Onanism, or, A treatise upon the disorders produced by masturbation, or, the dangerous effects of secret and excessive venery / By M. Tissot ; translated from the last Paris edition, by A. Hume.

  • Tissot, S. A. D. (Samuel Auguste David), 1728-1797.
Date:
1781
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Onanism, or, A treatise upon the disorders produced by masturbation, or, the dangerous effects of secret and excessive venery / By M. Tissot ; translated from the last Paris edition, by A. Hume. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    j4 death, when he could bear no ether pofture thaiï lying on his belly in bed, incapable of moving either his hands or feet, or indeed of any other kind of mo-^ tion ; unable to take any other fort of aliment, thaiv fuch as was put into his mouth. He exilfed fome months in this dreadful fitiiation, and died, or rather went out like the fnuif of a candle, without being fenfible of pain. I have finee feen another exajnpic of this general! and mortal difi'nefs, which deferves notice’. I was called upon, Feb. lO, 1760, to pay a vilir in the coun- try to a man about forty years of age, who had been of a very flr-ong and robuil coulUcution; but who had been guilty of great excefles with women and wine, and who had frequently exerted himfelf in what may be lliled remarkable feats of that kind^ His dif- order had begun fome months before by weaknefs in his legs, which made him ftagger as he walked, juft as if he had been intoxicated ; he even fometimes fell, as he was walking upon even ground : he could nos come down flairs without much difficulty, and fcarc® had courage to come any more out of his bed-cham- ber. His hands trembled very much ; he could not write a few words without much inconvenience, which were then very ill written, but he could die-- tate eafily : though his tongue had never been ex- tremely voluble, it was more than ufually inclined' to taciturnity^ He ftill. prefarved his memory; and there were no other grounds to imagine the faculties were impaired, but his being lefs attentive to the- game of draughts, and his countenance being a good deal altered. His appetite remained, but he could not turn himfelf in his bed without fome difficulty.