Practical remarks on the treatment of spermatorrhoea and some forms of impotence / by John L. Milton.

  • Milton, J. L. (John Laws), 1820-1898.
Date:
1854
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Practical remarks on the treatment of spermatorrhoea and some forms of impotence / by John L. Milton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    from the irritation occasioned by the presence of, or remaining after, gonorrhoea, the spirit of camphor will generally at once relieve them. A teaspoonful in a little water is the dose. The patient should place all his ap¬ paratus in readiness by his bed-side, and as soon as he is awakened by an erection should rise and take a dose. If the erections come on as soon as he lies down, he had better take a dose before going to bed. Few means of controlling spermatorrhoea could be devised so simple and natural as exercise, especially gymnastics, which the common experience of mankind has extolled from the most distant times. Every abnor¬ mal action is marked by a failure of vital power at one or more parts of the frame, and an accumulation of it in the suffering organs. The generative power, animal life, and cere¬ bral development, antagonize each other; and sedulous attention to train the two latter to the highest degree of activity they are capable of, will rarely fail to subdue any¬ thing short of excessive action in the gene¬ rative system, and bring the performance of this valuable function under the mild and healthful sway of reason. True physiology will always conduct us to the same goal as experience founded on correct observation. Hence every writer who has attentively watched this disease has stren¬ uously insisted on the necessity for gymnastic exercise. But owing to the iniquitously late hours kept up in many London houses, it is impossible to resort to this remedy. It is useless to talk of the advantages of boating, cricketing, &c., to young men pent up in shops and warehouses till ten or eleven o’clock at night. Thus, like the baths, douches, mattresses, &c. which are recom¬ mended, they are liable to one grave objec¬ tion, that of being inapplicable in perhaps nine cases out of ten, and to make true pro¬ gress in treatment our main object must be to find out remedies suitable for every case. Accordingly, I have long accustomed my¬ self to rely principally on morning exercise, as the question then becomes one rather of conformity than of ability on the patient’s part, and if he be really determined to save himself from the results of his own indis¬ cretion, he may do half the surgeon’s work if he will rise at five or six o’clock, sponge with cold salt water, use the dumb bells for half an hour, and follow this up with a brisk walk. It will not be long before the eye grows brighter, and the skin clearer; before he sleeps sounder and again feels comfort in existence. Hr. Carpenter recommends his readers as a preventive to try the effects of close men¬ tal application. The frantic acts of self¬ mutilation performed by devotees, show that the most absorbing study will not suf¬ fice to quench entirely a natural passion. But this is not the only objection to the plan. In the great number of bad cases, I believe it is useless to inculcate study; the depres¬ sion and irritation are too great to allow the attempt to succeed, and with all the good will possible, most of these patients cannot make a beginning till their physical con¬ dition is somewhat improved. I therefore advise those who have time to spare, to be¬ gin study by reading aloud for an hour every night, and then to go out as much as they can into society—a plan from which I have seen better results than from attempting to impose on an exhausted brain a task it can¬ not possibly execute. But should all this fail to remove the disease—should it persist from habit, as it is called, but which is nothing more than the result of our inability to cope with the dis¬ eased action, perhaps no remedy will act more quickly and surely than a blister. Not¬ withstanding the strong opinion M. Lalle- mand has pronounced on the subject, I have no hesitation in asserting, after the numerous trials I have given it, that if some proper medium, as blistering tissue, &c., be used, no strangury or “exasperation effrayante” of the spermatorrhoea need ever be feared. 2. Night and Day Discharges.—Here we have rather a more serious affair to deal with, though the greater part even of these more severe cases will yield to a persevering use of the remedies already spoken of. Where, however, these are inapplicable, as for instance, in cases complicated with severe indigestion, or a high degree of nervous ex¬ citement, with severe pain in the urethra, or excessive sensibility in this canal, or when imperfect secretion of semen has begun to show itself, we must have recourse to further means. Among these we may safely rank opium. Under its use the secretions become thicker, and less pain is occasioned by their being thrown off, as if at one and the same time it blunted the sensibility and checked the se¬ cretion of the watery and irritating elements. And besides all this, it is not too much to say, that opium is a tonic both to the ex¬ hausted frame and irritated mind. Where there is a frequent desire to pass urine, and in cases marked by excessive watery secre¬ tions from the Schneiderian membrane, ag¬ gravated by cold easterly winds, opium often effects a most beneficial change. It may be objected that it tends to pro¬ duce constipation, destroy the appetite, and favour congestion of the brain ; but the two latter seldom if ever result when it is used,