produce thick vapours, and their nature is similar to
that of the semen. Purslain, he thinks, only contains
two of these properties, but it is too cold for the
semen, and if employed, this coldness should be rectified by the addition of "pepper, ginger, cinnamon,
squills, and other things which are hot by nature."

Onions are hot and damp, but they lack nutritive
power which should be supplied by adding the fat of
some small animal; — another case in which his judg-

ment is right on the whole, though his reasons are
not quite in accordance with modern science. He ends
the chapter with a quotation from Rhazes who had noticed the very curious physiological fact that in cold
or temperate countries the desire for Coition is strongest
amongst men in winter, whilst with women the reverse is the case.

CHAPTER IX. Urorription of tl)o*e Simple*
anH otljer Drugs toljtd) increase ttje
$)oa>er of Copulating. This chapter, which is very short, being only some 30
lines in length, enumerates some 80 simples or other substances
which increase the power of copulation. Some of these are doubtless
effective, as, the peppers, cardamons, ginger, anise and other spices
having aphrodisiac effects. Care should be taken to
discriminate between galanga and gallingale, which
are both included in the list. Galanga (Alpinia) is a
plant allied to the gingers; whilst gallingale (Cyperus)
is a totally distinct plant, used medicinally in the
East, and one species is cultivated in Europe for the
sake of its tubers (amandes de terre) from which a
sweet oil is expresed.

Others of these simples savour of the Middle Ages as,

the fat of the lion, the kidneys of the iscancor; —
apparently a species of lizard or chameleon, — and
the testicles of the wild ass.

CHAPTER X.

©f ittfitcmes inientietr to 3ncrta#t
t\)t |)otoer of Coition*

The author now proceeds to compound all these
remedies. Onions and honey boiled together would
probably be the most effective, and certainly the
least unpleasant of all these remedies, though the
author vaunts the virtues of the pizzle of a bull cut
into small pieces, and boiled in the milk of a black
or a very red cow. Another recipe which he describes as "of admirable efficacy and good for kings":
It contains aloes, camphor, saffron, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, santal, cinnamon, (false) gallingale, black
and white hellebore, and one or two more ingredients.
These are to be mixed with 80 mitskals of white
sugar, covered with clarified honey, and left in a
well-secured jar for three months. "It will be found very
efficacious — if Allah so wills!", the author piously adds.

CHAPTER XL

21 Hfsrription of nrtain ©il* mljicl)
l)at> e X\)t *amt €£fiert.

This chapter mentions certain oils which have an
aphrodisiac effect. Some of the recipes are curious.
Take this for instance.

•Procure 120 field ants, of the sort called "Solomon's ants", and put them in a
glass bottle and pour on them pure oil of lilac, and expose the
bottle to the sun for forty days; then take out the ants, and add to
them three drachms of feverfew, and the brains of three
cock-sparrows, and rub with the mixture the member, the pubis, and the soles of the
feet, and you may then fornicate as much as God, —
may He be exalted! — will permit."

Whether the limits of the Divine permission would
be extended by the use of this oil we crave leave
to doubt.

Byron called Izaak Walton, "a quaint, old, cruel
Coxcomb", but the Arab far outdoes the old angler
in cruelty, though not in quaint literary style. Here
is an example, — borrowed by the way — from "Isaiah
the Son of Ali", whoever he may have been.

"Take a cock-sparrow and pluck it whilst still living,
and throw it amongst ten wasps who will sting it to
death, then cook it immediately in beef-fat until the
flesh is in shreds, and put it all into a bottle, and
when you experience any difficulty in fornicating rub
the penis and the two veins which are round the
navel, and you will see wonders."

There are several other recipes in which cock-sparrows and ants seem to have had an equally bad time.
Anointing the tip of the tool with oil of mustard, or
pepper, dissolved in oil of lilac, is said to afford the
lady much pleasure, but this may be questioned, and
at any rate of some of the incidents mentioned in
the second volume are true, the Eastern woman seems
to stand in no need of artificial means of increasing
sexual excitement.

Rarely does he show any consideration for the woman, but he mentions
incidentally that spurge is not to be recommended as an ointment, as
though it produces an erection in the man, it is apt to cause inflammation of the womb in the woman. The bile of a
sparrow, mingled with certain oils, our author thinks,
would be of great efficacity; but some doubt, he adds,
almost sorrowfully, whether the oils increase virtue
of this embrocation to any extent. He would probably have regarded it as little short of treason if
anyone had ventured to cast doubt on the sparrow's bile.

CHAPTER Xn.

This chapter is about ointments, which appear to
be distinguished from oils as not necessarily contain-
ing any fat. One of these so-called ointments is re-
commended by the author of a book entitled. "The
Book of Exposition of the Mysteries of Marital Co-

ition" 1, who declares that he cured a case of con-
firmed impotency by means of it. We fear, however,
that it would be difficult to try in the present day,
as the first ingredient is the tail of an iscancor, and
it is by no means certain what species of lizard is
denoted by that name.

Lizards of any sort were evidently deemed to have
an effect on the venereal act. The next recipe in the
book begins with: "Take a lizard at a time when it
is excited, cut its throat, and let its blood drip into
lentil flour, and make this into balls and allow them
to dry." One of these balls is to be mingled with
olive oil, and the under part of the legs anointed
therewith. A curious belief is connected with this and
several other recipes mentioned in the book, namely
that the erection caused would disappear if the feet
touched the ground.

CHAPTER XIII.

game f)urpo*r.

The author, in this chapter, treats of plasters, also
intended to increase venereal force, but even if they

(i) Kitdb al-Itdh fi Asrar al-Nikdh, so runs the fascinating title
of this book in Arabic, and we have given an exact translation of
its meaning; Slane (in Catalogue of the Bibl. Natl, says that it was
written by cAbd al-Rahman ibn Nasir al-Shirazy, a physician of
Aleppo, who died in the year 565 of the Hegira, (1170 of J. C.).
This book deals especially with aphrodisiacs.

have the properties the Arab physicians ascribe to
them they would be difficult to compound, for the
first contains "the ashes of a camel's yard." The next
is even more difficult, for before the person using it
can apply it to "the toe of his left foot," as recommended , he must first procure "the hump of a leprous
camel (sic) and soak it in vinegar for forty days."

In two or three recepies the big toe is to be bandaged, in another the feet are bandaged with the
brains of ten sparrows mixed with powdered sesame,"
or, "ants with green wings" drowned in the oil of
long-berried grapes, which has such a startling effect
that if the penis is not washed in water "the erection
will last all day."

The blood of sparrows has the effect of allowing
you to fornicate as much as you wish, and the effect
of a plaster made of iscancor, spurge, white wax, and
oil of lilac is so great, that the erection has to be
taken down with henna dissolved in a little opium.

CHAPTER XIV.

Jfrirtion* ruljifl) make tljr sperm more
abundant an* increase tlje poroer
of Coition.

The seeds and pods which increase the semen form
the subject of this heading. The half dozen recipes
contained in this short chapter bear the names of
some fifty or sixty substances, mostly aromatic spices.
Some of the ingredients are rather out of the way,

as, for instance, cakile (a species of sea-rocket, the
root of the rush,) "Indian Wood", "Syrian Apples",
"Syrian Borage"; — possibly the Aleppo sort mentioned
by Browning in the a Strange experience of Karshish
the Arab physician" l, — sea squills, red and white
behen, white ginger of Khorassan and hedge-mustard.
Except for the number of ingredients they contain, the
recipes present no peculiarity worthy of being, quoted.

CHAPTER XV.

of copulation.

This division concerns the sweetmeats which streng-
then the power of Coition and increase desire, and
begins with a description of the spices which should
be used to flavour the sweetmeats. From the not very
explicit account given, it would appear that the spices
are to be enclosed in a small linen bag, which is then
thrown into the liquid to be flavoured whilst on the
fire, and removed by means of a string attached to
it when sufficient flavour has been given. The only
curious point to be noticed in the chapter is that the
old Arab writer noticed the stimulating and exciting
properties of nuts, — though singularly enough he
recommends that they should be eaten boiled. "This
preserve," he says, "has a marvellous action, and is v

(i) The Poetical Works of Robert Browning (Vol. I, p. 512),Lon-
don, Smith, Elder & Co., 1896.

very useful for the purposes we have mentioned (the
increase of generative power, of course), by the help
of God — may His name be glorified!"

Singularly enough it is only a few years ago since
one of the numerous "food reformers" proclamed
the nutritive powers of nuts, adding, more truthfully
than grammatically, that "nuts are cheerful;" by which
he intended, no doubt, that they caused cheerfulness
in those who ate them.

CHAPTER XVI.

ittrtirmal pottrttr* for tfye same
purpose.

Here the writer treats of "those powders which in-
crease the power of Coition;" and which it would
appear, are to be washed down with sweet wine, —
an indication which appears in many cases, and which
is very singular when it is remembered that wine is
distinctly forbidden by the Koran.

It is quite a relief after reading recipes in which
a couple of score ingredients from the animal and
vegetable world figure, to come across an easy and
feasible one, like the following, even if its generative
properties are overstated, as they probably are.

"Take ten cooked eggs, and remove the shells,
and let out the yolks. Then take some cow's milk,
and put it in a pot, and sprinkle in some cress seeds,
and let it boil. Add to the milk the yolks of the

eggs, and mix them with the fat of a cow, and leave
them until they become a powder, and eat it fasting."

The testicles of many animals and birds play an
important part in this matter, the old author thinks.
"The testicles of a yellow calf, salted, dried, and
pounded, greatly stimulate to copulation," and a bull's
pizzle, pounded, will have the same effect, but this
very indigestible powder needs to be washed down
with wine or milk. The marrow of a ring-dove may
not be quite so valuable an aphrodisiac as the author
imagines, but perhaps there is here a reflection of
the world-wide influence of the Greek Mythology, for
the bird was sacred to Aphrodite on account of its
amorous nature. Nor is it quite evident why the
right testicle of a fox should have virtues not pos-
sessed by the left testicle, and we may reasonably
doubt whether it would "increase the power of co-
pulation in an astonishing manner."

CHAPTER XVII.

infection* roljirij strengthen tlje
lust-power.

The writer still treats of the same subject with
special reference to injections. The injections which
serve to increase the power of copulating should be
preceded by a clyster to clear the intestines. One that
is recommended for this latter purpose contains cha-
momile , linseed, alum, fenugreek, turpentine, thistle,

10

and figs, and there can be no doubt as to its efficacy
we should imagine. Another, which "fattens the loins,"
has in it nut-oil, cow's milk, belladonna, ginger,
asparagus seeds, and a few other ingredients. In a
third, the head, the knees, the part between the legs
and half the tail of a ram figure. The food of the
person using those remedies should consist of lamb's
flesh and white bread.

These injections should be used for seven consecutive nights. The chapter concludes with, "Know then
that all these methods are very good, and of great
efficacy with Allah's help, — may He be exalted!

Naturally, after injections we should expect to find
suppositories, and they are duly treated in the next
chapter.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Suppositories for tlje same purpose.

This begins with the superfluous information that
the drugs of which we are about to speak "act generally by the properties which they possess." This the
author is careful to define as exciting the part which
is in front of a man when they are put into the
backside. That very useful animal, the escancor is
brought into requisition, and the fat of its kidneys
steeped in oil of sesame, and mixed with lenseed,
feverfew, and ginger is recommended. Some of the
suppositories are apt, it seems, to produce ulcers,

which seems hardly likely to promote their extensive
use, but they are all warranted to cause a strong
erection — if God so wills!

CHAPTER XIX.

©f tmrtous mrticinal pastes.

In this part, the author tackles electuaries, and
starts with one which "increases the semen, strengthens desire, and hardens the
penis. If this is taken continually for three weeks, mixed with
onion water the yard will assume enormous proportions." If you wish
this condition to cease, you must sprinkle the member with
rose-water mingled with camphor, and also drink a mouthful — which
certainly sounds logical. "The woman should refrain from using this
electuary, which would excite in her a great lust,
and cause her to do dishonourable things," but to
the man "it is very useful". The cock-sparrow also
enters into the composition of one of these electuaries.

The recipe for another electuary is derived from
Fatha Eddin, the son of Djali, who says he obtained
it from a M. S. "written by the King." The royal
recipe does not differ greatly from many of the others,
and possibly owed much of its efficacy to the chicken
broth which was to be taken with it.

Following this is a recipe by Mokaid, who appears,
according to his own showing, to have been quite

too successful in his treatment of venereal affections.
He says: "I saw, in the West, a man of twenty-one
years who was of a bilious temperament and consequently incapable of performing co-ition. This man
came to me and said: 'I have bought a beautiful
sl?Lve but I cannot procure an erection, and I blush
with shame before her." "Take," I said, "of feverfew,
pepper, and ginger, an oka of each, the yolks of
twenty eggs, cooked; mix the whole with 120 drachms
of good palm honey, and eat it before and after your
meals." Mokaid continues. "After having followed this
treatment the young man come to me complaining,
and said: "Cure me of that which has now come to
me." And in fact he was like one possessed. Then
he raised his garment, and I saw that his body was
emaciated by excess of the copulation which he committed day and night. I cured him with syrup of
bishop's wort in tribule (?) water with a little camphor ;
then his constitution and his power of co-ition were
brought into harmony."

To eat plenty of eggs, onions, and boiled meat
would doubtless prove a valuable adjunct to these
electuaries, and perhaps "forty cock sparrows" would
prove nutritive, even without the, "nard, dates, black
and white pepper, long pepper, aristolochus of Irak,
cinnamon, mastre, ginger, and sparrows' tongues taken along with them.

Another and much simpler electuary will enable
the person using it to fornicate with as much pleasure as he wishes. It should be taken for three
weeks, and if the effect produced is too much, a
little rose water and camphor will balance matters. Amin ed-Din had a special prescription which,
according to his account, had seven distinct properties, — those of strengthening the yard, opening the

stores of semen, fortifying the nerves of the brain,
increasing desire, causing an erection, inducing the
love of women, transforming much of the food into
blood and causing the emission of semen with much
pleasure. Pearls, which must not be pierced, appear
to form the active principle. Nuts of various sorts,
two drachms of the navel of the iscancor, peony seeds,
and various other ingredients figure. As several of the
recipes contain upwards of 40 drugs there is very
good reason for not quoting them at length. The
trouble of compounding such a prescription seems
hardly paid for, even if it had the effects ascribed to
it, and, moreover, "made a man beloved by women,
and preventing her from becoming pregnant." This
last effect is perhaps due to the bladder of a shad, —:
at least that appears to be the only fresh ingredient
introduced.

CHAPTER XX.

$\\ctMt* wl)\cl) l)rigl)tttt tl)f power to
copulate an) rentier man strong.

This chapter treats of "incenses" which increase the
power of Coition; but by incense there appears to be
meant a kind of lozenge to be put into the mouth;
not a powder for burning.

The first recipe was given by the Shaykh Abd-ulAziz Edderimi, who declares that the Kings of Egypt
used it. It consists of the bark of the cashew tree

steeped in turpentine, with — as far as the translator
can make out, — a portion of the breast of a male
animal. The materials for most of these recipes require
to be boiled in a water-bath. The result would seem
to be a gummy substance which is to be chewed in
the mouth and the spittle swallowed, but not the
drug itself. In some cases the compound may be
swallowed, "but it would be better for men of a hot
temperament to confine themselves to chewing it, but
persons of a moist temperament (whatever that may
be) may do either the one or the other."

In spite of wine being forbidden by the Koran,
intemperance seems to have been almost as common
as at the present day, for one of these incenses is
specially prepared for "those who, on account of their
passion for drink, have become impotent and unable
to copulate", — which happens to many men. It consists of musk, resin, and a drachm of the brain of
a house-sparrow, scent nuts and ginger. "If the man
is drunk you should give him a drachm of the incense dissolved in fresh water; that will sober him,
cause him to satisfy a natural want, and then he can
fornicate."

Another curious recipe recommends you to take a
portion of the tongue of a sparrow mixed with several
drugs, then kill a cock-sparrow, put this mixture in
its belly, and cook the bird in a clean saucepan with
the weight of half an ounce of water, and leave it for
a full hour in an oven. Then remove the sparrow if
it is dry, take the drugs out of its belly, and preserve it in a glass vase. It is, says the author "one
of the best incenses, and was composed by wise men
of India, and I have found that he who swallows it,
adding to it a drachm of fried colocynth seeds, will
never cease to fornicate; it also strengthens the sight,

and improves the complexion", — which, it is not
unfair to surmise is mainly due to the colocynth.

The last recipe in the chapter is for the benefit of
those who depart from the right path in the matter
of co-ition, who must put four drachms into the mouth
and chew it, and swallow the spittle.

CHAPTER XXI.

©tour* tp|)irt) inmost Coition.

This part — an exceedingly short one, — treats
of the perfumes which increase the power of co-ition.
They are musk, scent nuts, cakile or sea-rocket, and
Egyptian willow, and are used to make a ball, the
odour of which is inhaled, and a small portion even
swallowed, "and you will see marvels."

We regret our Author has not dealt with this subject at greater length because it is highly important
to collect as many facts about it as is possible1. The
special odour emitted by the secret organs of the
woman has a powerful fascination upon certain males.
In fact, for Henry IV, it proved the sovereign excitant to sexual love. In France libertines of this
stamp, — who work themselves up into a pitch of
erotic fury by raking with the mouth and nose that
portion of the female's body usually reserved for the
virile tool — are known under the significant name

(i) Much curious information may be found in B Untrodden Fields
of Anthropology" (2nd edit. Vol. I) pages 235—252. Paris, 1898.

152

of "renifleurs", viz.; "sniffers", although they do more
than merely sniff.

It may be mentioned, in this connection, that there
is a peculiar form of sexual perversion, called by Dr.
Binet "fetishism", in which the subject displays a perverted taste for the odours of handkerchiefs, shoes,
underclothing and other articles of raiment worn by
the opposite sex. Binet maintains that these articles,
plag the part of the "fetish" in early theology. We remember the case of a young
lady respectably connected, who bolted with, and was afterwards separated from a married man. Later it was found that
she kept as a souvenir a pair of his pyjamas, from
the smelling of which she appeared to derive sexual
satisfaction. It is said that the favors given by the
ladies to the knights in the Middle Ages were not
only tokens of remembrance and appreciation, but
sexual excitants as well. In his remarkable "Osphr£siologie", Cloquet calls
attention to the sexual pleasure excited by the odors of flowers, and tells how
Richelieu excited his sexual functions by living in an
atmosphere loaded with those perfumes. In the Orient
the harems are perfumed with intense extracts and
flowers, in accordance with the Strong belief in the
aphrodisiac effect of odors.

The love of perfumes by libertines and prostitutes,
as well as sensual women of the higher classes, is
quite marked. Heschl reported a case of a man of
forty-five in whom absence of the olfactory sense was
associated with imperfect development of the genitals;
it is also well known that olfactory hallucinations are
frequently associated with psychoses of an erotic type.

Gamier1 has recently collected a number of ob-

(1) "Les F6tichistes" etc. Paris, 1896.

servations of fetichism, in which he mentions individuals who have taken sexual satisfaction from the odours
of socks, night-dresses, bonnets, drawers, menstrual napkins, and other objects of the female toilet.
He also mentions creatures who have gloated over the
odours of the blood and excretions from the bodies of
women, and gives instances of fetichism of persons
who have been arrested in the streets of Paris for
clipping the long hair from young girls. There are
also on record instances of homosexual fetichism, a
type of disgusting inversion of the sexual instinct,
which, however, it is not in the province of this work
to discijss.

CHAPTER XXII.

%\)t composition of certain footo.

The food of a man who desires to copulate much
is here treated of. It should consist of lamb's flesh,
not roasted, — for roast meat does not give strength,
the author avers, — dried peas, onions, boiled eggs
(especially if you sprinkle on them cinnamon, pepper,
and galanga), fish, and fish roe, but fish being rather
of a cold nature, ginger, pepper, and other condiments
should be mingled with it.

Milk, onions, fried or cooked till they are a pulp,
are recommended with some shoy of plausibility.
Eggs are very useful to those who have a hot tem-

perament, and the brains and marrow of animals are
also very good for them.

Omelettes are recommended, but the omelettes read
very much like Irish stew with eggs in it, for they
consist of onions boiled and meat with twenty (!)
eggs. Twenty eggs appears to be the usual number
employed, and the addition of cock's testicles "makes
it very efficacious". An egg without salt is proverbially tasteless, but many persons would perhaps prefer
that to a seasoning of "burnt salt" mixed with ginger,
pepper, both kinds of penny royal, dried cucumber,
sea-squills, and carrot seeds.

Dried peas with beef-fat would undoubtedly prove
very nutritious, e^ecially if mixed with twenty eggs.
It is but fair to remark, however, that he rarely
means hen's eggs. He distinctly says in one case that
pigeon's eggs are preferable, and it is not improbable that in many cases sparrow's eggs are intended.
The description of a food mentioned by Ar-Rhases is
distinctly comic. It opens with a description of how
a slice of bread, moistened with milk, is to be cooked,
and then winds up abruptly with: "put on the bread
a fat chicken and eat it."

Rhases gives a description of a meat which will
cause whoever partakes of it to fornicate for thirty
days and thirty nights without ceasing. It consists of
twenty house-sparrows boiled, with the addition of
several drugs which can hardly be deemed palatable,
to Western palates at least, for one of them is, —
assafoetida!

Another curious recipe is to take some eggs, make
a hole in the shell of each and remove the white,
then fill the egg with beef-fat, or honey, and eat
five of these eggs on going to bed. Thick milk from
a yellow cow with the addition of manna, "until it

is as thick as honey" is recommended as being "very
efficacious if Allah so wills — may He be glorified
and extolled!"

CHAPTER XXIII.

ttorioua tijinjj* vo\)ic\) irimini*!)
Coition*

Having treated of all those things which increase
copulation, the author, in the present chapter, describes
these which diminish the power of copulation. These
consist, he says, of food and medicines. His explanations concerning the temperaments, and "the air in
the veins" are of course absurd. He does not omit
to note frequent fornication as one of the causes r but
being not unmindful of the contents of the last eighteen
or twenty chapters, he wisely adds "without the use
of those medicines which produce semen to replace
that which is emitted, because in this case the semen
decreases after a certain time, and is sometimes
lacking when required." There is almost a touch of
pathetic humour about the latter part of the sentence.

"Those things which exhaust and dry up the semen,
are those which produce wind, as rue, and its seed,
purslain seed, Yemenite purslain, penny-royal, cummin and margoram; everything which is cold and
drying, as the turnip-cabbage, the rose, rose-water,
cotton seeds, beng, and camphor; all those things
which are very dry, as hempseed, elecampane, dja-

wares (?) lentils and barley. "Everything which is sharp,
acid, or bitter, belongs to the same category, as unripe dates, sumach, currants, sour pomegranates, mulberries, quinces, apples, and apricots; vegetables which
are cooling and contain much water, as lettuce, green
coriander, the currant tree, ocymum, cucumber, melon,
and sorrel."

The list is, on the whole, an excellent one, and
shows that the author, if he had no medical knowledge, possessed an intimate acquaintance with his
subject. He also adds some physical disabilities; which
are: drinking cold water, chronic indigestion, the appearance of the monthly courses in the woman, food
remaining a long time in the stomach &c. "It is said
that the turnip-cabbage has the special property of
destroying the semen, and that merely to inhale its
odour would weaken a man for fornication. It is also
said that no fit man is addicted to copulation."

These various substances affect the semen in different ways, either thinning it too much, or "penetrating"
it, and render it too cold. To eat "sorrel and similar plants would,
the author maintains, entirely destroy the power of copulating, and gall nuts
have the same effect, but it is hardly probable that
anyone would ever eat gall nuts, or "bread in which
much nitre had been put."

The fine things which extinguish a man's desire
for fornication, are "fear, shame, an excess of phlegm,
collected in the spermatic vessels, indifference to the
person he is approaching, or want of experience from
having had little to do with women." The last of these
seems to be the most easily removable.

The recipe for "a food which destroys all desire
for copulation, which follows, includes lettuce, hops,
the seeds of Aster attiens, camphor (quite in confor-

mity with modern medical science) and lentils boiled
in vinegar. "Lustful desire will pass away completely."
Most of these same ingredients mixed with two or
three we have been unable to identify, mixed into
balls the size of peas, will remove all desire if rubbed
on the penis and the spine three times a week.

A recipe which is "used by many monks to remove carnal desire," would, it appears to us, not
improbably remove the monk too, for it includes
"scales of iron, scales of copper(!), Indian antimony,
bear's skin, santal, and camphor". Another medicine
which is described as "particularly good to destroy
the power of copulating," consists of the testicles of
an African lizard, dried, and mixed with an infusion
of rue.

CHAPTER XX3V.

tUlatiwj to tl)t lengthening anH
thickening of tl)t i)arU.

Having expatiated sufficiently on this subject, the
author now returns, — not unwillingly we may imagine, — to those things "which
lengthen and thicken the yard." He starts with the information,
derived from "Galen and the wise men who came after him," that "rubbing and constant friction with pine resin and oil
will make the member longer and thicker." Personally
he has a predilection for turpentine, sarcocolla, Ar-

menian outre and "the wax of nettles (?) which, if infused in asses milk, will "enlarge the penis, and improve its appearance." Sugar, salt and milk are,
however, almost equally efficacious, and have the
great advantage of being easily procurable, and will
not only enlarge the penis, but also the receptacle
in which it is to be placed. Honey, wax, oil, and
ewe's milk have the same effect but require to be
applied ten times a day. Perhaps it is not wonderful
that this constant application should sometimes create
a soil, which may be cured with oil of lilac or oil of
violets, or white, wax. Feverfew, spurge, ginger, and nitre, applied to the member, and left on all night,
will "thicken the yard and improve its colour."

Another medicine, in which Armenian nitre seems
to be the active principle, has almost too powerful an
effect, for it will make the penis larger and thicker
than you wish, and as hard as iron. Truffles also are
recommended, but, curiously enough, are to be
applied externally. River leeches also figure in more
than one of these recipes, but they are used in a'
dried state. Elephant's fat will not only enlarge the
secret parts in both sexes, but will strengthen and
increase the buttock. "A live wasp mixed with honey
and ginger," sounds as though it ought to have a good
effect.

On the similia similibus principle the genital parts
of a horse, mule, ass, or camel, ought to exercise
an effect upon the person who eats any of them, but
.such a dish would be indigestible. The difficulty is
bridged by boiling the animal's member "to rags"
with flour and water, and giving the flour to a hen.
When the fowl has finished eating, the man eats the
fowl, and thus attains his end without any unpleasant effects, — except to the fowl. It is satisfactory

to know that if the effect produced by anyone of
these recipes is found to be excessive, a little cold
water will remedy the evil, though perhaps not by
"dissolving the drugs," as our author believed.

Even though the small-tooled reader may have tried
all the Arab's recipes without enlarging his printle,
let him not lose courage. Mere size, brute bigness,
we have to add, is no sign of vigour. "One of the
first characteristics of the perfect athlete of classic
times was unusually small, though well-shaped genital
organs. Indeed, a large, flaccid penis is not unfrequently a result and an indication* of masturbation
having been indulged into a dangerous extent. Veterinary surgeons, it is true, condemn a horse with
an abnormally small sheath, as likely to be delicate
in constitution. This rule, however, does not apply
to human beings, though, undoubtedly, a shrivelled,
atrophied condition of the organ may in addition to
other factors, become a pretty sure sign of the existence of partial or entire impotence.

There are few questions more frequently put by
patients than: "Do I not suffer under a diminished
or diminishing size of penis?" In nine cases out of
ten there is no cause for alarm whatever. A nervous
patient in bathing has seen another man with a large
organ, or from some other cause fancies that his
powers must necessarily be deficient, because he thinks
the organ does not possess what he considers the usual
dimensions. The size of the penis varies greatly, and
it has been a great source of consolation to many-
patients to be told that its efficiency bears no relation
whatever to its size. A small penis, indeed, is often
a more efficient organ than a large and massive one.
A small penis, it should also be remembered, when
in a state of erection often exceeds in size one which

is larger while in a quiescent state. An abnormal
smallness of the penis can sometimes be successfully
treated. Marriage also will frequently increase the
size of the organ. Circumcision in cases where the
prepuce is very narrow will tend to the same end.

In most cases, however, no treating whatever is
required and the patient may be assured that the
due performance of marital duties are fully compatible
with a moderate-sized yard. We append a translation
of the wise discourse of Sinibaldus in this connection,
the quaintness and real value of which is sufficient
justification of its length.

OF SUCH THINGS AS DO LENGTHEN THE VERGE

The fairness of the human body doth consist in a
certain symmetry and due proportion of the members,
in such wise, that each several part possess an appropriate and consonant admeasurement as well of size
as of form, lacking which the body is adjudged misshapen. In sooth this duly proportioned correspondence of the limbs was cultivated by our fathers with
great carefulness; forasmuch as by reason of wrestling
schools and baths, which places they were used to
frequent publicly and in common, their bodies were
daily stripped naked and of necessity exposed to view.
But it was held a disgraceful thing and a monstrous
to behold any part of the body mis-shapen, or for any
member thereof to appear either unsymmetrical and
mutilated, or deficient or in any way disproportioned.
So much was this so that they spared no pains if
only they could preserve a congruous symmetry of
parts and a due proportion of size.

(i) Sinibaldus. Geneanthropeia (Bk. III. Chs. VI and VII. cols.
320 to 328).

But it is different in these our own times, when
gymnastic contests have fallen into desuetude and
games of all sorts, whether of simple wrestling or of
the pancratia, have been abandoned, nay! when
even baths have ceased to be used. In consequence
any deficiency of the body and its members is less
obvious, and no one of us thinks aught of the right
disposition of his limbs or takes thought for their due
and symmetric configuration.

But «n those earlier ages, if it happened that any
had a penis either unduly curtailed or bare of foreskin, this they regarded as
no less matter of shame than if any other chief member of the body
whatsoever were mutilated or imperfect. Accordingly with
all pains did they make endeavour as well to cover
the yard by stretching of the foreskin, as to thicken
and lengthen it, if slender or over-short. But in sooth,
albeit baths and wrestling-schools have become obsolete, so that no great account would seem to be taken
of a penis even by much too short, yet for all this
the practice of Love hath not stopped, nor the office
of generation grown out of date

Now the right operation of nature depends on the
instruments employed, which should preserve due proportion both of size and shape; if they lack this,
without doubt they must perform their office ill.
Whenever then the genital implement is very short
and over-thin, it is quite useless for the purpose of
generation, inasmuch as in treading the measures
of Love, either it does not reach the neck of the
womb at all, or else is not clipped by the opening

(i) Indeed in these present times it doth flourish and abound exceedingly; so men ought the more to take thought for the proper
proportions of the genital oTgan as the work of generation is of more
honour than any gymnastic.

II

thereof. But if it fail to be so clipped, neither with
man nor woman is the Cytheraean nectar poured
forth, and if this come not, no seed is emitted on
the part of either, and if there be no effusion of seed,
generation follows not. From first to last therefore, if
the privates do err on the side of over-shortness,
the generation of offspring is impossible.

Wherefore in order that the said generation, than
which is nothing more honorable and excellent in nature, may be assisted, the penis must needs by help
of physicians be increased in length and bigness.
With good reason therefore does Gabriel Fallopius
write in his book "On Embellishment" how he was
wont to warn parents to give heed in the infancy of
their children to the making of their boys' members
bigger. For he saith, if big, it will never be useless,
or if it should be so, why! this will be but a very
rare case, one that only happens when the rod is so
excessive in length that it bruises the womb and entrance of the belly and so hinders conception; whereas
on the contrary one of the chiefest reasons of sterility
in a man is the shortness of his verge. First then let
us deal with the means of lengthening the penis. In
this matter I shall offer nothing of my own; all is
drawn from Fallopius' store; in this wise my pen and
my readers' ears will both avoid offence.

ON OVER-SHORTNESS OF MEMBERS; AND HEREIN
FIRSTLY OF THE LENGTH OF THE YARD

"Under this heading are included not only parts
artificially become too small, but such also as have
been created by nature too short or too slim. Such
parts further are included as have got curtailed by

(i) Fallopius' aOn Embellishmentch. 17, quoted by Sinibaldus.

any accident, whether from disease or amputation or
wound. Now inasmuch as all these affections depend
upon the fact of diminished quantity below what is
in accordance with nature, on this ground I feel myself bound to endeavour their cure. Parts that are
grown out of measure to a bigness prejudicial to their
proper activity call for a similar mode of treatment,
because they go beyond nature. However let us first
speak of parts too slender and created too short by
default of nature, but not grown small by emaciation.
Among such the first place is held by the yard or
privy member that is so short as to occasion no slight
blemish in the framework of the human body.

This subject is not handled by the more recent
writers, for that mankind having now waxed more
modest is not seen naked as in Antiquity, when in
wrestling-schools and baths men were continually being
observed one by the other. In fact, these parts being
nowadays worn covered up, any blemish has ceased
to be of moment; wherefore mayhap we ought not
to deal with it, as it would seem not to belong to the
province of the Physician who embellishes, but of him
who heals. Yet forasmuch as these matters are neglected by our everyday practitioners, on this very
account, I will give sundry precepts for magnifying
the size of the yard. If beauty be the object, well
I will do so in the interest of beauty; if not, with
Avicenna they must hold me excused, these harsh,
sour critics. — Avicenna who wishing to teach the
mode of making the yard bigger, but finding the
Doctors to hold it shameful to handle such matters,
answers the objection by saying: "So pressing is the
needfulness of preserving the human species that even
unseemly subjects must have due attention paid them.
For unless the member is clipped by the vulva, the

woman doth feel no pleasure, doth not emit seed,
and so no conception follows; for which reason if for
no other the said member must, if necessary, be artificially made bigger.

For my own part, I warn parents to give heed
during the infancy of their children to the making
of their boys' members bigger. For if big, it will
never be useless, or if it should be so, this will be
but a very rare case, one that only happens when
it is so excessive in length that it bruises the womb
and entrance of the belly and so hinders conception.
But on the other hand if too short, this will always,
or much more often than not, be an incommodity.

To deal therefore with the question of making the
member bigger. Herein are two things to be noted,
to wit that we can lengthen the privy part, and that
we can make it thicker. We lengthen it, when we
make it to grow lengthwise; and we increase its
thickness, if we can bring about much and frequent
stretching of the same. For it is not increased by
increase of fatness and flesh, but the hollow of the
nerve must be made greater, for so often as the hollow
hath been widened and the member stretched forth,
provided always the meet vapours and spirits be present also, it doth grow bigger.

However let us speak first of lengthening the same.
This can be accomplished, if we but remove impediments; amongst these is the "frenum" (bridle), or
chained dog, of the privy member, — we call ttdog"
that part which in common parlance is named the
little stringt — which doth tie the foreskin on its
underside to the glans near by the canal. A man who
hath this ttdog" too short, cannot properly extend
his member lengthwise, forasmuch as the said "dog"
doth hurt him; and so the privy member cannot long

continue stretched forth, and the growth thereof is
hindered. For what makes the member big is its
often stretching, and this is why such as devote themselves much to Love, and are for ever having Priapus
on the stretch, have it long and big. Therefore it is
needful we cut the udog" across transversely.

Another needful thing is we should note the position of the nerves. On the back of the member are
nerves on the right side (as ye have seen in Anatomy),
for Priapus doth abound in nerves. We must look to
see if the nerves be stretched, or if any fibres be so stretched, or if we can
note any grains, like millet seeds; and if this be so, they are
painless swellings or excrescences on the nerves, a kind of knots obstructing the nerves. In this event the tension must
be removed, and the nerves slackened by dint of
emollients and laxatives, such as oil of sweet almonds,
or common olive oil well matured. Yet another thing
is good for lengthening the verge, to contrive that
from time to time the privy member do undergo an
unnatural swelling up. Now it may swell either by
reason of the spirits that reside therein, and this is
not unnatural, or it may be affected with swelling
that is independent of the said natural swelling. And
for this end we must have recourse to the well-known
acrid medicaments, such substances as boys are wont
to make use of for a jest upon one another.

The Ancients were used to anoint the glans or the
prepuce with juice of the broad-leaved convolvulus,
which we call garden smilax (bind-weed); it is an
acrid medicament, which doth inflame and bring about
a kind of artificial priapism. Likewise fig-tree juice is
a very excellent application, whether we rub it in on
the glans only or over the whole penis. The spurges,
which the Greeks call "tithymali" (spurge, euphorbia),

if we choose Wolfs Milk or some similar one, are
excellent. But in the using of these medicaments we
must beware of their burning quality and the violent
pain they occasion. Boys oftimes use them for practical jokes on their comrades. The means of affording
relief is to attemper their heat by the milk and cloths
soaked in milk, or else a decoction of mallows, or
of violets, or oil-salve of violets, or oil of roses, wrapping the head of the privy member therein. I have
myself seen the member made larger as the result of
cutting the "frenum," and using emollients to the
back of the penis, to the extent of one quarter of its
former dimensions after the above described treatment
had been repeatedly applied. Other things of advantage for lengthening the member are handling it,
keeping it warm, practising love, besides such medicaments as mustard-plasters, pitch-plasters, etc. Among
means of lengthening the organ, one of the less effective is the practising of
love; forasmuch as it doth not therein long remain at tension, but
on the contrary doth presently subside. But it is needful it remain
a long space at tension, for it is necessary that the spirits flow
copiously thereto. This is brought about by means of hot
medicaments, and other matters of a hot nature, whether medicaments or no.
With this in view Rhazes and Avicenna cause the
member to be rubbed repeatedly, three, four, six,
ten times a day; but not with the dry hand, only
after it hath been anointed with sheep's milk. Now
what is the reason for this? The authorities give no
reason. Let us do so. It is because milk obstructs the
passages, and so the spirits are not dissipated. Besides
milk is able to engender from itself spirits akin to the
spirits of the blood. Yet further, milk hath an emollient, softening virtue, especially if it is rich. Indeed

it hath this effect as it were of its own nature, as is
confirmed by trial made. Avicenna adds that we
should of course rub with some fatty substance. Now,
if it were fatty substances at all that do provoke the
excitation of love, so much the better if it be fat of
castoreum; but in very truth the friction is the main
thing that causeth the tension. Others add that the
tension should be brought about by external applications; and this is done by
pitching the part, by putting of pitch over it in the same way as described
above. Any of the ordinary forms of pitch-plaster
may likewise be used. For our part let us employ
an ointment of thapsia\ but with all these medicaments add a small particle of musk. Or lastly if you
use musk and civet mixed with oil of sweet almonds,
there is no more excellent medicament to be found;
it doth rouse and provoke the blood, and doth excite
the appetite of Love. This they hold as a very great
secret. In such ways, by dint of friction applied athwartwise, do we lengthen Priapus* instrument. The
same is likewise effected by heating appliances, as
by taking of a chafing-dish between the thighs, or
by means of hot cloths. But note that so soon as
ever the privy member doth subside, you must rouse
it again to erection, either by hot cloths or other
hot substance; for this is good for boys, and even
for men of stablished age. But weakly persons, who
have no abundant copiousness of spirits, should beware lest they be not able,
after that the vessels are distended, to fill the same with spirit.
But this may be accomplished by means of the medicaments prescribed by the every-day practitioners.

What I now say, and what I shall say for after
times, this am I constrained by the high necessity of
generation of offspring to set forth, and not that I

do make bold to promulgate aught against the Law,
or contrary to good morals.

Some Writers there be propose medicaments for
the enlarging of the privy member that act of their
own proper and total substance; for myself I have
not employed these, but have always relied upon
those called inflammatives. Now the former sort of
medicaments are, firstly: earth-worms, that have been
washed in wine and dried and then reduced to powder,
and mixed with oil of sesame and of sweet almonds.
Yet another is proposed by Rhazes and adopted by
Avicenna, — to take a fresh Indian nut and open
it; therein shall we find a sweet liquor in the innermost kernel. Take a leech, leave it for seven days
in the said liquor, then take it out, pound it and
rub it on the member. For my own part, I have not
essayed it. Later Writers, following Dioscorides, say
that the use of coriander-seed in the food is excellent.
It acts slowly; nor do I put much faith therein, if
that I have other means at hand. If only I wist any
mode of relieving the priapism that doth result from
cantharides, this would be the most sovran drug of
all; but to my exceeding great regret I know of no
antidote, and therefore have I not troubled about the
said medicine.

In the year 1539, at the beginning of Lent, at
the time Charles V was crowned Roman Emperor
and Florence was taken, the Spanish army wintered
in the territory of Modena, at a place called La
Basria, seven miles distant from the City. The soldiers
were insubordinate, and treated the country-folk very
ill. Accordingly these did complain to the Duke, who
sent his Secretary, — not being a man of much wit
or prudence. Him the Officers dosed wjth cantharides,
so that he was attacked by priapism, and on his re-

turn into the city did show his tool in the open
Council, fearing he had been poisoned. They would
take the fourth part of a cantharides fly, pound it
up, then adding pepper, cinnamon and gillyflower,
make a pill, and administer the same. But the man
is cured painlessly, rapidly and safely by means of
the juice of a certain herb, which the Spaniards gave
him to drink. But its nature I know not.

However in the matter of this enlarging of the
member, our Country's laws do set a limit. For it
doth happen sometimes that individuals are fain to
have their parts inordinately big. For my part I should
wish this enlarging to be practised in case of small
organs alone; it is only unduly curtailed parts that
should be corrected, whereas great ones should be
left in their original state and not exaggerated to a
yet greater bulk.

OF MAKING OF THE MEMBER BIGGER FOR ADVANTAGE OF HUMAN GENERATION

'Tis not enough that the man's genital instrument
be of due and sufficient length, if the same be too
slender; for perchance the proper mass and amplitude
of the phallus is even more necessary than is its
length. For if it be too short, forasmuch as the seed
can be thrown from afar, and yet reach to the very
womb, it will in no wise be altogether useless for
•the art and craft of generation. But if it be overslender, and by much too fine, then is it not at all
embraced, as is meet, by the mouth of the womb;
for which cause neither on the man's part nor yet
on the woman's will there be any spasm of pleasure
and conflux of seed, and without this can no concep(1) Sinibaldus, (op. tit., Chap. VII), quoting from Fallopius.

tion have place. For this was it, Avicenna did take
more thought of the thickness than of the length of
the verge.

Now albeit the measures considered above apply
mostly to the lengthening of the verge, yet there be
others that do particularly enlarge its mass. Wherefore, passing over convolvulus leaf, which is likewise
recommended by Avicenna, it is working and softening that above all doth
contribute the most to making big the penis, whether it be done, as
the Arabs use, by hot oils and fat, or whether quantities of hot
milk be poured over the same, after friction hath first been applied
with a rough cloth, to the end that the milk may penetrate well in.
But it will be objected: Why as well for the lengthening, as for the bulkiness of the penis is milk so
greatly commended ? Is there any occult virtue therein,
whereby this increase of size is brought to pass, or
otherwise? T is by no occult quality, but a right
obvious one, and by its own natural temper that it
doth work so, forasmuch as milk, being a gross and
fatty substance, doth by penetrating into the passages
of the yard obstruct the same and close them, so
that the spirits exhale not forth thence nor are dissipated. Nay! rather, continuing therein, and even increasing, they do dilate and amplify (as is the nature
of heat) the nervous contexture of the penis, which
same is apt most easily to suffer distension. Similarly
inasmuch as milk is compounded of a most excellent
and complacent substance, these same spirits can
thereby be adequately nourished and refreshed. For,
seeing milk is naught else but a purer blood, wrought
to higher perfection by more complete decoction, it
follows that thereby no less than by blood, spirits
may be engendered and cherished. For indeed spiritual

substance may be fed not alone by digestion of internal nourishment, but
likewise by application of external nutriment, and grateful,
nutritious warmth. Furthermore milk doth soothe, relax, fatten, make
gross, as is clearly manifested by experience. No less are
applications of pitch and pitch-plaster highly efficacious, — and
this far more for the amplifying of size than of length; for, as saith Avicenna:
"these do draw together the blood, which by their
sticky nature they do retain and by their fatty nature curdle." Moreover Avicenna recommends albedorungus-water, that is basil-water, applied as a fomentation on the penis. Again earth-worms washed in
wine and then dried, and finally powdered and compounded with oil of sesame or of sweet almonds, are
highly spoken of by many Authors as efficacious in
virtue of some secret property they do possess. Which
same faculty and peculiar property, leeches are often
said to share, when prepared in the same manner as
the worms. Rhazes setteth forth this medicament of leeches,
prepared in the following manner: A fresh Indian nut
should be taken and opened; therein will be found
a sweet liquor in the innermost kernel. In the said
liquor a leech must be kept for seven or eight days,
then taken out, brought to powder and rubbed in.
Undoubtedly this liniment (I think so myself) is most
powerful by reason of the united properties of the
leech and the liquor of the Indian nut.

But it will be asked: by what faculty or virtue
must it be supposed leeches act? No doubt they may
be said to act by reason of their inborn viscous nature, — a quality plain and manifest, like that of
fatness in milk spoken of above, — forasmuch as
they hinder the exhalation of spirits. Yet above and

beyond this, a certain occult property cannot be
denied them whereby they are effectual by virtue of
some secret impulse, known to Nature but hid from
us. For might it not be said that even as the peculiar impulse of leeches, when alive, is to find out
veins, even such as are hid, and greedily suck out
the blood therefrom, so albeit dead, yet are they
able to attract and draw out that' same liquor, in
whatsoever part of the body they be applied. And
of a truth I do not deem this conjecture one to be
scorned. For secret properties of Nature, — whether
implanted by Heaven, if we are to give credit to
the Astrologers, or consequent upon such or such a
temperament, as the better Philosophers reason it
out, — existant in any creature when alive, do not
straightway at its death cease to be, but are preserved
so long as that particular harmony of qualities and
admixture of elements doth persist; in fact until this
is resolved by putrefaction, and the secret property
resulting therefrom is likewise destroyed.

The said truth might be corroborated by many
facts of experience; but we will content ourselves
with only a few. Our first we will select from Horapollo in his "Hieroglyphica," wherein he writes, that
if a bat's wing be affixed to the aperture of the nest
wherein a colony of ants lives, the ants will liever
perish of hunger than go forth out of doors to seek
after food, by reason of the inborn antipathy that is
between them and the bat, and the deadly hate of
these two. Well! I say this property is in the bat,
when alive; but forasmuch as it is a virtue consequent
upon the temperament of the same, and this temperament doth not straightway perish when life leaves
the creature, it therefore follows that even when the
bat is dead, for a while there remaineth in its parts

a secret impulse. And this doth continue until manifest
putrefaction begins and a notable alteration is made
in its qualities and so the symmetry of its elements
destroyed. For the circumstance of life doth add naught
to its tempering and the peculiar property appertaining thereto, nor take away aught, but doth keep
them the same.

Even so in the bow, or in the fiddle, if amid the
strings that are made of sheep's guts one from a wolf
be put, not to speak of the harmony being thrown
out, and the fact that it cannot in any wise be attuned with the rest, straightway the remainder strings
do break, flying by an inborn hate the nature of the
wolf, that is opposite and forever inimical to themselves. So likewise if a sheepskin and a wolfskin be
placed together, the sheepskin is torn, loses its fleece,
and its substance rots away. Similarly may be noted
divers herbs that by reason of a secret virtue drive
away serpents when they are alive and growing in
the fields; but the same when plucked up by the
roots, are not robbed of the said property, as is evident for that they even then do preserve against
poisons. And this is owing to the fact that, albeit the
herb hath ceased to live and grow, yet hath it not
lost the original tempering of its elements, or if we
had rather trust the Astrologer's flattering tales, the
property emanating from the stars that Heaven hath
endowed it withal. But so soon as ever it doth putrefy, forasmuch as by putrefaction the concatenation
and harmony of its original qualities is dissolved, this
virtue and hidden quality doth cease.

But whitheraway hath our discourse wandered? In
good sooth have we disgressed somewhat, in order to
prove by sundry instances how leeches reduced to
powder and spread on the penis by way of a plaster

are able by a secret property they possess to call up
the blood to that part, and so make Priapus bigger.
Wherefore let us now return to the point of the discourse wherefrom we did make disgression. Leeches
then, by virtue of the property we have established,
as well as by the circumstance that they have been
nourished on the liquor of the Indian nut, which is
exceeding fattening, — whence above everything else
is it prescribed for emaciated persons, — do amplify
the yard, dilating the same and making it more gross.

More recent Writers, following Dioscorides, report
that coriander-seed doth likewise enjoy a faculty of
enlarging the virile parts, perchance in the same manner
as it is believed to augment the quantity of the seed
and rouse the motions of concupiscence, as the same
Dioscorides holds. Fallopius doth extol the rubbing
in of cantharides-flies as a most excellent auxiliary;
but in what form they should be so rubbed in, he
confesseth he knows not. It may be cantarides have
this effect because they straightway draw off the humours through the kidneys and the blood through
the urinary vessels and bladder; whence it comes
they do induce priapism, and are employed on occasion by many in stone and in affections of the
kidneys. But a more commonly observed thing in
practice is, that where by the malignity of fever or
from any other cause the urine is stopped, if blisters
of cantharides be applied to patient's legs, they very
soon hath emission of urine, and that often mixed
with blood.

But, (this by the way), cantharides doth lose its
power of drawing forth the blood, if a portion of (?) is
mixed therewith; indeed it is a marvel how the noxious
and deleterious quality of the same is combated by
the said seed. But in very sooth, I do in no wise much

favour the use of cantharides for the genital organs;
for by reason of the violent action thereof, very great
torture and most terrible pain may arise from its employment ; whereas Priapus is nourished and doth grow
not by griefs and forcing, but rather by blandishments
and enticing; is moved not by dolorous, but more by
delightful sensation; loves to be erected and stretched
forth not by fiery heat of inflammation, but by natural warmth, soft and soothing.

However let not any man study to make these
parts of him too exceeding great, for they will be at
the same time dull and flaccid, and so the more unfitted for the genial encounter of Love and task of
generation, because, — as we have said above on
Aristotle's authority, — they are with difficulty erected, and sluggishly. There be indeed some wanton
gallants, slaves of lust and given up to a filthy way
of mind, who do study no other thing with more
pains and exactness than how to train their virile
parts; so much so, that it were meet the laws of the
State should put check on them, by setting a limit
to the permitted size of the said parts.

To conclude, I am fain to append to what I write
on this subject the pious profession which the same
Fallopius doth make: "What I now say, and what
I shall say for after times, this am I constrained by
the high necessity of generation of offspring to set
forth, and not that I do make bold to promulgate
aught against the Law, or contrary to good morals."

CHAPTER XXV.

<£!)* preparation of mefcirine*
to\)ic\) render copulation more Mijljtful,

The reader of this treatise having prepared himself
for the arena of love by the applications or medicines
already mentioned, would find that his task was but
half done, and that he had then to commence an-
other course of treatment calculated to render copulation delightful. This is by no means to be despised,
for "Know that if a man employs the things which
we are about to mention in this chapter, a woman
cannot do without him, and will love to return to
him, and *to be alone with him, and copulation with
him will be very enjoyable."

These medicines are here duly set forth and the
author wi/h his usual thoroughness, begins ab initio,
and firstly points out which is the best position for
both parties. It is rather remarkable that he does not
care for. what the French call refinements, but recommends the old "classical" method, i.e. "the woman
on her back with her head as low as possible, her
haunches raised on cushions, and the man on the
top of her."

Selecting a recipe, almost at random, as a specimen, we find that fennil, pepper, ginger, feverfew,
long pepper, musk, camphor, and a few other things
enter into its composition. The effect of this mixture,
applied "where it will do most good", as the Americans say, is, — the author asserts, — very gratifying to the man, and "makes the woman ready to

faint on account of the exceeding great pleasure."
Indeed, the lady seems to have very much the best
of the bargain, for a somewhat similar recipe renders
her "unable to live without constant intercourse" with
the man using the prescription, — which must be
rather embarrassing for him.

A fowl's bladder, the testicles of a ram, and a little
of the bone of a wolf well pounded, al§o form a medicine of great efficacy, but the lady is apt to suffer
for her extreme pleasure from inflammation of the
womb, which does not elicit much surprise. Some of
the recipes do not appear open to this objection, or at
least it is not stated, though the danger is probably
quite as great, considering that hellebore and mustard
enter into their composition; but it is not surprising
that they "make the woman very excited."

Another recipe is literally of a pornographic nature,
for the bones of a pig enter into its composition.
Half a dozen others of the same nature might be
quoted, but they are mere repetitions of what has
gone before.

CHAPTER XXVI.

Concerning tl)o*t substance* roljirl)
Jjelp to make a woman pregnant.

If the man is of a philoprogenitive disposition, and
is anxious to get the woman in the family way, he
will find more or less valuable information on the

12

subject in the present chapter, wherein he who desires
to have children is taught how to attain his end in
"a perfect and profitable manner." The old Arab appears to have been fully aware that the best time to
impregnate a woman is when she is just cleansed
from her courses, but it is most advisable to endeavour to spend at the same time that she does. The
"psychological moment" may be known by the languorous expression of her eyes, her careless attitude, and
the change from the lively mood she had hitherto y.
displayed.

Spurge, castoreum, and a few drugs we have not
been able to properly identify, form the staple of the
recipes, but in other cases imaginative virtues are
ascribed to certain ingredients. Some vague idea as
to the fertility of herds seems to lie at the bottom
of the suggestion to "take sheep's dung and mix it
with oil of roses." A recipe which it would be rather
difficult to carry out if the lady possessed the sense
of tasting is: "Get elephant's dung, and let the woman
take it in her drink without knowing it, and then
copulate with her and she will instantly conceive."
She might be easily excused if she preferred the copulation to the potation.

If these drugs fail of their effect, it is because the
woman is sterile; so, in order to prevent a good deal
of labour being wasted by the man without inducing
labour in the woman, he proceeds to relate how to
ascertain whether a woman is capable of bearing children or not. The recipe is so curious that we give
it in full.

"Let the woman sit, whilst she is fasting, on a
chair or stool with an opening in the seat. Cover
this opening with a napkin, and put under the chair
a chafing-dish in which there is a fire. Throw on the

fire, incense, or gum sandarach, or costus, or some
other strong perfume, like musk or aloes-wood, —
the woman should close her mouth and nostrils before these things are thrown in the fire, — and if it
be seen that the smoke of these perfumes comes out
of the nostrils and mouth of the woman she is not
sterile; if no smoke is seen she is sterile."

This method of determining whether there is a
clear passage from the anus to the gullet would probably not prove successful if
tried on a Western woman. It may happen, however, that after
bringing forth one child, a woman will cease bearing, and the Arab
who desires to have a family is therefore instructed how to
ascertain this. The method is simple, but we would not venture to
vouch for its scientific accuracy. Nevertheless, we give it for what
it is worth. "Formula. When you would know if the woman will become
pregnant again, take a clove of garlic, wrap it in a small piece of
wool, and insert it in the woman's vagina when she goes to bed. The
next morning if her mouth smell of garlic she will conceive again, but if not, she will never be pregnant
again." This seems to be another way of finding out
whether there is a free passage through the lady.

But the sterility may not always be on the part of
the woman, and to determine in which of the two
the fault lies, put the urine of each into a separate
vase, being careful to distinguish which is which,
and put a lettuce covered with green leaves into each,
and place the vases in the sun. The next day one of
the roots will be found dying, the water of the impotent person having been potent enough to kill it.
If the man is not willing to lend himself to an experinifent of this sort, the woman can make water on

seven grains of wheat, seven grains of barley, and
seven beans, and if at the end of seven days the
grains have not sprouted, copulation with her will
be nothing more than a pleasurable exercise, for she
will never bring forth children. A rough analysis may
also be made by throwing the seminal fluid of each
into water; that of the sterile will float, — or ought
to if the experiment is successful.

Powdered acacia carried about the woman's person
will, in most cases, cause her to conceive — by the
will of God — may He be exalted!

CHAPTER XXVII.

knowledge of t!)o*e Trrug* tnljiri)
prevent conception.

As it is not every person who desires to have a
family, this part of the old Arab's curious treatise
"concerns the knowledge of those drugs which usually
prevent impregnation especially if cohabiting with your
own wife", biit why they should have greater effect
upon a wife than on a mistress is not explained.

The author perhaps felt he was on delicate ground
in this chapter, and therefore he starts by saying
that "the Law allows a man to withdraw in time in
order not to make his wife pregnant — if she also
consent! — and this permission was given solely to
prevent conception. If then it is permitted to withdraw, it stands to reason that it is not forbidden to
use those drugs which prevent conception."

These means are, practically, the reverse of what
has been recommended; the medicines used are rue and
galbanum. A little tar rubbed on the tip of the
penis will not only prevent conception, but will cause
abortion if the woman is already pregnant. A little
of the "filth from a mule's ear" will answer the same
purpose. "The woman who drinks the piss of a mule,
with water in which iron filings are mixed, will never
conceive; also, if she eats without knowing it, the dung
of a mule with a little honey, she will never conceive.

"A learned woman" told the author that for a pregnant woman to drink powdered gall-nuts would cause
immediate abortion. She declared she had tried it
many times, and always successfully. Feverfew and
ginger mixed with honey will give the woman great
pleasure (?) and a passion for Coition, but she will not
conceive. Powdered marjoram in strong wine will also
prevent her from conceiving in "a lasting manner."
The foam of the sea will also prevent conception for
seven years after it is administered.

CHAPTER XXVHI.

ilariou* tying* ml)\cl) promote Coition*

We are here treated to a list of those things which
assist copulation. They are as a rule fanciful. A man
who should fasten the bladder of a wolf or a hare to
his right buttock would be able to fornicate many

times without feeling any ill effects, or to drink a
piece of the bladder in vinegar would have also a
good effect. The dung of the unicorn would answer
even better, but is difficult to procure, for as a father
is said to have once told his son, the unicorn is a
fabulous animal now extinct. Asarum, sometimes called
asarabaccat — still sometimes used as a sternutatory, —
is also efficacious and we are not surprised to find our
old friend the iscancor once more to the fore.

All kinds of onions excite to Coition, and all sorts
of eggs, especially those of the sparrow and duck.
Galen advised a man who was subject to nocturnal
emissions to eat rose-laurel, and he found relief, —
probably in the grave. Nuts, parsnips, the flesh of
the fowl and lamb excite desire, but to sleep upon
a bed of roses would destroy lustful desires. The tonic
properties of iron filings are duly recognised, and
celery is aso exciting that it is necessary to forbid
it to a woman who is suckling her child, because her
milk would be spoiled by her excitement and desire
for copulation." Coriander and nutmeg both have a
contrary effect.

The iscancor is so exciting that you "cannot rest"
after partaking of it. The joints of the he-goat excite
to venery. Pepper dries up the semen, but costus,
sea rocket, squills, mustard, poppy seeds, satyrion,
galanga, all increase desire. The thing which is the
most hurtful to copulation is the lettuce. The testicles
of the cock, dried in the sun, pounded, and mixed
with oil of roses, will prevent a woman from ever
caring for any other man, if it is applied to the seat
of desire.

Iscancor, though a powerful aphrodisiac, should not
be used in Cairo, on account of the hurtful quality
of the water of the Nile which weakens and dimi-

nishes the desire for copulation in the man but increases it in the woman. The efficacy of the flesh of
the iscancor is due, an unnamed wise man thinks, to
the fact that the animal is provided with two members of generation, — at least all the specimens killed
by this particular sage had that peculiarity. The female iscancor is also doubly provided the same authority says.

Sparrows' flesh mingled with oil of lilac will cause
an abundant horn, which will disappear however if the
soles of the feet touch the ground; so says the author,
and Ibn Moudawir was of the same opinion. Isabat,
the son of Karo, swore by the virtues of mandragora;
Ibn Vachscha preferred oil of chamomile; Ibn Zahran
and the most able Persian physicians vaunted the
virtues of musk with oil of violets. The efficacy of
the bladder of a "black raven" has been often proved.
The hoopoe has one wing longer than the other (the
author asserts) and if you take this wing, with certain
other parts of the hoopoe's economy, you may copulate as much as you like: "This recipe is astonishing."
These ingredients are to be put in a leather cup fastened to the right bollock.
The recipe is certainly cleaner than "the urine of a bull which has
just covered a cow," mixed with mud.

The ashes of a kind of lizard "found in ruins"
rubbed on the great toe, and a decoction of ants
applied to the same spot, have a very good effect,
but not equal, — the author of a book entitled: "The
Special Things" thinks, — to the blood of a white cock
mixed with honey, — a preparation which also gives
great pleasure to the woman. A tuft from the tail of
a jackass just about to cover a she-ass, put into the
mouth cannot be considered nice; — the tip of a
hare's tail will answer equally well.

In one of the recipes which follows there is a very

curious instance which would seem to show that some
rude idea of galvanism was not unknown to the Arab
physicians. Unfortunately one word is unintelligible.
It is as follows: "Take a saucepan of red copper,
pierce holes in one side of it, and pass a strap through,
and put this strap round the waist at the time of copulating, and put(>?)
between the thighs; the effect is astonishing." If the missing word
should denote a plate of metal, it would be interesting, but if the
lady had any sense of the ludicrous, — which luckily Eastern women
seldom have, — the sight of her lover with a copper saucepan bobbing
about on his buttocks would excite her risible faculty, and might
seriously interfere with the efficacy of the charm. The fat of the
he-goat, or a vulture's egg, are calculated to increase copulation. "By perseveringly eating
fat sparrows", you can procure a fine erection, and
the ammunition necessary to support it. A sage named
Rhazes "greatly praises" the grape, which is evidence
of his good taste. It is rather curious to find mentioned
that "river crayfish roasted and eaten will increase copulation," for the French in the present day have a very
high opinion of the aphrodisiac properties of ecrevisses.

The author again reverts to the virtues of the African lizard, — perhaps to repair the oversight in omiting to say that it must be killed on a Wednesday.
The African lizard would do well to "lie low" on
Wednesdays, even though it should prevent its captor
from "seeing marvels."

Ibn Massonja says that nettle seed excites to venery, but the author maintains that the right testicle

(i) Possibly silver or some other metal, which would seem to imply
that some rude idea of the stimulating effects of galvanism was known
to the Arab physicians of the 13" century. We could not decipher
the Arabic word.

of the unicorn is preferable. "Partridges' flesh" is
perhaps more palatable and more easily procurable.
If the "patient" has a marked preference for testicles,
those of a calf will serve fairly well. Wasp grubs fried
with olives are excellent, and the brain of a leopard
will enable a man to copulate in a "lively manner."

These remedies will not prevent a man from feeling
weak after the excessive amount of copulation they
have induced, but the tongue of a raven, and a slice
of lily root, enclosed in a hollow reed and fastened
to the right arm, will cure that. Sparrows' brains prepared in a particular way will cause such an erection
that nothing but lancing the penis will take it down.

Compared with these complicated processes, putting
the feet into hot water seems ridiculously easy, but
like "sniffing the odour of jasmine and narcissus", it
has the merit of being easily tried.

CHAPTER XXIX.

11)t inscription of certain wort)*
roljicl) increase tlje poioer of copulation. This very curious chapter,
indicative of an age remarkable at once for its superstition and old-world
wisdom, concerns the writing of words which increase copulation. If you write a certain Arabic word

on a piece of gold leaf and put it under your tongue
you may fornicate as much as you like. Another word
fastened to the left arm will enable you to see marvels. When the moon is in Sebra, take a tablet of
yellow amber of the weight of nineteen grains of barley,
and engrave upon it the figure of a monkey squatting,
holding its tool in its left fore-paw. This is to be put
under the tongue at the time of copulation.

But for a real powerful charm commend us to the
following:

"The author of this chapter relates that he went
to the house of a courtesan, and had connection with
her. When he had finished his business with the woman he passed this seal over her coynte, from the
top to the bottom, and said, 'I trust to you, O Help,
to bind up this coynte to the exclusion of all human
members.' Then he left her house and remained outside until the end of the day. On returning to her
house he questioned the courtesan. She said to him:
'By Allah the Most High, no one could copulate with
me. As soon as anyone approached me he began to
cry out about a pain in his backbone, then rolled on
the ground, and then rose with his back all twisted.'
The narrator continues: 'Then I released her with the
seal which I passed over her coynte from the top to
the bottom, saying. 'Unbind, O Help, that which thou
hast bound!' Here is the description of the seal: "You
must engrave on a Wednesday, at the hour of Saturn,
or on Saturday, at the hour of Mercury, or on Friday
at four o' clock, or at eleven o' clock, that which follows."

Similar directions follow for preparing other seals.
One, recommended by the great Hermes, is to have
a figure of a thirsty monkey on it, which would appear somewhat difficult to delineate.

Another very curious charm instructs. the reader

how to bind a woman to him so that no other man
can fornicate with her. The charm is not attested to
by any act of unwarrantable interference with a young
woman's professional concerns, (in a double sense,) but
we have not the slightest doubt that its efficacy is
fully equal to that of the former. At any rate we give
it in case any of our readers should like to try it:

aYou must take a knife and pronounce three times
the oath cited below, on Wednesday, at the first
hour, at the moment when you kill with this same
knife a black hen that has never laid an egg, in the
name of the woman for whom you do this and of
her mother Then you take the bladder of the fowl,
and rub the tip of the tool, and fornicate with the
woman; no one but you can ever fornicate with her.
It is a specially astonishing thing which has been
handed down from old times, and Allah will not
punish you if you thus do harm to anyone. These are
the names by which you must swear three times upon
the knife: wAz nah, az nak, atalnih, monsateh, ajarth,
ornandiz, you who are over all things (and it is to
Allah that all the great names belong) let it be that
you order to be guarded the coynte of such an one,
the daughter of such an one, that no person may ever
cohabit with her!"

It is devoutly to be hoped that this and the previous charm answer the purpose for which they are
intended, there would be little work for the Divorce
Court.

Another charm is to be written on the palm of the
hand and licked, and an inscription is given which

(i) The grammatical construction of this sentence leaves something
to be desired, but as the meaning is clear, we have preferred to
leave the sentence as it stands in the Arabic.

has the power of retaining the semen, but as a man
would be likely soon to forget it in the mofnent of
hot excitement, it is unnecessary to give it.

CHAPTER XXX.

2ln enumeration of tl)e tastes anH
peculiarities of certain persons in tlje
affairs of lone an* 0e*ual passion*

This chapter, the last of the First volume, treats
of the infatuations of love. It commences with an
apology for pederasty, in which the author, feeling,
no doubt, that he had a bad case, becomes so very
abstruse as to be incomprehensible. In justice to him
it must be said that he seems only to have undertaken the case to satisfy the prejudices of his fellow- countrymen,
and his own sympathies are with the more legitimate form of
enjoyment. He merely included pederasty in order that nothing that
was useful should be wanting to his book, he says, and having
finished with a very unpalatable subject, he abruptly concludes the
volume with the only anecdote it contains, except the one about the courtesan previously
given.

We quote in full the last lines of the First Volume:
"In spite of this it appears that the majority of
men are the slaves of their passions. It is related that
a wise man was lost upon a mountain, so he made
his home there. It chanced that after some years he

descended into the city which was nearest to the
mountain, and his heart failed within him, and he
could not live in that city, so he ran quickly out of
the town. Another ^rise man met him, and asked
him whither he was going.

"I am going", he replied, aaway from a place which
contains nothing but misfortunes."

"Why; what have you seen?"

"I have seen", he replied, "that all those who reside in this place are the slaves of women."

93ertfy tyis ©tee Stout Spate tye £rut$ for, if toe totll
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carrty aU tljety $ate toon anb acquireb
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gtben concerning t^is Suf*
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(SoobI

APHRODISIACS, THEIR HISTORY, NATURE
AND USE.

HOW TO TAME WILD COYNTES.

©tateS, 3 toitlj Sloto rube muscle,
3 Brace mtySelf effectually 3 listen to no entreaties,
3 bare not ttitybram till 3 bepoSit fc§at $aS So long accu*
mulateb toityin me.

tttalt tiMiitnura

of the

GENITAL POWERS, AND THE UNIVERSAL

ATTRACTION OF WOMAN.

>

We are perfectly aware that in handling.this subject,
we venture on dangerous ground, arid that it will be
told us that "fools rush in where angels fear to tread."
We admit the gentle impeachment, and continue our
way nevertheless.

Le Sire de Chambley has finely exclaimed in "La
L£gende des Sexes" — "Modesty is a social convention, a Prejudice without consistence, a Heresy
that wars against the religion of Nature. If Virginia
died from it, she was wrong, and, in the presence of
Zola, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre has no right of place.
Modesty is a word; Voluptuousness is a force. Voluptuousness is healthy and fecund, and to sing its praises
is to people the World. The mission of voluptuousness is to warm the breast of the icy-cold woman;
to wake up the strength of youth in the testicles of

(i) La Legende des Sexes. This work classes its author as one
of the finest poets of the century. We had almost said that it bears
the stamp of genius. In spite of the note of haulte gresse which runs
throughout, these poems are written with taste and originalty.

13

the old man and the priest. A work of Humanity and of
Patriotism! It gives arms to the toiler in the fields;
• valour to the soldier defending the Fatherland; brains
to Thought and courage to the marchers in the advanceguard of Progress.

No words can express the mighty influence of the
genital instinct in the life of man. The cry of desire
may be stifled, but the imperiousness of the longing
will make itself felt, though all the World fight
against it. The physiological history of the generative
apparatus is the history of the World. It has given
birth to Science, and Art, and Progress, and everything that is highest and best in Human life. The
Instinct of Procreation accompanies man and insinuates
itself into all his actions, demanding everywhere fairplay and consideration. A
veritable Proteus, this instinct shows itself under a thousand forms, and, however we may try to escape it, invariably meets us in
some new disguise. It has often proved the arbiter of
the destinies of men. It will never be known how
often the sexual stimulus has decided the vocation of
great artists, poets, writers and orators, given colour
to their ideas, and imparted a peculiar character to
their productions* We need only to cite such men as
Aristophanes, Theocrites, Ovid, Anacreon, Virgil,
Catullus, Tibullus, Propertius, Boccaccio, Rabelais,
Brant6me, Aretino, La Fontaine, Voltaire, Rousseau,
Diderot, Mirabeau, Shakespeare, Sterne, Byron,
amongst hundred of others, to hint at the important
r61e that the Genital instinct has played in the Literature of the World. Throughout the writings of these
men the dominating idea is that expressed in the
following powerful lines by Ed. de Haraucourt.

ttLes deux corps enlacls semblaient n'avoir qu'une &me;
lis se serraient, ils se tordaient, ils bondissaient.
Les chairs en feu frottaient les chairs, s'filectrisaient,
Les veines se gonflaient. Les langues ac6r6es
Cherchaient une morsure entre les dents serr6es;
Des nerfs tendus et fous; des muscles contractus;
Des 61ans furieux; des bonds de volupt^s ...
Plus fort! Plus vite! Enfin, c'est la supreme 6treinte,
Le frisson convulsif..

Philosophers and Physicians from the days of Plato
and Socrates, down to our own times, have called attention to the empire over all the Phenomena of human
life that is wielded by the generative poweis in man.
Under whatever form it may appear, Animal Desire,
otherwise termed aLove", or "Passion", is the right
key for unlocking the Secrets of History, In various
languages and in many tongues, Man has always given
expression to the craving versified in the lines of a
modern poet1:

aO large lips opening outward like a flower

To breathe upon my face that clings to thee!
O Wanton breasts that heave deliciously

And tempt my eager teeth! O cruel power
Of wide deep thighs that make me furious

As they enclasp me, and swing me to and fro
With passion that grows pale, and drives the flow
Of the fast fragrant blood of both of us
Into the awful link that knits us close
With chain electric! O have mercy yet

In drawing out my life in this desire,
To consummate this moment all the gross
Lusts of to night, and pay the sudden debt
That with strong water shall put out our firel"

Sometimes this mighty Sexual instinct affects the

(i) "White Stains". "The Literary Remains of George Archibald
Bishop, a Neuropath of the Second Empire." London. Privately printed.
1898.

family, or it stirs the city, and anon exerts influence
upon the very Fatherland itself, shaking the security
of Nations to the base, and overturning an entire
World. The most careless reader will easily call instances to mind. The
Domination of the Sexual Instinct may be traced from the biblical
legend of Eve up to the Trojan War, stirred up by beautiful Helena. From the time of Semiramis until Lucretia,
faithful consort of Collatin; from Sapphd to Phaedrus;
from Judith of Magdala to Mary Magdalen; from hotbodied Messalina to lascivious Fredegonda; from
lecherous Marguerite of Burgundy to Lucretia Borgia,
who steeped her hand in blood to satisfy her sins; from
Diana of Poitiers, or from "La Belle Gabrielle" to unfortunate Mary Stuart; from Madame de Maintenon,
who turned religious, to the Devil-possessed coynte of
the great Catherine of Russia. Whether we travel from
the North to the South, from the Gynicaeum of the
Greeks to the Harem of the Turks; from the oool
Cloister to the perfumed Palace; from the Drawingroom to the public Highway;
from the mysterious secrecy of the Boudoir to the hot-bed of Camps;
from the Garret to the Prison; from hoariest-headed Antiquity down to these Modern days; in the very midst of
Civilisation, not less than in the bosom of Barbarism;
in the heart of peopled Cities as in the depths of
Deserts, — wherever we may go, to whatever side
we may turn the eyes, as soon as we scrutinize the
Causes of things, we find the play and action of Animal Desire. A clever writer has well said: "Man and
Woman are the double pole of Humanity, and Love
is the Pivot, the Centre, the Axis of the World,
and we may add that the Centre of Woman is the
Pivot of Man. In the Domain of private, as in the
circle of public Life, this principle is the Almighty,

most true, and Sovereign motor-power of Human Actions. Hide the fact as we may, it is none the less
evident that woman's love is the essential Fertiliser,
the eternal Creator, who makes, or unmakes us;
who lifts us up, or casts us down; who softens or
hardens us; who send us astray, or brings u& into the
path of life. Like a mighty Sultan, upon all things
does it stamp the seal of its power by the Ministry of
Womankind.

To day it may use Aspasia, enslaving Pericles,
to morrow a female far humbler, but the power of
the Servant of Love equals that of her Lord, for by,
her does he reveal himself. Woman is the Sorceress of
Life and it is the praises of her physicial charms, ever the Secret of her Sway,
that our oriental Author loves to sing. It is not too much to state
that She upsets the Universal Equilibrium; and, for a Caprice, Cleopatra causes Antoninus to let slip the Empire of the
World; or she may be Agn&s Sorel who instils fresh strength into enervated
Charles VII and saves France; or again, she is Marguerite of
Navarre, and gives birth to the Renaissance to keep in Life the
Spirit of Progress; the Times roll on, and we have Madame de
Pompadour, who, degraded as she may be, covers
with the King's protection the Philosophers, Encyclopedists, Reformers, and thus prepares, unconscious of
the greatness of her work, the French Revolution;
or it may be Madame Roland who, by the austerity
of her Love, as well as the Strength of her reason,
founds a new Party; later we have Luciliasupporting
and fortifying her husband Camille Desmoulins in his
Martyr-ride to the scaffold; or fierce-spoken The-
roi'gne de M^ricourt inspiring a changeling people
with her own enthusiasm, carving out to day marble-
hearted heroes from the vaccilating children of yesterday.

Whether in Thought or Action, whether in War or
Science, Woman has alternately strengthened and inspired. Remaining herself unknown, she confers upon
the Male the gift of greatness and immortality, and
Love reaches its culminating point when united with
mind, as in the case of H^loise and Ab£lard, or Fornarina and Raphael, or Mona Lisa and Leonardo da
Vinci; Beatrix takes the hand of Dante and guides
him through the Darkness of his "Inferno"; or it is
Laura who inspires Petrarch; or Eleonora for whom
Tasso spoke his soul in song; or Madame de Warrens revealing to Jean-Jacques Rousseau the secret
of his own heart; or Graziella who places upon the
head of Lamartine the Laurel-Wreath of Fame.

One might continue for pages the recitation of hundreds of other magnificent Names, and amongst them
none should figure less than "les Belles Pecheresses",
— "the High-Priestesses of Humanity" as Lecky cadis
them, who by the very prodigality of their Sensuality, and the Brutal Reality of their Love, have brought
back the Don Juans of History to a sense of their
real place in Life. They are the Heroines of History
whose burning fevers led to crime; whose ferocious
jealousies give birth to delirium and create madness;
whose guilty desires enervate and degrade, — they
are necessary to Humanity, because through the horrible nightmare of their monstruous debauchery, man
catches a glimpse of the potentialities of his Nature.

Man is born to reproduce himself. For this he
works and waits and watches all his life long. The
Instinct of Reproduction is as powerful as that of
Hunger. The one represents the Preservation of the
Individual, the second the Continuation of Humankind. Those who have been mutilated, demonstrate
the tremendous r61e that the genital parts exercise

on the character. Richerand in the "Nosographie Chirurgicale" (Vol. IV) mentions the case of a man whose
member he had amputated. The man was getting on
very well, the wound being almost healed, when his
wife came to see him, and complained bitterly that
he had allowed the source of much of her married
pleasure to be taken from him. The following night
the unfortunate man was seized with a fever, and
died the third day. This Lady's anxiety for the wellbeing of her Husband's member reminds us of the
witty words of rollicking, old Rabelais:

"When Yoland saw her spouse equipped for fight,
"And, save the Codpiece, all in armour dight,
aMy dear", she cried, "Why, pray, of all the rest
"Is that exposed you know I love the best?"
"Was she to blame for an iU-manag 'd fear,
tfOr rather.pious conscionable care?
"Wise lady, she! In hurly-burly fight,
"Can any tell where random blows may light?"

The loss of the yard, says Richerand, predisposes
the subject to fevers of a pernicious nature and renders them very sad; and what is more astonishing,
these effects have been often noticed in the aged

The Ideas of Philosophers and Naturalists concerning
the human Semen are very curious, and almost form a
chapter apart. They did not regard it as the product
of an ordinary secretion. For Pythagoras, the Sperm
was the flower of the purest blood; Plato thought
that the seminal fluid was simply an outflow of the
spinal marrow; and Epicurus considered it to be a
portion of the Soul and the Body while for Aristotle
the human seed consisted of a collection of an infinity of small brains. We have no room here to quote

(i) The Student should consult the interesting Work of Doctor
Cabanfes: De F Influence des Sexes sur le Caraetere des Idees.

all the curious theories of celebrated men, who have
written on this subject. The happiest description that
we know of, is that of Mr. R6veill£-Parise, who, in
a single word, characterises the value of the sperm by
calling it: "Life in a liquid state (la vie a Fetat liauide")1. A fagon de parler which, if wanting in poetry,
is hardly lacking in originality.

The most ecstatic love is after all a question of
physiology. Modern civilisation, says Dr. JulesGuyot,
has made of love a science and a combat. It shows
itself at first by sufferings of a special kind which ceases
the moment it is satisfied. After a certain interval,
more or less long it again makes itself felt according
to temperament and age. There you have the fatal and
profound side of natural history. "Quant k son d^veloppement moral", continues Dr. Guyot "il est inutile de
s'en occuper, car si l'amour commence par le r6el,
il n'est pas certain qu'il finisse toujours par l'id6al;
du reste, peu importe. L'amour platonique n'existe pas,
pur de tout d£sir sensuel. Le mari qui n'est plus tent6
par le corps de sa^ femme, chez qui se sont dteints
les tressaillements de la chair, perd du meme coup
la tranquillity d'esprit que produit la fonction g6n6siaque r£guli£rement accomplie........"

"Peu de femmes sont sans temperament, seulement
imaginatives et vaniteuses. Michelet pretend que ce
sont toutes des malades. En cela il se trompe, ce sont
des instruments d&icats dont les hommes sont trop
souvent malhabiles k bien jouer."

We quite agree with the same author when he says
that "in the interests of the bodily and intellectual
hygiene of humanity" young men should "be urged to

(i) Physiologic et hygiene des homines livris aux travaux de V esprit.
Tome II, p. 262. Paris. 1834.

marry" and taught the anatomical precepts of love.
"God save", says he, "the wife from an imbecile or a
libertine husband. The Savages of Africa and Australia
are wiser by far in this respect, than the respectable
folk of Europe. For they have special festivals, where
at the age of puberty the lads and lassies of the
tribe are taught the nice use of "that portion of their
body concealed beneath the navel. If there is any
danger for a young girl to know too much, there is
surely far greater danger from her knowing too little.
We venture to suggest that a respectable and intelligent
matron should unite the budding virgins of her neighbourhood and teach them the intimate properties of
their lovely bodies. This would prepare them for wifehood and maternity, without shocking any of the
feminine decencies. The institution of a festival of
Puberty of this kind would prove a lesson of prudence
and of morality, which would save them- from seductive surprise of the Senses. While the most Savage peoples have felt this need of initiation, and have celebrated
it with great solemnity, European peoples have gone to the other
extreme. It is a crime for a girl to know how children are begotten;
the mere mention of their secret parts is a sin; and the patient
mother during twenty years of the girl's life, builds up a
scaffolding of hypocritical ignorance which the husband, with rapid
rudeness1, and something else, that the girl little dreamed existed
— destroys in a few seconds. What affrighted shame, what useless
sufferings, what unfortunate matings, because the virgin

(i) One of our Friends wittily says: "L'amour d'une femme nalt
d'un 6tonnement, vit d'un sacrifice, meurt d'une indignation. L'amour
d'un homme nalt d'une curiositl, vit d'une accoutumance, meurt
d'une comparaison." This recalls the saying of Alexandre Dumas:
uLe Manage est le tombeau de 1'Amour!"

gives her consent without knowing to what she consents.
Chemistry has put to flight the superstition of the
Middle-Ages by proving that woman's blood is as pure
as that of the man. Can we not also breake the
idiotic bands of our excessive mock-modesty and initiate our girls into the secret of nature's intentions, the
Why and the Wherefore of their mysterious troubles,
hysterical crises, their strange dreamings and longings?
A clever Frenchman has exclaimed: "Un Vice peut
etre tu6 par un bon mot; il faut le rire de plusieurs
si&cles pour d£raciner un Prejug£."

If any objection be raised concerning the freedom
of certain expressions employed in this book, especially
in the second part of it, we would point to the fact that
our Author is a Physician and that men of Science
have a perfect right to employ all the terms of which
they may have need in the exercise of their profession.
Even in the books that they write for the information
of the People, remarks our friend Alcide Bonneau,
they freely employ "penis", "gland", "Virile member",
"vulva", "vagina", "erection", "sperm", and deal not
only with the sexual relations but also with the
perversions of the genital sense. If our Arab Author
goes beyond this licence by employing expressions
of a somewhat wider range, we must recollect, that
he wrote for a public and an age, when men were
not quite so mealy-mouthed as they are to-day.
Moreover, even in the old French medical language
of half a century ago, our ancestors, the Barbers and
Mid wives, who, in those days, used to be pompously
called "surgeons", employed terms that would shock
the Medical Faculty of to day; e. g. the "Garden
of Nature"; the "Cabinet of Venus"; the "Virginal
Cloister"; "Natural Balsam" and other metaphorical
terms which, if not exactly scientific, were delight-

fully expressive. On this extremely interesting Subject,
which we have no wish to discuss at further length
here, the Student should consult the "Dictionnaire
Erotique Latin-Frangais" by Nicolas Blondeau, which
was issued by our late friend, Isidore Liseux of Paris,
in 1885. And also that clever brochure: "Surles Obsc6nit6s" by Pierre Bayle, which forms an extract of
his famous and now little read " Dictionnaire Historique".

It is only fair to state that it was not Modern Hypocrisy which first conceived the idea of stigmatising
the Sexual parts as shameful. The Romans called
them "Pudenda" and the Greeks a*Ma", meaning
that which is shameful, and the Dictionary of Blondeau contains a multitude of expressions, periphrases and circumlocutions employed by the Greeks and
Romans to escape the naked word.

In our opinion, Pierre Bayle is right in teaching
that these delicate famous de parler do not prevent
the object from being painted in the imagination.
"Those who use these envelopes do not pretend that
they should be unintelligible. They well know, on the
contrary, that everyone will seize what is meant,
and it is quite true that their meaning is perfectly
well understood. The delicacy of the features causes
merely this, that one can approach these paintings
the more boldly, because there is no reason to fear
that we shall run up against stack a of staring nudities. Decency would not
permit the eyes to dwell upon them if they consisted of mere filthy
nakedness; but when disguised in transparent stuffs, the eyes may
scrutinize them without scruple from head to foot, all shame being
thrust aside, and with no rancorous feeling toward the painter. In such manner
the object the more easily strikes and insinuates itself
into the imagination, its malignant influences penetrating

to the very heart, and even beyond, far more freely
than if the soul were seized with boisterous rage and
shame. Let us add to this, that when obscenity is
but scantily outlined, so that what is wanting can
be easily supplied, those to whom it is addressed
complete for themselves the picture which sullies the
mind. They therefore participate to a greater extent
in producing that image than if it had been more
clearly explained to them. In this latter case they
constitute only a passive subject, and consequently
the reception of the obscene image would have been
very innocent, but in the other case they constitute
one of its active principles: . they are therefore no
longer so innocent, and they have the more to fear
the contagious results of this object because partly
their own work. Therefore this pretended sparing of
decency is in reality but a dangerous snare. They
undertake, in fact, to meditate upon a dirty subject,
in order' to find out that which has not been sufficiently expressed in precise words."

Few people will deny that Bayle's argument is well
founded and it is interesting to find the same thesis
defended by no less a litterateur than Jean Richepin,
the author of "Madame AndnS", "La Glu", and "La
Chanson des Gueux", for the latter of which he enjoyed for a few months the shelter of a French prison.
It is refreshing to see a writer of his power throw
away his academic robes and break out in the following style. "The old French spiciness, the habit
of calling things by their names, the sturdy frankness
of a style in shirt-sleeves, the Wide-agape street-
mouthing of the crude word, have never depraved anyone. Such things offer no more danger than the naked
creation of the Painter or the Sculptor, which do not
appear dirty except to the hunters after Filth. What

really does disturb the imagination and wake up unhealthy curiosity, and may
corrupt, is not the marble, but in truth, the fig-leaf placed on
it;1 that fig-leaf which kidnaps the looks — and strives to render
shameful and obscene that which Nature has iriade secret.
My book is not fig-leaved and I am proud of it.
Such as it is, with its violence, impudicity, cynicism,
it appears to me quite as moral as certain works approved by good taste and patronised even by bourgeois- virtue, but where libertinism protrudes his serpent's
head of seducer from amidst the flowery periods, or
where the worldly odour of the painted harlot mixes
itself with the exhalations of the £ess-pool. These novels
of refined corruption and elegant rottenness conceal
vesicatory moxas under their tempered style, with
the insipidity of a cataplasm. They remind me of
that belle et honneste Dame farded and painted up,
with a prayer book in her hand, in which she has
concealed obscene photographs, lowering her eyes in
order better to see out of them sideways, squeezing
her legs modestly together in order to bring into
greater prominence the sprightly play of the full-
rounded buttocks and wearing in the corner of her lips

(i) We call to mind the confusion and astonishment of a French friend who,
chancing one day to stroll into the "British Museum" was attracted
by a group of some fifteen young Ladies who, under the direction of
a professor, were drawing the statue of a naked Greek Divinity,
which, while being without legs and arms, was richly endowed with a
large object in the shape of a tool. At the moment of our friend's
entrance, these budding beauties were occupied in sketching the
God's virile member, chuckling immensely the while at the bigness of
his proportions. The sketches were almost life-sue. The thoughts and
sensations to which this unexpected view gave there and then rise to
in his breast — and trousers — caused him precipitately to leave the
building, and seek consolation with a married lady-friend!

a smile of cantharideal Sensualism. But this, damn it
all, is not my style of literature!

Mine is a brave and lusty girl, who speaks out as her
tongue is made, I admit, and who mouths it even; with
wind-tost hair, a bit lively, plenty of colour, breast unbuttoned to the breeze, dirtying her flying petticoats;
her rapid feet compromised in the black-gluey mud of
the faubourg or in the golden heath of the country dungyard; with a big oath, then with a loud hiccough, a
dash of slang, — mere sportfulness of a woman of the
people; — and all that for the pleasure of singing,
laughing, living, with no mental reservation of lewdness
not like a libidinous noli me tangere who allows a little
bit of skin to peep out in order to fire the carnal
appetite of the old man or a youthful greenhorn, but
rather like a fine and robust creature, without fear
of showing under the Sun-rays her sap-swollen breast
and her august belly, already resplendent with a pride
of future maternity.

By the Chastity of the Naked Body, by the Glory
of Mother Nature! if that is immoral, we prefer to
shout:

"long live immorality"

StyoSe eoerty part boty re*im> ite
%t)t olb becatyeb appetite,
2lnb, in to^oSe srneet embraces, 3
melt myself to lust, anb bie.
2$iS is true bliSS; anb 3 confess
£$ere is no otyer $appineSS.

Aphrodite, the goddess "born of the sea foam",
the mother of love, has given her beautiful name to
those drugs or preparations which are supposed to
induce venereal desire, and thus promote the worship
of the Paphian Goddess.

In a perfect natural condition, young and vigourous
men and women would need no artificial stimulants.
When the Greek youth, wandering over the slopes
of Mount Ida, found a beautiful and graceful nymph
extended at full length by the side of a rippling rill,
the music of whose waters had lulled her to sleep,
he would stand in need of no adventitious aids;

"The sweet low bosom, the close hair
The straight soft flanks and slenderer feet",

the half-parted lips, the rounded ivory breast, with
its coral tip, both inviting kisses, the abode of love
and delight peeping from beneath the fingers of the
hand that guarded it, — and that was less a protection
than a provocation, — would be all sufficient incentives.
The nymphs who preferred to be turned into laurel
trees or fountains rather than suffer the embrace of
a lover, were rare indeed. It was more likely that the

> 4

amorous encounter would be repeated again and again,
fresh tryst would be made, but the only aphrodisiac
or "thing pertaining to Venus" which the youth
would bring with him would be a pair of pigeons to
sacrifice to the goddess for having given him such a
sweetheart.

"Folks were happy as days were long,
In the old Arcadian times,
When life seemed only a dance and song
In the sweetest of all sweet climes."

But these simple manners and happy times disappeared as man became a more gregarious, and a more
civilized, being. Women, who ran less chance of harm
in the chase or in war, became numerically stronger
than the men, and hence came the introduction of
polygamy. Amongst Eastern women there is no reproach more dreaded than that of barrenness. If one
of the wives of a man conceived, he would get but
little peace from the others until they had made him
try his utmost to put them also in a similar condition,
and if he were a middle-aged or oldish man, a very
heavy call would be made upon his virile forces. On
the other hand if a wife really believed herself to be
barren, she made her husband go in unto her handmaid , and thus obtained children by deputy; — there
is a familiar instance of this in the Book of Genesis.

Gradually, man became a dweller in cities, and then
arose frequent wars amongst neighbouring cities, followed by the spoliation of the vanquished. The wives,
sisters, and daughters of the conquered became the
slaves of the captors, and were sold into slavery.

With the -moral aspect of slavery, we have here
nothing to do. Terrible pictures have been drawn of
the virgin torn from her parents' arms, and sacrificed
to the brutal lust of some satyr in human form, but

truth compels us to say, — in the East at least, —:
the young female slave did not as a rule long bewail
her lost maidenhead, but, on the contrary, she
accepted her lot kindly, and not infrequently became
an adept in every art of sexual depravity.

The youngest and prettiest slaves fell into the hands
of the rich, and the rich, in days when wealth was
derived only from agriculture, and speculation was
a thing unknown, were almost always elderly. Old
Orientals are often vigorous enough, but hardly able
to satisfy the physical wants of a bevy of young
beauties, each of whom tried to out-do the others in
the invention of what the French call "refinements,"
which though her master might find very pleasant,
would soon prove extremely enervating to him.

Hence sprang up the need for aphrodisiacs, and
thus it is that since the remotest ages, the vegetable,
animal, and mineral kingdoms have been ransacked
for the purpose of discovering remedies capable of
strengthening the genital apparatus, and exciting it to
action. Of the antiquity of these remedies we may
judge fromi the incident related in Genesis, to which
we shall refer more fully a little later. Suffice it to say
that, on the most moderate computation, that event
must have occurred 1700 years before the Christian
era, but the virtues or supposed virtues of the mandrakes were evidently known to all the actors in the
little comedy, and in days when there was no literature , and all information was derived from oral tradition , knowledge could not have spread very rapidly
amongst nomadic or semi-nomadic tribes which were
mainly concerned in keeping out of each other's way.

Greek literature does not contain many mentions
of aphrodisiacs, though mandragora is mentioned by
Pythagoras and Plutarch, the former of whom gave

it the name of "anthropomorphous", the resemblance
to a man being found presumably in the fact that
the root is often divided half way down, giving it
the appearance of a man's body and legs. The old
writer therefore compared the plant to a man, and
would not as a more modern philosopher has done,
liken a man to "a forked radish, fantastically carved."

Few other references to aphrodisiacs are found in
Greek writers, but Eustathius, in his Commentaries
on Homer relates a curious legend concerning the
Amazons. So much myth is mixed with so little fact
in the stories about the Amazons that no substratum
of truth is apparent, and probably Eustathius only
repeated a legend which he found ready to hand or
else invented for himself. At any rate here is the
legend as he gives it.

"The Amazons", he says, "broke either a leg or
an arm-of the captives they took in battle, and this
they did, not only to prevent their escape or their
plotting, but also, and this more especially, to render
them more vigorous in the venereal conflict; for, as
they themselves burnt away the right breast of their
female children in order that the right-arm might-
become stronger from receiving additional nutriment,
so they imagined that, similarly the genital member
would be strengthened by the deprivation of one of
the extremities, whether a leg or an arm. Hence
when reproached by the Scythians with the limping
gait of her slaves, Queen Antianara replied, "Ap/or*
op0il", "the lame best perform the act of love".

The Romans, when they were corrupted by the
vices of the Oriental nations they had conquered,
indulged in every kind of depravity, and allusions
are found in Juvenal, Martial, Horace, Virgil, and
others, to love-philters and potions. Tradition even

states that one of the noblest of the poets, Lucretius, committed suicide whilst
under the influence of one of these philters. The only authority for
the statement is Eusebius, who, of course, would be prepared to believe anything concerning such a dangerous "freethinker" as Lucretius. This with the fact that St. Jerome says that a certain Lucilia killed her husband
or her lover by giving him a philtre which was intended to secure his love, has led to the supposition
that Lucretius was the person thus killed, it being
believed that Lucilia was the name of his mistress,
but there is no definite information on the subject,
and Lucilia was not an uncommon name. A similar
story is related of .Cams Caligula by Suetonius, who
avers that "his wife Caesonia administered to him a
love potion which threw him into a frenzy", and the
rumour was repeated by Juvenal

The ingredients of these love-philtres were very
much the same as those mentioned in some of the
recipes included in the present book. Horace makes
out that "dried human liver and marrow were sometimes used". Exencca uti medulla et aridum jecur

Amoris esset poculum1)

(That his dried marrow and liver might form the ingredients
of a potion for love).

The most remarkable aphrodisiacal virtues were
attached to the hippomanes, which, according to
Weir, was a piece of flesh, of a black or brown colour, in size and shape like a fig, wfyich is found on
the forehead of a young colt as soon as born. The
mare is said to bite this off as soon as she has foaled,

(i) Satire VI. 614.

(2) Epodon. Liber V, 37, 38.

and to forsake her offspring if she is prevented from
so doing. In reality this hippomane was nothing more
than a part of the omentum, or caul. The caul of a
child was long regarded as a safeguard against death
by drowning, but what connection there is between
a colt's caul and the venereal act is not easy to be
guessed.

According to Virgil, Dido used the hippomanes in
order to secure the love of Aeneas, but the charm
did certainly not work well in that instance. Pausanias,
in his Description of Greece, states that there was, in
one of the cities, a bronze figure of a horse, with the
metal of which the hippomanes was mingled. Any stallion which approached the
statue, rushed towards it more furiously than if it had been the
most beautiful mare, and could only be driven away by a
severe application of the lash.

In the Middle Ages, the love-philters were at first
mere charms, sometimes composed of the most disgusting ingredients. In many cases they were very
similar to the recipes given in this volume, with the
substitution of European plants or animals for those
found in the East.

As a specimen of the aphrodisiacs which were
common in the 17th Century, we quote the following
from "The Holy Guide" by John Heyden, Gent, who
called himself "a servant of God, and a secretary of
Nature". This liquor which was termed, "Fortuna
Veneris" enjoyed considerable repute, and had the
merit of being easily prepared, except that it would
take three months to make. From the use of ants it
would seem as though our forefathers had some vague
notion of the preparation of chloroform, or at least
of formic acid, but there is reason to believe that
the ants were only introduced because being able to

give irritating bites, it was imagined that some sort
of powerful stimulant could be derived from their
bodies. This theory appears the more feasible because
in the Arabic book, wasps are also used.

The recipe, as given by John Hey den, runs: "Take
of pismires or ants (the biggest, having a sourish
smell are the best,) two handfuls, spirit of wine one
gallon; digest them in a glasse vessel, close shut,
for the space of a month, in which time they will be
dissolved into a liquor; .then distil them in balneo
till all be dry. Then put the same quantity of ants
as before; do this three times, then aromatize the
spirit with cinnamon. Note, that upon the spirit will
float an oil, which must be separated. This spirit is
of excellent use to stir up the animal spirits, insomuch that John Casimire, Palgrave of the Rhine,
and Seyfrie of Collen, General against the Turks,
did always drink thereof when they went to fight,
to increase magnanimity and courage, which it did
even to admiration.

This spirit doth also wonderfully irritate them that
are slothful to venery"

In another recipe the eggs of ants, wood-lice, and
two hundred and fifty bees are employed.

In the Eighteenth Century, when morals were at
a very low ebb, aphrodisiacs were employed to a
great extent, but they were usually either extremely
dangerous or inert. The former contained either phosphorus or cantharides. Many of the latter professed
to contain aurum potabile, or liquid gold. A belief
had been handed down from antiquity that if gold
could be dissolved it would restore youth, and of

(i) Quoted in J. Davenport's Aphrodisiacs and Anti-Aphrodisiacs]
page 80.

course all the forces of youth, to any aged patient
who could afford to purchase the medicine. Even
down to the very end of the Eighteenth Century,
there were not wanting rich simpletons who employed
chemists, or more often charlatans, to make experiments in preparing "the elixir of life". The gold was
not usually dissolved, but found its way, still in a
solid state, into the pockets of the empirics. Men
like Cagliostro, who had a smattering of knowledge
and plenty of impudence, had no difficulty in finding
rich fools who were prepared to pay anything to have
their worthless and mis-spent lives prolonged.

Even a man of wit and education, — the Abb6
Voisenon, — kept an alchemist, on whom he spent
large sums, and a French lady, who thought that her
sterility was due to her frigidity, paid 50 francs a
day for a supposed preparation of gold which she
took in her soup. Many persons purchased a tincture
known as Mademoiselle Grimaldi's potable gold, — a
quack medicine, the efficacy of which was attested to
by numerous "testimonials", which were probably true,
for the imagination plays an important part in the
performance of the venereal act.

Mme de Pompadour, who was very anxious to keep
the position of King's mistress on account of the
political importance it gave her, but who was physically unfitted for the post, had recourse to aphrodisiacs in order to stimulate a nature which was
naturally frigid. Her friend and medical adviser, Dr.
Quesnay, was not likely, however, to let her employ
any drugs which were powerful enough to be dangerous, or likely to injure a constitution which was
already weak, and she was obliged to restrict herself
to chocolate flavoured with amber and vanilla. This
treatment failed to cause any sexual longings, the

only effect being to bring out pimples on the nose.

Madame du Barry was said by some of the libellous
pamphleteers of the time, to have given Louis XV
ambergris, and the effect of the medicine was to
restore all his juvenile powers for a time. She is
said also to have used powerful drugs on herself in
order to arouse her passions, but the author of the
latest and most complete biography of Mme du Barry
is of opinion that there is not a word of truth in
the statement, and that certainly, as far as she was
concerned, she never stood in need of any aphrodisiacs.

In the early part of the 19th Century the use of
aphrodisiacs still continued, and preparations known
as Tablettes de Magnanimite, Electuaire Satyr ion, and
Poudre de Joie were sold by nearly all chemists.
Allusions to powders and potions administered by a
young wife to an aged husband are found in Blranger's Poems, and in other
writers, and the long and serious illness of a celebrated poet was
ascribed by malicious tongues to the drugs which his equally
celebrated mistress had prevailed upon him to swallow. In the latter
part of the 19^ Century the use of aphrodisiacs appears to have
greatly declined. In England they are practically unknown, the
reason being that many doctors are of opinion that there is no such
thing as a true aphrodisiac, and those who believe in the efficacy
of certain drugs can rarely be induced to exhibit them, being
deterred either by professional pride, or else unwilling to sap the
small remnant of vital power left to an old man by the use of
stimulants to venery, which provoke a temporary accession of strength at the cost of a severe
relapse.

In France also, aphrodisiacs have almost ceased
to exist, for reasons which it would take long to ex-

plain, but which are connected with the almost universal desire of all Frenchwomen not to bear more
than one or two children. In fast circles, a young
man who has a pretty mistress, and finds that he
has wasted his virile power, will sometimes apply to
a doctor, or will more often trust to the virtues of
bisque a Vicrevisse, swallow's nest soup, or truffles. Perhaps in a few
instances aphrodisiacs are still prescribed for the benefit of lecherous old men or blasi
young ones, but, we believe, such cases are rare. In
all the more recent medical works concerning Impotency and Sterility, there is hardly a mention made
of aphrodisiacal drugs. Their disuse appears to date
from about 1865, which is rather singular, as if one
tenth part of the stories told concerning the immorality of the Court and the City at that time are true,
there must have been a large demand for all incentives to venery. In the East,
and more especially amongst the Chinese, aphrodisiacs are still largely employed, and
the old procuresses in the West Indies also use certain sorts, of which we shall speak in detail in the
course of this article.

Aphrodisiacs were divided by Jacob Manget, a celebrated Swiss physician of the 17th century, into three
classes, viz, the hygienic, the medical, and the external
or topical.

THE HYGIENIC ARE:
Open air exercise; good food; moderate study; rice;
fish; oysters; pepper; vanilla; ginger; pimento; truffles;
and alcohol, when taken in moderation.

THE MEDICAL ARE:
Phosphorus; cantharides; nux vomica; opium; amber;
musk; civet; myrrh; iron; quinine; and other tonics have

an indirect influence. Also certain heating condiments,
as black and red pepper, cubebs, ginger, ginseng &c.
The topical.

The topical are of course, mustard, turpentine, or
other rubefacients applied externally.

This list we believe comprises all the aphrodisiacs
known in Europe. As will be seen from the contents
of this book, those used in the East are far more numerous , but it is doubtful whether many of them are
as useful as the persons who employ them imagine.

In fact we are inclined to doubt whether there is
such a thing as a true aphrodisiac. The organ of reproduction of the male is a
very complex nervous structure, intimately connected with the brain,
capable of being excited by mental images. It must be
evident to any thinking person that the virile force
of a person depends on his physical vigour. If he is of a strong frame and
robust constitution, he will be able to perform the act of love a
considerable number of times without feeling any ill-results. Mr. Acton '
relates that he knew a medical man who declared
that during fourteen years he had never let a night
pass without performing once at least. Unless he had
a mistress or two as well as a wife it is difficult to
see how he managed. If he put his wife in the family
way there must have been a pause in his amorous
career for at least three weeks or a month every time
his wife was confined. If on the other hand he took
precautions to avoid this, there must have been a
time every month when the catamenia would have
rendered intercourse unpleasant to both parties, if
not dangerous, or impossible. Several other instances
are given in the same book

(i) Acton, On the Reproductive Organs, (pp. 191 et seq.)

On the other hand, many eminent men have declared that it was quite impossible for a strong man to
indulge in "the best indoor game for two" every night
for a year, though he might perform 365 times in the
course of the year.

Perhaps one cause that has made doctors deny
that there were any drugs possessed of aphrodisiacal
properties, is the small number of cases in which they
can be used. If a strong healthy man is addicted to
sexual indulgence, and suddenly finds that he has
overtaxed his strength, he will generally recover by
means of a few days rest and generous diet. If, on
the other hand, he is impotent, either through excess,
or some disease or atrophy of the organs, it is not
very probable that any aphrodisiacs will do him good.
The only cases in which drugs would be useful to
stimulate the passions, would be those persons whom
the Arab author calls "old men who want to be
young again". It is needless to say that if such a man
temporarily gains the power of indulgence by the use
of drugs or certain foods, he is certainly impairing
his general health, and he will not find any respectable
medical practitioner to aid him, though no doubt
plenty of quacks would willingly do so.

On the whole, it may be said that if when a man
is in bed with a pretty woman who is not only able
and willing to take her own share in the sports of
love, but. also skilled in the arts of Venus, and he
finds himself still unable to procure "the outward and
visible sign of virility" — as Buffon calls an erection —
he had better retire from the unequal conflict, and
content himself with the memory of his former prowess.

If he is not satisfied with being a mere "sleeping
partner", his best course would be, at all events in

the first place — to eat stimulating foods. Beef and
mutton are considered nutritious, but pork and the
flesh of all young animals is not so strengthening. Game
has been extolled by many writers. Platina, a quaint
old writer who composed a treatise called "De valetudine tuenda" declares that "the flesh of the partridge
is highly nutritious; it strengthens the brain, facilitates conception and arouses the half-extinct desire
for venereal pleasures". Albertus Magnus was of opinion that it would be sufficient to take "the brains
of a partridge calcined into powder, and swallowed
in red wine. Hare, or any animal having dark flesh,
also increase the blood and the secretions."

Shell-fish are also considered to have aphrodisiacal
properties. We knew a French prostitute in London
who always insisted upon her lover having a supper
of stout and oysters, which she asserted were "very
good for the operation." Oysters have indeed enjoyed
this reputation for many centuries. Juvenal and other
writers allude to this belief. The octopus was also in
great repute as an aphrodisiac. In one of the plays
of Plautus, mention is made of an old man who has
been to the market to purchase octopus. An Englishman would probably not care for the dish, but it is
still often taken in the South of Europe, but whether
as an incentive to venery we cannot say, but we
have tasted it and can vouch for the fact that it is
not very nice. Apuleius, the author of that very amusing collection
of good stories, "The Golden Ass", married a rich widow,
and was accused of having used sorcery and charms
to gain her affections, and more particularly to have
excited her desires by giving her a diet of oysters,
cuttle, shell-fish of various sorts, and sea hedge-hogs.
Perhaps by this last was meant the echinus, which

was also much eaten in France. Trepang, which is
a species of sea anemone, (the sea cucumber or holothuria) dried in the sun, and
packed in barrels, is much used in the East, but only by the upper
classes, its prohibitive price preventing the middle or lower
classes from procuring it. It is questionable whether there is
anything in "shell-fish" or crustaceans, which differentiates them
in any respect from fish properly so called. The flesh of all
animals which live in the sea, — whether they are mammals, fish,
crustaceans, or mollusks, — contains a certain amount of phosphorus. Anyone who
has visited the coast on a summer evening will sometimes have observed that each wave as it breaks on
the shore leaves a phosphorescent gleam behind it,
and a boat passing through the water leaves a long
fiery track in its wake.

This is due to countless myriads of a tiny animal
called Noctiluca miliaris which forms the staple of
food of many small fish, and these in turn become
the prey of larger fish. The flesh of all fish becomes
phosphorescent as soon as it begins to putrefy.

It is true that many scientific men aver that the
property of phosphorescence is found in all parts of
the Animal Kingdom, and that in most, if not all, instances, no traces of phosphorus could be discovered.
There is no need to discuss the question here. We
shall see shortly that Phosphorus is perhaps the only
true aphrodisiac known. We are therefore compelled
to paraphrase the opinion of the blue jay in Mark
Twain's inimitable sketch, and declare that the flesh of
fish, "looks like phosphorus, has the same effect as
phosphorus, and blessed if we don't believe that it is
phosphorus."

For it is acknowledged by nearly all nations

throughout the world that a fish diet stimulates to the
act of venery. The ancients believed that Venus sprung
from the sea and that consequently the aphrodisiacal
properties of a fish diet were logically explained.

Some medical men and philosophers have endeavoured to explain away the theory that fish-eaters are
good performers in the sports of Venus. They deny
that ichthyophagic nations are more given to venery
than other people into whose diet fish does not enter.
Indeed some have declared that it is not eating fish
that makes people lascivious, but that lascivious people
generally like fish.

Mr. John Davenport thinks that it would not "be
difficult to adduce facts to prove to the incredulous"
these two last mentioned theories. But against these
facts he does not give, may be set a whole host of
statements collected in all parts of the world, legends,
allusions found in books and other sources, to prove
that fish-food is an incentive to venery.

Indeed in some districts it is not unusual to find
that special virtues are ascribed to some particular
kind of fish. On many parts of the South Coast it is
Conger, in other parts Hake or Ling, and in many
places, the "thornback Skate". In some of the fishing-
villages of Devonshire, if a young couple has been married for a full
twelvemonth and no baby has put in its appearance, it is not unusual
for the neighbours to leave a skate at the door of the cottage, as a
hint to the young husband that he perhaps may require a stimulant to
excite him to perform his marital duties, and enable him to "knock out" a baby.

Testimony to the efficacy of a fish diet is found
in many authors. Dr. Venette, a French physician
who lived in the last century, and who wrote several
treatises on Generation, Marriage, and other similar

subjects, remarks that those who lived on fish and
shell-fish "are more ardent in love than others", and
he also says that in Lent we are more inclined to
love dalliance, because then we live on fish and vegetables. He however,
ascribes this to these foods being "little more then solidified
water", and hence concludes that water is an aphrodisiac.

Another writer declares that Sultan Saladin wished
to test the continence of two dervishes, and after he
had caused them to be fed on succulent food till
they began to get fat, he sent to them two of his
most beautiful slaves. Though these two young women
displayed every charm which could tempt a man, the
two dervishes were proof against their blandishments,
and turned the girls out of the room.

Then the Sultan caused the dervishes to be fed on
fish for a week, and again he sent the two female
slaves to them. This time nature was too strong,
and the two holy men soon forgot their vows of
chastity in the arms of their lovely temptresses.

Many other instances of the efficacy of a fish diet
could be adduced if necessary, but enough has already
been said on the subject.

In the vegetable kingdom, onions, garlic, and shalot
are also considered to have aphrodisiacal properties,
because they also perhaps contain traces of phosphorus.
Martial alludes to this in one of his epigrams.

Whether rice conduces to the act of venery may
reasonably be doubted. It may, perhaps, have that
effect on Hindoos of the lower orders, — if eaten
in very large quantities by men who are only accustomed to take very little food, but we very much
question its efficacy on Europeans.

Chocolate was at one time considered a powerful
aphrodisiac. A writer of the 17th century — Jean F.

Raucher — declares that many of the scandals which
then disgraced a great number of convents were due to
the monks drinking such quantities of chocolate. There
can be no doubt that it is a stimulating and heating food,
and as such may prove exciting to persons who are
used to simple food, and who have not — or should
not have — any opportunity to work off their superfluous energy in the arms of a lusty wench; but for
-persons who have been in the habit of satisfying their
animal passions, chocolate would not prove more
exciting or stimulating than many other foods.

Mme de Pompadour, who was naturally of a cold
and phlegmatic disposition, and who wished to be
able to properly respond to the lascivious caresses of
Louis XV, used to take chocolate heavily spiced
with amber and vanilla, but she did not find as we
have already said, that it excited her in any way.

Mushrooms were much extolled by certain old writers
as "fitting a man for the arena of love", but as it is
probable that they were eaten with spiced dishes of
meat, the effect produced, and which was ascribed to
the mushrooms, was really due to the other constituents of the dish. Perhaps they may have derived
their reputation from their being considered as in
some way allied to the truffle, which in many countries enjoys the reputation of
being a very powerful aphrodisiac. The truffle is hardly a food,
(though in some parts of Europe it is said to be used as a
vegetable) and will therefore not be considered in this portion of
the present essay. As to exercise in the open air, bathing, and moderate study, it must be obvious that though they
are all very useful, much would depend upon the
person who employed them. What was moderate
study or exercise for one man, would be excessive

15

for another; but with a little practice a man could
easily find out when he had reached the point when
physical exertion or study began to overtax his body
or mind. But they have the advantage of being the
best and safest aphrodisiac a man can take, and they
will not do any harm, — which is more than can
be said for many of the medicinal preparations of
which we shall speak hereafter.

Spices, Condiments, Flavourings &c.

Before entering upon that part of our task, however,
we must first say a few words concerning the spices
and condiments which are supposed to possess aphrodisiac qualities. We say
"supposed" advisedly, for as incentives to lechery the only property
which they possess is that they heat the blood, and so may tend to
increase sexual excitement if they cannot arouse it. Thus pepper,
ginger, mustard, pimento, and other spices, are said to be
aphrodisiacs, and to a certain extent they are no doubt capable of
irritating any mucous surface with which they are brought in
contact, and so causing, whether taken internally or applied externally, a more or less severe priapism. Gesner and
Chaptal cured a case of atony of the member by
immersing the organ in a strong solution of mustardseed, and Tourtelle, and some other French doctors,
testify to the aphrodisiacal properties of pepper.

Vanilla also figures in many of the recipes for
aphrodisiacs, but its properties are, we imagine, overrated.

Truffles — which also may be classed under this
heading — have for centuries been reputed to minister

to venereal pleasures. "They cause men to be exacting
and women to be complying", says Davenport. He
also mentions that George IV instructed the British
Ambassadors in the minor Italian States to forward
him any particularly fine specimens of the tuber which
might be found in those countries. A not too convincing story of the effect of truffles is told by BrillatSavarin. It relates how a married lady was left alone
with a male friend, after a dinner at which truffled
game had formed the principal dish. He became very
importunate and though the lady did not care for him,
and was sufficiently virtuous to reject his proposals,
she encouraged him to hope that the next time she
"truffled" him, he might "ruffle" her. In fact she felt
rather sorry that her chastity got the upper hand.
She ascribed this not very marked leaning towards
incontinence entirely to the truffles, and vowed that
she would be careful how she ate them in future.
Possibly a provocative eye and a glimpse of a wellturned ankle had more to do with the young man's
boldness than the truffles had. Perhaps a glass or two
of champagne might also have contributed to the
excitement of both parties.

This brings us to the consideration of another
question, — viz. how. far alcohol can be considered
an aphrodisiac. In moderation, no doubt alcohol is
one of the best excitants known. Many a maidenhead
has been lost through a glass too much of wine, and
many a Joseph has yielded willingly enough when
Mrs. Potiphar shot lascivious glances at him from
eyes in which wine had made the lust gleam fiercely.

A very slight excess, however, suffices to spoil desire , and soon after this point is reached a very little
more wine or spirits will prevent performance. A man
who has taken too much cares only to sleep, though

the prettiest girl in the world may be lying naked
by his side with all her natural longings unsatisfied.
The case is hardly better when it is the woman and
not the man who has drunk to excess. She will indeed
permit her bed-fellow to do all that he wishes, but
his ardour will soon be dispelled when he finds that
she is incapable of responding in the slightest degree
to his amorous embraces.

HI. Aphrodisiacal drugs.

In the preceding parts we have spoken of various
foods and condiments supposed to affect the organs
of generation; and now we have to speak of those
drugs which are reputed to possess aphrodisiac properties.

There are but some nine or ten of these, — if we
exclude the tonics which simply owe any effect they
have to the fact that they strengthen and fortify
the frame generally, including, of course, the organs
of generation.

Of these nine or ten, only three or four have any
definite claim to be considered as active agents; the
others are, according to scientific men, quite inert,
or at best enjoy a reputation which is founded on
superstition.

The action of these three or four active agents
differs greatly. Taking them in the order of their
medical value, we will begin with

Phosphorus.

Everyone is acquainted with this substance. It is
one of the chemical elements. Every schoolboy has

bought, at some time or other, a small quantity of
this semi-transparent, yellowish, waxy-looking stuff
for the purpose of preparing phosphoric oil and frightening his school-fellows.
As it takes fire at the slightest friction it is dangerous to handle, and of course
• cannot be administered internally unless in minute
doses, and in a state of very fine subdivision. In large
doses it is a powerful corrosive poison, but in very
small doses it is given as a diffusible stimulant, and
to restore vital power after recovery from severe illness — typhoid fever for
instance — or to prolong life in the latter stage of phthisis. It
has also been recommended in gout and rheumatism, and is an ingredient in various rubefacient liniments used in cases
of local paralysis and in obstinate skin diseases.

As an aphrodisiac its action seems due to the fact
that it not only acts as a stimulant, but largely tends
to produce bone in young people, or in adults, semen.
At any rate its effect seems to have been known in
all parts of the world for many generations, and
many curious instances are given in old medical works.
Some of them are more amusing than scientific, as
for instance when it is related that aa drake belonging
to a chemist, having drunk water out of a copper
vessel which had cohtained phosphorus, ceased not
gallanting his females till he died. As phosphorus is
not soluble in water, it is rather wonderful that the
drake was not burned up. Possibly the contortions
which it made in its sufferings were taken for sexual
excitement by some unscientific witness.

Two French physicians of the last century also
tried phosphorus on each other mutually, and agreed
in considering its effects remarkable. The main drawback to its use is, that in unskilful
hands, it is exceedingly dangerous, and in many medical works there

are recorded cases of horribly painful deaths caused
by the administration of phosphorus. As an instance • »
of the reckless and unscientific use of the drug, it
may be mentioned that in* some of the West India
islands, the old procuresses are accustomed to mingle
the heads of lucifer-matches with the decoctions they
brew for the lovers of the hot-blooded mulatta women.

Of course, phosphorus should never be administered
by any unprofessional man, even though he should
be experimenting on his own "vile body", but as not
every medical practitioner may know how to administer
the drug as an aphrodisiac, it may be mentioned that
Mr. Acton, the celebrated surgeon, recommends for
impotence the following formula:

R. 01. Phosphorat. ?j.

01. Morrhuae §vij.

A teaspoonful, gradually increased, for a dose.

For the benefit of those who are unacquainted with
doctor's Latin we give a translation of the above, viz.:

Phosphorized Oil one ounce
Cod Liver Oil seven ounces.

(The phosphorized oil is prepared by adding 6 grains of phosphorus to an ounce
of almond oil). The same authority also recommends a pill containing Ty
of a grain of phosphorus to be taken three times a day. He does not
mention how these pills are to be made, but we have found the
following method the best. Melt 6oo grains of suet in a stoppered bottle capable of holding twice the quantity.
Add to this six grains of phosphorus, and when dissolved, agitate the mixture till it is solid. Divide it
into 3-grain pills, and cover each pill with gelatine.
Each pill contains T,1rd of a grain of phosphorus.

Dr. Debay gives ("Physiologic du Manage", p. 351)
a prescription for a liniment containing phosphorus,
but it is so powerful that we have judged it better
to omit it.

We will next examine a drug which exerts a powerful
effect on the urethro-genital organs of both sexes,
but acts in a quite different manner. We allude to
Cantharides, the exciting and dangerous properties of
which are so well known that, in every civilised country,
legislative measures have been taken to prevent its
administration for criminal purposes.

Cantharides.

Of all the drugs employed as aphrodisiacs there is
none so powerful or so dangerous as cantharides. As
everyone knows, this is the scientific name of a
species of beetle, popularly called Spanish Fly, or
Blistering Beetle [Cantharis Vesicatoria). The insect
to which this name is usually given, is about an inch
long, has a large heartshaped head, and is about
an inch long. It is found in Italy, Sicily, Spain, the
South of France, and the South of Russia. The largest
quantity is exported from the latter country, comparatively little coming from Spain. Specimens of Cantharis have occasionally been found in England, but
it is very rare.

When full grown, the insect feeds on the leaves
of the ash, privet, lilac, elder, and honeysuckle, and
rests on them during the night, the day being its
time of activity. The trees or shrubs frequented by
the insects are beaten in the morning or evening, at
which times the cantharides are lethargic. Cloths or

sheets are spread on the ground to catch the insects,
and these cloths are then emptied into pans of hot
vinegar and' water, to kill the insects. The persons
employed in collecting Spanish flies have to take
great precautions, and wear veils or gloves, as the
insects emit a strong smell which causes inflammation
of the eyes and eyelids, convulsive sneezing, and
irritation of the throat and bronchial tubes. If they
touch the naked skin, blisters will result. Indeed
persons have often been seriously affected merely by
sitting under trees in which the insects abound.

"Spanish Flies", as they are commonly called,
are mainly used for the purposes of making blisters.
The dried bodies of the flies are pounded, and
mixed with a resinous paste or ointment. They are
occasionally administered internally either in powder,
tincture, or extract, in cases of paralysis of the
bladder, obstinate gleet, and in some obstinate skin
diseases — lepra or psoriasis, — and also in hooping cough.

Cantharides produce an intense irritation of the
mucous membrane, the stomach, and the bladder. Strangury will ensue, and perhaps ulceration of the
canal, dysentery, and finally death in intolerable
agony. The insufferable irritation that it causes on the
penis, or the vulva, produces satyriasis, or nymphomania. Many instances, apparently well authenticated,
of this are to be found in medical works. A physician who lived in the last century, records being
called to see a man to whom a witch had administered a potion containing two drachms of Spanish
flies (!) some two months before. The unfortunate man's
wife had been performed on 97 times in the space
of two months, and he had committed selfpollution
at least ten times.

Another man to whom cantharides had been administered, bucked his wife 40 times in one night!
His wife and some other women tied him up in a
wet sheet, and sent for the priest to exorcise the
evil spirit. They then left him, and the next morning
he was found dead, with his mouth open and his
member already beginning to gangrene. Ambroise Par£ also mentions that a courtesan
sprinkled Spanish Fly over a dish she gave her lover,
and the young man was taken with a flow of blood
from the anus, and died shortly after.

In the male, cantharis induces priapism or satyriasis; in the female the irritation of the vulva is so
great that it produces sexual longing, and even a
virgin will cast aside all modesty, and implore a man
to quench the fire of lust which is devouring her.

For this reason it has been made a penal offence
in all countries to administer cantharides. No chemist
will sell any preparation of Spanish Fly — except the
resinous paste used for blistering which could not be
taken internally — without special instructions from
a physician, or unless mixed with other ingredients.
These precautions, and perhaps the spread of education, have caused the offence
of administering cantharis to be rare, or at all events if it is committed,
it is seldom detected.

From the foregoing remarks it will be seen that
it would be extremely rash, to say the least, to administer cantharides either
to oneself or anyone else. One of the best formulae recommended by a
competent medical man is the following:

Tinct. Cantharidis 3 ss

Sp. Lavandulae co. | j
Etheris Chlorici 3 j

Aquae ad. 5 viij

Two table-spoonfuls to be taken three times a day;
at eleven, four, and at bedtime.

Dr. Debay gives a formula, but it is not so good
as the one printed above, but we thoroughly agree
with him in his sensible, but somewhat naive remark
that his readers had better not take cantharides at
all, if they wish to keep their stomach in good condition. Nux Vomica. Strychnia.

Scientifically considered, Nux Vomica, or rather
Strychnia, should be the best aphrodisiac known. It
is, of course, a dangerous medicine, as an overdose
is likble to cause convulsions, or even death; but on
the whole, it is far safer than either of the preceding
drugs, because its effects are known and certain, and
not being a corrosive poison antidotes can be more
easily applied.

Nux Vomica is the round flattened seed of the
Strychnos Nux Vomica, a tree found in the East
Indies. It is very bitter in taste, and possessed of
active and dangerous properties, due to an alkaloid,
Strychnia, which can be extracted from the seeds,
and which is poisonous in an extreme degree. Another
alkaloid exists in them, called Brucia, which resembles Strychnia but is less powerful.

Nux Vomica and Strychnia are powerful excitants
of the spinal system of nerves. The latter has been
occasionally given as an aphrodisiac, but its comparatively recent discovery, combined with the fact that
medical men of the present day seldom prescribe
aphrodisiacs, prevents much being known respecting
its action, — though, as we have already said, theo-

retically considered, it should be a valuable stimulant.

The following formula will be found to be a capital tonic at any rate, whether it has aphrodisiac
properties or not. It is that recommended by Mr. Acton:
R. Ferri et Quiniae Citratis 9ij

M. fiat mistura. A table spoonful to be taken in a
wineglassful of water three times a day.

Perhaps as an aphrodisiac the following preparation,
given by the celebrated German physician Vogt,
"fills the bill", as it will be seen that it contains all
the three most powerful excitants.

R. Tinct Nucis Vom.
Tinct Cantharides
Etheris Phosphorati ana 9?j

Misce: sumat gtt xxx ter quaterve de die.

Mr. Acton says he has found strychnine a very
valuable tonic in cases of impotence attended with
great nervous depression, whether resulting from sexual
excesses or any other cause, and equally beneficial
in cases which depend upon weak or imperfect erection. He finds that it is capable of increasing the
general muscular action when prescribed either alone
or in combination with quinine, as in the recipe given
above.

In common with many other narcotics, opium exercises a stimulating effect, when taken in small doses.
In the Chinese and Japanese brothels, says the author Liq. Strychniae (B. P.)
Syrupi

Aq. Chloroformi ad.

liv

m. xl

3iv

Opium.

There are five or six other drugs, the aphrodisiac
value of which is more or less doubtful or feeble.
They are: Amber, Ambergris, Musk, Civet, Myrrh,
and Ginseng.

Possibly there has been some confusion between
amber and ambergris, and the virtues of the, latter
have been wrongfully attributed to the former — if
indeed there were any virtues to attribute in either
case. Amber and the acid destilled from it (Succinic
Acid) are sometimes given as an antispasmodic, but
have little efficacy from a medical point of view.

Ambergris has no connection with amber, except
in name, for whereas the former is believed to be a
fossil resin, the latter is a kind of secretion found in
the intestines of the spermaceti-whale. It is believed
by Orieatals to possess various virtues, including
aphrodisiacal ones, but in the West, is never used

(1) The Chinese in Batavia are said to prepare an electuary called
Affion, and chiefly composed of opium. It is said to cause such lust that
the woman is often obliged to flee from the too energetic embraces
of her lover.

except to "bring out" odours, for though it has no
perfume itself it is believed to increase the scent of
other ingredients in potpourri and similar mixtures.
Its high price, — about 80 s. per oz — prevents its
being used, even in small quantities, in medicine or
the arts. In a few years it will perhaps not be procurable at all, as the spermaceti-whale will become
extinct, unless measures are taken for its preservation,
as has been done in the case of the fur-seals.

In the Gazetier CuirassS, and other precious productions of the time, Mme du Barry is accused of
having had recourse to chocolate flavoured with ambergris, and other means which the chronicler is
ashamed to put on record, in order to revive the
jaded faculties of the King (Louis XV) and provoke
him to the performance of the act of love.

The most recent biography of "The last of the
Queens of the left hand", goes to prove, and we
think coilclusively, that M®« du Barry never stood
in need of any drugs, but was herself the very best
aphrodisiac imaginable. She was not only the most
beautiful woman in France, — perfect in face, bust,
and limb, — but she was a true whore, loved her
profession, and received quite as much pleasure as
she gave in the sports of Venus. For nearly twenty
years she had been proficient in the use of her —
charms — and had practised venery with all sorts
and conditions of men. The King must have been
broken down completely if he needed any other aphrodisiacs than such as his deliciously wanton bedfellow could supply. Indeed Louis acknowledged as
much, and said that the fair Comtesse was "theonly
woman who could make him forget that he was past
sixty."

Musk, Civet, and Castoreum are all obtained from

animals, and are doubtless connected with the sexual
organs of the various animals.

Musk is obtained from the Musk Deer (Moschus
moschatus), a native of China. The odour is very powerful, even in the
adulterated condition in which the perfume reaches Europe. In
medicine, it is described as a diffusible stimulant, and antispasmodic.
As it is given in hysteria, and to rouse the system
after typhoid and other fevers, it is possible that it
may possess some slight aphrodisiac virtues.

In the middle ages wonderful virtues were ascribed
to musk. One medical writer declares that by means
of this drug he resuscitated the genital power in a
man who had nearly completed his eightieth year.
Some wonderful instances are given by other writers,
but one, named Borelli, caps them all by declaring
that a man who had rubbed some musk on his member
just before having connection with his wife, was unable to separate from her at the completion of the
act, his penis having swelled so enormously that it
could not be withdrawn until some lavements of cold
water had been applied. Either the men or the musk
must have deteriorated since those days.

Musk is still much used by the courtesans of Paris,
who carry a small bag between the breasts, and sometimes a bag near the waist as well. They do this to
cover their natural smell. Henry IV of France, —
who was no bad judge, — declared that the natural
smell of a woman was the best of all aphrodisiacs,
but the men of the present day are more squeamish,
— or the Parisian prostitutes fancy they are, which
comes to the same thing.

Civet, — "the most uncleanly flux of a cat" as
Shakespeare calls it, — is not reputed to have aphrodisiac properties. Castor certainly has to the beaver

from which it is obtained, and may have on man,
for it is prescribed in the same way as Musk. It is,
however, very scarce and hardly ever used.

Myrrh is mentioned by some writers, but appears
to be inert by itself, though it may be useful as an
adjunct to more powerful ingredients.

Ginseng is a root highly esteemed in China as a
medicine, being there universally regarded as possessing the most extraordinary virtues, and as a remedy for all diseases, particularly exhaustion of body
or mind. It is sometimes sold for its weight in gold.
It was once introduced into Europe but soon forgotten.
The scientific name of the species is Panax. Two
varieties are fragrant aromatics used in the Malaccas,
and another variety is a common plant in America
where it is used as a domestic medicine, and large
quantities are also exported to China, but European
and American medical practitioners have no very
exalted ideas as to its therapeutic value.

As it is still used in China, mention is made of it
here, but there was some doubt as to whether it
should not have been included amongst those numerous
substances which form what may be called the "folklore"
of aphrodisiacs. The consideration of these substances
would not be uninteresting — quite otherwise indeed,
— but it would extend this article to undue limits,
and is not precisely within the limits of the subject.

Fully a dozen plants might be mentioned which
in remote times were supposed to possess wonderful
virtues. Chief amongst these, as being the first aphrodisiac mentioned in history is the mandrake, to which
allusion is made in the Old Testament (Genesis XXX,
v. 14—17).

"And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest
and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them
unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah,
give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes.

And she said unto her: Is it a small matter that
thou hast taken my husband, and wouldest thou take
away my son's mandrakes also.

And Rachel said: Therefore he shall lie with thee
to night for thy son's mandrakes.

And Jacob came out of the field in the evening,
and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou
must come in into me, for surely I have hired thee
with my son's mandrakes. And he lay with her that
night".

Commentators have spilled a vast amount of ink
in their efforts to determine what plant was intended
by the dudaitn — the Hebrew word employed. Some
of them were idiotically incorrect, but there seems no
doubt that the plant was the mandragora, which is
edible though' not much appreciated by Europeans,
and has a root which being like a "fantastically forked
radish", also resembles a man.

The most remarkable thing about the story is the
antiquity of the belief, or a nomadic family, with little
chance of intercourse with other people, could hardly
have heard of the superstition, yet Reuben, his mother,
and his aunt, all seem to have been acquainted with
the aphrodisiacal properties of the plant.

In Greek and Latin authors many allusions to the
mandragora are found. Mandrakes, it would appear,
are all right when you've got them, but you've got
to get them first. They have a not unnatural antipathy
to being pulled up, which they evince by killing the
puller. Aphrodisiacs are no good to a man after he
is dead, so therefore he had to devise a method of

pulling his mandrakes by deputy. Some one hit on
the ingenious plan of harnessing a dog to the mandrake, and then beating the dog. The dog started,
the mandrake came up with a blood-curdling yell,
and the dog at once died. Whether you made anything on the transaction, depended on the value of
the dog, but it must have been a very poor sort of
dog that wasn't worth more than a mandrake, we
should imagine!

The belief in the powers of mandragora lasted till
late in the Middle Ages. Men and women wore little
amulets supposed to be made from the dried root of
the plant, which were supposed by the wearers to
increase the powers of generation. The superstition
even lasted down to quite recent times when the
forked root seems to have become associated in the
popular mind with the "Hand of Glory", and the
plant was only to be found under a gibbet. It had
lost part of its power it would seem, for the dreadful
screams it uttered when pulled up, no longer killed
but only rendered deaf the person who pulled it.

Another plant to which even greater aphrodisiacal
virtues were attributed was the Satyrion (a species
of orchid) the mere application of which to the parts
of generation would enable a man to accomplish the
act of love twelve times successively. It was this plant
which the Indian King, Androphyl (rather a suspicious
name that, by the way,) sent to King Antiochus by
an Indian who declared that he had tried it on himself and been enabled to score 70 "off his own bat!"
but that the last few were "short runs". Matthiole comes to the conclusion that we must have
lost the true satyrion of the ancients, since there is
no plant known in the present day which will enable
a man to perform feats of that sort. Another variety

16

of the same plant furnishes salep, a mucilaginous nutritious food which was once popular with our lower
classes.

There are several other plants which enjoy a reputation which has no scientific basis. Amongst these is
the Rocket (Brastca eruca) which was highly esteemed
by the ancients, and said to have been planted round
the statues of Priapus. The celebrated botanist, Lobel,
gives an amusing account of how the plant was recommended by a wandering friar to some monks who
were suffering from depression of spirits. It not only
elevated their spirits but elevated something else as
well, and so much so, indeed, that they scaled the
monastery walls, and sought relief in the arms of the
peasant women of the neighbourhood.

Flagellation for flagging Genitories. Here we must conclude this short and
imperfect account of Aphrodisiacs. There remain only two subjects to be mentioned, — topical aphrodisiacs and
flagellation.

Of the former, there is little to be said. That friction, electricity, rubefacient embrocations, heat &c.,
would cause an erection, in any person who is not
debarred by age or disease from being capable of
the sexual act, is so obvious a truism that the matter
is hardly worth mention.

Flagellation and urtication (beating with fresh nettles)
if unpleasant aphrodisiacs, are effective. Their efficacy
has been known for centuries, and quite an extensive
list of the bibliography of the subject could be compiled , for scores of books treating more or less directly
on flagellation have been written.

Few questions are as fascinating as that of whipping
with the object of exciting Venereal desire. We have
no intention to swell out the proportions of this book
by going into the History of this craze. For details
with regard to the Eroticism of Oriental Striking,
the Student may refer to the aKana Soutra" of that
holy Man, Vatsyayana. The various Modes are analysed in Chapter III. According to him there are six
parts of the body which may be struck, four kinds
of striking, and eight different sounds or cries arising therefrom. Nor are the blows always given with
the hand: The wedge on the bosom, the scissors on
the head, the piercing instrument on the cheeks, and
the pincers on the breasts and sides may also be
taken into consideration with the other four modes
of striking, and thus give eight ways altogether. But
these four ways of striking with instruments are peculiar to the people of the
southern countries, and the marks caused by them are seen on the
breasts of their women. They are local peculiarities, but Vatsyayana is of opinion that the practice of them is
painful, barbarous, and base, and quite unworthy of
imitation.

In the same way anything that is a local peculiarity should not always be adopted elsewhere, and
even in the place where the practice is prevalent,
excess of it should always be avoided. Instances of
the dangerous use of them may be given as follows.
The King of the Fanchalas killed the courtezan Madhawasena by means of the wedge during congress.
King Shatakarni Shatavahana of the Kuntalas
deprived his great Queen Malayavati of her life by
a pair of scissors, and Naradeva, whose hand was deformed, blinded a dancing
girl by directing a piercing instrument in the wrong way.

About these things there cannot be either enumeration or any definite rule.
Congress having once commenced, passion alone gives birth to all the acts of
the parties.

An ingenious writer in a little book called "The By-
Way to Heaven" now very rare, has drawn a clever
distinction between "Attrition" and "Contrition."

"A most happy expedient" says he, "was hit off
by a vigorous monk and confessor to a convent of
nuns, to whom he preached that the shortest road to
Heaven, and the bye-way thither for the elect, was
to lower in the most humbling manner they could,
that part of their body which was the most elevated.
By this means certain plumpnesses (in vulgar phrase
called posteriors) and most despised, would be raised
to a deserved and conspicuous degree of eminence:
in which situation they might be sure of receiving,
anon, animating impressions, and missionary irradiations, if they were destined
to figure among the elect." Natural curiosity as well as religious
obedience, must have made any woman, nun, or other, pay proper
regard to so interesting a tale (doctrine we mean) nay proceed
without hesitation to the putting it in practice, and this gave rise
to two whimsical terms, invented by error, to wit, attrition and contrition , both derivatives from the Latin verb terere,
to rub. Its compound atterere, signifies to rub to:
conterere to rub with. Attrition was done by the woman
when lowering her head, the highest part of her body,
she rubbed her nose on the ground. In this act of
devotion she must be supported on her knees, to
raise to a conspicuous view her background, whose
situation in general is rather low, and held in contempt. In that position the fair penitent resembles

somewhat those peculiarly shaped vessels, which mariners call a low peak and high stern.

The second part of the ceremony, contrition, borrowed from confer ere, to rub with, and executed by
the judiciously intriguing confessor, or conscience director, that by neither
bearing too heavily upon, nor touching with his mortal hands, the
discovery of such a fraud might be prevented. She the while was to
keep her eyes piously closed, the veil drawn fast before them as yet
not worthy of having a peep at heavenly things. — The operation
proved too pleasureable not to be readily believed in, because flattering to her pride for the present, and a hope of
hereafter; as well as on account of her exquisite sensation to her unknown,
until the priestly office of installation; which by the implicit
devotee was received as a super-natural gift, that she desired to
repeatedly taste of, as often as the holy man should
think her worthy of being honoured with such mystical and enraptured visitations, which indeed was as
frequently as he could comply with her request.

From pranks like these, have been derived all the
imposture of stigmats, and other religious frauds, as
practiced by Pere Girard with La Cadiere, etc. etc.
etc. and in their calendars, (as may be seen in some
of the old legendary collections,) are called the Sinners
practical Comfort, or the pious Recreation of
Nez a Terre
Cul en VAir.

Occasionally the Flagellation Mania takes a peculiar
turn and many are the stories told of the whipping
Pranks of Individuals who held similar Ideas to the
Priests in regard to the human arse. "Towards the
end of the seventeenth century the streets of London

were haunted by an individual whose diversion it was
to truss, and slap or whip the women he met. So
adroit was he, that popular belief endowed him with
supernatural powers. I have before me a curious broadside, "London, Printed for EDWARD BROOKS, 1681"
headed: Whipping Tom Brought to light, and exposed
to View: In an Account of several late Adventures of
the pretended Whipping Spirit. Whipping Tom, we
are told: "for some weeks past, has lurked about in
Alleys, and Courts in Fleet-Street, Chancery-lane, Shoelane the Strand, Holborn, and other places, and at
unawares seazes upon such as he can conveniently
light on, and turning them up as nimble as an Eel
(sic), makes their Butt ends cry Spanko; and then
(according to the Report of those who have felt the
weight of his Paws) vanished; for you must know,
that having left the Country, he has not the advantage of getting Rods, and therefore is obliged to use
his hands instead thereof: His first Adventure, as
near as we can learn, was on a Servant Maid in
New Street, who being sent out to look her Master
(sic), as she was turning a Corner, perceived a Tall
black Man standing up against the wall, as if he had
been making water, but she had not passed far, but
with great speed and violence seized her, and in a
trice, laying her cross his knee, took up her Linnen,
and lay'd so hard upon her Backside, as made her
cry out most pitiously for help, the which he no
sooner perceiving to approach (as she declares) but
he vanished; and although diligent search was made,
no person could be found".

In a pretentious pamphlet bearing the following title
and which, considering its class is not badly written,
we obtain a superficial sketch of the history of flagellation from the earliest ages: "Mysteries of Flagel-

lation, or A History of the Secret Ceremonies of the
Society of Flagellants. The Saintly Practice of the
Birch! St. Francis whipped by the Devil! How to
subdue the Passions, by the Art of Flogging! With
many Curious Anecdotes of the Prevalence of this
Peculiar Pastime in all Nations and Epochs, whether
Savage or Civilized".

This tractate notices more particularly some of the
noted establishments of London, among others the
"White House", the ttDen of Mother Cummins", the
"Elysium in Brydiges Street", etc. The account of the
Potter affair I will give in full: "On that date (July,
1863), under the auspices of the Society for the
Protection of Females, seizure was made at the then
notorious 'Academy* of Sarah Potter, alias Stewart,
in Wardour Street, and a rare collection of Flagellation appurtenances taken to the Westminster Police
Court, when the general public, for the first time,
became aware that young females were decoyed into
Stewart's School of Flogging, to undergo the ordeal
of the birch from old and young Flagellists, for the
benefit of the woman Stewart. These curious specimens
of her stock-in-trade consisted of a folding ladder, with
straps, birch rods, furze brooms and secret implements,
for the use of male and female.

"Her method of conducting business was to get
hold of young girls, board, lodge, and clothe them,
and in return they were obliged to administer to the
lust of the patrons of the boarding-house. They were
flogged in different ways. Sometimes strapped to the
ladder, at others flogged round the room, — at times
they were laid on the bed. Every device or variation
which perverted ingenuity could devise was resorted
to so as to give variety to the orgies, in return
for which the mistress of the house was paid sums

varying from £ $ to £ 15. The profits of this school
enabled Stewart to keep a country-house and fancyman , to the great scandal of
the community". — The above account is exaggerated. It cannot be
said that the girl was flogged against her will, for she was in the
habit of birching gentlemen, and even of submitting to be whipped herself when well paid. Certain
it is that she returned to Mrs. Potter after her release
from prison, and lived with her a considerable time
in Howland Street.

Mrs. Sarah Potter, alias Stewart, was a bawd
of some importance, and at one time made a good
deal of money. During her chequered career she
changed her residence very frequently, having lived
at Castle Street, Leicester Square, where, I believe,
she commenced business, then in Wardour Street,
then in Albion Terrace, King's Road, Chelsea, then
in Howland Street, Tottenham Court Road, where
she was convicted of selling indecent books, and sent
to prison; then in Old Kent Road, and finally in
Lavinia Grove, King's Cross, where she died in 1873. —
The flagellations which went on under her auspices
were chiefly administered to gentlemen, although girls
were of course at times castigated. Her speciality was
for procuring very young girls, with whose parents
she generally managed to make arrangements beforehand, so as to keep herself free from scrapes. These
children she would dress up in fancy clothes and teach
them various tricks for the amusement of her customers.

The Student curious to obtain further information
on this absorbing subject will find more details to the
point in the following work, to which we beg to refer
him: "Flagellation in France viewed from a Medical
and Historical standpoint, being pathological Studies
of the Past". Paris, 1898.

On the whole we are bound to differ from those
medical men who declare that there is no such thing
as a true aphrodisiac. There are aphrodisiacs both
physical and medical, but they are unpleasant if not
dangerous. We repeat therefore; — If a man's own
five senses, assisted by the willing aid of a pretty
woman cannot enable him to attain his end — and
her's — "not poppy nor mandragora", nor fustigation,
phosphorus, or cantharides would be of much avail.

and

VERITABLE PROGNOSTICATION

of

WILD COYNTES WITH THE

MANNER of TAMING THEM

NEWLY PRINTED

AT THE INSTIGATION

of a

PRIEST OF COYNTE-TAMERS.

Taking into consideration the profits and disadvantages of marrying or not, and incited thereto by
studious intent and ingenious curiosity, albeit long
and undecided whether to do it or not, I ventured to
take up a hard and difficult question, formerly mooted
among certain gentlemen, who were much in doubt
and perplexity, as to whether when marrying it would
be better for them to marry a widow, which grew
into an unexpectedly great question.

And to satisfy those who were in this forest of Coyntes
esteeming and believing that in the multitude of marriages, there must be a great diversity of Coyntes,
the more so that in the various marriages, neither the husbands nor
the wives, are ever like unto one another, and for this cause and
reason, I do assert and conclude, that according as the marriages and spouses
are different, so are the Coyntes.

And I write in order to spread knowledge of the
Distinction and Difference between the former, of
their Quarrels and Delectations: and to teach every
man to elect or refuse the latter, so that they may
flee from and avoid many grievous maladies and inconveniences which result therefrom.

Therefore let no one be astonished, who reads this
little treatise, that I should have taken so much trouble

to extol the marriage of widows, which are called
"second nuptials", and to which in such cases learned
Doctors of Law apply a term which resembles Convoler1 (Coynte-flying). It must be a very strange thing to
see a Coynte fly. However these Convolements (remarriages) are reproved by Civil Law; and it properly appears that the Imperial laws consider infamous and use
to excommunicate the women who marry a second time.

For when they are married for the first time, and
the moment is come for devirginating them, which
was called by our Elders "deflowering", their husbands
cannot have with them perfectly voluptuous conjugal
enjoyment, because these tender young girls who have
never yet swallowed incarnardine pills, when they come
to have to incorporate them do not know what they
are about, and it is an incalculable labour to rub
them and curry-comb them until they are domestically
trained, to boldly exercise the act of generation. But
the stout-arsed widow dame, who has tasted and often enjoyed the barbaric
suppository, and has then been for some time without making any use
of it, when in second marriage she begins again, in order to gratify
her second husband, and also to enjoy on her own account without sin
a good meal, for which she has long been fasting, she makes —
besides what she had learned at her first marriage — some extra movements of cunning tricks of body, more supple than
those she once used to invent under the first husband.
But the nature of the question which the present
treatise has to examine is whether it is possible for
a young widow, — who in her first marriage has

(i) Convoler'. to marry. The author decomposes the word in
order to perpetrate a dubious joke. Convoler en deuxiemes noces, is
"to marry a second time".

borne a child as big as a man, and smaller ones afterwards, remaining after losing her husband, in widowhood
five or six years without accomplishing the work of
nature — for her Coynte to have become again turned
into so laudable position, that the same should again
smart when it is once more begun to be ploughed?

In order to decide this burning question, and to
comply with the wishes of both dames and young
ladies, and honourable widows, I have conferred
with many venerable and ancient prelates and modest
matrons, expert in such secrets, with whom the discussion has often lasted rather long, in order better
to investigate to the bottom this subtle subject,
finally the decision was such, as will be later shown
towards the end of the present booklet, which aims
only at the honour and service of the Female Sex,
and which we heartily beg, in order that all noble
spirits, men and women, and others to whose estate
it may pertain, may more distinctly and easily understand its contents, to accept the separation and division
I have made of it into chapters, as arranged here
below, begging of you my much honoured readers,
to receive kindly my little labour.

(SoljnteS of $)ames anb of ©amoisette
(SotytteS of Stout ©urgeSS, anb of 3ttaiben
(SoljnteS of (Servants, or of (Sonbent*cett
fttt are Sfytpeb on tye Same pattern.

CHAPTER I. . ♦

Of what Fashion Coyntes are, and of the
Difference existing between them.

It is first of all to be noted that all Coyntes in
general are composed, contained and formed of a

spongy and obedient carnality, never rebelling, and
which dilates by its proper nature, makes room according to the opportunity of its want. It is therefore
to be known that there are different sorts ofCoyntes:
some are phtisical, others are dropsical and others
again mediocre.

Among the phtisic Coyntes, some are like a little
flat with a slit in it, enveloped in a little skin, without
either mount or border. There are others of the same
kind which have but a scant promontory, and at the
donjon door there is a bony obstruction which prevents
and damps the will and power that one had hoped
to find for that effect, making it but a poor and
unlucky trade. The mediocre Coyntes according as
they differ from the phtisical and approach to the
dropsical are therefore better and more magnificent.
Nevertheless like the phtisical they are contagious and
all who approach them become infected.

The dropsical Coyntes are contagious and infect the
members which pay visit to them. And for that reason
the Chevalier Messire de La Marche, a devotee of
the fair sex, when like another Caesar he defied old
age, determined to take to wife in second marriage,
an ancient damoiselle of the House of Burgundy, which
damoiselle was tall and grown up like a vine-pole, thin
and bony, with a long phtisical contagious Coynte. He
saw an old friend and good comrade from Picardy,
who endeavouring to dissuade him from this marriage,
adressed him in jest-wise the following roundelay:

3 (Sotynte mabe of ttoo dji}> $ of tooob
©orbeteb bty ttm> Mad plat*,
Sfab tingeb toity a crimson ©ftt
$a6 trappeb a Solbier, ancient anb goob,
Ot foots more life a ttna of catbS.

3t* tip* are quite flat anb toto.

Site a gfast in tbe nig^t it id beabfy toljite

SCtsb toitt toorf our braoe frtenb'S tool.

On a bar! garret totyere rats are caught
Styou'ti get matty a ftiodf on tlje patoS,
3t'S Ijarbfy a moutb ttyat t$i$ cotpite can boast
more $an one poor prtd $aS Been taught,
©ut a Saoage pair of clatoS!

With regard to the dropsical Coyntes: some resemble
a big pear slit open, others a big sheep's heart, the
biggest half below, and of these the fruit is far more
pleasant, and much more voluptuous. And yet a great
commissariat officer, in his time a notable scrutator
of feminine secrets, at the request of Monsieur des
Cordes, then Governor of Picardy, wrote two elegant
ballads, one on the Perfection and Beauty of a horse,
and the other on the Excellence of Woman: and when
he comes to describe the lower bush-covered region,
he says that a lovely woman must be:

©ettoeen tip* men furnistyeb of ftleSty
*Big anb in front a fine Sotjnte
perfect in beauty anb pleasant to tyre*$
©toeet in toefcome but $arb to Iance*point
% goob Stout ©elfy, t$e mount S^ab'n fre$&
3$e rump planteb Strongfy anb toett
3B$en t$e arSe^ofe'S cloSeb up Strong anb tigtyt
SKtyat red* it ti?o' ®ame Sotynte be beep as oerty
•So tyat Stye Squeeze tyer mate toitty fierce tooe^StoeU
$or suc$ queenfy atynteS Stoalfoto up (Sarty'S nigtyt
fritting our neroeS toitlj fiouriS' beiig^t

CHAPTER II.

On the Dimensions of Coyntes;
on their various Openings, and the Formation
of the snub-faced Coyntes.

For the greater glorification of Coyntes, we now
proceed to a more ample description of the solemn
and consequential Coyntes, there being some of various
sizes: that is to say some have the opening long,
others have it of medium length, and others again
have the entry almost round, at the highest part.

As to this last sort the Doctors are of opinion that
they are peculiars to these gentle demoiselles who in
their youth, have courteously allowed themselves to
be forced standing, and have for a long time continued
this sweet and delectable excercise on such fashion,
by which it has happened in succession of time, from
this agreable custom, that, no matter how long their
slits may have been, this assiduity in combatting upright has reduced the length
into rotundity; and when afterwards they found leisure to militate
on their backs, this rotundity so well begun, became first reduced
to a lozenge, and then finally to competent length. And if such
creatures are of good and plump complexion and continue for a long time this manner of
copulating with man, — as it often may happen to
high born dames at Court, where they are obliged
to hide behind hangings, — the assiduity with which
they so often agitate their gentle buttocks in counter
manner, raises up their cunnified carnosity, and so
transforme them into snub-faced Coyntes, like unto
the snout of a mule engendered by a bull, excepting
that they have no ears, and had they any, they

"7

should be cut off, for thieves they are so to entice
and steal stiff sausages. And such-like Coyntes with
well garnished mounts are, according to Doctors in
fornicatio juris, admirable, juridical Coyntes.

There are others which are made in despite, and
may be called "Coyntes in despite*', forgotten of nature,
which was then much incensed, because they present
but pitiful little openings, intended by means of distillation to purge away the relics of female impotency,
and of these no use can be made without the aid of
previous incision, which is a forced and unpleasant
thing. And whatever may be said to the contrary, if
those to whom they belong remain a long time without
accomplishing the work of nature, it is always to be
done over again, because artificial Coyntes are never
equal in perfection to the real ones, inasmuch as
nature always surpasses artifice. Concerning Coyntes
and means I must refer to next the chapter.

CHAPTER III.

Various Opinions on the Diversity of Coyntes
according to certain Doctors.

On the diversity of Coyntes such as are long,
medium, round, or otherwise shaped, the Doctors
are at variance, some saying that it proceeds from
the diversity of complexions among women-folk quoting
thereupon Avicenna and Hippocrates, saying that
choleric women are mostly inclined to be long and
thin, and have the Coynte thin, consumptive and
with a long slit. The melancholic ones, dried and
dusty as the pole of a baker's shovel, generally have
it so badly made that one does not know what it

means, except that on feeling it, one should judge
by conjecture that there was some sort of opening
between two rude pieces of bone, or of wood badly
shaped, like a broken rafter, and of these two forms
of Coyntes so badly equipped there proceed engrafted
Coyntes, barred Coyntes, striped Coyntes, crooked
Coyntes, empaled Coyntes, granulated Coyntes, the
decyphering of which is useless, and for that reason
I say nothing about them but prefer rather to hold
my peace. And if such creatures become very old,
you will find on them shrivelled and musty Coyntes,
and such Coyntes I do hate, efface and annihilate,
and have no esteem for them.

The purely phlegmatic are usually short and dumpy,
and have the Coynte big and swollen, and it seems as if
stuffed with tow, and does not rebound to the rider's
leaps. The most sanguine are of medium stature, and
have it of an agreable and pleasant volume of slit and
mount, and are willingly sprightly and always the same,
of pleasing aspect, and always ready with amiable
promptitude to endure an assault when it is expedient.
But those who are sanguineo-phlegmatic, compact in
proper proportion and amiable concordance of humours,
are of competent stature, neither too tall nor too short,
have the Coynte properly filled out, big and chubby,
answering well to her man: and such Coyntes deserve
properly to be called domestic Coyntes, all proper
for household work, to serve in the country as well
as in town, on feast-days as well as on working days:
the said Coyntes are also always inclined and ready
for work if necessary, as it often happens that they
may have to appear in two places, and such women
take great pleasure and delectation, when they are
turned into hermaphrodites. And to prevent them
from falling down from suffocation or martial tumble,

the secret is to phlebotomise their middle vein, for
they are deserving of it. I am silent with regard to
the Coyntes of lame women,.which are like gutterspouts, but which according to the complexion of their
owners, may participate in the good or bad fortunes
of the Coyntes above described.

CHAPTER IV.

Which Coyntes ought to be chosen and
which should be avoided.

But now, all things having been well considered
and advised, we must on the other hand proceed to
the selection of Coyntes, for the preservation of human
health and to avoid also intolerable dangers; therefore
do I exhort you to avoid, as you would the lightning,
all consumptive and contagious Coyntes, and those
that are too much frequented, which are kept ready
for all comers: these you must flee as from the tempest,
for often are they lost Coyntes, chancred Coyntes,
Coyntes with fistulas, with ulcers, with hanging pleats,
besmeared Coyntes, mortiferous Coyntes, veined Coyntes, Assured and blotched, and perhaps webbed and
ordinarily in several parts, scarred, and even doubly
closed, and therefore criminal Coyntes, which for their
crimes have undergone the pikestaffs; they must be
shunned as you would shun the bright Greek fire,
for with such Coyntes delectations are risky and of
such pernicious consequence, that it would be far
better to be castrated at once than to make any use
of them.

But choose well appointed, right illustrious, trium-

phant Coyntes, well proportioned in mount and
opening and big and chubby with mobility, such as
have been spoken of above, principally fair and curly
women, which are the daughters of the sun, and very
eager and fitting for conception. Such will usually have
a golden Coynte, and when you can find them quite
young at the age of fourteen or thereabouts, rather
more than less, and that they have as yet but little
or no wool on their skin, these have Coyntes which,
besides their golden mantle, are rightly sweet, and
with such it is well to make acquaintance.

But, inasmuch as the deciphering of these interior
secrets of so profound regions cannot procure us much
recreation and still less decoration for our forest of
Coyntes, I have deemed it meet and fitting to stop at
this point. Those who wish to learn more must have
recourse to the works of Avicenna and to the treatises
on anatomy. God who created all things, owes to all
you who read this, the fulfilment of your pretty desires.
I trust that the reading of this little book, which was
written for your recreation, may give you pleasure
and contentment.

man to$o feoutb a ftine ©oman entrap,
3n (Sngtanb imtSt d&ooSe Ijer $ace,
$er in ftlanberS $e'U toarefulfy Snap,
SBity ©reaStS of $e Stout SRormanb race;
©ut $er Gutynte $e must in $aris Select
21 nb a dettel of copulation Ije'U possess.

2$e tooman stout arms anb plump,
©ig bubbteS toain anb Snub noSe,
Song tongue, Stout $ips anb S$ort $anbS
SiWobeS life a betnon as ebety Saint tnottS
Styen man tumbles $er botom on far rump.

2$e girt to&o males $er bubs to S$oto
©eneatlj a Scant, close-fitting breSS
Sobers of mounting tljerebty toifl fnoto,
Conceals a coynte tljat pants for caress.

FOR ALL THOSE
THE NOTABLE LEASE AND EXCELLENT.

Who are willing to take on lease and have possessions
of such property (with all therein pertaining) passages,
ways and incomes of a young lady with beautiful eyes,
of her frontage, which she constitutes into passages,
ways and incomes, proprietory rights proper hereinafter
enumerated and declared in this present contract of lease.
As stated here below.

Having appeared in person, Youthful Dame of the
beautiful eyes, grand Mistress of her Coynte and great
Dame of Futterwell, who declares having leased, and
offers to deliver possession the same to be enjoyed
at all hours, in right of tenure and passage at Simphorian of the Buttocks, master apprentice in gutshaking, residing at Cockstand-by-Bow, and by these
presents lessee of the said rights of passage for himself and for all others who may wish to come and
reside at the domanial place hereinafter described:

That is to say, a Coynte, with all passages duly
bordered, and bordered with ways and passages, as it
is proper to be to get rid of all superfluities, at present
free of all obstruction, situated at the foot of the
Mount, underneath the Belly: consisting in one large

m

hall, with Kitchen, several chambers, and larder,
suitable as well for winter as for summer, court and
garden, smoked and in all seasons partitioned off by
several rich tapestry hangings of yellow gold and
variegated, the which chambers are furnished as
follows:

Firstly.

That is to say, at the entrance, a sliding bar of
gold, a wrinkled fart between, the bald randy one
and the great dung place, the hole just put into
fresh condition with the borders turned down strong
and powerful, and the neighbourhood of this place,
moved closely at least four times a year Without
bushes left hanging by the roots, and access to the
deep well that never dries up, and usually supplies
the neighbours with drink. The whole enclosing two
quarters of mountain, and two acres in obscure and
sombre valleys, leading ori one side to the dung-pit,
and on the other to the two thighs, opening at one
end below to the slit and horn of the arse, near
Buttocks alley at the other end to the smaller belly,
and the grand pathway between both. And in the
quit-rent of Lord Rogerhard and charged to him
with rights of way, and rentats due by him, without
other charges than those hereinafter mentioned. Which
passages the said Lord Rogerhard and of the Grand
Arse, shall be held to allow and suffer to pass the
drainings and filth from the Coynter without thereby
in any way narrowing the said pathway: The said
lessee being held to plough and cultivate other substances, and to maintain the soil of the river banks
of the said Coynte in such good condition, work and
value, that the said -right of way may not be granted,

let or leased to other parties, nor otherwise alienate
part or portion of the said coynts and rights of way.
But altogether to enlarge, cause to grow and augment and not to diminish the said Coynte,
to sweep, polish and nourish it often, day by day, at various hours,
as it is proper and right necessary so to do. And in case the lessee
should wish to quit the estate, finding it too burthensome and
fatiguing, he will be obliged to return it in substance, good
condition and sweetness, together with this appurtenances and furniture hereinafter enumerated, and other small objects
that may be found thereunto pertaining. And in order
to guarantee the said rights, maintenance, and restitution, the said lessee is required and obliged to have
a place called Balls Court, furnished with two stout
parts strongly enclosed, together with the strong thick
lance, with which weapon he is used to fight. And
these conditions being fulfilled, he will be required
to allow into one of the chambers of the said Coynte,
at the place let on lease, such poor blind men as
may wish to lodge there, they having first to beg
pardon on their two knees at the doorway, with head
uncovered, torch in hand, and kissing the said coynte, as devoutly and worthily
as they can conformably to the dignity of the place, the which same
blind men are required, before leaving, to weep, and leave their
purse empty, as recompense and testimony of good feeling for the
manner of their reception in this place to the tune of flutes and of
other joyous instruments which made them to dance. For in such
manner has it been agreed: otherwise the contract would not have
been made between the said parties, who have engaged to maintain the same, under penalty of three
times a day picking up the filth falling from the bush
belonging to the dependancies of the manorship of

4

Arse and Rodgerwell, at the place leased with rights,
to be fulfilled by him, who should infringe any part
of the present contract of lease. Which was signed
in presence of Hardy Stoutpric; Count George of Runitallin, Lord of the Manor of Buckintoem, Robert
Lanceflesh, Claude Thinprintle, and a Venerable
Doctor (in Cuckoldry), and of another of whom I
know not the name, but which I may remember
when I fall asleep. On Shrove Tuesday after supper
of the year One thousand and-say-never-when. Hereunto
do I sign; Roundthickarse, (take good heed of the
hole,) Notary to the town ofLayemalldown. (France).

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