Scott's encyclopaedia of sex : a practical encyclopaedia arranged in alphabetical order, explanatory of everything pertaining to sexual physiology, psychology and pathology.

  • Scott, George Ryley, 1886-
Date:
[1939]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Scott's encyclopaedia of sex : a practical encyclopaedia arranged in alphabetical order, explanatory of everything pertaining to sexual physiology, psychology and pathology. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    to the more scientific and esoteric glan- dular preparations. Actually, the tes- ticles and their products have always been credited with rejuvenating and sexual stimulatory powers. Savages and civilized man alike have consumed the semen of animals assuming that it would contribute to an extension of their own virility. Any virtues in the way of sexual stimulation possessed by the tes- ticular extracts used by Brown-Sequard half a century ago were probably due purely to the power of suggestion and therefore were in no way an advance upon the decoctions recommended by Pliny, Juvenal and others of the ancients. Much the same applies in the case of the vaunted glandular extracts used to-day. The one advantage they possess over the more dangerous drugs and chemicals lies in the fact that they are mainly harmless so far as the general health of the in- dividual taking them is concerned. Turning to mechanical aphrodisiacs, one of the oldest and at the same time one of the most potent is flagellation, The ancient Romans were well aware of the stimulatory effects of whipping and of urtication. There are references in the Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana to this same thing; so, too, in the Talmud. Urtica- tion as a remedy for impotence is referred to in the Satyricon of Petronius, and, according to Bloch, Dr. Johann Christoph Westphal prescribed it for this con- dition. In my own work dealing with flagellation I have dealt at some length with the sexual aspects of the subject, and have endeavoured to explain the reason for whipping acting as a sexual stimulant. Thus: We have already seen that of all factors capable of arous- ing emotion, pain, provided always it does not reach a degree of intensity where it ranks as torture, is the most powerful; that pain, by increasing the secretory powers of the adrenal glands and reinvigorating tired or enfeebled muscles and nerves, stimulates the in- dividual to the achievement of tem- porary efforts far beyond his normal capacity. Now it is an established fact that the region of the gluteus, that is, the buttocks and base of the spine, is supplied with nerves corresponding to, and intimately connected with, the nerves governing the sexual function. We have seen that ancient physicians were aware of the effect which pain in the buttocks and neighbouring parts had on the sexual libido; the similar effects of applications to the lumbar regions of hot poultices or caustic plasters; in short, the sexual stimulatory properties of any- thing destined to increase the engorging of the genital passages, and particularly of the penis, with blood. Congestion due to these causes, or to the effects of chemical aphrodisiacs, is capable of in- ducing erections. It is because of this that flagellation is bound to have some effect in the relief of any form of impo- tence which is neither permanent nor congenital. Even friction of the skin in the genital regions will stimulate sexual excitement; hence the popularity of massage, and especially of massage following immediately upon a hot bath. After all, masturbation is merely fric- tion or irritation of the genitals.1 According to Davenport, the Abbe Chuppe d'Auteroche stated that the stripes given to persons frequenting the vapour baths in Russia impart activity to the fluids and elasticity to the organs and give additional stimulus to the venereal appetite.2 Perhaps one of the most curious of all methods of stimulating the sexual powers ever employed in a civilized country, and at the same time indicative of the extent of human credulity, was the Celestial Bed which for years earned for that arch-quack, James Graham, a princely income. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, this Dr. Graham opened in Pall Mall, London, what he somewhat grandiosely described as the Temple of Health and Hymen. It was here that he installed his world-famed Celestial Bed, a magnificent structure, elaborately carved, gilded and orna- mented, with glass legs, and reputed to have cost ^12,000. Incense was burned in the room, there was sensual music and doubtless other artifices for arousing 1 George Ryley Scott, The History of Corporal Punishment, pp. 209-210. Werner Laurie, 1938. 2 John Davenport, Aphrodisiacs and Antiaphrodisiacs. London, 1869.