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.

    47/404 (page 27)
    ASPASIA AULETRIDES are many references to the goddess in the Old Testament, and to the measures adopted to put down this worship. Ac- cording to Augustine, the worship of Ashtoreth was characterized by the most shameful licentiousness, and her temples, served by prostitutes, were the scenes of sexual orgies and perversions of the most revolting nature. The goddess was also worshipped in Syria under the name of Astarte. ASPASIA. Famous and beautiful Greek hetsera, mistress in turn of Cyrus, Artaxerxes, Darius, Alcibiades, Socrates and Pericles. Her power and influence a queen might well have envied. It was alleged that, in addition to selling her own favours, she gathered together a number of beautiful courtesans, and her salon, which was a rendezvous for the most talented men of the day, could have been fittingly described by another name. ASPERMATISM. The condition where the ejaculated seminal fluid does not contain living or virile spermatozoa, or an inadequate amount of semen is se- creted. Aspermatism is a permanent condition in most men of advanced age and a temporary condition after exces- sive indulgence in coitus and while suffering from various diseases. See STERILITY. ASSAULT (CRIMINAL). If a male touches or attempts to touch the sexual organs of any female other than his wife, against her will, he is held to be guilty of a criminal assault. The breasts come under the definition of sexual organs in this respect, and it is immaterial whether or not such organs are naked or protected by clothing. ASSIDERATION. The act of infanticide by drowning in ice-water. ASTARTE. The Syrian fertility goddess referred to in the Bible and worshipped as Ashtoreth. The temples erected to her were centres of religious prostitution. See ASHTORETH. ASTYPHIA or ASTYSIA. Inability to have complete erections under sexual ex- citement or during the sex act. Male impotence. ASYNODIA. Inability to perform the act of coitus. ASYPHIL. A drug used in the treat- ment of syphilis. ATAVISM. The cropping up in an in- dividual of a congenital or hereditary factor which has failed to appear in several successive generations, popularly referred to as a throwback. It may be a physical or a mental peculiarity, but usually the characteristic, whatever its nature, is one known to have been pos- sessed by an original member of the family or the species. ATAXIA or ATAXY. Markedly irregular movements due to muscular inco-ordina- tion. See LOCOMOTOR ATAXIA. ATAXIE LOCOMOTRICE PROGRES- SIVE. See LOCOMOTOR ATAXIA. ATELIOSIS. Infantilism characterized by imperfect or arrested development, physically or mentally, but without de- formity of body or limbs. It is a con- dition of many dwarfs. A TERGO. The reversal of the orthodox European and American coital attitude, i.e. in the a tergo position the man faces the woman's back. ATHELASMUS. Incapability of suckling a child through lack of or defective nipples. ATHELIA. Where the breasts are devoid of nipples, making breast-feeding im- possible. ATOCIA or ATOCOUS. A condition of sterility in the female. The term is sometimes used to indicate the state of never having been pregnant. ATOPOMENORRHEA or ATOPOMEN- ORRHQEA. Abnormal or vicarious men- struation. The discharge instead of coming by the vaginal route is emitted from the breasts, the anus, the mouth or the nose. ATRESIA. The constriction or stoppage of a tube or canal. Especially used in reference to the vagina, uterus, cervix or anus. The cause of the stoppage is usually adhesion of the walls of the canal and in most cases can only be remedied by a surgical operation. ATRETOMETRIA. That form of atresia in which the womb is the affected part. ATROPHY. The wasting away, diminu- tion or decrease in any part or of the whole of the body. AULETRIDES. The name given to a class of prostitutes which flourished in ancient Greece. They were of a much superior class to the common prostitute —superior, that is, in dress, in speech,