IMPOTENCY, STERILITY, 
AND 
ARTIFICIAL IMPREGNATION 
BY 
FRANK P. DAVIS, Ph.B., M.D. 
9 J , 7 7 
Fellow American Medical Association; Member Medical Veterans of 
the World War; Ex-Secretary Oklahoma State Board of Medical 
Examiners; Formerly Superintendent State Institution for 
Feeble-Minded; Author of “How to Collect a Doctor’s 
Bill;” “The Doctor’s Book of Poems;” Formerly 
Editor Davis’ Magazine of Medicine. 
SECOND EDITION 
Revised and Enlarged. 
ST. LOUIS 
C. V. MOSBY COMPANY 
1923 Copyright, 1917, 1923, by C. V. Mosby Company 
(Printed in U. S. A.) 
Press of 
C. V. Mosby Company 
St. Louis CONTENTS 
CHAPTER I 
The Sexual Instinct 13 
The Cause of Sexual Desire—Sexual Power Should Not 
Fail with Age—The Cause of Failing Powers—Animal 
Instinct—Aesthetic Instinct—Sexual Crimes of Old 
Men—Attraction of Young Women—Men are Sexually 
Strong in Company of Young Women and Girls. 
CHAPTER II 
The Sense op Smell 20 
Its Relation to Sexual Desire—Relationship of the 
Tissues of the Nose and the Sexual Instinct—Tissues 
of Turbinates and Septum Erectile—Tissues Become 
Congested During Coitus, and the Menses—Odor and 
its Influence on Sexual Power—Inflammation of Nasal 
Membranes Following Excessive Coitus—An Automatic 
Sexual Control—Experiments of Koblanck and Roe- 
der of Operating on the Nose—Its Effect on Ani- 
mals—Odors of Flowers and Perfumes—Musk—Odors 
of Locust Flowers and Violets—Odor Essential—Ef- 
fect of Odors on Urquiza and Bandelaire—Odors are 
Stimulants—Effects of Odor of Vanilla on Menstru- 
ation—Bathing and Morals—Excite Passion—Kier- 
nan’s Case—Sturgis’ Case—Odor of Human Female— 
Odor Changes with Age—Odor of Women of Tahiti— 
Why Old Men Become Infatuated with Very Young 
Girls. 
CHAPTER III 
Effect of Odors on the Internal Secretions ... 35 
Salivary Glands—OdoTs of Food—Sexual Glands— 
Experiments on Dogs—Effect of Odors from Cooking 
Foods—Odors that Nauseate—Odor of Lilacs—To- 
bacco — Jasmine—Watermelons—Tuberose—Canthar- 
ides—Odors that Cause Illness—Effect on Goitre—Ef- 
fect on Ovaries and Testicles—Jager’s Opinion— 
Kraft—Ebing’s Statement—Regnano’s Theory of Sex- 
ual Desire—Taudler’s Opinion—Rohlender’s Opin- 
ion—Experiments of Ott and Scott—Amount Neces- 
sary to Cause Effect. 
3 4 
CONTENTS 
CHAPTER IV 
The Voice and Sense of Hearing 41 
The Voice—Its Effect on Sexual Desire—Tone Indi- 
cates State of Mind—Effect on Mating of Animals—- 
Love Types—Darwin’s Theory—Finck’s Observa- 
tions—As a Guide to Selection—Marital Happiness— 
Affinities—Cleopatra’s Voice—Joan of Arc—Songs of 
the Sirens—Why Some Very Plain Women are Much 
Sought After—Why Some Persons Repel and Others 
Attract—Change in the Voice. 
CHAPTER V 
The Sense of Sight 47 
Effect on Sexual Desire—Not Necessary to See to be 
Attracted Sexually—Female Beauty—Female Form— 
Dress—Nude Women—Sturgis ’ Observations—What is 
Attractive to Men—The Hair—Pubic Hair—The 
Breasts—The Calves—The Eyes—The Lips—The 
Feet—Feet of Chinese Ladies—Dancing—Color— 
Blonds—Brunettes—Oriental Ideas of Beauty. 
CHAPTER VI 
Impotency 59 
Its Effect on the Mind—Loss of Confidence—Influence 
of Mind over the Body—Flint’s Observations—Psy- 
chical—Physical—Various Physical Causes—Prema- 
ture Ejaculation—Lack of Erectile Power—Male 
Menopause. 
CHAPTER VII 
Psychic Impotency 65 
Sexual Neuroses in the Male—Sometimes Due to 
Pathological Lesions—Following Gonorrhea—Peculiar 
Symptoms—Mental Condition—Wolbarst’s Observa- 
tions—Hudovering’s Observations—Psychoneurosis in 
Engaged Bachelors—Fear—Sidis on Fear—Electric 
Chair—Lack of Response on Part of the Female. CONTENTS 
5 
CHAPTER VIII 
Sensuality In Women 75 
Women more Sensual than Men—Opinions of Mon- 
taigne— Guttceit — Vedeler — Blackwell — Morro— 
Kisch—Woman Requires much Loving—Ellis’ State- 
ment—Frigidity—Frigidity a Symptom of Hysteria— 
Inhibition—Why Women Fail—Repression—Sexuality 
and Age—Opinions of Ovid—Nystrom—Forel—Na- 
pier—Yellowless—Fleshy Women—Effect of Repeated 
Coitus—Frequency of Orgasm—Fainting During Coi- 
tus—Masturbation—Cause of Prostitution—Prostitu- 
tion. 
CHAPTER IX 
Masturbation and Emissions 83 
Coitus Interruptus—Loss of Secretions—Effect on the 
Male—Effect on the Female—Secretions of Bartholin- 
ian Glands—Nocturnal Pollutions—Sturgis’ Observa- 
tions—Asexualization—Pilcher’s Operations in Kan- 
sas Institute for Feeble Minded—Cade’s Report—Ef- 
fect of Asexualization on Males—Circumcision of 
Women—Coitus, Limit in Males—Females—Wentz’s 
Report—Masturbation by Feeble Minded Girls. 
CHAPTER X 
Treatment of Impotency 93 
Local Remedies—Internal Remedies—Ligating the Dor- 
sal Vein of the Penis—Seminal Fluids as a Remedy—• 
Electricity—Drugs—Suggestion—Sounds — Examina- 
tion of Urethra—Loss of Erectile Power—Premature 
Ejaculation—The Nose—Stuffed Nose—Loss of Sense 
of Smell—Hunt’s Formula—Murrell’s Formula—Rem- 
edies Used by the Vaids of India—Hammond’s For- 
mula—Latham’s Formula—Diet. 
CHAPTER XI 
Race Suicide 103 
Decline of the Birth-Rate—Effect of Population of 
France, Germany, and England—Religious and Politi- 
cal Influences—Co-education—Tobacco—Law of Com- 
pensation—Early Marriages—Elliott’s Opinion. 6 
CONTENTS 
CHAPTER XII 
Sterility Ill 
Per Cent of Men who are Sterile—Cause of Sterility— 
Virile Spermatozoa!—Healthy Ova—Environment— 
Acid Discharges of Female—Temperament—Obstruc- 
tions—Lack of Orgasm—Suction of Cervix at Time of 
Orgasm—Runge’s Observations—Huhner’s Opinion— 
Sexual Passion and Sterility—Uterine Stem—Ovarian 
Disease—Stricture of the Cervix—Life of Spermato- 
zoa in Vagina—Chronic Inflammation of the Uterus— 
Sexual Excesses and Sterility—Mother of Louis XIV— 
Wife of Henry II—Highly Sexed Women—Physical 
Culture—Industrial Conditions. 
CHAPTER Xni 
Treatment of Sterility 120 
Surgical—Medical—Posture—Drugs—Indifference to 
Coitus—Guiion’s Remedy—Opinions of Winfield, Rey- 
nolds and Macomber, McDonald, and Pratt—Instruc- 
tions. 
CHAPTER XIV 
Artificial Impregnation 130 
History — Harvey’s Experiments — Spallanzani’s 
Cases—Iwanoff’s Experiments — Technic—Marion 
Sim’s Case—Hamilton’s Claims—Pancoast’s Case— 
Objections Overcome—Fluid Direct from the Testi- 
cles—Huhner’s Experiments—Iwanoff’s Case—Lieuf’s 
Case—Presence of Third Party—Lydston’s Claims. 
CHAPTER XV 
Therapeutics 137 
Aurum Metallicum—A vena Sativa—Cannabis Indica— 
Cinchona— Gaultheria — Echinacea — Gaultheria Can- 
tharides—Opium—Humulus—Lupulin—Hamamelis — 
Nux Vomica—Phosphorus—Platinum. 
CHAPTER XVI 
Therapeutics, (Cont’d) 150 
Picric Acid—Potassium Bromide—Pulsatilla—Saw 
Palmetto—Salix Nigre Aments—Ignatia—Nupliar Lu- 
teum—Thuja—Musk—Murix—Sulphur — Chinese In- 
cense—Staphisagria—Lycopodium—Graphite — Am- 
bergris—Echinacea—Silver Nitrate—Chromium Sul- 
phate—Black Ant—Yohimbine—Zinc. INTRODUCTION 
The production of new hooks for the physi- 
cian appears to be limited only by the ability 
to invent new titles. Many of the books offered 
contain but little new material. In my experi- 
ence I have found that there is a dearth of new 
ideas along certain lines, while in other fields 
there seemed to be much progress. The one 
field that has remained comparatively barren 
is that of sexual disorders. 
I am well aware that there are a number of 
pretentious works on sexual subjects, but none 
that I have read fulfilled my wants. None so 
far as I know have given any reasonable ex- 
planation of the cause of sexual excitation. It 
is the purpose of this work to present a theory 
of the process by which the sexual mechanism 
is set in motion. 
It is generally held that sexual excesses and 
sexual disease are on the increase not only 
among the unmarried, but among those who are 
prone to wander beyond the bounds prescribed 
in the license granted them when they were mar- 
ried. It is also claimed that the condition 
known as impotency is due to these excesses. 
This is a debatable question. It is true, how- 
7 8 
INTRODUCTION 
ever, that the number who consult the physi- 
cian along this line is much greater than in the 
past. 
The anti-race suicide problem appears to 
be receiving more attention than ever before in 
the world’s history. More women consult the 
physician for relief from barrenness than for- 
merly, and foreign nations are making a strenu- 
ous effort to maintain their population. 
As physicians we are confronted with these 
conditions and our duty as medical advisers de- 
mands that we be prepared to meet them. 
These patients must be treated, and it is up to 
us, as physicians, to give them the best advice 
and treatment that we can. We must give them 
careful attention and relieve them from the 
conditions that are marring their happiness and 
blighting their lives. 
The day when we could give these seekers 
after health a tonic and tell them to forget 
their troubles, or that they had so far burned 
their candle at both ends that there was no 
longer hope, is past. They will seek other fields 
for relief if we do not assist them. The ma- 
jority of such cases, both of so-called impotency 
and of sterility, may be relieved, and no true 
physician can longer dodge the issue or neglect 
to give the subject proper study. INTRODUCTION 
9 
The relationship existing between the special 
senses and sexual desire and competency is 
very close. The sense of smell, sight, and hear- 
ing all have a very decided bearing upon sexual 
power. A proper understanding of these facts 
will aid materially in clearing up the fog that 
surrounds this subject. 
Only a few years have passed since the lost 
manhood specialist flourished like the green bay 
tree, frightening boys and young men with the 
horrors of the mad-house and yawning grave 
that was so vividly portrayed in their marriage 
guides and newspaper advertisements. Some 
of this literature with its hair-raising descrip- 
tions of the awful fate that awaited the boy who 
looked upon a woman to lust after her, and then 
like Edgar Allan Poe, “dreamed dreams that 
no mortal ever dared to dream before,” and 
resorted to other means to relieve his desires, 
was enough to make strong men tremble. This 
condition passed when our best newspapers re- 
fused the advertisements, and our medical as- 
sociations exposed the fakes. At the present 
time the principal avenue through which this 
silly idea is poured into the minds of the youth 
of the land is by the “women only” and “men 
only” lectures delivered by the weak-minded 
sensational preacher, who, having been too weak 10 
INTRODUCTION 
to scare up a real flirtation, wants to pose as a 
reformed devil. Marriage guides are seldom 
seen any more, and the boy has learned to have 
confidence in his family physician. Most phy- 
sicians have learned that it is worth while to 
make friends with the boys and young men, gain 
their confidence, and encourage them to lead 
clean, pure lives. No person is so well pre- 
pared to teach young men and women their 
duties and their dangers along sexual lines as 
is the pure-hearted physician. The lost man- 
hood booklets sown broadcast over the land had 
their effect upon the girls and women as well as 
the boys. I had a mother consult me, after hav- 
ing read one of these booklets, to learn if there 
was any danger of her daughter having “lost 
womanhood,” because the daughter sometimes 
experienced peculiar sensations in her dreams. 
Years of study and experience in treating this 
class of sufferers has convinced me that there 
is too much mystery, too much doubt, and too 
much guess work in the treatment of sexual 
troubles. Failing to find the information that 
could help me in the books at my command, I 
have attempted to blaze out a new trail, and 
have established some landmarks which I hope 
will enable the reader to follow the path that INTRODUCTION 
11 
has led me to a system of handling these cases 
that has proven generally successful. 
It is my belief that the physician should be 
prepared to care for these cases. I have given 
such facts as I have been able to glean in a num- 
ber of years’ active practice, and if the reader 
obtains but a small part of the information that 
I have received in the study and experience that 
has made this book possible, he will be well re- 
paid for his time. 
I realize fully the imperfections that a work 
of this kind must have. It is a field in which 
one must break out a new furrow. 
Frank P. Davis, M.D. PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION 
The favorable reception of this work and the 
exhaustion of the first edition, has justified the 
author in the belief that there is an increasing 
demand for a practical work on the subject of 
impotency, sterility, and artificial impregna- 
tion. 
The acceptance of the author’s theory of the 
law of sexual selection by leading scientists, not 
only of this country but of Europe as well, has 
led to further investigation and study. This 
study has confirmed the conclusions made in the 
first edition. 
The present edition has been practically re- 
written. It contains two new chapters which 
add to the general scope of the work. All ma- 
terial of importance that has appeared since 
the publication of the first edition has been 
considered and proper credit given. 
Frank P. Davis, M.D. 
12 IMPOTENCY, STERILITY 
AND 
ARTIFICIAL IMPREGNATION 
CHAPTER I 
THE SEXUAL INSTINCT 
Before we can understand sexual wrongs we 
mnst first have a clear idea of the manner in 
which the sexual system performs its functions. 
We must know the influences that act upon the 
sexual centers in the brain to set the mechanism 
in action and cause the desire, and the ability 
to copulate. 
In using the term “instinct” in this connec- 
tion I am not unmindful of the opinions of 
Loeb, Ellis and others. I believe, however, that 
a term so well grounded in our literature and 
one that so well expresses an idea so univer- 
sally understood, should not be ruthlessly 
weeded out. 
Lloyd Morgan1 divides instinct into four 
parts; first, the internal message giving rise to 
the impulse; secondly, the external stimulus 
1Morgan, C. Lloyd: Instinct and Intelligence in Animals. Nature, 
Feb. 3, 1898. Quoted by Ellis. 
13 14 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
which cooperates with the impulse to affect the 
nervous centers; thirdly, the active response due 
to the coordinate outgoing discharges; and, 
fourthly, the message from the organs con- 
cerned in the behavior by which the central 
nervous system is further affected. In defining 
instinct, especially in relation to sex, I would 
place external stimuli first, as it is essential 
that there be an external stimulus to start the 
secretions of the sexual glands. 
It can readily be seen that there must be 
some exciting cause to bring about the condi- 
tion of the organs as we find them at the period 
of sexual excitement. It must be evident to the 
observer, that this exciting cause, whatever it 
may be, is external to the male animal. This 
being the fact we must seek the cause in the sen- 
sations received through the special senses, and 
in the environment in which the individual is 
placed. 
Assuming that the exciting cause is present, 
why should men in the prime of life who are 
otherwise in a healthy condition lose their sex- 
ual powers? The sexual ability of the male 
depends upon the erection of certain muscular 
organs and on the functioning of certain glands. 
So long as all other organs of the body fulfill THE SEXUAL INSTINCT 
15 
their mission, and gain strength from use and 
exercise, it would seem reasonable to suppose 
that the sexual organs should respond in a like 
manner. 
It is well to understand that there is both a 
natural or animal instinct, and a cultivated or 
aesthetic sexual instinct. Just as one may eat 
when not really hungry so he may have coitus 
when there is no excessive tumescence of the 
sexual glands. There are a number of instances 
on record of sexual athletes who were able to 
produce and maintain an erection at will. 
There is in both sexes that mental desire to con- 
quer that leads them to attempt coitus purely 
for the desire to show their prowess. 
There is the purely animal sexual demand for 
the relief of the sexual glands by the evacua- 
tion of the germinal substance. This condition 
may only be found in the lower animals or in 
men who have remained continent until there 
is a severe tumescence of the sexual glands, and 
a demand for relief. This is the condition that 
Kibot had in mind when he wrote: “In the im- 
mense majority of animals, and frequently in 
man, the sexual instinct is not accompanied by 
any tender emotion. The act once accom- 
plished, there is separation and forgetting. f 
?Ribot, Th.: La psychologie des Sentiments. Quoted by Ellis. 16 
IMPOTEXCY AND STERILITY 
Regnano falls into the same error that other 
investigators have in assuming that this is the 
only way in which the sexual instinct appears. 
The more or less striking “wedding garment” 
which nearly all animals assume when in love, 
arises from an abnormal condition of general 
hypersecretion occasioned again by hormonic 
products of the germinal substance. At any 
rate it shows how deep is the physiological dis- 
turbance caused in all somatic cells by the 
germinal substance. The effort to expel so 
disturbing an element then becomes a tendency 
to copulation as a means of this expulsion.3 
There is, however, an aesthetic or cultivated 
sexual instinct, which is not intended so much 
for the relief of the sexual glands by the evacu- 
ation of the germinal substance, as it is for 
pleasure. This instinct bears a similar relation 
to the sexual mechanism that music bears to the 
ear, or the beautiful in nature and art bears to 
the eye, or that tempting food bears to the pal- 
ate. With many this sexual instinct is highly 
developed. There are as large a per cent of 
accomplished lovers as there are musicians. 
Some women are able to give and receive more 
pleasure in the sexual embrace than others, and 
’Regnano, Eugenio: Inheritance of Acquired Characters, p. 366. THE SEXUAL INSTINCT 
17 
the same is true of some men. The Jews, Hin- 
doos, and some other eastern people are said to 
be adepts in sexual matters. Heine was de- 
cidedly wrong when he wrote: ‘ ‘ Turn out the 
lights and all women are alike. ’ ’ The remark- 
able thing is that Darwin, Ellis, Regnano and 
other investigators have overlooked the highly 
cultivated and aesthetic sexual instinct, or did 
not differentiate it from the purely animal in- 
stinct. 
Before any muscle can act it must first re- 
ceive a mental or nerve impulse. A piano 
player will not lose control of his fingers by 
practice, but will increase their action and im- 
prove their adaptability by continued use. But 
the piano player must mentally control the ac- 
tion of his fingers, and there must be some out- 
side influence to cause him to will that his 
fingers shall strike certain keys. This may 
come through the sense of sight in reading 
music or through the hearing if he plays by 
ear, as do the blind musicians. In like manner 
must there be an external stimulation of the 
sexual centers before there can be sexual abil- 
ity on the part of the male. 
It is evident, considering these facts, that age 
can not be the sole cause of the decline in the 
sexual powers of men, neither can it be main- 18 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
tained that excessive venery must lead in all 
instances to a weakening of the powers. 
It is customary to associate strong sexual 
power with youth, and waning power with age. 
If we consider the environment in which they 
live, we readily see that the youtli is thrown into 
contact with females of his own age, likewise 
the old man is more in company of women who 
are advanced in years, excluding the members 
of his own household. Boys and young men 
are seldom sexually attracted to older women, 
but experience great sexual excitement when 
in the company of girls of their own age, or 
those younger than themselves. Likewise we 
find that where old men are charged with sexual 
crimes their victims almost invariably have 
been very young girls or mere children. I have 
collected a large number of reports of cases 
where old men were charged with sexual crimes, 
and in not one instance was the girl out of her 
early teens. These facts naturally lead the ob- 
server to inquire if there is not some special at- 
traction that leads men to experience great sex- 
ual activity when in the presence of very young 
girls. 
Following the thread a little farther we will 
observe that as a man grows older and his mind 
becomes concentrated upon his business affairs, THE SEXUAL INSTINCT 
19 
his sexual power is inclined to fail him, only 
again to he regained when he reaches an age 
where he lays aside the cares of business and is 
again thrown in the society of young women. 
This gives us a key to the cause of the sexual 
crimes of old men. They are not mentally de- 
ficient as has been held, but in returning to the 
environment of their boyhood they are affected 
by the same uncontrollable desire that they ex- 
perienced in the days of their youth. They are 
no more to be censured for their acts than a 
boy would be under the same circumstances. 
This is a fact that should be considered by our 
courts in cases where old men are charged with 
sexual crimes against young girls. 
The question then is: what is this special in- 
fluence that has such an overpowering effect on 
the male animal'? It is evident that this influ- 
ence reaches the sexual centers through the or- 
gans of special sense, and that the sexual 
power of man depends solely upon the external 
stimulus that reaches these centers through 
these same special senses. Especially is this 
true with regard to the senses of smell, hearing, 
sight and touch in the order named. CHAPTER II 
THE SENSE OF SMELL 
The relation of the sense of smell to sexual 
desire is well known. It is also a well estab- 
lished fact that cases of partial or complete 
impotency have in many instances followed the 
loss of the sense of smell. An increased acute- 
ness of this sense is noted as we descend the 
scale of animal development. The lower ani- 
mals are possessed of a more acute sense of 
smell, as well as a stronger sexual power than 
men. In the lower animals we find that the 
sexual passion of the male, as well as the fe- 
male, is increased when the latter is in heat, 
while at all other periods there is no inclination 
to mate. The behavior of the male animal at 
the time the female is in heat goes to show that 
it is the odor from the female that excites the 
male. 
The close relationship existing between the 
sexual apparatus and the nasal organs is a sub- 
ject of much interest to the student. This re- 
lationship is evident from the fact that the 
septum and turbinates are erectile. There is 
often a sympathetic or correlated congestion of 
the structures during the menses, and in cases 
20 THE SENSE OF SMELL 
21 
of congestive conditions being already present 
they are intensified during this period. Fliess 
and Ries controlled painful menstruation by 
painting with cocaine the ‘ ‘ genital spots, ’ in the 
nose. Sexual activity of the male is apt to be 
followed by similar turgescence of the erectile 
tissues of the nares. 
Sexual excesses may even lead to an inflam- 
mation of the mucuous membranes of the nose 
and retard the sexual stimulus by dulling the 
sense of smell. We frequently find an inflamed 
condition of this membrane in the case of mas- 
turbators, and in those given to sexual excesses. 
A visit to any institution for the care of idiots 
will readily convince one that “sore nose” is a 
common condition among this class. I do not 
recall a single instance of an idiot or feeble- 
minded boy in the institutions under my charge, 
that was not a masturbator, except among the 
very young children. It is well to remark, how- 
ever, that masturbation was not the cause but 
the result of their mental condition. Nature, 
by causing this inflamed condition of the mu- 
cous membranes of the nose to follow sexual 
excesses, thereby dulling the sense of smell and 
sexual desire, appears to have provided an au- 
tomatic control to prevent sexual excesses. 22 
IMPOTENCY AXD STERILITY 
The experiments of Koblanck and Roeder,1 
by operating on the so-called genital points in 
the nose, while apparently having no influence 
on the development of the animals, which grew 
as well as the controls; yet, when the animals 
were killed the genital organs were found prac- 
tically rudimentary in the treated animals. 
While the untreated animals had two litters, the 
treated animals seemed sexually indifferent. 
The odors of some flowers and some perfumes 
have a strong influence on the sexual centers 
and greatly increase desire. This fact was 
known to the Aryans and Chinese for centuries. 
The Hindoos use musk as a sexual stimulant, 
and it is still one of the best remedies for the 
purpose that we possess. The power of musk 
depends to a great extent upon its odor, and 
it should always be given in sufficient strength 
to give off a fairly strong odor. Musk is very 
popular with the negroes as a perfume. Ex- 
tracts of pansies, violets, and locust blossoms 
seem to have a most pronounced effect on sex- 
ual desire when their odor is inhaled. 
The sense of smell may become very highly 
developed in cultured persons. Instances are 
on record, according to Binet, where odors are 
1Koblanak and Roeder: Experimental Research on Influencing of 
Sexual System by Operations on the Nose. Berliner klinische Wochen- 
schrift. xlix. THE SENSE OF SMELL 
23 
responsible for marriages contracted by clever 
men with female subordinates. To some the 
most essential thing in a woman is not beauty, 
mind, or elevation of character, but odor. 
Urquiza fainted at the odor of a rose and 
Baudelaire could not live in Belgium because 
the trees had no fragrance. 
Sturgis mentions an instance where it was 
found necessary to request a stenographer to 
refrain from the use of the extract of violets 
on account of its effect on the men working in 
the office. I recall an instance of a lady who 
would become so excited when inhaling the odor 
of extract of locust blossoms that she would at 
times experience an orgasm. 
Kiernan reports a case of a sexual pervert 
whose wife when excited gave off a lavender 
odor. The man had always been attracted to 
this odor, since his first deep orgasm was in 
sheets redolent with it. As this woman reached 
the menopause she gave off a leathery odor, 
and from the beginning of this leathery odor 
she became sexually repellant to him and he 
became incapable of an erection. 
Sturgis2 also reports an instance when a 
newly married man was incapable of an ereo- 
zSturgis, Frederick R.: Notes and Reflections on Causes Which In- 
duce Marital Infelicity Due to the Relations of the Sexes. Medical 
Council, July, 1907. 24 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
tion due to the offensive odor of his wife. She 
was instructed to perfume her night clothes and 
bed, after which he had no further trouble in 
performing the act. 
In olden times it was the custom for people 
to anoint themselves with perfumed ointments. 
Thus, we read that when Mary anointed the feet 
of Jesus, “the room was filled with the odor of 
the ointment. ’ ’ That these perfumed ointments 
produced a sexual effect may be inferred from 
the statement made by Solomon in the Song, 
that “because of the savor of thy ointments 
* * * do the virgins love thee.” 
According to the Sacred Boohs of the East, 
Queen Maya, mother of Buddha, dreamed that 
she saw a white elephant hovering above her. 
It vanished. Then she heard music, and beheld 
the devas (Hindoo angels) scattering flowers 
about her, and she inhaled their fragrance. At 
Buddha’s birth the devas caused a perfumed 
rain to fall on every part of the earth. 
Hingston3 says the young ladies of Tahiti 
consume a great deal of time in perfuming their 
hair and oiling their bodies with perfumed oils. 
Ellis tells of groups of Tahitian women, “sit- 
ting under the shade of a clump of wide-spread- 
ing trees, or in the cool mountain streams, em- 
8Hingston, A.: “Polynesia”. Woman of All Nations, 1911. THE SENSE OF SMELL 
25 
ploying themselves for hours together in ar- 
ranging the curls of the hair, weaving wreaths 
of flowers, and filling the air with their per- 
fume.” This is the country where the strongest 
secret society, the Areois, holds as its object 
the indulgence in sexual excesses. To become 
a member of the Areois it is necessary for the 
candidate, if he has any children, to murder 
them. 
Pleasing odors are stimulants. Experiments 
made by Fere show that muscular action is 
stimulated in the presence of odors. “Man,” 
says Bernarden de Saint Pierre, “uses perfumes 
to impart energy to his passions.” “But,” 
adds Fere, “perfumes cannot keep up the fires 
which they light.” It has been suggested that 
much of the stimulating effect of alcohol is due 
to its odor. Workers in vanilla factories ex- 
perience excessive menstruation, irritable blad- 
der and nearly always sexual excitement. 
Regnano4 advances a novel theory as to the 
cause of sexual selection, i. e., “the attraction 
of the ovum for the spermatozoon even at a dis- 
tance by means of secretions diffused in all 
directions.” Unless there is a special sense 
unknown to me, the only way in which I could 
account for such an attraction would be through 
4Regnano, Eugenio: Inheritance of Acquired Characters, 1911. 26 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
the odor of the secretions. We know that there 
are odors that emanate from the body during 
sexual excitement, and that the bodily odors 
change at this time. It is also a fact that danc- 
ing, and religious excitement during revival 
meetings produce sexual excitement. It may 
be that the odors from the secretions of one 
highly sexed woman in a ballroom or church 
may produce sexual excitement in others. Pos- 
sibly this may account for the great attraction 
that the ballroom and other public gatherings 
have for some people. 
Strongly sexed individuals, especially males, 
are generally larger than the average of their 
class. Large nostrils are an indication of sex- 
ual power, while the sharp, pinched nose goes 
with the sexually weak or indifferent. The 
Pygmas, who are the smallest race of the hu- 
man family, are noted for the offensive odors 
emanating from their bodies, and they are said 
by travelers to be sexually indifferent. 
The odor of perspiration has an aphrodisiac 
effect. Those who bathe very often do not ex- 
cite passion so readily as those who do not. 
Many very aesthetic men have become passion- 
ately fond of women who did not consider it 
necessary to bathe daily. On the other hand, 
as has been pointed out by Ellis (Sexual Selec- THE SENSE OF SMELL 
27 
tion) excessive bathing is said to reduce the 
morals. 
In the human female the odor emanating 
from the body changes with age and condition 
of health. The odor of a healthy young girl 
has a stronger effect than the odor from an 
older woman upon the sexual instinct of men. 
Young men being constantly thrown in contact 
with young girls have strong sexual desire 
and power, but when they are in the com- 
pany of older women they do not experience 
the same sensations. On the other hand, 
old men are thrown in company with women 
of their own age or older, and fail to re- 
spond sexually as they did in the days of 
their youth. They find that their power 
has begun to wane. Now if we let our elderly 
man retire from the cares of business, and place 
him in a position where he is in the company 
of young girls and children, we find that his 
old desire and power returns, and like the 
young boy, he is apt to let desire get the better 
of his reason and he is often led to commit some 
sexual act that will brand him as a criminal, 
mental or moral degenerate. 
William Allen White, in one of his stories 
gives a very good description of this phase, in 
the following words: ‘ ‘ There is a form of ro- 28 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
mantic dementia that attacks certain men in the 
early adolescence of their senility. It is hard to 
say whether the madness is more grotesque 
than the puppy love of early youth. Perhaps 
because age is supposed to be more circumspect 
than youth the capers of the old man and the 
young woman—for always he is enamored of 
youth—are more fantastic than those of the 
young. Or perhaps in the earlier affairs of life 
both the man and woman are dancing to the 
same tune in their blood and it is more seemly. 
But, whatever sets love’s sweet song off-key in 
the calf love of early senility something does 
jar it and all the world laughs.” It may be 
added that the reason “all the world laughs,” 
is because all the world is ignorant, and igno- 
rant people are prone to laugh at that which 
they can not understand. The world is igno- 
rant of the fact that the same thing which starts 
love’s sweet song in his youth will again start 
it under like circumstances in the ‘ ‘ early senil- 
ity” of his declining years. 
Schopenhauer5 presents the matter very 
clearly when he says: “It occasionally hap- 
pens that for no particular reason, long-forgot- 
ten scenes suddenly start up in the memory. 
This may in many cases be due to the action of 
BSchopenhauer: Essays. Studies in Pessimism THE SEXSE OF SMELL 
29 
some hardly perceptible odor, which accom- 
panied those scenes and now recurs exactly the 
same as before. And I may say, in passing, 
that the sense of sight is connected with the 
understanding, the sense of hearing with the 
reason, and, as we see in the present case, the 
sense of smell with the memory.6 Touch and 
taste are more material and dependent upon 
contact. They have no ideal side.” 
It is the one that gives off the pleasing odor 
that attracts the opposite sex. In man it is the 
female that attracts the male. With all species 
of animals whose females menstruate, or pass 
through periods of heat, it is the female that 
attracts the male. 
With some of the lower animals, the butterfly 
and the moth, for instance, it is the male that 
attracts the female. If we take the green- 
veined white butterfly and brush the upper sur- 
face of the fore or hind wing with a camel-hair 
pencil, a strong odor resembling that of the 
lemon plant will be noted upon smelling the 
6“Memory is a delicate instrument. Like an old musical box, it will 
lie silent for long years; then a mere nothing, a jerk, a tremor, will 
start the spring, and from beneath its decent covering of dust it will talk 
to us of forgotten passion and desire. Some memories are thus moved 
at sight of a ribbon, a faded violet, a hotel bill; others at the sound 
of a voice or a bar of music, or at the bite of a flavor on the palate 
or an arrangement of skies against a well-known background. To me 
return all the unhappy, far-off things when I smell the sharp odor of 
a little dirty theatre near Blackwall. Then I think upon all those 
essences of life most fragrant and fresh, and upon .... Gina 
Bretano”.—Thomas Burke: Limehouse Nights. 30 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
pencil. It appears that the rubbing process dis- 
lodges quantities of the minute scales with 
which the wings of this insect, like those of but- 
terflies and moths in general, are clothed. The 
under surface of the wings similarly treated 
yields no odor, nor is it found in association with 
any scales from either surface of the female. 
The scales which bear the odor are in addition 
to the regular scales found upon these insects, 
and are of a different form. The odor of the 
garden white butterfly has been compared to 
the sweet briar; that of the cabbage white re- 
calls violet powder, or orris root. There is an 
African butterfly, the Mylothris agathinu, that 
has the odor like sweet briar, wdiile M. trimenia 
gives an odor resembling sweet pea or clover, 
with a suggestion of orange peel; the female of 
both are destitute of odor. Other varieties of 
butterflies have the odor of honeysuckle, jas- 
mine, and other flowers, and while the odors 
are not universal they are frequent and are 
generally agreeable. There are some tropical 
and subtropical butterflies that give off dis- 
agreeable or offensive scents. However, this 
scent may be attractive to the female of their 
species. There is no accounting for tastes. We 
have read of the noble woman who liked the 
odor of the stables so well that she had a per- THE SENSE OF SMELL 
31 
fume made to resemble it. The disagreeable 
odors of these tropical butterflies are supposed 
to be a means of protection against enemies. 
However, if this was the only use for these 
odors, the female would be protected the same 
as the males. The constant fluttering of the 
male has a tendency to diffuse or scatter the 
scales that carry the odor, so that the females 
will be most likely to notice it, and thereby be 
attracted. 
There is a peculiar odor during coitus which 
seems to make its appearance at about the time 
the secretions of the male and female come into 
contact. It is related that a young officer who 
was charged with having seduced a number of 
women, stated that he held a handkerchief un- 
der his arm (axilla) during coitus, and that if 
he could get any woman to use the handkerchief 
and inhale the odor it would so excite her that 
he would have no trouble in carrying out his 
desires. Australian boys are said to prick the 
skin of an apple full of small holes with a 
needle, and hold the apple under the arm dur- 
ing copulation, then give the apple to some girl 
to eat, believing it will cause the one who eats 
it to become sexually excited. 
It is not necessary that an odor be so strong 
as to be noticeable to be effective in stimulating 32 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
sexual desire and power. It may be so subtle 
that one would not be aware of its presence, 
and yet have a wonderful power over men. 
This will in a measure account for the fact that 
some women attract while others repel certain 
men. It also explains why some of the plain- 
est, not to say homeliest women have been much 
sought after. It also points out the great dan- 
ger of coeducational schools. 
According to Zwaardmaker the valeriana- 
ceous group and goat odors are largely com- 
posed of odors having aphrodisiac effects, and 
these are present to a greater or less degree 
in human perspiration. 
Ellis mentions a Monk in Prague who could 
recognize by smell the chastity of the women 
who approached him. This is comparatively 
easy to do. It is relatively easy to locate a 
highly sexed and passionate woman in a room 
by her bodily odor. The odor of a woman is 
stronger at the menstrual period than at any 
other time, and flowers give off their strongest 
perfume at the time they are ready to receive 
the fertilizing pollen. 
The custom of using depilatories for the re- 
moval of the hair from the axilla does away 
with much of the sexual odor. Women who re- THE SEXSE OF SMELL 
33 
move the hair from under their arms are never 
so attractive as those who do not. 
Wall7 says odor may be considered a second- 
ary sexual character; the wise woman will not 
underestimate its importance, but will make it 
subservient to her worldly interests. 
Shoe fetichism is largely due to the odor of 
the leather from which the shoes are made and 
to the fact that the leather being an animal tis- 
sue absorbs the odor of the wearer. It is prob- 
able that the leather from a female animal 
would have a stronger effect on a man than that 
from a male animal. I knew a girl who worked 
in an office that said she could lay her head on 
the leather bound books and experience agree- 
able sexual sensations when inhaling the odor 
of the leather. 
It has been noted that where a large number 
of prostitutes were taking walks for exercise at 
the detention camps a number of dogs would 
follow them. I saw a letter, written by a girl 
confined in the Kansas detention camp, to an- 
other girl who had escaped, in which the writer 
said: “About seventy of us were taken out in 
the country for a walk the other day and the 
dogs followed us. I guess they could smell us.9 ’ 
Another girl told me that they had often com- 
7Wall: Sex and Sex Worship. 34 
IMPOTENCY AND STEKILITY 
mented on the number of dogs that followed 
them whenever a crowd of the girls were out 
for exercise. 
It is possible that a simple operation on the 
nose would destroy the sexual desire to such a 
degree that it would prove an ideal operation 
in dealing with sexual perverts, masturbators, 
and other institutional cases. It would, if suc- 
cessful, be better than to resort to sterilization 
as at present advocated. CHAPTER III 
EFFECT OF ODORS ON THE INTERNAL 
SECRETIONS 
It is well known that the salivary glands are 
stimulated by the agreeable odor of food. The 
secretions of the salivary glands are intensified 
because of the fact that one has smelled, tasted, 
or seen some appetizing food. 
In just the same way that the gastric juices 
are stimulated by the odors of food, may sexual 
desire be stimulated by the sense of smell. In 
fact, the activity of all secreting glands depends 
upon an external stimulus received through one 
or more of the five senses. In experiments 
made on healthy dogs that had a fistula from 
the stomach to the external abdominal wall so 
that the gastric juice could be collected, it was 
found that when bread or some article of food 
that did not appeal to the taste of the animal 
was held a short distance from the nose there 
was no appreciable increase in the flow of juice, 
yet when a piece of beef was held at the same 
distance there was a profuse secretion of saliva 
and gastric juice. 
Pleasant odors of cooking food whet the 
35 36 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
appetite, bringing about a gnawing sensation 
in the stomach that is only relieved by a boun- 
tiful flow of gastric juice,—on the other hand 
we find that unpleasant odors and some per- 
fumes have a depressing or nauseating effect. 
Some persons can not remain where lilacs are 
in full bloom, others cannot bear the odor of 
jasmine, some can not bear the odor of tobacco ; 
the odor of watermelon is nauseating to some. 
Some are nauseated or given the headache from 
inhaling the odor of the heliotrope or tuberose. 
The odor of cantharides often causes vertigo 
and the fragrance of roses has an irritating and 
nauseating influence on some people. Attacks 
of real illness, with long trains of digestive dis- 
orders following nausea from the smell of fish, 
mutton, turpentine and butter beans have been 
noted. 
An offending scent may set in motion a train 
of morbid digestive symptoms, likewise those 
that are agreeable may exercise a highly bene- 
ficial effect. I have found that by adding per- 
fumes to medicine prescribed for digestive and 
nervous cases I have had much better results 
than with the same prescriptions without the 
perfumes. 
Some perfumes appear to have a direct af- 
finity for the thyroid gland and the testicles. 37 
EFFECT OF ODORS OX INTERNAL SECRETIONS 
In treating goiter I have found that musk had 
a tendency to increase the size of the gland. 
Ginger root, so commonly used as a food and 
condiment in Japan and China, derives its value 
from its odor as well as its stimulating effect 
on the stomach. 
The effect of odors on the system is such that 
it has been said that only a man of a phleg- 
matic temperament should undertake perfum- 
ing for the constant association with perfumes 
is too irritating for one with sensitive nerves. 
Nature never permits any single odor to pre- 
dominate for a very long time. The odor of 
the fields in the early morning changes as the 
sun gets higher and becomes very different at 
noon and again in the evening. The changing 
odors are refreshing, where a single continuous 
odor would depress. Odors which are pleasant 
and attractive often become irritating if 
breathed continually for many minutes. No one 
variety of flowers blooms alone at any season 
of the year, but a changing variety of different 
odors are mingled at all times. 
The statement of F. Jager that the sexual 
instinct is mainly, if not altogether, due to the 
sense of smell is well borne out by the investi- 
gations that I have made. The stimulating ef- 
fect of certain odors on the internal glandular 38 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
secretion is so marked that there can be no 
doubt of the direct effect of odors on the sexual 
or reproductive glands. 
Kraft-Ebing holds that olfactory impressions 
in man under ordinary conditions do not have 
quite so important part as in animals. He fails 
to take into effect, however, the dulled sense of 
smell in man as compared with the lower ani- 
mals; a condition due to a more general dis- 
eased condition of the nose, and to the use of 
tobacco and other narcotic poisons. 
Regnano1 was of the opinion that the desire 
for copulation is only due to a desire to elimi- 
nate the germinal substance, hence where there 
is no waste material there can be no sexual de- 
sire. In other words so long as the glands are 
not excited to secrete thereby producing ger- 
minal substance there is no waste to be elimi- 
nated and no desire for copulation. The 
secretion of the glands being due to an 
external stimulus, as soon as the glands be- 
gin to secrete there is a germinal substance, 
which seeking an outlet in a natural way 
will excite desire. If the salivary glands 
are excited the call for food on which these 
secretions act is manifest. If it is the 
1Regnano, Eugenio: Inheritance of Acquired Characters, 1911. EFFECT OF ODORS ON INTERNAL SECRETIONS 
39 
glands of the sexual system that are excited, 
then the desire for copulation follows. 
Taudler2 claims that in the sexual glands 
there is a generative part, and a part devoted 
to an internal secretion. Rohleder3 holds that 
there are three different secretions, these secre- 
tions are derived from the testicle, the seminal 
vesicle and the prostate gland. It is possible 
that each of these requires a different stimulus 
to cause them to function, there can be no ques- 
tion but each must function to produce strong 
sexual power. 
The effect of the internal secretions on the 
sexual apparatus has been demonstrated by the 
experiments of Ott and Scott.4 They found that 
some internal secretions had a decided action 
on erectile tissue of the penile organ of the dog. 
The prostate increased the length 25 milli- 
meters and the width of the bulb 25 milli- 
meters. The orchitic extracts gave an increase 
in length of 15 millimeters, and an increase in 
width of bulb of 23 millimeters. The ovarian 
extract gave an increase in length of 21 and an 
increase in width of bulb of 23 millimeters. The 
parathyroid extract gave an increase in length 
2Taudler: Berliner klinische Wochenschrift, 1910, p. 459. 
8Rohleder: Deutsche medizinische Wochenschrift. 
40tt, Isaac, and Scott, John C.: Preliminary Note on the Action 
of Some Internal Secretions Upon Erectile Tissue, 1911, 40 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
of 15 and an increase in width of bulb of 15 
millimeters. The thymus extract gave an in- 
crease in length of 15 millimeters and an in- 
crease in width of bulb of 12 millimeters. 
Pituitary extract, as a whole, gave an increase 
in length of 11 millimeters and an increase in 
width of bulb of 6 millimeters. Infundibulin 
gave an increase in length of 5 millimeters and 
an increase in width of bulb of 6 millimeters. 
Pineal gland gave no increase in length but in- 
crease in width of bulb of 7 millimeters. The 
corpus luteum increased the length 15 milli- 
meters and the width of the bulb 28 millimeters. 
The minute amount of these glandular secre- 
tions that will affect the body is shown by the 
statement of Ott5 that about one-millionth of a 
gram of adrenalin elevates blood pressure. 
To increase sexual ability in the male it 
would be necessary to stimulate one or more 
of the glands whose secretions stimulate erec- 
tile tissue, and at the same time increase the 
secretion of the testicles, seminal vesicles and 
prostate gland. This can only be done through 
the special senses or by some drug that acts 
directly upon these secreting glands. 
sOtt, Isaac: Internal Secretions, p. 95. CHAPTER IV 
THE VOICE AND SENSE OF HEARING 
The voice is the key to the proper mating of 
the sexes. The voice changes at puberty, but 
after puberty it becomes fixed and remains 
about the same throughout life, barring acci- 
dents and disease. While the tone may be con- 
stant the inflection may indicate many changes 
in the mental condition. A slight variation in 
the inflection may indicate a state of fear, pain, 
anger, love, or any emotion the speaker may 
feel. The influence of the voice is well under- 
stood, and is one of the most successful means 
of winning favor of others. If one speaks in 
an angry tone it begets anger in the one spoken 
to. Likewise the cooing tone of the lover be- 
gets love. 
Darwin believed that the love-calls and music 
of some animals serve to charm the females, 
and that the best musicians have special ad- 
vantages. Finck1 held that the influence of ani- 
mal music is chiefly to facilitate courtship, by 
making it easy for the females to discover the 
whereabouts of the males of the same species. 
1Finck, Henry T.: Romantic Love and Personal Beauty. 
41 42 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
The latter also held that it is not the male voice 
that is the most mellow and melodious that 
catches the fancy of the female, but the one that 
is the most persistent and loudest. This may 
be true of the male bird, but I am sure that it 
is the wToman with the mellow and melodious 
voice that attracts men.2 
Among birds it is the female that seeks the 
male, and Montagu asserts that: “Males of 
song-birds and many others do not in general 
search for females, but on the contrary, their 
business in spring is to perch on some conspicu- 
ous spot, breathing out their full and amorous 
notes, which, by instinct, the female knows, and 
repairs to the spot to choose her mate. ’ ’ 
Darwin says: “The spel of the blackcock 
certainly serves as a call to the female, for it 
has been known to bring four or five females 
from a distance to a male in confinement; but 
as the blackcock continues his spel for hours 
during successive days, and in the case of the 
capercailzie ‘with an agony of passion,’ we are 
led to believe that the females that are present 
are charmed.” To this argument, Finck re- 
sConstant, in his “Recollections of the Private Life of Napoleon” 
speaking of the Empress Josephine, says: “What more than all else 
constituted the inexpressible charm of the Empress’s presence were 
the ravishing tones of her voice. How many times have I, like many 
others, stopped suddenly on hearing that voice, simply to enjoy the 
pleasure of listening to it,” 43 
THE VOICE AND SENSE OF HEARING 
plies: “There appears no direct evidence, 
however, that female birds are more charmed 
by one male than another, and prefer him on 
account of superior song, as the theory of Sex- 
ual Selection postulates. ’9 
It is remarkable that two such learned men 
as Darwin and Finck should overlook the effect 
the tone or inflection of the voice might have on 
the opposite sex. It would appear that the tone 
of the call of the male bird would attract all 
the females who were psychically in tune with 
him to his side, and that the bird with the 
strongest voice, having a larger field would 
attract more of the females than one not having 
so great a range. In either event the male con- 
tinues his call until all the females in the range 
of his voice have had an opportunity to re- 
spond. 
With man the voice that will attract one will 
repel another. I am of the opinion that if men 
and women mated only with those whose voices 
were in tune with themselves there would be 
but very few separations and divorces. 
The advantage of the bird with the loudest 
voice, would be in the greater distance his voice 
would carry, and the possibility of thus reach- 
ing more females who were in tune with him. 
It is the woman who has the sweet and melo- 44 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
dious voice that attracts men. The cooing and 
amorous tone of the lover begets desire and 
increases sexual passion and power. It is the 
woman whose conversation during the copula- 
tive act, though incoherent, is couched in en- 
dearing words, that is best liked by men, and it 
is the amorous tone of her words that enables 
him to appear at his best. 
In general, complete happiness is dependent 
upon harmonious sexual relations, or upon the 
potential ability to enter into such relations. 
Complete happiness in the married state is 
never attained unless a perfect unison of sexual 
temperaments exists. ‘ ‘ The regard a man has 
for his wife may be ever so great, but if they 
are not ‘affinities’, using the vulgar interpreta- 
tion of this term to express our meaning, they 
are not happy and their matrimonial bonds are 
no stronger than silken threads. Man wants 
desire in his wife; woman wants no less in her 
husband ’ ’.3 
Schenck-Notsing mentions a woman who 
could have an orgasm while listening to music 
or viewing pictures. It is frequently the case 
that music will cause sexual excitement in wom- 
en. I have had a number confess that they 
played the piano more for the sexual pleasure 
3American Journal of Dermatology. THE VOICE AND SENSE OF HEARING 
45 
than for the pleasure gained from the music 
they were playing. 
That it is the tone of the voice that gives its 
possessor power over others is well brought 
out in the words of the poets. Burns, speak- 
ing of his first love, said: “I didn’t know my- 
self why the tones of her voice made my heart- 
strings thrill like an Aeolian harp. ’’ Browning 
wrote: “Her voice changed like a bird’s; there 
grew more of the music and less of the words.” 
Swift said: “A blockhead with a melodious 
voice in a boarding school may have his 
choice. ’ ’ 
Cleopatra, who according to Plutarch, was 
not beautiful, yet was considered absolutely ir- 
resistible in her day, possessed a voice that 
was ‘ ‘ delightfully melodious, and had the same 
variety of modulation as an instrument of many 
strings.” And, so it was for the entrancing 
voice and pleasing manners of the “star-eyed 
Egyptian, glorious sorceress of the Nile,” that 
Anthony, “drank with her caresses, madly 
flung a world away. ’ ’ 
Joan of Arc was tall and comely, with dark 
hair, and her voice is described as sweet. She 
was very reticent about speaking, and was 
readily moved to tears. Her demeanor was 46 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
graceful and modest, and her countenance 
cheerful. {Jacobson.) 
Bacon4 says that the Sirens changed their 
singing or adapted their tunes exactly to the 
nature of each person in order to captivate and 
snare him. Ulysses commanded his followers 
to stop their ears with wax so they could not 
hear the songs of the Sirens, while Orpheus 
escaped danger by loudly singing the praises of 
the gods, whereby he drowned the voice of the 
Sirens. 
The tone of the voice has given power to men 
and women who without this control of their 
voices would never have arisen to position in 
life that enabled them to live in history. The 
voice is the key to the individual. The ability 
to control it gives the possessor more power 
than any other trait he may posses. Those who 
are enabled to tune their voice to that of the 
person with whom they are speaking, have the 
power of controlling the mind of others, and 
may gain anything they desire. 
fBacon, Francis: Essays. The Wisdom of the Ancients. CHAPTER V 
THE SENSE OF SIGHT 
There are certain points of the female form 
that strongly appeal to the sexual instinct in 
man. The woman who has a voluptuous form 
will always be attractive to men. While women 
not so well developed have often been sought 
after, it is the one with the full development 
that is the most attractive. 
The breasts are the first point upon which 
the eye rests. A beautiful face will always at- 
tract attention, but a man will instinctively 
note the bust first. From the bust the eyes 
wander to the face. Well developed breasts are 
indicative of sexual power and the maternal in- 
stinct. While many women who are lacking in 
this regard are very passionate, and some well 
developed women are not, still it is the full de- 
velopment of the breasts that first attracts the 
masculine eye. 
The suggestiveness of well moulded and 
beautifully rounded breasts seen over the yoke 
of a low bodice, or outlined against the waving 
front of a waist of soft material is most pleas- 
ing to the eye, and will cause all red-blooded 
men to agree with Ella Wheeler Wilcox that 
47 48 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
there is something fascinating in, “what the 
mind in a half chance guesses, of the twin per- 
fection of two drifts of snow. ’ ’ 
The woman with the undeveloped breasts, 
while in many instances excessively amorous, 
has seldom been considered as first choice in 
the matrimonial market. Even in the days of 
Solomon we find him lamenting because his lit- 
tle sister “has no breasts,” and wondering 
what can be done for her, ‘ ‘ in the day when she 
shall be spoken for.” Solomon also refers to 
another woman who had large breasts and con- 
sidered herself very fortunate, as we find her 
boasting, “I am a wall and my breasts like 
towers, then was I in his eyes as one that found 
favor.” If further evidence was needed to 
prove that large breasts were desirable in the 
days of Solomon we need only again refer to 
the Song, and read, ‘ ‘ Thy two breasts are like 
two young roes that are twins.” In another 
place Solomon compares the breasts to clusters 
of grapes. This, perhaps, because of the fact 
that some women have supernumerary breasts, 
a condition quite common in the early ages of 
the world’s history. 
In order to nourish the great number of chil- 
dren common in ancient times the mother would 
necessarily need more than two breasts. Primi- THE SENSE OF SIGHT 
49 
tive women in many instances had a double row 
of nipples down the torso. These, because of 
higher civilization and nonuse gradually dis- 
appeared. Instances of more than two breasts 
are not unknown in recent times. Peuch, in 
1876, collected seventy-seven cases of poly- 
mastia. Bruce reports sixty cases, and Hirst 
says supernumerary breasts are more common 
than is generally supposed. The famous Anne 
Boleyn is said to have had more than two 
breasts, as did one of her ladies in waiting. 
The parts of the female form that appeal 
most to men may be inferred from the words 
of the poets. Poets have always been consid- 
ered authorities on love, and have spent much 
time in writing sonnets to the objects of their 
affections, in which they describe the points 
that interest them most. 
Solomon catalogued the points of interest. 
He compared the teeth to a flock of sheep that 
are newly shorn; the lips to a thread of scarlet; 
the neck to a tower of ivory; the thighs to jew- 
els ; the navel to a round goblet; the belly to a 
heap of wheat set about with lilies, and the 
breasts to young roes. After enumerating all 
these specifications, he exclaims, “How fair 
and how pleasant art thou, 0 love for delights!” 
The hair as an adornment appeals strongly to 50 
IMPOTENCY ANT) STERILITY 
the poets, and the sexual significance is evi- 
dent. Pope says, “Fair tresses man’s imperial 
race ensnare, and beauty draws us by a single 
hair.” The loose or unbraided hair seems to 
have always been especially fascinating. In the 
old National epic of Finland, Kalavala, in the 
description of the Betrothal of Ilmarinen, these 
lines appear: 
‘ ‘ Then he scanned the braidless maidens, 
Gazing on the long haired maidens, 
On the best of all the maidens, 
Fairest maid with hair unbraided. ” 
Highly sexed women have an abundance of 
hair, not only on the head but upon the body as 
well. Heavy eyebrows are indicative of sexual 
power in the female. The pubic hair is thick 
and curly in the highly sexed woman, and the 
degree of passion may be judged by the abun- 
dance of hair and the closeness of the curls. 
The woman with straight or stringy pubic hair 
will be found to be cold and will seldom reach 
an orgasm. The majority of cases of frigidity 
have long straight pubic hair. Brunettes as a 
rule are more passionate than blondes. 
Sabouraud1 says that there can be no doubt 
that the falling of the hair and the growth of 
1Sabouraud, R.: Connection Between the Genital Development and 
Pathology of the Hair. Archives Mensuelles d’Obstetrique et de Gyne- 
cologic, Paris, iii, No. 1, pp. 1-160. THE SENSE OF SIGHT 
51 
the hair are linked with physiologic genital de- 
velopment. He refers to the yard-long tail 
feathers of the peacock, as an example, which 
sprout and fall in the six months which include 
the rutting period. He has found that after a 
hair has become detached it does not drop out 
until seventy-five or ninety days later. This 
delay explains why some women who are liable 
to habitual losses of hair find at the third 
month of pregnancy that their hair is unusually 
thick, and that the dropping out does not begin 
anew until three months after delivery. Sa- 
bouraud claims that children, women, and ap- 
parently eunuchs, never become bald like men. 
The tendency to baldness, he adds, makes itself 
manifest between 17 and 22, and is always well 
defined before 30. The ancient Greeks repre- 
sented Satyrs as bald, but with thick youthful 
hair elsewhere, showing that the baldness was 
premature. Aristotle asked, centuries ago, why 
men alone became bald. 
The feet, especially if small, seem to have 
been very attractive to the poets. Small feet 
appearing beneath the skirt have fired more 
than one poet to tune his lyre to the subject. 
We find Sir John Suckling saying: “Her feet 
beneath her petticoat, like little mice stole in 
and out, as if they feared the light.” Herrick 52 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
has it: “Like snails did creep her pretty feet, 
a little out, and then as if they played Bo-peep, 
did soon draw in again. ’ ’ Ella Wheeler Wilcox 
writes: ‘ ‘ Two small slippers with big rosettes 
* * * peep ont under yonr kilt skirt there 
* # * And petWeen the acts for interlude, I 
kissed yonr throat and yonr shoulders nude.” 
And, finally Solomon exclaims, “How beautiful 
are your feet with shoes!” 
Well developed calves are attractive. Not 
only is this true among civilized people, hut 
among primitive races as well. Among some 
primitive people the women tie cords around 
their legs below the knees to cause the calves to 
swell and thereby increase their attractiveness. 
A widely dilated pupil is an indication of 
amorousness. This is the reason that women 
used medicines to dilate the eyes. The Italian 
women used belladonna for this purpose. The 
eyes have long been the inspiration of the poets. 
Dark, dreamy eyes, seem to vie with “eyes of 
blue.” Heredia, in the Sonnets, says: “She 
raised her mouth and luring, lustrous eyes.” 
Aura Brantzwell said: ‘ * Thy eyes are stemless 
blue irises, floating on a pool.” Bryant knew 
of: “Eyes that shame the violet, Or the dark 
drop that on the pansy lies.” Joaquin Miller 
spoke of “Soul-deep eyes of darkest night.” THE SENSE OF SIGHT 
53 
In the private diary of King Mannel of Portu- 
gal, we find him writing to “Kitty”: “Tell 
me, darling, when will you make me happy 
again with your dark, dreamy eyes, in which 
there is so much of sweetness and mystery?” 
The eyes in true love and in sexual passion di- 
late and become fixed. “The eyes in general 
move to express passion; and in the supreme 
acts of predomination alone, do they become ab- 
solutely fixed. Hence, in expressing the passion 
of love, they assume the look of predomination, 
softened, however by a certain mingling of 
languor. In the glance of those in love there is, 
beyond a doubt, a fixity and predomination, 
though hidden and seductive. This expression 
preserves strict harmony with the desire to be 
loved.”2 
Full, red lips indicate sensuality. The woman 
with the full lips is attractive to men, and for 
this reason we often find thin, pale lips camou- 
flaged by the use of the “lip-stick.” Shakes- 
peare sings: “Touch but my lips with those 
fair lips of thine. Though mine be not so fair, 
yet are they red. ’ ’ Ella Wheeler Wilcox wrote 
of “lips as red as the vintage we quaffed.” 
Thin, pale lips go with sexual coldness and a 
2Mariano Aguirre de Venero: Physiognomy of the Eyes. 54 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
disagreeable temper, while the full red lips 
were, no doubt, what Michael Monahan had in 
mind when he said of a certain variety of kiss 
that it was, “the kind that makes yon thrill all 
along the keel and gives the uttermost sense of 
goneness.” 
Dress has its effect upon sexual desire. 
Sturgis3 mentions an instance of a man who 
confessed that there was nothing more dis- 
agreeable to him than to see a naked woman; 
and the same feeling existed toward statuary. 
He thought a naked woman looked clumsy, awk- 
ward, and anatomically out of shape. The soft 
curves, Hogarth’s lines of beauty, the swelling 
bosom, the well-shaped hip and thigh, did not 
in the slightest degree appeal to him; he 
thought them ridiculous, if nothing more. But 
a woman dressed, particularly in full dress, was 
to him a charming object. The hidden charms 
did appeal to him, but undress the woman 
and a feeling of repugnance ensued instead of 
pleasure. Sturgis professes to believe that this 
taste is an evidence of sexual perversion. I am 
of the opinion that if this is true a large ma- 
jority of the men of the age must be classed as 
perverts. My experience leads me to believe 
8Sturgis, Frederic R.: Medical Council, 1907. THE SENSE OF SIGHT 
55 
that the majority of normal men prefer to see a 
woman with at least some clothes, rather than 
entirely nude. This is also the opinion held by 
Havelock Ellis.4 
Shufeldt5 says that a favorite model told him 
that it was her practice to disrobe as soon after 
entering the artist’s studio as possible, for, as 
men are not always responsible for their emo- 
tions she felt that she was far less likely to 
arouse or excite them when entirely nude, than 
when only semidraped. 
Burton6 says: “Some are of the opinion that 
to see a woman naked is able of itself to alter 
his affection; and it is worthy of consideration, 
saith Montaigne the Frechman in his Essays, 
that the skilfullest masters of amorous dal- 
liance appoint for a remedy for venereous pas- 
sions, a full survey of the body.” 
The low cut waist and short skirt seem to ap- 
peal to men, and a suggestive pose, a slight lift- 
ing of the skirt and high kicking must be very 
fascinating to some men if we are to judge by 
the well-filled front row at the shows. Dainty 
lingerie is always attractive to men, and while 
it is said that in Paris a little lingerie goes a 
long way, still, most of us admire the “dreams 
4EHis, Havelock: Sexual Education and Nakedness, 1912. 
sShufeldt, R. W.: Studies of the Human Form, 1903. 
'Burton: The Anatomy of Melancholy. 56 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
of Paris,” made from the “shimmering silks 
from the looms of the Orient—silks, soft as the 
sheen of pearls, hned like the new peach flower, 
delicate as a roseleaf in its sheerness, graceful 
as a Chinese fan.” In no instance would a 
wholly nude woman be half so attractive as the 
one neatly, if scantily clothed. 
Large development of the buttocks is attrac- 
tive to most men. It is said that the Hottentots 
when selecting a wife, have all the marriageable 
women stand in a row, then they select the one 
whose posterior development extends the great- 
est distance beyond the line. 
Dancing, especially the Oriental muscle- 
dances, and the more modern Western dances, 
have a tendency to excite sexual passion. 
Penny, speaking of the Nautch-girl of India, 
says: “Her songs are often coarse and ob- 
scene, considered from an European opinion, 
her poses in dancing are calculated to rouse 
the worst passions in the Oriental who does not 
fail to comprehend their meaning.” Another 
writer describing the dances of North India 
says that in every dance there is an abandon- 
ment to emotion that produces frenzy in the 
dancers, and is frequently communicated to the 
audience, until, as in the South of India, the 
dance degenerates into an unlicensed orgy. THE SENSE OE SIGHT 
57 
Our ideas of beauty are confined to form and 
figure rather than to color. Some savages claim 
that they do not like the white “sickly” color 
of our women. This may be on account of the 
idea, prevalent all over the world, that dark 
skinned women are more amorous than their 
fairer sisters. The Greeks were considered the 
highest type of mental development among the 
ancients, and they admired the blonde because 
they believed this color to be indicative of the 
pure Hellenic blood. It was the opinion of the 
ancients that the blonde was intellectual but 
sexually indifferent. 
The ideal beauty among the Turks, Persians, 
Africans, and some South Americans, is the 
“fat” or stout woman. The ladies of these 
countries diet themselves for the purpose of 
increasing their flesh, while our stout ladies use 
every means to become slim. In some African 
tribes artificial means are adapted to elongate 
the breasts, the long, pendulant breast being 
considered attractive. In China it was formerly 
the custom to bind the feet until they were de- 
formed to that extent that they became useless 
as a means of locomotion. 
Women have always dressed and moulded 
their forms to please the men, and it would 
seem that men are best pleased with that woman 58 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
who will by her form, training or dress most 
excite sexual desire. Joyce and Thomas7 relate 
an amusing instance which brings this fact out 
very forcibly. A lady missionary was trying 
to impress a Chinese girl with the folly of foot- 
bandaging. The girl said: “Me squeezy feet; 
you squeezy waist; alle same what for? Get 
husband. ’ ’ 
It may be stated as a fact that the woman 
who can meet all the foregoing conditions, and 
who possesses a voice that is pleasing and a 
disposition that is sweet can have her choice of 
the men of her acquaintance. Formosa facies 
muta commendatio est. 
7Joyce and Thomas: Women of All Nations, 1911. CHAPTER VI 
IMPOTENCY 
There is probably no one thing that will so 
depress the spirits and ambition of a man as 
will the fear of losing his sexual powers. Once 
he gets to brooding over his sexual condition, 
the stronger will become his conviction that he 
is failing. He is unable to attend to his busi- 
ness affairs as he was before, and his business 
begins to fail. Men who have been noted for 
their business acumen will all at once, without 
any apparent reason, lose control of their af- 
fairs, and failure follows. The idea that he is 
failing sexually will so prey on his mind that 
it will become an obsession with him. Through 
fear of failure he will be unable to perform the 
act a few times, and then he will be unable to 
longer concentrate his mind upon his business 
problems. Many business failures could be 
traced back to this source. It would be best 
for men, when they fear they are failing, to 
retire from business, until such a time when 
they may have established their confidence in 
their own sexual powers. The influence of the 
mind over the body cannot be ignored. I am 
thoroughly in accord with Flint,1 where he says: 
1Flint, Timothy: Droz’s The Art of Being Happy, 1832. 
59 60 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
“I firmly believe that the greater number of 
deaths, instead of being the result of specific 
diseases, to which they are attributed, are really 
caused by a series of imperceptible malign influ- 
ences, springing from corroding cares, griefs, 
and disappointments. To say that more than 
half of the human race die of sorrow, and a 
broken heart, or in some way fall a victim to 
their passions, may seem like advancing a re- 
volting doctrine; but it is, nevertheless, in my 
mind, a simple truth. ’ ’ 
I am convinced that the greater number of 
cases of failing sexual power are due to psychic 
causes, and that they may be relieved by bring- 
ing the patient into the proper environment to- 
gether with suitable treatment; still, there re- 
mains a number of physical causes that may be 
met with occasionally, and which must not be 
overlooked in considering the subject. This 
phase of the subject will be treated but briefly, 
as such cases as are amenable to treatment come 
under the head of surgery, and are well treated 
in books on that subject. It is well to note, how- 
ever, that in many instances conditions believed 
to be due to physical defects are in reality due 
to psychical causes. A thorough examination 
is advisable in all cases. Briefly the more com- 
mon physical causes of sexual incompetency in IMPOTENCY 
61 
the male are classed under the following heads. 
Stricture may interfere with the act or pro- 
duce irritation that will cause premature emis- 
sions to follow. In such cases the evident thing 
to do is to remove the stricture and cure the ir- 
ritation. More often it will he found that there 
is no stricture, but that a congestion of the 
mucous membrane resulting from gonorrhea re- 
duces the caliber of the urethra. Real stricture 
is not common. Frequently treatment for stric- 
ture which failed to give results has been found 
to have not been stricture. 
Hypertrophy of the prostate may cause a 
discharge too early without erection. Hemor- 
rhoids when very much inflamed and painful 
may cause emissions on account of the inflam- 
mation extending to the glands. Constipation 
is also a cause of emissions, especially those 
emissions which occur at stool. 
The size of the penis does not matter so much 
so far as the ability to perform the act is con- 
cerned, providing the woman has sufficient con- 
tractile power of the vagina to close sufficiently 
about the organ and produce the necessary 
friction. 
Among other physical causes of impotency, 
C>r inability to perform the act, may be men- 62 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
tioned: calculi of the prepuce, elongated pre- 
puce, and shortness of the frenum. Where the 
frenum is so abbreviated as to make the erec- 
tion painful, the pain will be so severe that 
copulation becomes practically impossible. 
The penis, like all other muscular organs, may 
be enlarged by massage and use. 
Sometimes we meet with a case where there 
is an adhesion of the penis to the scrotum. In 
cases of this kind surgical interference is plainly 
indicated. 
A bifurcated urethra is sometimes found, but 
like the foregoing the condition is rare. It is 
believed that this condition would prevent the 
owner from becoming a father. There appears 
no valid reason for this belief so long as the 
urethra opens at the end of the penis. Even in 
the rare cases where the opening is at the side 
and back of the glands, fecundation would still 
be practical by artificial means. In a case of 
bifurcated urethra I would attempt to remedy 
the trouble by an operation. 
Varicocele, especially in the later stages 
when the testicles have become soft and spongy, 
will cause a loss of both desire and ability to 
perform. Loss of both testicles may be con- 
sidered a sure indication of impotency although 
where the testicles have been removed after one IMPOTENCY 
63 
lias reached manhood, he may still be able to 
copulate for quite a while after the loss of the 
organs. 
Gonorrhea is unquestionably the principal 
cause of those cases of impotency that are usu- 
ally ascribed to physical troubles. It is inter- 
esting to note that impotency is rare among 
farmers and other classes who are not so prone 
to contract gonorrhea. Early marriages seem 
to be productive of sexually strong men, and 
impotency is relatively rare among those who 
married early and continued in the marital 
relation. 
Obesity may be mentioned as a very frequent 
cause of failing power. Fat men are said to be 
poor bed-fellows. By reducing flesh these cases 
usually regain their former power. Persons in 
the later stages of consumption frequently show 
remarkable sexual vigor. Sexual power and 
desire seem to increase with emaciation. Na- 
ture makes a strong effort to preserve the 
species. 
Aside from the inability to obtain and sus- 
tain an erection the most of my cases have been 
about equally divided between those who com- 
plained of premature ejaculation, and those who 
failed to reach an orgasm. Premature dis- 
charge will generally be found to be caused by 64 
IM POTENCY AND STERILITY 
an irritated condition of the prostate or neck of 
the bladder. Old chronic cases of gonorrhea 
are frequently troubled in this way. I have 
experienced greater trouble in relieving the 
patient who has no trouble in securing an erec- 
tion, but can only after long continued effort, if 
at all, reach an orgasm. XSo far, the only 
remedies that have given any decided relief in 
these cases in my practice are lycopodium, can- 
tharides, and ambergris. Local application of 
nitrate of silver to the deep urethra has given 
some relief. CHAPTER VII 
PSYCHIC IMPOTENCY 
Sexual neurosis in the male is frequently due 
to some pathological lesion in the prostate, sem- 
inal vesicles, or the spermatic cord. Such con- 
ditions are common where there has been a 
recent gonorrheal urethritis. It is a condition 
that is not always easy to diagnose, as the pa- 
tient frequently complains of symptoms remote 
from the point of pathological lesion. The cure 
is more difficult than the diagnosis. The symp- 
toms complained of vary from time to time, and 
are out of proportion to the extent of the lesion. 
The patient will have an entire new set of 
symptoms at each visit, and they will range all 
the way from a slight unpleasantness to com- 
plete physical disability. A complete history of 
the patient as well as of the case must be ob- 
tained, as a neurotic temperament or tendency 
will usually be found to be a predisposing cause. 
Nowhere will you find the mental element so 
strong as in sexual neurasthenia or psychic iiii- 
potency. The words of Droz1 are especially ap- 
plicable in this connection: ‘ ‘ Another influence 
adverse to life, is that mental feebleness, which 
iDroz, M.: The Art of Being Happy. Flint’s Edition, 1832. 
65 66 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
renders persons continually solicitous about 
their health, effeminate and unhappy, fixing 
their thoughts upon the functions of life, those 
functions that are subjects of this anxious in- 
spection, labor. Imagining themselves sick 
they soon become so.” Thus, a man will brood 
over his imaginary sexual weakness until he 
fails a time or two and then he has lost all faith 
in himself, and is firmly persuaded that his 
power has vanished. 
Wolbarst2 mentions a number of important 
diagnostic points that should be remembered in 
dealing with cases of sexual neurasthenia due 
to pathological lesions in the urethra. The pa- 
tient in trying to locate and describe the trouble 
will invariably run his finger along the under 
side of the penis. It is also noted that the pains, 
however harassing and distressing they may be 
during the day, do not persist at night, that is, 
they will not awaken him should he fall asleep, 
but as soon as he awakens the pains will return. 
There may be lack of sexual desire, but com- 
monly the desire is strong but through fear of 
failure there can be no erection or if there 
should be an erection at the beginning it fails 
before the act is completed. 
aWoIbarst, Abraham I,.: Gonorrhea in the Male, 1911. PSYCHIC IMPOTENCY 
67 
Hudovering3 mentions a form of psychoneu- 
rosis in men who have settled down into bache- 
lor existence with considerable business respon- 
sibilities but finally were making arrangements 
to get married and were worried for fear they 
were not going to be capable of fulfilling their 
conjugal duties. From worrying it is merely a 
step to a neurotic phobia with psychic depres- 
sion, loss of confidence in all the affairs of 
life, loss of appetite, palpitation, dizziness, and 
a whole train of neurotic symptoms which 
would cause failure through fear of failure. 
Sidis4 says that the anxiety states of neurosis 
and psychosis are essentially the offspring of 
fear. The anxiety states are due to the awaken- 
ing of the fear instinct normally present in 
every human being. The fear instinct is a fun- 
damental one, it is present in every normal hu- 
man being; it is only inhibited by the whole 
course of civilization and by the training and 
education of social life. It is however awak- 
ened by the mother while carrying her child. 
Thus we find that illegitimate children as well 
as most legitimate ones that were unwelcome, 
are inclined to melancholia and fear. This it 
3Hudovering: Sexual Neurasthenia in Engaged Bachelors in the 
Forties. Medizinische Klinik, March 30, iv, No. 13. 
4Sidis, B.: Fear, Anxiety and Psychopathic Maladies. Journal of 
Abnormal Psychology, March 30, 1911. 68 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
would seem is due to the awakening of the fear 
instinct in the mother. 
Should a case present a local lesion, treat- 
ment must be directed to its relief, but attention 
must be given to overcoming the mental fear of 
failure. A very successful means of meeting 
this condition was that devised by an advertis- 
ing specialist and which consisted of an elec- 
tric chair. He cut a large hole in the seat of a 
wood bottom chair, and attached a shallow pan 
beneath the hole. One pole of a galvanic bat- 
tery was attached to the tin receptacle and the 
other to a head rest at the back of the chair. The 
mode of operation was to cause the patient to 
sit on the chair with his organs suspended in 
the receptacle which was filled with water. 
The head rest was adjusted to the base of the 
brain. Suggestion was given that as the treat- 
ment progressed the organs would regain their 
old time power. At the first treatment no cur- 
rent was applied. At each subsequent treat- 
ment the current was gradually increased until 
the desired effect was obtained. It was claimed 
that the results of this treatment were all that 
could be desired. 
Another frequent cause of failure which 
should be considered is a lack of response on 
the part of the woman. “A woman without; PSYCHIC IMPOTENCY 
69 
sexual passion is like a bird without song, a 
flower without perfume, an Eden without sun- 
shine. ’ ’ A woman who experiences no pleasure 
in the embrace, or who through fear or dislike 
fails to respond to the advances of the man, 
can soon kill all the desire he may have, and 
cause him to become sexually indifferent or in- 
competent so far as she is concerned. He will 
probably seek more congenial fields and a house 
divided against itself will be the result, unless 
he does as many do, thinks that he is the party 
to blame and goes to the physician for relief. 
Churchill expressed a great truth when he 
wrote: “But spite of all the criticising elves, 
those who would make us feel, must feel them- 
selves.” The woman who learns how to act 
well her part will have no trouble in retaining 
the love of her husband. Balzac strikes the 
key-note where he says: i ‘ The successful wife 
is a prude to all the world and a courtesan to 
her husband. ’ ’ 
When a man has once failed with a certain 
woman, he may experience considerable trouble 
for a time with any woman, but should he again 
be successful with the one with whom he failed 
he will find that his powers have returned. 
Some men are unable to perform the act in 
strange houses, strange beds, or in unaccus- 70 
IMPOTEXCY AXD STERILITY 
tomed positions. Women are also similarly af- 
fected and more often than are men. Most 
women have certain postures that they prefer 
and are often unable to reach on orgasm in any 
other position. 
Most men experience periods of a week or so 
at a time when they are below par sexually, but 
after this period has passed are themselves 
again. This is sometimes styled the menstrual 
period in men. A period when they are indif- 
ferent to sexual matters. In this, the effect is 
opposite that upon the female during the men- 
strual period. By explaining this fact to our 
patients we can often set their minds at rest. 
Kurt Mendel calls attention to a period which 
is called the male menopause and which usually 
appears between fifty and fifty-four years. The 
subject “experiences a condition of anxiety and 
unrest; he does not seem to be able to accom- 
plish his desires; he feels generally weak, and 
a tendency to weeping becomes manifest. ’ ’ 
Other symptoms are cerebral congestion, heart 
palpitation, headache, vertigo, sleeplessness, 
mental depression, failure of memory and at- 
tention, and impairment of sexual desire and 
power. 
This period occurs in men from five to ten 
years later than in women. The disturbance PSYCHIC IMPOTEHCY 
71 
lasts from ten months to four years, however 
the change is not marked by that general dis- 
turbance that occurs in women, and the prog- 
nosis is good. 
Tankin observed that there is a similar liabil- 
ity to the awakening of latent proclivities as in 
women, and these would seem to be a change 
of tissue equilibrium conducive to the establish- 
ment of pathological conditions. 
The structural alterations which occur in the 
ovaries of women find a counterpart in struc- 
tural alterations in the prostate gland. The 
reason that mental changes are not more often 
observed is probably due to the fact that the 
prostate has not the same action on life of men 
as the ovaries have upon the women of child 
bearing age. 
The close relationship of the sexual organs 
and the thyroid is so intimately marked in both 
sexes, so that senile mental incompetency oc- 
curring at an early period, may be inferable 
to the changes associated with the tissue 
changes of these glands. 
The results of this condition may be disas- 
trous if not properly treated. One case under 
my observation, the owner of a large drygoods 
house and a successful business man, lost his 
trade and failed in business in less than eight- 72 
IMPOTEXCY AXD STERILITY 
een months. Another who had a reputation for 
ability, and stood high in the estimation of the 
people, suddenly developed peculiar actions re- 
sulting in perverted sexual acts and was forced 
to discontinue his business. 
It is during this period in life that many 
successful men fail in business and men of 
noble character often fall from the path of rec- 
titude. From a medicolegal standpoint these 
men are not mentally competent and should be 
shown that leniency, especially in criminal 
prosecution, that is granted other mental in- 
competents. 
When this period is passing and the system 
is trying to right itself and return to the nor- 
mal, many peculiar sexual manifestations may 
appear. This may usually be seen in peculiar- 
ities of dress, of posing and in trying to attract 
the attention of women, but is more common in 
conversation in which women are the principal 
subject. 
After passing through this period many men 
will regain much of their former virility and 
business acumen. They need rest, and such 
treatment as may be indicated. However, the 
greater number of these cases develop an idea 
that they are supermen and refuse all sugges- PSYCHIC IMPOTENCY 
73 
tions that they retire from business and take a 
rest. 
Instances are recorded where a man has be- 
come impotent while trying coitus, by thinking 
about the failures in copulation of another of 
whom he had heard. 
Temperament has much to do with sexual 
incompetence. Descourlitz describes the charac- 
teristics of the frigid apathetic lympathic con- 
stitution as indicative of anaphrodisia. Tissot 
has given examples of the anaphrodisiac of in- 
tense mental occupation on the generative func- 
tions, and Peyrilke reports the case of a mathe- 
matician whose problems so engrossed his mind 
that he was incapable of ejaculation. It has 
also been noted that the sexual organs of very 
close students have not developed in proportion 
to other parts of the body. I have had patients 
who claimed that they were unable to perform 
the act on the night they had attended a moving 
picture show and become greatly interested in 
the picture. Girls and women who read novels 
a great deal are inclined to be indifferent for 
the reason that they cannot keep their minds 
away from the stories they have been reading. 
In such cases it might be well to prescribe that 
they read Boccaccio’s Decameron. Love or de- 
sire may sometimes become so intense as to de- 74 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
feat its own object, rendering a man incompe- 
tent with the one with whom he is most anxious 
to acquit himself well. 
The sexual powers are most marked in the 
sanguine temperament, and those women who 
are large, florid, and have an abundance of black 
or brown hair. The lymphatic temperament 
with sparse hair is said to be cold and devoid of 
sexual impulses and desires. Blondes are con- 
sidered cold and indifferent. 
Extreme joy may cause a man to become im- 
potent. Boubaud mentions a patient who be- 
came incapable of coitus when he learned that 
he had won a large sum of money from a lot- 
tery. Impotence due to shock has followed rail- 
road and steamship wrecks. I knew a man who 
failed after the finding of oil on his farm 
which made him very wealthy. In these cases 
the failure is due to the fact that the patient 
cannot longer concentrate his mind on sexual 
matters, being so engrossed with his new found 
wealth. Prolonged continence may cause 
atrophy of the genital organs and loss of power. 
Malchow5 calls attention to the fact that when 
suggestive acts on the part of the man do not 
meet with a ready response, it is likely to cause 
anger and resentment, which in turn may make 
him incapable of cohabitation at the time. 
5Malchow, C. W.: The Sexual Life. CHAPTER VIII 
SENSUALITY IN WOMEN 
Most women have sexual desires, although 
those desires may not he satisfied by coitus. 
After receiving the confessions of a very large 
number of women I must agree with La Bruy- 
ere that “an insensible woman is merely one 
who has not yet seen the man she must love.” 
“As a man thinketh in his heart so is he” is as 
true of women as of men. 
Montaigne1 held that women are more apt 
and more ardent than men are and that it is 
natural with them as it is born in their veins. 
Guttceit,2 Vedeler,3 Blackwell,4 Morro,5 Kisch6 
and many other writers hold that women are 
more erotic than men. The fact is that the 
great majority of women are more passionate 
than men, and in the small per cent that do not 
respond to their husbands we can still believe 
that under the proper surroundings they would 
find great pleasure in the embrace. Ellis7 calls 
1Montaigne: Essays, Book III. 
2Guttceit: Dressig Jahre Praxis, 1873. 
“Vedeler: De Impotentia Feminarum. Norsk Magazin for Eaegevid- 
enskaben, 1894. 
■•Blackwell, Elizabeth: The Human Element in Sex, 1894. 
“Morro, A.: Ea Puberta, 1898. 
“Kisch: The Sexual Eife of Women. 
7Ellis, Havelock: Analysis of the Sexual Impulse, 1918. 
75 76 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
attention to the fact that “the female through- 
out nature not only requires much loving, but 
is usually fastidious in the choice of a lover.” 
Women are not free to select an affinity and 
if the man they receive is not the proper mate, 
they fail, and through ignorance they accept 
their fate, believing that they are constituted 
different from other women, and that they will 
never find the same pleasure in the embrace 
that other women receive. 
I have been consulted by many women who, 
experiencing no pleasure in the sexual embrace, 
believed the fault was with themselves, and de- 
siring to retain the love of their husbands, came 
to the physician for treatment. In many of 
these cases I must agree with Sollier that sex- 
ual frigidity, especially in well developed 
women, is a symptom of hysteria. 
Running through my case records I find vari- 
ous reasons why women fail sexually. One 
wants to be a whole woman, loves her husband, 
has tried to fool him for years, but fears that 
he will learn that she does not respond. An- 
other was taught when a girl that sexual inter- 
course was “low and coarse,” and afraid to 
reach an orgasm for fear her husband would 
think her “common.” Others, and there are 
many of these, do not care for their husbands, SENSUALITY IN WOMEN 
77 
but can reach the heights with other men. 
There are many who are in a state of mental 
rebellion for fear that they will become preg- 
nant, and these fail to reach an orgasm. All of 
these are representative of conditions border- 
ing on hysteria. 
In these cases where a woman tries to hide 
or suppress her feelings because of fear, or 
because of mistaken ideas of the propriety of 
the act, we are confronted with what Adler8 
calls morbid inhibition or a foreign body in the 
consciousness. It is this “foreign body,” be 
it in the form of a morbid fear of becoming 
pregnant, the thought that evidence of pleasure 
is degrading, or the all too common dislike for 
the mate, or desire for another, that causes so 
many women to fail as wives. 
There are but few normal women who would 
not respond to the proper stimulus. Many 
women, while experiencing pleasure, fail to 
reach an orgasm and are left in a state of nerv- 
ous excitement. This is followed by weakness, 
loss of weight and a general breaking down of 
the nervous system. We meet these peevish, 
cross and despondent women every day in our 
practice. 
If a husband fails to bring to his wife a satis- 
8Adler, O.: Die Mangelhafte Geschlechtsempfindung des Weibes, 1904, 78 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
factory conclusion of the act, she will receive 
the impression that she cannot reach an orgasm, 
and unless that foreign body is removed from 
her mind, she will continue to fail. Many 
women reach a high state of excitement, hut, 
as the seance is over before she finishes, she is 
left in a nervous state which is detrimental to 
her health. 
Great suffering often follows the repression 
of the sexual instinct, and many women have 
become mental and physical wrecks because of 
the lack of sexual relief. 
In the male the height of sexual power and 
passion appears much earlier than in the fe- 
male. Thus, we find boys of twenty at the very 
height of their sexual power, while women do 
not usually reach their highest sexual power 
and desire until between 25 and 35. 
Ovid9 held that a woman does not understand 
the art of love before she reaches 35. 
The age at which woman reaches her strong- 
est sexual desire is given by Nystrom at 30; 
Forel, between 30 and 40; Napier, at 28 to 30, 
and Yellowless places it at about the age of 33. 
Sexual development appears earlier in girls 
than in boys, but after puberty the male reaches 
®Ovid: Ars Amatoria. SENSUALITY IN WOMEN 
79 
the height of his sexual power at a much earlier 
age than the female. 
Very fleshy women frequently fail to reach 
an orgasm on account of the thick pad of tissue 
that covers the clitoris preventing the neces- 
sary friction. 
I cannot agree with Trousseau, Lowenfeld, 
and those who hold that women are not ex- 
hausted by repeated acts of coitus as are men. 
If we take into consideration the fact that the 
woman does not reach her highest excitement 
until the second or third orgasm, while the man 
reaches his greatest excitement with the first, 
it is evident that the woman will become as 
greatly exhausted as he, after she reaches the 
same degree of excitement. The first orgasm 
acts as a stimulant to the woman, and if the 
seance is discontinued at this time she will feel 
elated, which is usually shown by her conversa- 
tion. 
I have case records of two women who became 
so intensely excited during coitus that they 
would, faint. One, a finely developed woman of 
22, whose husband was away from home the 
greater part of each week, would experience 
normal pleasure at the first orgasm, but if the 
act was repeated she would become so excited 
that as soon as she reached an orgasm she 80 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
would faint and it would require considerable 
effort to revive her. The other was a prosti- 
tute who said, that about once each month she 
would become so excited during the act that she 
would have a fainting spell. 
The following case came up in my practice: 
Mrs. B., Widow. Refined. Well developed, inclined to be 
stout, brown hair, heavy eyebrows, pubic hair thick and curly. 
Said that while she was working in the kitchen one evening 
she suddenly became so passionate that she attempted to mas- 
turbate using an egg for that purpose. The egg slipped from 
her fingers and entered the vagina. In attempting to remove 
it the shell was broken. She came to me to have the shell 
removed. The shell was crushed into small pieces and was held 
in the folds of the vaginal walls. There was some abrasion of 
the surface but no complications. This woman was the widow 
of a farmer and lived on the farm with her children. She 
confessed to periods of almost uncontrollable sexual passion. 
I have case records of one woman who 
reached 37 complete orgasms at one coitus, her 
husband being able to control his own passion. 
Another who had 14 complete orgasms in one 
night, not at one coitus, however. 
There is a great diversity of opinion regard- 
ing the cause of girls becoming prostitutes. I 
believe that a large per cent are due to sexual 
passion. In the large numbers of cases that I 
have investigated about half were due to sexual 
passion, a fourth to love of idleness and luxury, 
and the balance to poverty and loss of home SENSUALITY IN WOMEN 
81 
ties. I believe with Elliott10 that only the 
mentally subnormal women become prostitutes. 
Parent-Deschatelet divided the causes about 
equally between poverty, seduction, and loss of 
parents or home. This is the opinion of this 
writer after considering five thousand cases in 
Paris in 1851. 
Merrick,11 reporting on 16,022 prostitutes that 
came under his observation while he was Chap- 
lain at Millbank Prison, found 5,061 who de- 
sired a life of pleasure; 3,363 gave poverty as 
the cause; 3,154 were seduced and drifted on 
the long trail. It is well to note that Merrick 
says that 4,790 or about one-third, owe their 
condition directly to men. This in the light of 
my experience is about the average per cent 
of those who can lay the blame wholly upon the 
men. Merrick further states that those pleading 
poverty as the cause of their downfall were in- 
dolent and incapable. 
Logan,12 the English city missionary, divided 
prostitutes into four groups: one-fourth of the 
girls were domestic servants, waitresses, etc.; 
one-fourth came from factories; nearly one- 
fourth recruited by procuresses and cadets; the 
“FTliott, Albert R.: The Cause of the Social Evil and the Remedy, 
1914. 
nMerrick, S. P.: Among the Fallen. 
12IvOgan, W.: The Great Social Fvil, 1871. 82 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
other fourth were those who were temperamen- 
tally unfitted for ordinary vocations, or those 
who had been seduced. 
Sanger13 found of two thousand in New York 
that over half claimed destitution and inclina- 
tion as the cause of their downfall. 
Woods Hutchinson gives 42 per cent as due 
to love of luxury, display and idleness; 23 per 
cent to bad family surroundings. 
Ferriani14 gives about 25 per cent each to vice 
and depravity, and to loss of home ties. 
These statistics were gathered mainly by men 
who overlooked the sexual element in their zeal 
to prove the effect of poverty, and the lack of 
religious training on these women. All the 
cases ascribed to seduction, and the desire for 
a life of pleasure, may well be charged to sexual 
passion. Elliott found that few prostitutes 
cared to change their way of living to in any 
way better their condition, which proves that 
economic problems have but little bearing on 
the cause of prostitution in America. The great 
majority of prostitutes are what they are be- 
cause of a low mentality and a highly developed 
sexuality. 
lsSanger: History of Prostitution. 
14Ferriani: Minorenui Delenquenti. CHAPTER IX 
MASTURBATION AND EMISSIONS 
Perhaps more has been written abont mastur- 
bation than any other sexual subject. It has 
been held before the youth of the land as 
the most dangerous habit that one could ac- 
quire. Fearful are the results that follow this 
habit, even if indulged in to ever so limited ex- 
tent, if we are to believe the writers of a cen- 
tury ago, as well as non-medical writers of later 
date. It is easy to form the opinion that insane 
asylums and feeble-minded institutes are main- 
tained solely because of this habit, if we believe 
these writers. 
While I do not want to minimize the bad re- 
sults that may and sometimes do follow the 
habit if indulged in to excess, yet, masturba- 
tion, if not practiced to excess is no more inju- 
rious than is coitus interruptus. In fact the 
latter habit is really more injurious when in- 
dulged in to the same extent. Coitus interrupt- 
us has the added evil that it affects both the 
male and female. Many of our worst cases of 
neurasthenia may be traced to the latter habit. 
The injury of the male by masturbation lies 
in the loss of the glandular secretions, which if 
83 84 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
one is continent are absorbed by the blood and 
lymph streams and carried to the muscles, 
brain, and spinal cord, there to produce their 
magic power. When these secretions are dis- 
charged they are lost, and, if the loss is exces- 
sive it will soon be felt in the weakness of the 
system, inability to concentrate the mind, and 
irritableness. Boys and young men, while in 
school, should conserve the vital force as much 
as possible, as they require all the vital energy 
they can obtain to support the growth of the 
body and the strain on the brain and nervous 
system due to study. 
Masturbation and coitus interruptus are 
more injurious to the system than normal and 
complete coitus because of the fact that there is 
a psychic impulse received from the partner in 
the normal act which is absent in the inter- 
rupted act. 
The action of the secretions from the Bartho- 
linian glands upon the male organ is well known, 
and it is not unreasonable to believe that the 
secretions from the male will have a similar 
effect upon the female. In coitus interruptus 
not only is this effect lost, but there is a decided 
nerve shock to both parties. This soon leads to 
neurasthenia and despondency. MASTURBATION AND EMISSIONS 
85 
Sturgis1 holds that nocturnal pollutions are 
not injurious, and that emissions in the natural 
sleep are not a cause for alarm. On the other 
hand, he says that where involuntary pollutions 
occur during the day it is very injurious. My 
experience in treating this class of cases leads 
me to believe that the physical and mental de- 
pression is due to the loss of the secretions, and 
that depression must follow an excessive loss 
regardless of the hour that the loss takes place, 
and the greater the loss, the greater will be the 
depression. 
The really virile man is the one who conserves 
his testicular secretions that they may go to 
build up and charge with vim and vigor the 
muscular system and the brain. The hard 
worker will use up more than the man of leisure, 
and it is well known that the latter furnish 
the greater per cent of our cases. The good 
liver, who does but little work, either physical 
or mental, and is more or less constantly in the 
company of women will frequently store up an 
excess of these secretions, then if not relieved 
through masturbation or coitus, nature will re- 
lieve the congestion by discharging through the 
urethra. In this connection man may be com- 
1Sturgis, Frederic R.: Notes and Reflections on the Causes Which 
Induce Marital Infelicity Due to the Relations of the Sexes. Medical 
Council, July, 1907. 86 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
pared to a steam boiler. When the pressure of 
the steam in the boiler becomes too high it is 
permitted to escape through the safety valve. 
In the normal man, the excess is discharged by 
emissions. The man of leisure can stand a 
greater drain by sexual excesses than the one 
who does exhausting mental or physical labor, 
as his system will not take up so large an 
amount of the secretions. If, however, the 
spring of the safety valve on the boiler should 
become so weak that it would not hold the pres- 
sure the steam would escape as fast as gener- 
ated and there would be no power come from 
the boiler. Where there is a weakness that per- 
mits a continual loss of semen the patient will 
become weak, discouraged, and despondent. 
There is also a similar condition in women. An 
excessive secretion from the Bartholinian 
glands and the uterus greatly weakens the 
woman, and is followed by conditions similar 
to those found in men. We see that masturba- 
tion and sexual excesses are very injurious to 
women, when they reach the stage of excite- 
ment where there is a discharge from the 
glands, or an orgasm. Women frequently ex- 
perience the sensation of a discharge from the 
Bartholinian glands when dancing or when be- 
ing caressed. We often see young women who MASTUEBATION AND EMISSIONS 
87 
are engaged or keeping company with a man, be- 
coming weak, nervous and listless, and girls 
who dance complaining of feeling weak and ir- 
ritable the day following the dance. This is 
due to the over-excitation of the sexual organs 
and the loss of the secretions. 
I cannot agree with those writers who claim 
that as there is no seminal discharge there can 
be no injury to the woman from masturbation, 
other than that due to reflex nervous conditions. 
I am convinced that the evil result from mas- 
turbation in the female is fully as great as it is 
in the male. The loss of the secretions from 
the female organs is nearly as depressing to her 
as the loss of semen is to the male. Women ex- 
perience a discharge from slighter stimuli than 
do men. It may be brought on by dreams; by 
kissing; by contact with the partner in the 
dance, and by pictures, stories, and day-dreams. 
Women frequently confess to becoming “wet” 
(discharge from the Bartholinian glands) when 
their breasts come into contact with their part- 
ner in the waltz. 
The treatment of these conditions calls for 
a removal of the cause so far as possible. If 
there are emissions or pollutions we usually find 
that the safety valve spring is weak, hence ton- 
ics are indicated. The young woman who is 88 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
engaged and experiences a feeling of weariness 
and becomes despondent and irritable should 
be advised to hasten her wedding day. The girl 
that dances may be advised to refrain from the 
dance. The latter cases as well as all mastur- 
bators should be placed upon sedatives. Salix 
nigre aments persistently used will control most 
of these cases. The hooded clitoris must be 
unhooded. The elongated foreskin should be 
abbreviated. After all causes of irritation are 
removed, sedatives should give relief. 
Circumcision in itself will not prevent the boy 
from masturbating, but it is often necessary to 
perform the operation before we can secure any 
lasting benefits from our treatment. On the 
other hand the circumcision of girls is generally 
followed with a discontinuance of the habit, and 
their health and dispositions show a great im- 
provement. In operating for hooded clitoris 
the Y-shaped incision should extend far enough 
to completely denude the clitoris. Most failures 
are due to not making the incision long enough. 
The removal of the testicles stops the secre- 
tions that mark the difference between the 
strong, high-headed, sleek-coated, spirited stal- 
lion, and the stupid, plodding gelding. The re- 
moval of the ovaries changes the brilliant, fas- 
cinating woman into an indolent, careless one. MASTURBATION AND EMISSIONS 
89 
Asexualization changes the individual, physi- 
cally and mentally, from an energetic, hopeful 
attitude to a careless and despondent one. 
The effect of asexualization is well illustrated 
in the cases in the Kansas School for the Feeble 
Minded, at Winfield. During the administra- 
tion of F. Hoyt Pilcher, at this institution, 
asexualization was performed on fifty-eight in- 
mates. Fourteen of these were girls and forty- 
four boys. In 1911 there were fourteen girls 
and twenty-two of the boys still remaining in 
the institution. In reporting upon their men- 
tal and moral faculties, twelve years after 
sterilization, Cave2 says: “Mentally, I see no 
especial change in any particular. Their school 
work shows no marked superiority over others 
who are in possession of all their organs. Mor- 
ally, they are not addicted to onanism and other 
prevalent perversities but this is not because 
their standard of morality has been elevated, it 
means that the elimination of physical factors 
has caused the betterment. The average age 
at the time of operation was twenty years. Of 
the girls but one has become obese. Menstrua- 
tion has ceased in all cases with atrophy of the 
uterus. Nearly all the girls at the period cor- 
•Cave, F. C.: Report of Sterilization in the Kansas State Home for 
the Feeble-Minded. Journal Psycho-Asthenics, March, 1911. 90 
IMPOTEXCY AND STERILITY 
responding to the monthly epoch complain of 
backache, ‘bearing down’ sensations in pelvic 
region, and are obliged in a few cases to cease 
their household duties and rest in bed. The 
symptoms being very similar to conditions if 
flow was present. Atrophy of the breasts noted 
in all cases. All desire for sexual intercourse 
and all erotic fancies seem to have been elimi- 
nated. Several are epileptic, the removal of the 
ovaries having no influence on their seizures. In 
appearance of face and body there is no differ- 
ence whatever, except the atrophy of the 
breasts, and also in nearly all cases of blanching 
of the entire skin giving the individual a fairer 
appearance. Among the boys, three have be- 
come obese. One especially assuming the fem- 
inine type, high pitched voice, development of 
the breasts, loss of hair on face, change of 
bodily contour. All the boys have usually fair 
skin, and most of them have scanty beards. All 
sexual desires have been lost and they are impo- 
tent in every sense of the word.” This is the 
most complete description of the effects of asex- 
ualization that I have seen. It also proves that 
no mental improvement may be hoped for from 
this operation. The only operation that can be 
advised with the knowledge we now possess, is 
that of ligating the vas deferens of the male. MASTURBATION AND EMISSIONS 
91 
This will prevent reproduction, and, while it 
would not prevent masturbation, it would con- 
serve the semen to be absorbed by the system. 
It does not appear to make much differene at 
what age castration takes place, the result is the 
same in any case. A few of the Kansas cases 
were operated upon before puberty, but they 
show no material difference from those that 
were sterilized in adult life. The point here is 
that while castration will prevent masturbation 
as well as all sexual desires, it leaves the patient 
in such a condition that no possible improve- 
ment may be hoped for in any way. 
With men there is a limit to indulgence due 
to the impossibility of provoking an erection 
after a certain amount of indulgence. With 
women there is practically no limit, as by play- 
ing the passive part she can stand continual 
intercourse, or masturbation for a long time. 
One case was reported to me of a prostitute who 
received the attentions of thirteen men, one 
right after another, without rising from her 
position on a pile of hay. Wantz3 says that to 
his personal knowledge thirty-two men visited 
one girl in Chicago in a single night. The vag- 
inal mucous membrane may become very tough 
and resemble parchment after continual sexual 
•Wantz, Herbert H.: Medical World, May, 1912. 92 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
excesses or from the use of strong acids in the 
douche.'4 In such cases nearly all sensibility is 
lost. I have seen feeble-minded girls pick up 
a rough stick and use it with which to mastur- 
bate, and continue until their attendants would 
stop them, but no case of injury was ever re- 
ported. 
4It is frequently the case that women who have been accustomed to 
the use of strong acids in the douche water, have found that the pleasure 
of coitus has failed them and they have become indifferent to the act. 
The acids harden the mucous membranes and deaden their sensibility. 
Strong acids should never be used. Bisulphate of quinine in the douche 
will not only give as good results as will acids, but at the same time it 
will soften the membranes and leave them in a velvety condition with 
increased sensibility. CHAPTER X 
TREATMENT OF IMPOTENCY 
The treatment of impotency may be divided 
into local and internal, or remedies for internal 
and for local application. 
A great variety of remedies have been tried 
with more or less success in the treatment of 
impotency. A general review of the remedies 
and methods prescribed will not be out of place 
at this time. 
Roubaud praises nux vomica applied to the 
glands, and Stimpson recommends echinacea 
locally. Hunt1 claims good results from the 
following: 
B Tine, capsicum Til xxx 
Boracic acid 3 j 
Petrolatum, qs. 5 j 
M. Sig.: Apply locally four times a day. 
Murrell2 gives the following formula for a 
local application: 
B Tr. eantharides 3 ss 
Water 5 iv 
Cologne to scent. 
M. Sig.: Apply locally to parts. 
1Hunt, Vere V.: Medical World, 1907. 
’Murrell, William: A Manual of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 1896. 
93 94 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
The Vaids of India3 place great faith in a 
local application prepared according to the fol- 
lowing formula: 
U Pellitory root gr. xlviij 
Nutmeg 
Mace 
Cloves 
Mercury 
Cannabis indica 
Yellow arsenic aa gr. iij 
To be finely powdered and made into small 
pills with spirit. When required one pill is 
powdered and made into a thin paste with spirit 
and applied at night. 
Combinations of musk and capsicum, and of 
echinacea and cantharides in an ointment have 
been tried locally and some favorable reports 
have been made on their use. 
All forms of splints, rings, pumps and simi- 
lar mechanical contrivances have proven such 
failures that I consider it a waste of space to 
give them any attention. 
A few years ago the operation of ligating the 
dorsal vein of the penis was highly recom- 
mended as a remedy for deficient or entire lack 
of erection. Rawlings'4 reported seven cases 
which he claimed were cured by this operation. 
If any relief was ever gained from this method 
8Aphrodisiac Remedies, Delhi, India, 1910. 
4Rawlings, G. B.: Medical World, May, 1909. TREATMENT OF IMPOTENCY 
95 
it must have been due to the psychic effect, and 
not from the physical change. I had not heard 
of this operation being performed for several 
years, until it was called to my notice by a 
query in a leading medical journal.5 The reply 
of the editor is so concise and to the point that 
I will give it in part: “Naturally it was con- 
sidered logical to treat men with impotence by 
an operation to, or even a ligation of, the dorsal 
vein of the penis. The operation several years 
ago was in vogue, but the ultimate results have 
not been favorable. In some cases after liga- 
tion of the dorsal vein, there is practically no 
change in the erectile power of the penis, the 
blood escaping from the penis through the su- 
perficial veins; in other patients the immediate 
result is a complete erection lasting from a few 
days to several months, usually accompanied by 
pain, which gradually subsides as the collateral 
circulation is established through the superficial 
veins, and then the patient is in the same con- 
dition as before.” The operation is a simple 
one to perform, but it cannot be considered good 
practice to resort to an operation which prom- 
ises such uncertain and doubtful results. 
Turnbull (1807) in his history of his voyages 
mentions the use of the seminal fluid itself as 
BJournal American Medical Association, April, 1913. 96 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
a remedy for loss of virility by the inhabitants 
of the Island of Oteheite. An instance came to 
my knowledge a few years ago, where a man 
who kept a breeding barn for horses and jacks, 
had a habit of applying the secretions from the 
mares to his genital organs, claiming that it 
greatly increased his power and desire.6 
Mnch has been claimed for electricity in the 
treatment of this condition. It is, however, 
doubtful if there is really very much virtue in 
electricity as used in the treatment of impo- 
tency. Sparks to the lumbar spine and per- 
ineum, and the static wave to these parts has 
many advocates. In the early stage of irritable 
impotence with premature ejaculations, the pa- 
tient will suffer from deep urethral sensitive- 
ness, which may be relieved by the introduction 
of a steel sound and the application of galvan- 
ism. I have apparently gotten some good re- 
sults with this treatment, but I am not so sure 
but that the effects were due largely to sug- 
gestion. It is proper to use electricity, the 
vibrator, or any other means that will impress 
the patient with the thought that you are doing 
something, and that you have the ability to 
give him relief. 
6There are numerous references in literature to the administration 
of semen to produce sexual strength. See Crawley: The Mystic Rose; 
Ellis: Sex and Society. TREATMENT OF IMPOTENCY 
97 
Tobacco smokers, especially those who exhale 
the smoke through the nose, are usually the 
hardest to cure. The habit must be discon- 
tinued, and treatment directed to restoring the 
nasal membranes to a normal condition. A very 
large per cent of the cases of impotency that 
come to our knowledge are due to the use of 
alcohol, tobacco, and narcotic drugs. In fact, 
aside from the relatively few that are purely 
neurotic, or that have some physical disability, 
we seldom see a case except in a user of alcohol, 
tobacco, morphine, or cocain. But little encour- 
agement can be offered the patient who uses to- 
bacco or narcotic drugs so that they have direct 
effect upon the mucous membranes of the nose. 
A careful examination of the deep urethra 
should be made in all cases, using the urethra- 
scope. In those cases where an erection cannot 
be had, the whole sexual system and penis ap- 
pear to be bloodless. This anemic condition 
should be treated in the same manner as one 
would use in treating a similar condition in any 
other part of the body. We must use such reme- 
dies and means as will stimulate an increased 
flow of blood to the parts. Cantharides is no 
doubt our best internal remedy for this condi- 
tion. Care must be exercised in its use, as se- 
rious consequences may result from over-doses. 98 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
A very effective way to increase the flow of 
blood to the parts, is recommended by Mowry,7 
which is to inject a 2 per cent solution of nitrate 
of silver into the deep urethra, using an Ultz- 
man syringe. Care must be exercised that the 
solution does not come in contact with the an- 
terior urethra. The syringe nozzle should be 
well lubricated with vaseline. This treatment 
given every second or third day for a while 
will usually be followed by strong erections, and 
if the predisposing cause is eliminated there will 
be no further trouble, at least so long as there 
is a slight local irritation. I use this treatment 
in all cases when I find upon examination that 
the tissues appear to be bloodless. 
A great many formulas for the treatment of 
weak erections have been proposed. Some of 
them have given results in selected cases. Hunt8 
uses saw palmetto and kola according to the 
following formula: 
B FI. ex. saw palmetto 
Elix. kola comp, aa 5 iv 
M. Sig.: Teaspoonful night and morning. 
Hammond recommends the following: 
Zinc phosphide gr. 140 
Ext. nux vomica gr. 14 
M.: For one pill daily. 
7Mowry, Albert.: Some Sexual Disorders in the Male: “Impotency 
and Involuntary Seminal Emissions.” Illinois Medical Journal, March, 
1913. 
5Hunt, Vere V.: Medical World, 1907. TREATMENT OF IMPOTENCY 
99 
Gross9 uses the following: 
IJ Tr. nux vomica 
Tr. ferri chloridi 
Tr. cantharides aa 3 iv 
M. Sig.: Ten drops three times a day. 
A formula that is in general use in England, 
in the treatment of impotency, is recommended 
by Latham :10 
IJ Ext. damian gr. iij 
Phosphorus gr. 
Strychnine gr. 
M.: Sig. One pill thrice daily. 
Latham11 also gives the following formula: 
5 Ext. damiana liq. 
Syr. glycerophsph. com. 
Syr. hypophosph. com. aa lq xxx 
Dee. hordei ad 1 oz. in a little water thrice 
daily. 
Murrell12 recommends the following combina- 
tion : 
IJ Tr. cantharides 3 ijss 
Tr. chloride of iron 3 ij 
Tr. nux vomica 3 iss 
Diluted phosphoric acid 3 ss 
Glycerine 3 iij 
Elix. orange 3 j 
Water qs. 3 viij 
M. S.: An eighth part to be taken three 
times a day, after meals. 
•Gross, Samuel W.: A Practical Treatise on Impotence, Sterility and 
Allied Disorders of the Male Sexual Organs, 1887. 
“Latham, Arthur: Dictionary of Treatment, 1908. 
“Latham, Arthur: Dictionary of Treatment, 1908. 
“Murrell, William: A Manual of Pharmacology and Therapeutics. 
1896. 100 
IMPOTENCY AXD STERILITY 
I have found the following to give good re- 
sults in some cases: 
IJ A vena sativa (Keith’s) 
Specific Saw Palmetto, aa. g ij 
Tr. Cantharides 3 iv 
M. Sig.: Teaspoonful three times daily. 
In another class of cases we have premature 
ejaculation or emissions. On examination we 
find that the deep urethra is in a highly in- 
flamed or irritated condition. Our duty in these 
cases is to reduce the irritation. Of the local 
remedies for this condition hamamelis is pos- 
sibly our best remedy. It should be injected 
into the deep urethra. Internally, salix nigre, 
cannabis sativa, and gaultheria are effective 
remedies in overcoming the severe irritation. 
Robinson recommends the following combina- 
tion: 
IJ Ergotin gr. ij 
Hydrastine hydrochlor gr. 14 
Lupulin gr. ij 
Camphor monobromide gr. j 
M. to one capsul. Sig.: One three times a 
day. 
At the same time give strontum bromide, 10 
grains, three times a day. 
Hoops gives thuja, two drams to four ounces 
of water; teaspoonful every three hours. At 
the same time 15 drop doses of ergot at bed- 
time. TREATMENT OF IMPOTENCY 
101 
I agree with Mowry13 that masturbation is a 
very much overestimated condition, and that 
the greater number of cases of nocturnal emis- 
sions are due to other causes. Masturbation in 
most instances is only the result of irritation of 
the deep urethra. Many men have nocturnal 
emissions who never masturbated. 
Irritation of the urethra and prostate will 
frequently increase desire. It often occurs that 
old men, no longer capable of performing the 
sexual act, will persist in coming to the physi- 
cian for treatment, for the reason that they ex- 
perience a sensation of sexual pleasure in hav- 
ing their prostate massaged. Especially is this 
true when the massage is continued to the point 
of forcing out the secretions (milking the pros- 
tate). Many of these old men secure all their 
sexual pleasures through these treatments. 
In prescribing for a case of impotency we 
must not overlook the benefits to be derived 
from suggestion. Suggestion is one of the most 
potent factors in the treatment of all diseases, 
and is especially applicable in sexual disorders 
where the mental element plays so strong a 
part. Methylene blue is our greatest sugges- 
tive remedy. When we tell a patient just how 
MMowry, Albert E.: Some Sexual Disorders in the Male; Impotency 
and Involuntary Seminal Emissions.” Illinois Medical Journal, March, 
1913. 102 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
a remedy is going to act, and he can see for him- 
self that we were right, it makes an impression 
on his mind that will go a long ways toward 
making a cure. Aside from its value from a 
suggestive point of view, this is a remedy that 
has a great range of usefulness. 
Attention should be given to the condition of 
the nose. If stuffed or a catarrhal condition is 
present it must be remedied. The acuteness of 
the sense of smell should be improved if pos- 
sible. The man whose sense of smell is dulled 
will prove a failure as a demonstrator of love in 
a college of matrimony. 
Diet is an important factor in the treatment 
of impotency. The Hakims and Vaids of In- 
dia14 prescribe a diet consisting mostly of ani- 
mal foods, such as testicles of goats, roasted and 
prepared with salt, peppers, eggs of hens, croco- 
diles, crabs, turtles, flesh of rats, frogs, the 
eggs of the sparrow, and similar articles. 
While we would not care to advise our patients 
to eat all of these articles, we can prescribe eggs, 
rich meats, brains, oysters, etc. It is a popular 
idea that fried oysters, boiled eggs, and rare 
steak increase the sexual powers. Preserved 
ginger root sold in Chinese stores is said to 
stimulate the sexual apparatus. 
14Aphrodisiac Remedies. Delhi, India, 1910. CHAPTER XI 
RACE SUICIDE 
That the birth-rate is steadily decreasing in 
all Christian countries cannot be denied. The 
reports of the census enumerators must go un- 
challenged. The decrease becomes more no- 
ticeable every year in countries where vital sta- 
tistics are reported. 
France seems to be the greatest sufferer 
among the nations from a declining birth-rate 
and a high infant mortality. 
In London it was recently found advisable 
to close one of the oldest schools because of the 
lack of children to attend it. 
In Germany the birth-rate has been steadily 
declining since 1876, when it amounted to 426 
per ten thousand inhabitants, and since the year 
1910, as pointed out by von Gruber, there has 
occurred a more marked reduction. In 1911, 
the number of births dropped about 60,000. The 
excess of births over deaths in 1906 was 149 
per ten thousand; in 1911 it was only 113. In 
the Kingdom of Saxony, which was formerly 
extraordinarily fruitful in children, the reduc- 
tion has been more marked. In that Kingdom 
103 104 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
the birth-rate has diminished since 1876 by 
about 40 per cent. 
There is apparently a religious and political 
influence that may be noted in the diminishing 
birth-rate in Germany. It is seen from the re- 
ports that there is a more marked reduction in 
Protestant than in Catholic districts. Likewise, 
those districts in which the representative is a 
socialist show a more marked reduction. The 
birth-rate in Berlin in 1912 was no longer suffi- 
cient to maintain the population by its own in- 
crease. 
In England and Wales, before the war, the 
reports show that conditions were nearly as bad 
as in Germany. The large number of marriages 
because of the war, as well as the greatly in- 
creased per cent of illegitimate or “war babies” 
has failed to stop the decrease in births, so the 
records of the registrar-general show that, com- 
pared with the average in the ten years from 
1903 to 1914, the birth-rate in the first year of 
the war showed a decrease of 2.1 per thousand. 
That class in all countries that is best able to 
provide for children and give them proper 
training and education has come to look upon 
the advent of a baby in their homes as but little 
short of a calamity. This class gives more at- 
tention to means of preventing conception and 105 
RACE SUICIDE 
procuring abortions than they do to the study 
of child welfare. Hence, it becomes the mis- 
sion of the women in the humbler walks of life 
to maintain the population of the country by 
raising children. 
If the number of children were near equally 
divided among the rich and poor families, it is 
a question as to which would give to the world a 
better class of men and women. On the one 
hand we would have the pampered hot-house 
child with little conception of the duties of good 
citizenship, while on the other extreme we 
would have undernourished and uneducated 
children of overworked and underfed parents. 
Happily, there is a great middle class in this 
country which produces the majority of the 
children, strong of mind and body, and who 
thus maintain a balance in favor of good citizen- 
ship and good government. 
It is evident that girls raised under indus- 
trial conditions that require them to work long 
hours in factories; or in commercial pursuits 
that compel them to be upon their feet for long 
periods; underfed and undeveloped, cannot be 
depended upon, when they assume their place 
in the ranks of the mothers of the land, to bring 
forth strong children. Without strong, healthy, 
educated girls we cannot hope to have good 106 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
mothers, and without healthy, well-developed 
mothers, and virile fathers, we must not expect 
bright healthy children. 
While it is true that the mentally and phys- 
ically unfit will continue to mate and bring 
forth children that are below par, yet it is not 
alone from this class that we receive our large 
and increasing number of degenerates. In fact 
a very small per cent of our dependents come 
from those who were naturally weak. The 
greatest number of the children born into the 
world bearing a death sentence with them, come 
from parents who at one time possessed clear 
minds and strong bodies, but who through evil 
habits and vices have become incapable of pro- 
ducing o if spring who will be mentally and phys- 
ically capable of meeting the demands of life. 
The law of compensation applies well to this 
condition. The wealthy classes considering 
children an impediment to their social careers, 
will not raise them. At the same time, through 
their wealth they control the industries of the 
country, under which the poor girl must work 
long hours in factories at wages which barely 
permit an existence. Then after this girl has 
become weakened by the drain upon her system, 
she marries and brings into the world a puny 
child, handicapped through the weakness of EACE SUICIDE 
107 
its parents. The child grows np and finally 
lands in the penitentiary or the insane asylum, 
where the wealthy must care for it through tax- 
ation upon their wealth. It would seem that it 
would be much better to protect the man and 
woman in the first place so that they could pro- 
duce strong children. From a purely mercenary 
standpoint it would be better business than to 
maintain so many nonproductives in eleemosy- 
nary institutions. 
What this country needs is not so much higher 
wages and shorter hours of labor, as it is an 
opportunity to own a home. Marrying will 
never go out of fashion among those who can 
afford it. 
Early marriages are to be commended. The 
young man and young woman who marry early 
and establish their own home will live cleaner 
and more useful lives. They will know less of 
the evils of the world than will those who wait 
to found their home until they reach a more 
advanced age. 
The philanthropist or community that will 
build small suburban cottages on lots large 
enough to permit of the keeping of some chick- 
ens, a cow, and for a garden, and will sell these 
homes at cost to newly married couples, on con- 
dition that they must live in their own home, 108 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
will do more good than if they contributed all 
the money in Christendom for colleges and hos- 
pitals. 
The greatest producer of sexual crime and 
destroyer of virtue ever conceived in the mind 
of man is the co-educational school. People who 
would not permit their pigs of both sexes to run 
together think nothing of their boys and girls 
attending school together, and being in each 
other’s company until late hours at night. I 
know many good people who are very careful 
to lock up the hen coop at night, and count the 
chickens to see that they are all in, who never 
know when their young daughters come home 
or what company they may be in. The children 
are not to blame. They were just unfortunate 
in the selection of their parents. There are a 
few facts so well established that they leave 
no room for argument. Young girls, while they 
are menstruating, should not be in the com- 
pany of men or boys. Children of both sexes 
should be in charge of female teachers until 
they reach the age of puberty. After puberty 
girls should be under female teachers and boys 
under male teachers. An almost ideal system 
of schools was that of the Cherokee nation. In 
the National Indian schools the sexes were sep- 
arated. As the schools were some distance RACE SUICIDE 
109 
apart, there was no opportunity for the children 
to make a love affair of their school days. There 
were no little Cherokee maidens wearing tube 
skirts and low necked waists, their faces painted 
in glaring colors, attending the national schools. 
Another thing that contributes to the produc- 
tion of a low grade of children, is the tobacco 
habit. In my experience in charge of Institu- 
tions for the Feeble-Minded, I never saw an in- 
mate that was not the child of tobacco using 
parents. The worst cases were those whose 
father and mother both used it. The study of 
homoculture reveals the fact that the use of nar- 
cotics by the father will show in the weak men- 
tality of the child, while their use by the mother 
affects the child both mentally and physically. 
The children of tobacco smokers are dull and 
backward. They do not readily reach the higher 
grades, and a very small per cent complete the 
high school course. Elliott1 says that ‘ ‘ children 
inherit certain predominating influences from 
their parents and that it is a very hard matter 
to change these by training or otherwise. It 
can be done, but it isn’t being done except in 
very rare instances. Very few have a careful 
father and mother to direct them.” 
1EHiott, Albert W.: The Cause of the Social Evil and the Remedy, 
1914. 110 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
The tendency of the wealthy classes has al- 
ways been toward small families. Even Solo- 
mon, if we accept the record we have as being 
a complete report, was not an advocate of a 
large number of children. With seven hundred 
wives and three hundred concubines he gave to 
the world one child—Rehoboam. 
With mother’s pensions and better housing 
conditions the race suicide problem may in time 
be solved. Whenever large families become 
fashionable our women will vie with each other 
to see who shall have the larger number, but 
so long as babies are looked upon as impedi- 
ments to social caste, the decline will continue. CHAPTER XII 
STERILITY 
Many a household is rendered unhappy by 
the absence of children. This is sometimes the 
fault of the husband, and sometimes of the 
wife, but in many cases it is almost impossible 
to determine the real cause of the trouble. 
It is true that the number of women who try 
to prevent conception, or attempt to destroy the 
fetus when they do become pregnant is growing 
at an alarming rate. Yet we find many very fine 
and intelligent women in whose hearts the fires 
of the mother-instinct burn so brightly that 
they, like Rachel of old, mourn for children, and 
weep because they are not. It is to bring sun- 
shine to this class that we are considering the 
subject of sterility. There is nothing more sad 
than a home where children are longed for, and 
do not come. In fact there can be no home with- 
out a baby. 
It is estimated that about twenty per cent of 
our women are barren, but it does not follow 
that there are that many who are sterile. The 
estimates made by writers on this subject differ 
widely. Courty estimates the per cent of steril- 
ity in the male at 10 per cent; Duncan, 12 per 
111 112 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
cent; Noeggerath, 8 per cent; Gross,1 17 per 
cent; Engelmann,2 25 per cent; Brothers,3 29 per 
cent; Kehrer, 35 per cent; and Huhner4 places it 
at 59 per cent. My experience leads me to be- 
lieve that 15 per cent would be a conservative 
estimate. 
The cause of sterility in the female, as well 
as the general weakness of women must be 
charged largely to industrial conditions and so- 
cial customs. The greater number of our 
girls grow up with flabby muscles and misplaced 
organs. They are weak sexually, and in many 
cases live lives of almost continual suffering. 
Much of this could be overcome if our girls 
received proper physical training, and instruc- 
tion on the functions of the generative organs. 
The only condition necessary to insure con- 
ception is that virile spermatozoa be brought 
into contact with healthy ova, in a healthy en- 
vironment. The causes of sterility may be di- 
vided into three classes, and in considering the 
subject we have only to assure ourselves: (1) 
that the spermatozoa is virile, (2) that the ova 
1Gross, Samuel W.: A Practical Treatise on Impotence, Sterility and 
Allied Disorders of the Male Sexual Organs, 1887. 
2Fngelmann, Geo. J.: The Increasing Sterility of American Women. 
Journal American Medical Association, Oct. S, 1901. 
3Brothers, Abram: Final Results of Conservative Surgery of the 
Tubes and Ovaries. Journal American Medical Association, Feb. 22, 
1908. 
4Huhner, Max: Sterility in the Male and Female, 1913. STEKILITY 
113 
is healthy, (3) that the two meet in a reason- 
ably healthy environment. If any of the above 
conditions are lacking there is a possibility that 
conception may not take place. A very few 
cases are met with where a man and woman 
will not mate, but either will with another part- 
ner. This is due to the similarity of tempera- 
ments. Where both mates are of the same tem- 
perament they may prove unfruitful, and still 
neither of them be sterile. 
The spermatozoa may not be virile, or may be 
entirely absent. In conditions of this kind, 
nothing may be hoped for in the way of relief. 
Again, the spermatozoa may be virile, but be 
blocked off from the urethra by a closure of 
the ducts due to inflammation from gonorrhea. 
In this case there could be no discharge of the 
spermatozoa and none would appear in the se- 
men. A more frequent condition is that where 
the spermatozoa is virile, and is discharged, but 
is killed by the acid secretions of the vagina or 
uterus before conception can take place. The 
treatment of the latter condition is simple; the 
acid discharge of the woman must be neutral- 
ized. This may be accomplished by the use of 
alkaline douches immediately before coitus. 
I fully concur in the statement of Dye,5 that 
*Dye, John H.: Painless Childbirth, 1888. 114 
IMPOTENUY AND STERILITY 
among the causes of sterility, the most impor- 
tant are those that oppose the entrance of the 
spermatozoa into the uterine cavity where con- 
ception can take place; these are anything which 
obstructs the uterine canal, and may exist be- 
fore a child has been born, or may be acquired 
afterward; thus, imperforate hymen; displace- 
ments, tumors, polypi, granulations or other 
growths within the neck of the womb, angular 
curvature of the uterine neck, stricture of the 
same, and chronic inflammation, to which might 
be added, technically, occlusion of the uterus. 
This covers practically all the obstructions to 
the free entrance into the uterus. An imper- 
forate hymen would prevent entrance into the 
uterus, although cases have been reported where 
conception occurred when there was no visible 
opening in the hymen. Instances where there 
is no opening in the hymen are very rare, but 
the opening is sometimes so small that ingress 
is practically impossible. It also may occur 
that where there has been a small opening it has 
closed leaving but slight scar tissue which may 
be overlooked in making an examination. The 
remedy in these cases is plainly surgical—the 
hymen must be removed. 
It may easily be seen how displacements may STERILITY 
115 
prevent the entrance of the spermatozoa, as it 
could not in many instances even reach the 
mouth of the uterus. In all cases, misplace- 
ments must be corrected and the organ held in 
the proper position, at least until conception 
takes place. 
Careful attention to the right posture during 
coitus and for some time after the act will fre~ 
quently permit of conception. If it is found 
upon examination that there is a displacement,, 
the patient should be instructed upon the proper 
position to assume so that the mouth of the 
uterus will be bathed in the pool of semen that 
forms in the vagina. She should be instructed 
to maintain this position for some time after 
the completion of the act. Runge6 claims that 
the semen running out of the uterus is the prin- 
cipal cause of sterility. Huhner7 considers the 
drainage of the uterus to be of minor impor- 
tance. The fact seems to have been overlooked 
by most writers, that it is the suction-like action 
of the uterus that draws the semen up into the 
uterus. Especially is this true when the en- 
trance to the uterus is contracted. It is only at 
the time the female reaches an orgasm that this 
6Runge, Ernst: Archi. fur Gynaekologie, Ixxxvii, 1909. 
7Huhner, Max: Sterility in the Male and Female, 1913. 116 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
suction action takes place.8 It is evident that, 
though the neck of the uterus may be con- 
tracted, if the woman reaches an orgasm di- 
rectly after the discharge of semen by the male 
the semen will be drawn directly into the uterus, 
should her orgasm occur too early, or too late, 
the acid secretions of the vagina may kill the 
spermatozoa before they enter the uterus. I 
believe this is very frequently the case, and ac- 
counts for the failure of women, who are in the 
best of health, to conceive. There are instances, 
it is true, where women conceive, who never ex- 
perience an orgasm, but in these cases we find 
that the cervix is quite widely dilated. When 
the cervix is tightly closed, and an acid secre- 
tion is present in the vagina, it is doubtful if 
conception will take place unless the woman 
experiences an orgasm at the proper time. This 
must be explained to the patient, and she and 
her husband should be instructed how to time 
the orgasm, so that the woman will reach this 
point directly after the discharge of semen by 
her husband. It is in this connection that the 
question of the sexual passion of the woman 
bears upon sterility. If she is very passionate 
8McElrath calls attention to the fact that the first record in history 
of anything having been done for the prevention of sterility appears 
in the marriage of Abraham and Sarai, Gen. XI: 29-30. In this cove- 
nant, the Eord ordered that Abram be circumcised. Circumcision by 
leaving the glands bare, causes the latter to become hardened and 
less sensitive, so that an orgasm is not likely to take place until late, 
thus giving the female an opportunity to reach an orgasm and thereby 
increasing the probability of impregnation. STEEILITY 
117 
she may have several orgasms before her hus- 
band reaches the climax, hence she will be more 
likely to draw the virile spermatozoa into the 
uterus. 
Many times simply straightening and dilat- 
ing the uterine canal is sufficient to permit of 
impregnation. It is advisable that coitus take 
place as early as possible after the dilation, as 
the uterus will soon return to its former con- 
dition. 
The use of the soft-rubber uterine stem worn 
for a month or two has given good results. 
When the stem is removed coitus should take 
place at once. 
Ovarian diseases prevent the development of 
healthy ova. Imperfect development of the 
ovaries, stricture of the fallopian tubes and dis- 
placements should be considered in this connec- 
tion. 
If there is anteversion the patient should lie 
on her back with her hips raised on a pillow 
during the copulative act. In retroversion the 
knee-chest position offers the best opportunity 
for the spermatozoa to enter the uterus. In 
either instance the position should be main- 
tained for some time after the act, an hour or 
more being advisable. In prolapsus, the condi- 
tion must be cured before impregnation may be 
hoped for. 118 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
Tumors, polypi and similar obstructions pre- 
vent the ingress of semen by blocking the chan- 
nel. These obstructions must be removed be- 
fore impregnation can take place normally. It 
may, however, be possible by artificial means. 
There may be stricture of the cervix, which 
would prevent the spermatozoa reaching the 
ova. Where all other conditions appear to be 
normal a careful examination may prove the 
presence of stricture. Occasionally an elon- 
gated cervix is found, and if the sterility is due 
to this cause, we may resort to an operation to 
correct the condition, or artificial means of 
bringing about a union of the spermatozoa and 
ova may prove advisable. 
Excluding the rare instances where tempera- 
mental and psychic causes interfere, if the sper- 
matozoa is virile and remains so until reaching 
a healthy ovum, impregnation is practically 
sure. 
The length of time that the spermatozoa may 
remain alive in the female genitals depends 
upon the secretions. Especially is this true of 
the secretions of the lower part of the vagina 
which are generally strongly acid. In contact 
with strongly acid secretions the spermatozoa 
become immobile in a very few minutes. Percy9 
“Percy, Samuel R.: A Fact for Medico-Pegal Science, American Med- 
ical Times, March 9, 1861. STERILITY 
119 
claimed to have found live spermatozoa in the 
cervical mucus eight and one-half days after 
coitus. Haussmann found weak living sperma- 
tozoa in the cervical mucus seven and one-half 
days after coitus, and Huhner10 reports live 
spermatozoa five days after coitus. 
It has been well established that the sperm 
cells invade the mucosa and the underlying tis- 
sues. This may account for what otherwise 
would appear to be a great waste of the sperm 
on the part of nature. Kohlbrugge found, in 
his experiments with rats, that the cells that 
were invaded by the spermatozoa seemed to be 
stimulated to growth, indicating that this may 
influence the uterine mucosa in its preparation 
for receiving and embedding the egg, and in 
forming the decidua. 
There is reason to believe that the sperma- 
tozoa embedded in the tissues may induce im- 
munologic reactions, thus preventing multiple 
conceptions. We frequently find women sterile 
after having aborted their first child, and it may 
be that the immunology is not overcome except 
at the completion of a full term. When this im- 
munology is not removed by the delivery of a 
full term child, the effect may continue, and the 
woman remain sterile. This appears to be con- 
10Huhner, Max: Sterility in the Male and Female, 1913. 120 
IMPOTEXCY AND STERILITY 
firmed by the observations of Dittler11 who 
found that by immunizing female rabbits with 
sperm they are made sterile for some time. As 
immunization with sperm from other species 
failed to produce sterility, and as the serum of 
rabbits injected with rabbit sperm was found to 
be spermatoxic and agglutinative, Dittler be- 
lieves that the sterilization depends upon im- 
munization against the sperm of the homolo- 
gous species.12 
By injecting the sperm of the husband into 
the tissues of the wife at intervals it might pro- 
duce immunology to the spermatozoa of the 
husband, although the immunology might not 
extend to another man. It has been shown that 
the sperm has a marked capacity to produce 
antibodies, even when implanted in the tissues 
in a collodion sac, or when an entire testicle 
with its dense capsule is implanted.13 
The woman experiences a sense of stimula- 
tion and buoyancy when the semen comes in 
contact with the uterus. This sensation is not 
present when the act is not completed, or the 
semen is not permitted to reach the tissues. 
Chronic inflammation of the uterus and 
“Dittler: Miinchener medizinische Wochenschrift, 67: 1495, 1920. 
“Editorial: Journal American Medical Association, 77:1, 43. 
“Metchnikoff and Strelnikoff: Zeitschrift fur Immunitatsforschung, 
17:186. STERILITY 
121 
ovaries may be present, and if found must be 
treated. It could hardly be expected that im- 
pregnation could take place in a highly inflamed 
uterus. 
It is often the case that sympathetic nervous 
conditions due to lesions in any part of the body 
may cause the impregnated ovum to be thrown 
off. In these cases, the patient, while really be- 
coming impregnated, will abort during the first 
month, and never miss a menstrual period. Ex- 
cessive coitus will also at times cause the 
impregnated ovum to be thrown off. 
Sometimes the cervix is closed by a plug of 
thick mucus. This in itself is a bar to the en- 
trance of the spermatozoa. 
Fuerbringer advanced the theory that abnor- 
mal chemical constitution of the pro static se- 
cretions due to inflammatory processes in the 
gland is detrimental to the spermatozoids. It 
has also been held that the presence of gonor- 
rheal infection in the male would cause the de- 
struction of the spermatozoa, but this is very 
doubtful. Huhner14 had occasion to study this 
subject, and he concludes that the gonococci do 
not have an effect on the spermatozoa that 
would prevent conception. 
14Huhner, Max: Sterility in the Male and Female, 1913. 122 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
Membranous dysmenorrhea may prevent con- 
ception by preventing the germ from making an 
attachment, and carrying it away when the 
membrane is expelled. 
Sexual excesses may exhaust the vitality of 
both sexes to such a degree that the germ and 
sperm may lack the vitality to perform their 
parts in reproduction. Nature seems to have 
provided that such devitalized elements should 
be frequently unproductive, or if impregnation 
does occur the weakened embryo may be ex- 
pelled before reaching the stage of vitality. 
It must not be considered a settled fact that 
because a woman has never borne children that 
she is sterile. Nor is it certain that if she is 
barren the first few years of her married life 
that she will never bear children. Women some- 
times become fecund after years of barrenness. 
The mother of Louis XIV was sterile for 
twenty-two years before his birth; the wife of 
Henry II became the mother of ten children 
after ten years of barrenness. Numerous in- 
stances are on record, where a union has been 
unproductive, in which separation followed, 
with subsequent marriage of both parties to 
other mates and each of the second unions 
proved productive. McElrath15 gives a record 
15McElrath, Percy John: Key to Sex Control, 1911. STERILITY 
123 
of one thousand women, of which eighty-two 
did not produce children until between two and 
three years after marriage; forty-one between 
three and four years; seven between four and 
six years; three between six and seven years; 
one between nine and ten years, and only one 
in the tenth year; after which all were as pro- 
lific as those who conceived early after mar- 
riage. 
In highly sexed women who fail to conceive, 
the suggestion of Cazeaux, that “in women the 
ovum is usually thrown off at the time of men- 
struation, but during an orgasm provoked by 
sexual congress the ovum might be discharged 
at other times,’’ is worthy of consideration. It 
is possible that too frequent coitus of very pas- 
sionate women may result in the ovum being 
expelled in the intermenstrual period. When 
the ovum is thrown off in this way before reach- 
ing its maturity it is incapable of fecundation. 
The woman who grew up as a tomboy; who 
wore loose clothing and romped around in abso- 
lute freedom during her girlhood; who was 
kept away from the company of men and boys 
during her menstrual periods, and who was 
taught to take care of her health, will have 
nothing to fear when she reaches womanhood 
and is called upon to take up the duties of a 124 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
wife and mother. Bnt the woman who as a 
girl dreamed her days away, strapped in a 
straight-jacket corset; who knew nothing of the 
sexual instinct other than the thrill she felt 
when being caressed by her many admirers, 
must pay the penalty when she faces the prob- 
lems of married life. It is from the latter class 
that we receive the majority of our patients who 
come for relief from physical suffering, and the 
mental sorrow of a childless life. There can be 
no greater sorrow than that of the childless 
woman who must always feel that she has 
cheated her husband; that she has failed to do 
her part in the great drama of life. Should the 
barren home be due to the fault of the husband, 
and the fault be due to his own evil acts, a real- 
ization of this fact should prove to him a never 
ending punishment. 
The physical culturists are doing a noble 
work in directing the attention of women of lei- 
sure to the great benefits that come from sys- 
tematic and free exercises. While I do not en- 
dorse all the claims made by them, I am sure 
that their exercises are productive of much 
good, and those who follow their instructions 
will have less physical suffering to endure in life 
than will those who do not. There is, however, 
a vast difference between exercise as generally STEKILITY 
125 
understood by the laity, and proper exercise. 
Chopping wood is exercise but it only develops 
a part of the muscles, while a systematic course 
of training in physical culture will develop the 
muscles of the entire body. These exercises 
must be properly graded and not carried to ex- 
cess. Many cases of malpositions of the uterus 
may be traced to indiscretion in exhausting ex- 
ercise, as prolonged dancing, running, jumping 
the rope, long walks, climbing high flights of 
stairs, standing on the feet for long periods of 
time, and attempts at lifting heavy weights. 
Shop girls, teachers, and others whose duties 
require that they be upon their feet for long 
periods are frequent sufferers from diseases of 
the generative organs. 
Girls should not be in the company of men 
other than those of their own household, and 
should not attend school or practice music dur- 
ing the menstrual period. The co-educational 
school is one of the greatest evils we have in this 
country. It brings girls into contact with young 
men at a time when they are sexually excited. 
Every woman should have rest during the pe- 
riod, and girls who are employed in offices and 
stores where they work with men, should remain 
at home and rest during the time of their 
menses- CHAPTER XIII 
TREATMENT OF STERILITY 
The treatment of sterility may be either sur- 
gical or medical. All malpositions should be 
corrected in so far as is possible. The clitoris 
should be unhooded if bound down by adhesions. 
All old lacerations should be repaired. In fact 
this is the field for the orificial surgeon. Where 
sterility is associated with violent sexual desire, 
inflammation of the ovaries and uterus, and an 
excoriating yellow leucorrhea, phosphorus 
should be given in small doses. When asso- 
ciated with low vitality, longing for children, 
melancholia, and with inflammation of the 
uterus and ovaries, or if the uterus is prolapsed 
or heavy and swollen, the chloride of gold and 
sodium is indicated. Cases where the parts are 
hard and contracted, call for belladonna, pref- 
erably in doses of y8 grain of the extract five 
times daily. Ashmore1 claimed good results 
from introducing a large uterine sound into the 
uterus and letting it remain for twenty minutes 
when it was removed and coitus took place at 
once, the woman remaining on her back with a 
pillow under her hips and her knees drawn up 
’Ashmore, W. Frank: Medical World, January, 1907. 
126 TREATMENT OF STERILITY 
127 
as far as possible, for an hour. This was on the 
second day after menstruation had ceased, the 
husband having been instructed to abstain from 
sexual intercourse for one month before the 
operation. 
When there is an indifference to coitus on the 
part of the woman, both local and internal 
remedies should be prescribed. In many in- 
stances a good lecture by the doctor will do this 
class more good than will drugs. The majority 
of women may be cured of their frigidity by 
proper instruction and treatment. When their 
lack of response is due to an aversion to their 
husband, they may do as a lady once informed 
me that she did. She said she could not endure 
her husband’s embrace until she formed the 
habit of shutting her eyes and imagining that 
he was another man that she knew. After 
adopting this plan she not only experienced an 
orgasm, but became pregnant. 
Dr. Guiion recommended that the woman sing 
at the top of her voice during the copulative act 
as a sure remedy for sterility. 
Winfield claims that Sol. hypophosphites 
comp. U.S.P. without sugar, continued for four 
or five weeks has always been followed by preg- 
nancy when given in sterility. 128 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
Reynolds and Macomber2 conclude provision- 
ally, from their experiments in feeding rats: 
(1) That a moderate decrease in the percentage 
of the fat soluble vitamine, of the protein, or 
of the calcium contained in an otherwise excel- 
lent diet produces a definite decrease in the fer- 
tility of individual rats. (2) That a slight de- 
crease in the fertility of both partners will pro- 
duce a sterile mating. (3) If the fertility of one 
of the partners is lowered there is a possibility 
of abortion. 
McDonald3 holds that a spare diet is condu- 
cive to conception, and likewise open-air exer- 
cise. 
It is claimed that climate ha s much to do with 
fecundity and barrenness. Spring is said to be 
the most favorable season of the year, and a 
southern more favorable than a northern cli- 
mate. 
When abnormalities are removed from the 
female generative organs, and the patient has 
been fully instructed how to conduct herself 
during the copulative act, and the time immedi- 
ately following, we may expect good results in 
the majority of cases. 
2Reynolds, Edwards, and Macomber, Donald: Certain Dietary Factors 
in the Causation of Sterility in Rats. American Joural of Obstetrics 
and Gynecology, Oct., 1921, p. 379. 
8McDonald, E.: Sterility in Women. New York Medical Journal, 
Dec., 1911. TREATMENT OF STERILITY 
129 
We may not hope to restore the organs to an 
ideal condition, in all cases, but we can place 
them in a condition that will enable them to ful- 
fill their mission in propagating the species. 
Pratt4 says: ‘ ‘ The abnormal states of humanity 
have existed so long that pathology has become 
anatomy and distorted functions have become 
physiology and sickness seems to be the normal 
state of the human race; and it will be difficult 
to decide upon the true standard of ideal excel- 
lence.” 
Good health and a normal condition of the or- 
gans should at least clear the woman from the 
indictment of barrenness. 
4Pratt, E. H.: Orificial Surgery. Dawson’s Edition, 1912. CHAPTER XIV 
ARTIFICIAL IMPREGNATION 
It has become the general practice among 
breeders of horses to resort to artificial impreg- 
nation. The advantages of this system are 
many. By the use of the impregnator a num- 
ber of mares may be impregnated where but one 
could be in the natural manner. The stallion is 
not weakened by this method as he would be in 
impregnating the same number of mares sepa- 
rately. The fully developed spermatozoa from 
a fine horse may in this way be used to impreg- 
nate many more mares than would otherwise 
be possible. The technic has been worked out 
until artificial impregnation in animals has be- 
come a science. Instruments for the purpose 
are sold by dealers in veterinary supplies. 
The first record that we have of the artificial 
impregnation of animals is of the attempts 
made by Harvey several hundred years ago. 
These experiments were not very successful. 
Later it was tried on a more extensive scale by 
Spallanzani. In recent years Iwanoff1 made a 
large number of experiments on various ani- 
Uwanoff, J.: Russkiy Vrach, 1903. 
130 ARTIFICIAL IMPREGNATION 
131 
mals. As a whole, the results of these experi- 
ments were extremely satisfactory, so much so 
that the Russian government offered Iwanoff 
an opportunity to put the results of his obser- 
vations into practice on cattle and horse 
ranches. 
When the attempts were made in a systematic 
and careful manner under favorable conditions 
during the period of heat of the respective ani- 
mals, Iwanoff found that the mechanical intro- 
duction of sperma showed a higher percentage 
of impregnations that the normal act. In these 
experiments the spermatozoids were recovered 
directly from the animals, and at the occasion 
the interesting observation was made that the 
spermatozoids from animals that had been dead 
as long as twenty-seven hours had still retained 
the faculty of impregnation. 
It has generally been believed that J. Marion 
Sims was the first to perform artificial impreg- 
nation on a woman; however, Hamilton2 claims 
that Beford recommended this procedure in 
sterility many years before its use by Sims. 
It is said that Professor Pancoast performed 
the operation on a patient in the old Sampson 
Street Hospital of Jefferson Medical College, 
Philadelphia, in the latter half of the last cen- 
’Hamilton, N. J.: Medical World, April, 1909. 132 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
tury. According to the report, both the hus- 
band and wife had been under the care of Dr. 
Pancoast, and while the woman was under 
the influence of the anesthetic he injected some 
semen procured from “the best looking man in 
the senior class,’’ into the uterus with “a hard- 
rubber syringe,” and then plugged the cervix 
lightly with gauze. According to the narrative 
neither the husband nor wife knew what he had 
done at the time. Later, Pancoast told the man 
what he had done, and it met with the latter’s 
approval, and he conspired with the professor 
to keep from the lady the actual way in which 
her impregnation had been brought about. In 
due course she gave birth to a son, who “be- 
came a successful business man.” This story 
is probable, and it may be true. It doesn’t, 
however, speak well for Professor Pancoast. 
No physician, and surely not one of Dr. Pan- 
coast’s standing, would resort to such a means. 
A few years ago there was a report in the 
medical press of a drug clerk, who in filling a 
prescription calling for some vaginal capsules, 
filled one of them with semen, from the effect of 
which the young lady became pregnant. 
In Sims’ case the woman had a very sensi- 
tive vagina which prevented entrance because 
of the spasmodic contraction of the vaginal ARTIFICIAL IMPREGNATION 
133 
walls. This spasm was so pronounced and the 
pain on touch so severe that a digital examina- 
tion could not be made without anesthesia. 
While she was under the anesthetic, semen 
from her husband was introduced into the 
uterus. It is said that Sims was never very 
proud of this practical application of a physi- 
ological principle to a partly unphysiological. 
body. It shows, however, his wonderful alert- 
ness of perceptions; his grasp of physiological 
processes, and his great ability to apply them 
to practical ends. 
Hamilton3 claims to have used the impreg- 
nator frequently for fifteen years without a 
single failure. 
Lieuf4 reports two successful cases of artifi- 
cial impregnation and recommends that this 
means be tried after the Grillete5 postural 
method fails. 
The objectionable feature to this plan has al- 
ways been the necessary presence of a third 
person. This I have been able to overcome by 
teaching the parties the use of the impregnator 
so that the operation can be performed in the 
privacy of the home and at the opportune time. 
The technic of the operation is simple. Before 
3Ifamilton, N. J.: Medical World, April, 1909. 
4Lieuf, A. H. P.: Gynecology, Obstetrics and Menopause, 1902. 
BGillete, Walter P.: A Postural Method of Copulation for the Cure 
of Some Forms of Sterility in the Female, Archives of Medicine, 
(Seguin’s), Feb., 1890. 134 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
intercourse the vagina should be cleansed with 
a douche of warm water to which bicarbonate 
of soda has been added. The semen is then col- 
lected and placed in a uterine syringe, prefer- 
ably one with a flexible point, but a hard rubber 
syringe may be used. The point of the syringe 
is introduced into the uterine cavity until it 
passes the constricted portion, the contents are 
then injected into the uterus and the opening 
well packed with gauze. The patient should 
remain quiet with the hips elevated for four or 
five hours. Remove the gauze on the second 
day and permit light exercise. The semen may 
be collected from the vagina, but the better way 
is to use the cundum, the spermatozoa will not 
then be in danger of being destroyed by coming 
into contact with the vaginal secretions. 
I instruct the parties in the use of the instru- 
ments, and loan them a speculum and a syringe. 
This enables them to perform the operation at 
their convenience. A woman can readily per- 
form the operation herself without the use of 
the speculum after a few trials. 
In my cases the trouble was due to the small 
opening in the cervix, and the lack of orgasm 
of the woman during the copulative act. The 
spermatozoa could not gain entrance into the 
uterus and there was lacking the suction that ARTIFICIAL IMPREGNATION 
135 
takes place during the female orgasm to draw 
the semen into the uterus, hence the mechanical 
introduction of the semen into the uterine 
cavity was the only feasible way of bringing 
about the desired result. 
Lydston5 proposes to take the seminal fluid 
from the vas of a healthy individual and inject 
it into the seminal vesicle of the husband. Coi- 
tus to be performed soon after the operation. 
He claims that in this manner the opportunity 
for impregnation may be afforded in “a per- 
fectly natural and physiologic manner free 
from the esthetic objections on the part of the 
female.” The trouble with this plan is that it 
requires a surgeon and the husband as go-be- 
tweens to carry the spermatozoa from the 
healthy individual to the female. It would be 
much better to use a hard rubber syringe to 
carry the semen, if an intermediary is necessary 
between the healthy individual and the woman. 
Hnhner6 tried injecting the aspirated testic- 
ular fluid directly into the cervix of the wife. 
First, by adding warm bicarbonate of soda solu- 
tion, and injecting one day after the cessation 
of the menses. Later, the combined testicular 
fluid of both testicles undiluted four days after 
5Lydston, G. Frank: Journal Americal Medical Association, July 17, 
1920. 
eHuhner, Max: Sterility in the Male and Female. 136 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
the commencement of the period. It was also 
tried directly before the beginning of the 
menses. He had opportunity to try this plan 
on only one patient, who stopped treatment be- 
fore a thorough test could be made. This is a 
field that should be further investigated, espe- 
cially when epididymitis is known to exist, and 
we are satisfied that the aspirated fluid contains 
live spermatozoa. 
By instructing the interested parties how to 
use the impregnator we overcome the aesthet- 
ical objections to artificial fecundation, and are 
thus enabled to relieve many cases of barren- 
ness. CHAPTER XV 
THERAPEUTICS 
Auram Metallicum 
Gold has long held the reputation of exerting 
a specific action upon the sexual organs of both 
sexes. It acts as a powerful stimulant, and if 
taken frequently will prevent the decline of 
sexual power. In the male, marked aphrodisiac 
effects are produced; in women, increased ven- 
ereal desire and an increase in the menstrual 
flow are observed. It is of value in atrophy of 
the testicles, especially in young boys. It is 
said to increase glandular secretions. The 
Vaids of India combine gold leaves or ashes of 
gold with mercury and pearls for a sexual 
stimulant. It is of service in impotency depend- 
ent upon inability to obtain an erection. In 
nocturnal seminal losses, weak and inefficient 
erections; inability for the sexual congress due 
to irritability of the sexual organs; nocturnal 
emissions resulting from masturbation or exces- 
sive venery, gold has been used with good re- 
sults, but in cases where there is plethora of 
the sexual organs with irritability, it increases 
the frequency of the nocturnal losses. 
Gold is of value in prolapsus of the uterus 
137 138 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
and for chronic metritis with great sensitive- 
ness. It is indicated in vaginismus with hysteri- 
cal spasms, and for sterility with lowered vital- 
ity of the parts, especially when there is melan- 
cholia due to longing for children. It is one of 
our most frequently indicated remedies in 
sterility. 
Dose.—The salts of gold most commonly used 
are the chloride, and the chloride combined with 
sodium. The dose of chloride of gold is from 
one-sixty-fourth to one-sixteenth of a grain to 
be given in water; of the chloride of gold and 
sodium one-thirtieth to one-twelfth grain, grad- 
ually increase to one-twelfth grain. It is given 
in the form of pills or tablets. The homeo- 
pathic 3x is a very elegant form in which to ex- 
hibit this drug. 
All gold salts are poisonous and should be 
used with great care. The antidotes are egg al- 
bumen, milk, flour, etc. 
Long continued use of gold may give rise to 
serious disturbances of the digestive organs, 
hence its action should be carefully watched. 
Avena Sativa 
Avena Sativa is a powerful remedy in sexual 
debility as it has a selective influence upon the 
nerve structure of the genito-urinary organs. THEKAPEUTICS 
139 
It is a decided nerve tonic and stimulant. It in- 
creases both desire and ability and is applicable 
to both sexes. It will allay the nervous excite- 
ment, nervous palpitation of the heart, insomnia 
and mental weakness, and general debility 
caused by masturbation and over-sexual indul- 
gence. Ellingwood1 says he has received better 
satisfaction in the use of this remedy in the im- 
potence of newly married men, than from any 
other single remedy or combination of remedies. 
If there is any prostatic or other local irrita- 
tion, saw palmetto should be combined with the 
avena. It works well with most stimulants and 
may be used at the same time with strychnine, 
phosphorus or gold with good results. There is 
no danger of forming a habit by its use. 
Dose and Administration.—Avena sativa acts 
almost instantly if given in hot water. It 
should be given in comparatively large doses. 
Five to fifteen drops well diluted will give the 
best results. It should rarely be given in larger 
quantities than twenty minims, unless the pa- 
tient is thoroughly accustomed to its use. There 
is danger of obtaining the physiological effect 
if large doses are given, which will be an- 
nounced by pain at the base of the brain. When 
this symptom appears the medicine should be 
UJllingwood, Finley: Materia Medica and Therapeutics, 1905. 140 
IMPOTEXCY AND STERILITY 
discontinued a day or two and then given in re- 
duced doses. I have had best results when giv- 
en frequently in smaller doses. The effect may 
be gauged by giving it during the day in hot 
water for immediate effect, and at night a 
larger dose in cold water will give a more slowly 
acting and lasting effect during sleep. 
Care should be exercised to procure a high 
grade of this drug as most of the preparations 
on the market are practically inert. I have al- 
ways found Keith’s Concentrated Tincture 
Avena Sativa to be reliable. The standard dose 
of this tincture is from five to thirty drops. 
Cannabis Indica 
Cannabis is of use in excitement of the sexual 
organs with erections, lascivious thoughts and 
dreams when given in small doses. In large 
doses the hasheesh dreams and pleasures ap- 
pear. Victor Robinson2 describing the sensa- 
tions following a single dose of 20 drops of F. 
E. Cannabis, says: “ I hear the songs of women. 
Thousands of maidens pass near me, they bend 
their bodies in the most charming curves, and 
scatter beautiful flowers in my fragrant path. 
Some faces are strange, some I knew on earth, 
but all are lovely. They smile and sing and 
“Robinson, Victor: Essay on Hasheesh, 1912. THERAPEUTICS 
141 
dance. Their bare feet glorify the firmament. 
It is more than flesh can stand. I grow sensual 
unto satyriasis. The aphrodisiac effect is 
astonishing in its intensity. I enjoy all the 
women in the world. I pursue countless 
maidens through the confines of heaven. A de- 
licious warmth suffuses my whole body. Hot 
and blissful I float through the universe, con- 
sumed with resistless passion.” 
In the form of hasheesh, cannabis indica is 
used in Oriental countries for its aphrodisiac 
effect. It will, in proper doses, overcome chor- 
dee and is of benefit in spermatorrhea, irritable 
urethra, and painful micturition. It is our 
best remedy in irritated states of the urethra of 
both male and female. 
Dose.—The dose of the fluid extract of can- 
nabis indica is from three to five minims. Ex- 
tract of cannabis indica, one-sixth to one grain. 
Cinchona 
Cinchona, or its alkaloid, qninine, is of use in 
sexual weakness following nocturnal emissions, 
or sexual excesses. As a rule the fluid extract 
is preferable to the alkaloid in these cases. Ac- 
cording to Bartholow, cinchona contains five 
alkaloids, two simple acids, two tannic acids, 
and a resinoid substance. We get the combined 142 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
action of all of them when we use the complete 
drug. Pierce3 considers cinchona beneficial in 
ovaritis arising from sexual excesses. It has a 
decided effect upon the erectile tissues, 
strengthening the muscles, and is said to in- 
crease the secretion of seminal fluids. 
Dose.—The dose of fluid extract cinchona, 
red, is from one-half to one fluid dram. Quinine 
sulphate, one to ten grains. 
Gaultheria 
Gaultheria is indicated in spermatorrhea 
without impotency; in prostatic irritation and 
undue sexual excitement. It will he found of 
value in the treatment of young men and boys 
who are addicted to masturbation, and are 
troubled with emissions. 
Dose.—The dose of the fluid extract is from 
five to ten drops. 
Humulus—Lupulin 
Humulus is of use in those cases of a nervous 
broody disposition, wakefulness, sexual irrita- 
tion, abnormal or violent sexual excitement, 
spermatorrhea, and fear of impotency. The 
man who is in a continual fear of becoming im- 
potent should have lupulin. It is one of our 
8Pierce, Willard Ide: Plain Talks on Materia Medica, 1911. THERAPEUTICS 
143 
most effective anaphrodisiacs. It is of use in 
priapism and in chordee. Humulus is indicated 
only when there is a strong flow of blood to the 
parts. Blair4 recommends lupulin combined 
with camphor monobromate, five grains of each, 
in capsules, as a remedy for chordee. The dose 
of the tincture is one to two fluid drams. 
Specific medicine lupulin is a high grade 
preparation, the dose of which is ten drops. It 
should be given every three hours, the last dose 
coming at bed-time. 
Hamamelis 
In relaxed, congested condition of the organs, 
accompanied by a dragging sensation in the 
scrotum, with an aching-pain; with mucoid dis- 
charge, hamamelis is of use. Ellingwood5 con- 
siders hamamelis a good remedy in relaxation 
of the vaginal walls with leucorrhea. It is the 
remedy for a stagnant condition of the veinous 
circulation in all parts of the body. It some- 
times relieves weak erections by its effect on the 
dorsal vein of the penis. As with avena, care 
must be exercised to secure a dependable prod- 
uct. I have found no hamamelis equal to 
Pond’s extract of witch hazel. 
Bose.—The dose is from one to five drops 
4Blair, Thomas S.: Materia Medica and Therapeutics, 1907. 
BEllingwood, Finley: Materia Medica and Therapeutics, 1905. 144 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
every three hours. Locally it may be applied 
full strength. 
Nux Vomica 
Nux vomica is indicated in recent prolapsus 
of the uterus. It should be given in sterility due 
to prolapsus. It is of use when the os is rigid 
and will not readily dilate. Small doses of the 
whole drug will give better results in these con- 
ditions than will minute doses of strychnine, as 
the action of the latter is largely expended upon 
the spinal cord and not upon the viscera. In 
impotence due to exhaustion or atony of the 
erectile tissues strychnine is preferable. 
Strychnine is considered by many to be the 
most powerful aphrodisiac known to the pro- 
fession. When indicated it is a very depend- 
able drug, but it is too often given as a routine 
treatment for “ impotency, ’ ’ without any clear 
knowledge as to the real condition of the pa- 
tient. Strychnine is especially indicated in im- 
potency due to atony of the erectile tissues and 
a general neurasthenia. 
Dose.—The dose of specific nux vomica is 
from one-tenth to two minims. Strychnine sul- 
phite one-one hundred and twentieth to one- 
fifteenth grain. I have given as much as one- THERAPEUTICS 
145 
half grain of strychnine at a single dose, hypo- 
dermically, one daily, for over a year. 
Cantharides 
Cantharides has long had a reputation as an 
aphrodisiac in the minds of the laity. It is be- 
lieved that it has a wonderful power to increase 
sexual desire and ability. It is safe to say that 
only in dangerous doses will it produce the re- 
sults with which it is credited by the laity. In 
small doses it is a valuable remedy in properly 
indicated cases. It acts as an aphrodisiac 
through irritation of the urinary tract, and in 
those cases where there is a loss of sensation 
and a generally relaxed condition of the walls 
of the urethra it may be given in sufficient 
amounts to produce a slight burning sensation. 
It produces erections because of the irritation 
at the neck of the bladder. Combined with nux 
vomica and chloride of iron as proposed by 
Gross it gives good results. I use this formula, 
and in addition give avena sativa to those pa- 
tients who have strong desire but are unable to 
secure an erection at the opportune time. In 
large doses cantharides causes violent amorous 
frenzy. The sexual instinct goes mad, and the 
erections in the male are violent and painful. 
The penis is inflamed and sore and it would be 146 
IMPOTENCY AXD STERILITY 
painful to have coitus, yet there is this frenzy. 
In severe cases following dangerous doses there 
is insolence, blasphemy, restlessness ending in 
rage (Kent). In very small doses it sometimes 
relieves similar conditions. I have seen decided 
effects from very small doses of cantharides in 
causing painful micturition in women when it 
was given to relieve incontinence of urine. On 
the other hand I once witnessed a case where a 
young man added a half-ounce of the tincture of 
cantharides to a half-pint of whiskey, and two 
girls drank all of it in less than an hour with 
apparently no more effect than they would have 
received from the whiskey alone. It will not act 
upon the sexual passion of a woman so strongly 
as upon the male, as it seems to exert its power 
simply in irritating the urethra. Some persons 
are very susceptible to cantharides, and in giv- 
ing large doses the effect must be watched close- 
ly. It is never indicated when there is any irri- 
tation of the urethra. 
Dose.—The dose of the tincture is from one 
to five minims. Five drops of specific can- 
tharides may be added to four ounces of water, 
and be given in teaspoonful doses, for the aver- 
age case. 
Opium and morphine have an aphrodisiac ef- 
fect, when given in small doses where the pa- 
Opium THERAPEUTICS 
147 
tient is not accustomed to their use. Habitual 
use of opium causes impotence. Tolerance and 
habit are soon established until very large doses 
may be taken without producing the physiologi- 
cal effect. De Quincey, for example, took as 
much as three hundred and twenty grains of 
opium a day, and could drink laudanum by the 
tumblerful. I had in my practice at one time a 
man who ate an average of one pound of opium 
a month for twelve years, and finally died from 
pneumonia. Opium and morphine are largely 
resorted to by women who lead monotonous 
lives and have few opportunities of indulging in 
sexual intercourse (Murrell). Opium is indi- 
cated in cases of premature ejaculation and 
spermatorrhea when there is a very severe ir- 
ritation of the urethral canal. 
Bose.—The dose of opium is one-half to two 
grains; morphine, one-tenth to one-half grain. 
Phosphorus 
Phosphorus is the most universally indicated 
remedy in the treatment of impotency. It in- 
creases sexual desire without producing local 
irritation. It increases the acuteness of the 
special senses, and is a general nerve and sys- 
temic vitalizer. It is suited to functional cases 
and not to those that may be due to organic 148 
IMPOTENCY AND STEKILITY 
causes. The continued use of phosphorus has 
been known to produce a habit that is very hard 
to overcome when once established. A single 
large dose of phosphorus will produce an in- 
creased capacity for mental and physical exer- 
tion. It renews strength and increases vigor. 
It has a decided action upon the nasal mem- 
branes and increases the acuteness of the sense 
of smell. In overdoses it produces inflamma- 
tion of the stomach and intestines with burning 
pain, prostration, vomiting, and death. It is 
especially useful as a tonic after sexual ex- 
cesses, and is indicated when sexual excitement 
in the male is followed by weakness and im- 
potency. In the female it is of use in sterility 
when associated with nymphomania, and violent 
sexual desire with aversion to coitus. It is in- 
dicated in cases of emissions that take place 
either day or night, and at stool. As it is a 
powerful poison and tends to disturb the diges- 
tive organs it must be used with caution. Small 
doses frequently repeated until the desired ef- 
fect is secured should be the rule for its admin- 
istration. It should not be given on an empty 
stomach and the white phosphorus should never 
be used. 
Dose.—It may be given in combination with 
other remedies, or alone in granules containing THERAPEUTICS 
149 
one-sixtieth to one-thirtieth grain. It is some- 
tinues combined with oils as a protection to 
the stomach and intestines. 
Platinum 
Platinum is of use in intense sexual excite- 
ment and erethism, and in excessive sensitive- 
ness of the genitals of both sexes. It is of value 
in sexual melancholia caused by masturbation. 
It is our best remedy where the female sexual 
organs are so sensitive that intercourse is pain- 
ful, and also in the nymphomania of young 
girls. It is antagonistic to lead, and should be 
thought of in the impotency of lead workers and 
lead miners. Platinum has been used with ad- 
vantage in those cases of the extreme sensitive- 
ness of the genitals making it impossible to 
wear a napkin during menstruation, and of the 
unbearable sexual excitement and voluptuous 
crawling sensation in the genitals. It has cured 
sterility of long standing, and epilepsy arising 
from onanism (Kent). It is possible that simi- 
lar conditions might be produced by large doses 
of platinum, but it is only in the treatment of 
the conditions mentioned that it is in use. 
Platinum is best given in the homeopathic 3x, 
or in granules, containing about one one-hun- 
dredth grain. CHAPTER XVI 
THERAPEUTICS (Cont’d). 
Picric Acid 
This drug is recommended by homeopathic 
writers (Kent and Pierce) as of use where there 
is extreme lust with violent erections; for sem- 
inal emissions followed by great exhaustion, 
and for impotence with threatened paralysis of 
the legs, and a tendency to boils and carbuncles. 
Picric of ammonia in doses of one-eighth to one- 
half grain, in pill or tablet, is a good form in 
which to exhibit this drug. 
Potassium Bromide 
Potassium bromide is especially indicated in 
irritation of the sexual organs, strong sexual 
excitement, nocturnal emissions, satyriasis, 
and epilepsy resulting from sexual irritation. 
In those cases where women have epileptic seiz- 
ures at the time of orgasm during coitus, potas- 
sium bromide should be given in full doses prior 
to the act. It should not be continued for a 
great length of time as brominism is manifested 
by a general failure of the mental powers, acne, 
and loss of sexual power. Blair recommends 
moderate doses (19 to 20 grains) in seminal 
emissions, nymphomania, and priapism. I sel- 
150 THEKAPETJTICS 
151 
dom use the drug as I have found that the ef- 
fects produced by its use have in many instances 
proved more harmful than the conditions it is 
said to relieve. 
Pulsatilla 
When the sexnal desire is exceptionally 
strong in the female, and if not satisfied gives 
way to a sense of loneliness, weeping, and the 
blues,—pulsatilla is the remedy. The pulsatilla 
patient will go from one extreme to another; 
from intense sexnal desire and excitement to 
despondency and weeping. It is the best 
remedy that we possess for weeping without 
cause or reason, despondency, and loneliness. It 
is the remedy for the patient that has light hair 
and bine eyes. Its most extensive action is upon 
the mucous membranes, the eyes, ears, nose, and 
genito-urinary apparatus of either sex. Its 
action upon the mucous membranes of the nose 
make it of use in impotency. It is the remedy 
for loss of smell. Pulsatilla is of value in pro- 
lapsus of the uterus. Its wide range of applica- 
tion to the female organs makes it of great 
value in sterility, especially with the fair- 
haired, blue-eyed woman who is given to melan- 
cholia and weeping because of her desire for 
children. The dose of specific pulsatilla is from 152 
IMPOTENCY AXD STERILITY 
thirty to sixty minims to four ounces of water. 
A teaspoonful should be given every two or 
three hours. Care must be exercised to get a 
good preparation of the true pulsatilla, as 
most of the fluid extracts are inert. 
Saw Palmetto 
Saw palmetto is especially useful in prostatic 
troubles where there is enlargement and irrita- 
tion. It is of value when the sexual power is 
weak. It is indicated in sexual exhaustion and 
neurasthenia. Ellingwood says that in the 
treatment of young men who have been exces- 
sive in their habits, or who have masturbated, 
it can be relied upon with positiveness. It has 
a decided influence upon the nasal membrane. 
Saw palmetto is of value in atrophy of the testi- 
cles. In the female it increases sexual desire 
and ability. It works well in combination with 
avena sativa or phosphorus. It will relieve un- 
due irritation of any part of the genito-urinary 
organs, when due to excesses and exhaustion. 
This drug has been accredited with marvelous 
powers in reducing the hypertrophied prostate 
of old men. The dose is ten to thirty drops. 
Salix Nigre Aments 
Salix nigre is said to control sexual hyperes- 
thesia, and sexual excitement. It is of use in THERAPEUTICS 
153 
satyriasis, erotomania, and nymphomania, when 
due to local irritation. It relieves spermator- 
rhea and quiets the nervous system generally. 
Sexual disorders from excesses, spermator- 
rhea, nocturnal emissions; prostatorrhea, 
lascivious dreams, satyriasis, and morbid sexual 
desire call for salix nigre. The dose of the spe- 
cific medicine, salix nigre, is from ten to sixty 
mimins. 
Nuphar Luteum 
This remedy has been used in sexual debility; 
spermatorrhea, and in noctural emissions. It 
is indicated in impotency with involuntary 
emissions at stool. In large doses it allays sex- 
ual excitement. The dose of the fluid extract is 
five drops three or four times a day. 
Ignatia 
This remedy is sometimes called for in cases 
of sexual and nervous debility, its most prom- 
inent indication being a deep-seated pain in the 
loins. This symptom when found in connection 
with sexual weakness will guide to the selection 
of ignatia. Five to ten minims of the fluid ex- 
tract may be added to four ounces of water, of 
which the dose would be one teaspoonful. Ig- 
natia is similar to nux vomica in action, but has 
not so wide a range of application. 154 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
Thuja 
Thuja is an active remedy in spermatorrhea 
due to over-indulgence. The dose of the fluid 
extract is five to ten drops. Injected into the 
scrotum it is our best remedy for hydrocele. 
Musk 
Musk is obtained from the musk ox, and is 
composed of the solidified secretions from the 
generative organs of these animals. It is one 
of the oldest remedies used for impotence. 
Musk is the principal remedy used by the Vaids 
of India to increase sexual power and desire. 
It is used to control violent sexual excitement 
in the male which is accompanied by emissions 
without erections. It relieves the violent sexual 
desire in the female when the menses are too 
early and profuse. It is indicated in nervous 
impotency. The effect of this drug is due to a 
considerable extent to its odor. It should be 
given in sufficient strength to retain a compara- 
tively strong odor. I find musk a good remedy 
in the treatment of impotency especially where 
there is a lack of desire with certain partners; 
premature ejaculation, and weakness follow- 
ing coitus. The dose of the tincture is from 
twenty minims to two drams. It may be com- 
bined with other drugs in pill form. I find Therapeutics 
155 
that it exerts a good effect on these cases when 
used as a perfume, especially when the bed and 
night clothes have a strong odor of musk. 
Murix 
Murix is the coloring matter from the purple 
fish, or sea snail, and is used by homeopaths in 
prolapsus of the uterus attended with violent 
sexual desire. In the murix patient there is 
prolapsus accompanied by pain extending to 
the breasts. It should be used in sterility due 
to prolapsus when sexual desire is greatly in- 
creased by the slightest touch. Pierce uses it in 
the 3x. 
Chinese Incense 
Chinese incense or Joss Sticks burned in the 
room give off an odor that is said to excite sex- 
ual desire and increase power. These may be 
obtained at any Chinese store, and the odor is 
not disagreeable. 
Staphisagria 
Staphisagria is of use in enlarged prostate 
with dribbling urine, and a general excitability 
of the male organs with great weakness and im- 
potence. Where the sexual desire is greatly in- 
creased and there is total disability to perform 
the act, staphisagria will give relief. It is valu- 156 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
able for the nervous man who is addicted to 
masturbation and who fails when attempting 
coitus. It is also of use in atrophy of the genitals. 
It will control the violent sexual excitement and 
nymphomania in the female. It relieves irrita- 
tion and overcomes impotency by increasing the 
general health and power of the organs. It 
acts as a stimulant and tonic on the central 
nervous system, and is a very important 
remedy in sexual disorders. The dose of the 
tincture is five to fifteen minims, and of the 
specific medicine one-sixth to three minims. 
Sulphur 
Sulphur is the leading remedy in sterility. 
This is especially true where there is irregular- 
ity of the menstrual flow; the menses becom- 
ing suppressed by the slightest disturbance. 
There may also be hemorrhage with the men- 
strual flow. A burning sensation in the vagina 
and an offensive odor emanating from the fe- 
male genitals, thighs, and abdomen call for sul- 
phur. If the odor of the woman is offensive to 
her husband, give her sulphur. The impotent 
patient whose nose is clogged with offensive 
secretions should have this remedy.1 It is in- 
*It is interesting to note that all drugs that are proven aphrodisiacs 
are those that have a direct action on the nasal membranes. I am of 
the opinion that any drug that will increase the acuteness of the 
olfactory nerves will be found beneficial in the treatment of im- 
potency. THERAPEUTICS 
157 
dicated in the male when the genitals are cold 
with impotency; sexual desire is moderate but 
he is unable to secure erections; or there is a 
discharge before intromission or too early after 
intromission. It is always indicated with the 
uncleanly patient whose genitals are extremely 
offensive and who has premature ejaculation. 
It is of use in prolapsus of the uterus accom- 
panied with offensive leucorrhea. The impor- 
tance of sulphur in its effect upon the nose and 
the ability to smell is made clear by Kent who 
in speaking of a sulphur patient says: “The 
catarrhal affections of the nose are extremely 
troublesome—so troublesome is this catarrhal 
state that with odors he is made sick. The 
smell of this old catarrh, or of filthy things, 
keeps him nauseated.” Sulphur is a most im- 
portant remedy when properly used. It is use- 
less to give large doses of the common product. 
The only way to get the real sulphur effect as 
herein described is to use it in very small doses, 
preferably in the homeopathic tablets of the 3x. 
It must be continued for some time. 
Lycopodium 
Lycopodium is the remedy for sexual exhaus- 
tion following gonorrhea or cystitis; when there 
is a loss of desire, or when the patient “goes to 158 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
sleep during coitus” (Kent). The penis is re- 
laxed and cold. With these symptoms it is of 
benefit especially with the aged. In the female 
it is indicated when there is leucorrhea which 
flows in gushes, and is associated with a sensa- 
tion of dryness and burning in the vagina. For 
the young married man who finds he is impotent 
and is unable to obtain an erection, or that the 
erections are feeble, and that he has consider- 
able trouble in reaching an orgasm, lycopodium 
is our sheet anchor. I have used lycopodium 
extensively in my practice and have found it to 
be one of our most useful remedies, especially 
where there is a lack of secretion, and where it 
requires long continued exertion to reach an 
orgasm. It is an important remedy, and per- 
haps the best one for cases having the above 
indications. 
Bose.—The dose of specific medicine lyco- 
podium is one-half to fifteen minims. Pierce 
recommends it in the 3x. 
Graphite 
Graphite is of use in sexual disorders when 
the sexual desire is increased hut the power is 
diminished; when there is great desire and in- 
complete erection; or when the discharge is too THERAPEUTICS 
159 
early. It is a valuable remedy for inflamma- 
tion of the vagina and neck of the uterus, and 
for the so-called cauliflower excrescences of the 
uterus, with pain and bleeding. Graphite 
should prove of value in some cases of sterility, 
although I have not given it a trial in these 
cases. I would use it in a case presenting a 
bloody discharge from the uterus. I use the 
lx and 2x homeopathic tablets. 
Ambergris 
Ambergris is a morbid secretion from the 
sperm whale, and has been the subject of mirac- 
ulous stories told by sailors of its effects upon 
the sexual organs. It is said to increase the se- 
cretion of semen to a wonderful extent. If it 
will do but a very small part of what it is cred- 
ited with doing it will prove of great value. 
I have not given it a fair trial. In the limited 
trial that I have been able to give ambergris it 
appeared to do good. It is very expensive and 
not easily obtained. It may be had in the 
homeopathic tincture, and Pierce recommends 
its use in the 3d. I would advise that it be used 
in large doses. Sailors are said to eat it in its 
crude state, and perhaps it requires large doses 
to give the wonderful results they claim for it. 160 
IMPOTEXCY AX'D STERILITY 
Black Ant 
A feAV years ago I made some experiments in 
the use of an alcoholic tincture of the common 
black ant as a remedy for rheumatism. While 
it did not relieve the rheumatism, my patients 
complained of having strong and painful erec- 
tions but Avithout sexual desire. I did not con- 
tinue my experiments at the time, and have had 
no chance to prove the remedy since, as I have 
been unable to obtain a good preparation. I am 
satisfied, however, that there is some active 
principle in these ants, other than formic acid 
as has been claimed. 
Echinacea 
Echinacea has been nsed as a local applica- 
tion to the organs to increase desire and power. 
I am of the opinion that it has no virtue when 
applied in this way, other than the warmth re- 
sulting from the alcohol in the fluid extract. It 
is sometimes combined Avith capsicum in a vase- 
line base for local application. A proprietary 
remedy that was on the market a few years 
ago under the name of “Erectol” was simply 
echinacea colored. It was to be used locally. THERAPEUTICS 
161 
Silver Nitrate 
Nitrate of silver, when injected into the deep 
urethra as proposed by Mowry, causes a local 
irritation, thereby increasing the flow of blood 
to the parts, which is followed by an erection. 
It is applied with an Ultzmann syringe in a 
weak solution every other day until the desired 
results are obtained. It is about the quickest 
acting treatment that I have found, and has 
given uniformly good results in my practice, 
though I seriously doubt the advisability of con- 
tinuing its use for any great length of time. 
Zinc 
Pierce recommends zinc in the 3d as a remedy 
for nymphomania when caused by pruritus vul- 
va, worse at night. In the male it is used in 
seminal emissions with general irritability. 
Chromium Sulphate 
Chromium sulphate was introduced as a 
medical agent by Kolipinski a few years ago, 
and met with considerable favor by those that 
gave it a trial. Boynton and others claim that 
it has a direct action on the prostate, and that 
it is of value in neurasthenia. It has been used 
as an aphrodisiac, and the reports have been 
favorable in most instances. It is said to be of 162 
IMPOTENCY AND STERILITY 
value in impotency, senile pruritus, enlarged 
prostate, locomotor ataxia, etc. I have given it 
a limited trial, both singly and combined with 
other remedies. If it ever produced any results 
of any kind by itself I was never fortunate 
enough to notice it. It is possible that combined 
with other drugs of known value in these cases, 
it may have received undue credit. The dose 
recommended by Kolipinski is from four to 
eight grains, three or four times a day, before 
meals. 
Yohimbine 
Strong claims have been made for this drug 
in the treatment of impotence. It is said to act 
upon the testicles and penis causing swelling 
and strong erections. Oberwarth and Lowy ex- 
perimented upon rabbits and found that soon 
after injecting yohimbine they noticed that the 
testicles began to swell and descended into the 
inguinal canal. In dogs and cats the swelling 
appeared to affect the penis principally. It is 
said that the natives of Western Africa use a 
decoction of yohimbine to increase the sexual 
appetite. Lissman6 says it increases the flow 
of blood to the external genitals and produces 
vasodilatation of the renal and cutaneous ves- 
eIvissman: Munchener medizinische Wochenschrift, 1912, No. 24, p. 
1313. 163 
THERAPEUTICS 
sels. It will favorably influence impotency so 
long as the impotence is due solely to exhaus- 
tion of the cohabitation center. It is recom- 
mended in sudden loss of power, and in the 
despondency and mental depression of young 
married men. Lissman claims that the failure 
to receive good results from this drug is due 
to the method of administration. He tried epi- 
dural injection of 30 c.c. of saline solution and 
ten drops of 2 per cent yohimbine solution and 
got good results. This can hardly be accepted 
as positive evidence of the aphrodisiac effect 
of yohimbine, as Cathelin obtained similar re- 
sults in impotence by the epidural injection of 
saline solution alone. Lissman emphasizes the 
fact that in his case the center of erection alone 
was at fault, the patients never having suffered 
from precipitate ejaculations. In forms of im- 
potence accompanied by ejaculatio prsecox the 
yohimbine did harm. It is probable that the ac- 
tion of yohimbine is similar to that of canthar- 
ides, causing an irritation of the deep urethra, 
followed by an increased flow of blood to the 
parts. 
Yohimbine may be given in tablets of one- 
tenth grain, or the homeopathic one per cent so- 
lution. It may be had in hypodermic tablets of 
one-twelfth grain. INDEX 
A 
Abortion, excessive coitus, 121 
monthly, 121 
Asexualization, after effects, 
89 
atrophy of breasts, 90 
before puberty, 91 
boys become obese, 90 
Cade’s report, 89 
effect on sexual desire, 90 
effect on skin, 90 
in Kansas Institution, 89 
mental effect, 89 
moral effect, 89 
B 
Bathing and morals, 27 
Beauty, African, 57 
color, 57 
female form, 57 
flat chest, 47 
large bust, 47 
Oriental, 57 
Persian, 57 
Turkish, 57 
Blonds, sexually cold, 50 
Breasts, and sexual power, 47 
supernumerary, 47 
Brunettes, amourous, 50 
sexually strong, 50 
Buttocks, large, 50 
C 
Children and law of compen- 
sation, 106 
Children—Cont’d 
diminishing birth-rate, 103 
in England, 103 
in France, 103 
in Germany, 103 
feeble-minded, 106 
of defectives, 106 
of tobacco users, 109 
overworked, 106 
Coitus, effect on vagina, 91 
failure due to anger, 74 
due to joy, 73 
due to lack of response, 
69 
due to shock, 74 
in strange beds, 69 
in strange houses, 69 
interruptus, 83 
limit, of female, 91 
of male, 91 
with some women, 69 
D 
Dance, Nautch, 56 
Oriental, 56 
Dress, and sexual desire, 54 
E 
Emissions and masturbation, 
83 
nocturnal, 85 
Eyes, 52 
dark, dreamy, 52 
dilated pupils, 52 
expression of, 53 
165 166 
INDEX 
F 
Fear, in illegitimate children, 
67 
maternal, 67 
Feet, 51 
Formulas, Gross’, 99 
Hammond’s, 98 
Hoop’s, 100 
Hunt’s, 98 
Hunt’s local, 93 
Latham’s, 99 
Murrell’s, 99 
Robinson’s, 100 
G 
Girls, coeducational schools, 
108 
keeping company while 
menstruating, 108 
H 
[lair, 50 
curly, 50 
falling, 50 
heavy eyebrows, 50 
on body, 50 
pubic, 50 
I 
Impotency, 59 
business failure due to, 62 
constipation, 61 
enlarged prostate, 61 
fear of failure, 73 
gonorrhea, 63 
obesity, 63 
psychic, 65 
Impregnation, artificial, 130 
history, 130 
Iwanoff’s experiments, 131 
objections overcome 133 
Marion-Sims case, 131 
Impregnation—Cont’d 
Pancoast’s case, 131 
technic, 134 
M 
Marriage, early, 107 
Masturbation of feeble-minded 
girls, 65 
of women, 86 
Menstrual period of men, 70 
Menopause in men, 70 
N 
Nose, automatic sex control, 
21 
congestion of membranes, 
20 
genital points in, 22 
inflamed in sexual excesses, 
21 
Koblanck and Roeder’s ex- 
periments, 22 
operations on, 34 
relation to sexual organs, 
20 
tissues erectile, 20 
O 
Odors and digestion, 36 
sexual instinct, 37 
during coitus, 31 
effect on salivary glands, 
35 
on thyroid and testicles, 
37 
Iviernan’s case, 23 
leathery, 23 
of butterflies and moths, 29 
of emotional states, 26 
of lavender, 23 
of locust flowers, 23 INDEX 
167 
Odors—Cont’d 
of old women, 27 
of prostitutes, 33 
of Pygmas, 26 
of Tahitian women, 24 
of violets, 23 
of young girls, 27 
offensive, 24 
P 
Penis, ligation of dorsal 
vein, 95 
size, 61 
Perfumed beds, 24 
Prostate, sexual pleasure from 
treatment of, 101 
S 
Schools, coeducational, 108 
female teachers, 108 
separate after puberty, 108 
Sense of sight, 47 
Sense of smell, 20 
and impotency, 20 
odors as stimulants, 25 
Queen Maya, 24 
Sex and senility, 27 
Sexual crimes, 27 
age, 18 
athletes, 15 
desire, 18 
glands, 15 
impulse, 14 
neurosis, 65 
pleasure, 10 
power and age, 17 
power of animals, 20 
stimuli, 25 
sense of hearing, 41 
sense of sight, 47 
sense of smell, 20 
Spermatozoa, killed by acids, 
113 
Spermatozoa—Cont’d 
life of, 118 
Sterility, 111 
couples not mated, 113 
change of mates, 122 
imperforated hymen, 114 
obstructions, 118 
ova expelled, 121 
sexual excesses, 122 
treatment, 126 
dilating cervix, 117 
phosphorus, 126 
posture, 115 
uterine stem, 117 
Stricture, irritative, 61 
T 
Temperament, and sexual 
power, 73 
lymphatic, 73 
sanguine, 74 
Therapeutics, Ambergris, 159 
aurum metallicum, 137 
avena sativa, 138 
black ant, 160 
cannabis indica, 140 
cantharides, 145 
chinconia, 141 
Chinese incense, 155 
chromium sulphate, 161 
echinacea, 160 
gaultheria, 142 
graphites, 158 
hamamelis, 143 
humulus, 142 
ignatia, 153 
lycopodium, 157 
murix, 155 
musk, 154 
nuphar luteum, 153 
nux vomica, 144 
opium, 146 
phosphorus, 147 168 
INDEX 
Therapeutics—Cont’d 
picric acid, 150 
platinum, 149 
potassium bromide, 150 
pulsatilla, 151 
salix nigra aments, 152 
saw palmetto, 152 
silver nitrate, 161 
staphisagria, 155 
sulphur, 156 
thuja, 154 
yohimbine, 162 
zinc, 161 
U 
Urethra, bifurcated, 62 
V 
Vagina, effect of acids on, 92 
bisulphate of quinine 
douche, 92 
tough membranes, 91 
Voice, Darwin’s theory, 42 
in animal courtship, 42 
love calls of birds, 42 
of blackcock, 42 
of Cleopatra, 43 
of Joan of Arc, 45 
of Sirens, 46 
Voice—Coat’d 
tone, 45 
Vanilla, effect on menstrua- 
tion, 25 
W 
Woman: 
age and sexual desire, 78 
bust, 47 
buttocks, 56 
calves, 52 
dress, suggestive, 54 
eyes, dilated pupils, 52 
feet, 51 
flat-chested, 48 
fleshy, 79 
foreign bodies in vagina, 80 
hair and passion, 50 
lips, 52 
multiple breasts, 49 
nude, 54 
prostitution, 80 
repression of sexual in- 
stinct, 78 
sensuality in, 75 
sexual excitement and faint- 
ing, 79 
why women fail, 76 
Women more erotic than men, 
men, 75