L. Deslandes

“ Compare these facts with what takes place when age, that great operator, extinguishes the principle of virility. When one is old, is he as affectionate, as sensible, as devoted, as intelligent, as he was in youth? do not the general characters of an eunuch gradually come upon him? The genital organs then, even when in repose, regulate in more than one respect and at every period of life, the rest of the human body.
But it is particularly before and during puberty that these organs deserve the most serious attention, for then they possess the most power. ”

“ An individual who possesses excessive sensibility, rarely enjoys a great degree of muscular vigor. Those men who are noted for muscular strength, are seldom distinguished for the brilliancy of their intellect. Education then acts in two ways: directly, by developing the faculties which it exercises, and indirectly, by opposing the progress of those which it neglects. What it gives to one, it takes from another: it is both a positive, and a negative power. As to the modes of directing it, they act by regulating the use of the three faculties during the period of life when they are forming. ”

“ The hearing is dull, the sight is deranged, and the external senses impart to the brain only imperfect impressions. The pulsations of the heart are feeble, the pulse is small, the veins are collapsed and the eyelids are livid. The soul is left in a state of languor and sadness and becomes as it were melancholy. ”

“ The unfortunate subject of this detestable vice, whose mental energy is unimpaired, and whose moral feelings are susceptible of impression, can be persuaded to abandon it, if the danger is set before him in its true light; but hundreds can bear me testimony that the effects of it are long felt, and the involuntary excitement produced by dreams, lascivious companions, warm beds, and improper intercourse with corrupt society, has for a long time after had its influence in retarding complete recovery to health. With the insane we can have no such hopes, and no such prospects of cure. ”

“ The nocturnal pollutions, however, are not formidable to those onanists who are reformed. Inspired by the sentiment of self-preservation, warned by the sufferings, counsels, and by reading, they have resolved to abandon for ever the manœuvres which they know to be dangerous. This resolution they will be able to keep: they, however, anxiously demand if they are not too late. The genital organs rebel against the decision. How melancholy must be the state of the patient! He sees, in perspective, sufferings, even a death, which seems to be inevitable. ”

“ The yoke which onanism imposes on those who are completely abandoned to it, is such, that they have constantly before them a certain set of ideas. All their study is confined to avoid the looks of others, and to call to mind all the remembrances, and to create all the illusions, upon which their senses revel: their strength of mind is consecrated to these objects alone. To dissemble, and enjoy themselves, is all they wish. The intellectual faculties, being thus neglected, must remain imperfect ”

“ Nothing short of total abstinence can save those who have become the victims of it. In this indulgence, no half way course will ever subdue the disease, or remove the effect of the habit from the system. Total abstinence is the only remedy. If the constitution is not fatally impaired—if organic disease has not taken place, this remedy will prove effectual, and must be adopted, especially in all cases in which the effects are visible, or the consequences cannot fail to be ultimately fatal. ”

“ This is not the place to say how far education should be carried, so that, in a physical, intellectual, and moral point of view, it should be good: we seek only to determine what it ought to be, in order that a too vivid, or too precocious a facility to receive impressions, may not become the causes of venereal excesses.
It is not among the working classes, that those subject to hysteria and hypochondria, are most numerous. The fatigue of body, when constant, dulls the senses. On the other hand, whatever enervates, renders one susceptible to excesses. ”

“ Although the physical aptitude for coition comes at the age of puberty, this fact proves nothing except that the genital organs can then be used. It does not follow that the genital power is fully developed or that the body is in the state most favorable for its use. Who would venture to say; that because masturbation is practicable in early infancy that it is not more injurious than at a later period of life? Hence the cause and degree of the evils attendant on premature indulgence is to be sought for in the degree of perfection of the organism as we have already stated. ”

“ Although the prevention of onanism, and the arrest of the habit, are apparently different, yet we shall state the mode of attaining this double result, to avoid repetitions.
In masturbation, we must consider three things—the desire, the will, and the power. Onanism is not possible, where these three conditions do not exist: there is no wish without desire; and the latter is often completely mastered by the former, and both present no result, if there be no possibility of indulging. Hence, to prevent masturbation, and to arrest it, the desire, the wish, the power to indulge, must not exist. ”

“ The mind, accustomed to seek pleasure in a certain circle of ideas, or a peculiar series of sensations, cannot find any in any other manner. The enjoyments of onanism are then the only ones which the onanist can realize. The union of the sexes has no attraction for him: he indulges with repugnance, and thinks the sensations much less agreeable than those arising from self-pollution. The genital sense, the power of proceeding to the act of venery, and of procreating, remain: but depraved tastes have taken the place of the legitimate desires. ”

“ Hence if the young man escapes with life, he is as it were loaded with a tribute of ills which he must pay before long and perhaps always. Thus the indirect influence of onanism in producing human suffering is enormous. I consider it even as greater in proportion than that of the most immediate consequences of this fatal habit. This is confirmed not only by daily observation, but it cannot be otherwise. How much then do those deceive themselves who seek for the diseases of masturbation without believing in their existence, and who continue to indulge because they do not see its abuses. ”

“ We should certainly sometimes be embarrassed to justify this indication by positive proofs; for we do not know all that exists, and written science does not represent all that has been seen: but, as we know that a powerful influence only requires to exist with a morbid arrangement, to make of it a disease, the knowledge of this fact alone authorizes us to place venereal excesses, which have so injurious an effect, among the productive causes of most affections of the body. ”

“ How often, also, does he refrain from asking necessary questions, for fear of wounding the modesty of the young patient, of teaching him a thing of which perhaps he is ignorant, or at least of exciting in him a dangerous curiosity! Finally how frequently are his doubts removed by the art with which those who indulge in onanism, even when young, know how to conceal a habit at which they blush in secret. ”

“ When the young person is disturbed suddenly, his hands, if he has not had time to remove them, will be found on or near the genital organs. The penis, also, may be found in a state of erection; or you may even find marks of recent pollution, which might be known by the peculiar odor arising from the semen, and which comes from the soiled fingers. Have an eye to those young persons, whose hands, when in bed, or during sleep, are in the position described: they are onanists, or will become so. The same is true in those who frequently have erections of the penis. ”

“ In our view, male and female onanists are affected with satyriasis and nymphomania, as much as those to whom these terms 123 are generally applied. In both, the sense of venery, existing to an unusual extent, affects the mind, and incites to dangerous actions, repugnant both to modesty and reason. Onanists do not, like other persons affected with satyriasis, expose their persons, and solicit with voice and gesture those of the other sex: their deranged and delirious imaginations pursue another course. What need have they of the other sex? Their inclinations lead them to solitary indulgence. ”

“ On questioning them, almost all admit that in their youth they have been addicted to onanism. Some do not wait to be questioned but refer to their former excesses as the source of their troubles and denounce them as the cause of their actual debility. Most invalids however do not refer so far back to the origin of their illness or even do not dream of it: they remain at peace with themselves and their ignorance might deserve to be respected, if they were not or would not probably be fathers, and if it did not become us to excite their vigilance in regard to their children. ”

“ We are aware that onanism is not always necessarily followed by any inconvenience or danger; but, practically, this distinction disappears. But onanism, without regard to the mode, its frequence, or the individuals or circumstances under which it occurs, may always be considered an abuse, and, consequently, be earnestly proscribed.
This view of the subject rests on two facts: one is fundamental, and applies to all individuals, without distinction of age, sex, or constitution; the other relates only to those who are addicted to onanism, before they are perfectly formed and constituted. ”

“ If the sleep be very profound, pollution may take place without the consciousness of the patient, or, at any rate, without his remembrance of it. When he wakes, the loss of semen is then discovered only by its stain, and the state of fatigue, weakness, and malaise attending it. A lascivious dream, however, generally attends a pollution. These dreams are not, as is generally thought, the cause of the pollution: if they exist, it is because the venereal sense, which is excited, speaks for itself, even as hunger, thirst, or any internal sensation may do. ”

“ The individual who lives in a filthy neighbourhood, who experiences privations, who indulges to excess in wine or spirituous liquors, who labors hard either corporeally or mentally, who is deprived of sleep, who is affected with sadness, &c., bears the act of venery badly; it adds to the enervation already felt, and generally robs the individuals of health. Venereal pleasures should be abstained from, during the prevalence of epidemics: every person is then disposed to the prevailing disease, and a single act of coition may produce it. ”

“ If no voluntary practice is continued, the habit may be so far established, and the susceptibility to the complaint be so great, that slight irritation will produce it, and that often for a long time after the danger is fully appreciated, and the victory over the propensity achieved so far as cautiously avoiding known and intentional indulgence. Nocturnal pollution and involuntary emissions come from slight causes and trifling irritation, but perpetuate for a long time all the train of unhappy influences that have been heretofore detailed. ”