There are troublesome sensations, as of itching and crawling, in and about the scrotum. Subsequently, there is obstinate constipation, and all the symptoms of dyspepsia follow. Gradually the pallor deepens, the patient becomes emaciated. There is a shortness of breath, palpitation after even moderate exercise, trembling of the knees, and eruptions on the skin. There may also be cough, hoarseness, stitch in the side, loss of voice. The sleep is not refreshing, the patient has frequent nightmare, or the dreams are lascivious, and the involuntary emissions of semen become more frequent. The weakness increasing, the sufferer experiences a weakness in his legs and staggers like a drunken man, his hands tremble and he stammers.

Illustration: Fig. 3. Microscopic appearance of healthy semen.
Fig. 3. Microscopic appearance of healthy semen.

Illustration: Fig. 4. Microscopic appearance of semen which will not fecundate.
Fig. 4. Microscopic appearance of semen which will not fecundate.

The victim is unable to concentrate his thoughts, cannot remember what he reads, and is mentally indolent. He begins to be suspicious of his friends, has less confidence in others, and desires to be alone, is despondent and has suicidal thoughts. He has pain in the back, does not like to walk, and is inclined to lie down. The semen is prematurely discharged upon attempting coition, and if there be offspring, it is apt to be feeble or subject to scrofula, consumption, or convulsions. The genital organs, especially the penis and testicles, diminish in size, as the disease progresses, lose their energy, and the glands of the penis become cold and flaccid. There is frequent desire to urinate, chronic irritation in the neck of the bladder, and pain in the spermatic cord and testicle, and sometimes in the end of the penis. The microscope shows that semen involuntarily discharged may be devoid of spermatozoa, or if present, they are defective, their heads being without tails. The urine is loaded with mucus or bears up a filmy, membranous, transparent matter, or it may be covered with a thin fluid having an oily appearance, but in rare cases is clear. Again, it may hold substances in solution, which are deposited in crystals or incrust the urine, or it may precipitate a material having the appearance of brick-dust, and sometimes semen tinged with blood. The dyspeptic symptoms when present are followed by diarrhea. The limbs are cramped and rigid, the feet bloated, and the patient becomes melancholy and relinquishes all hope of recovery. As the disease progresses, the patient lacks firmness and is absent-minded.

When the erections are imperfect and the semen is prematurely discharged, or when a lengthy coition is required before the sperm can be ejected, it is evident that the patient is rapidly becoming impotent; the virile powers are vanishing and manhood is surrendering sway to a merciless foe. We frequently witness this condition in men, even at the age of thirty-five, when the summit of vigor and strength should only have been reached. How often are we solicited to restore these lost hopes and powers! To what tales of ignorance and recklessness, or submission and remorse, do we repeatedly listen from these unfortunate sufferers! In patients of this class, sexual intercourse prevents spontaneous emissions, but it does not remove the functional and organic derangements of the nerve-centres; hence, at a time when the victims of this disease should be in the prime of life, they are impotent, and epilepsy, apoplexy, paralysis, softening of the brain, or insanity, frequently results.

Epilepsy (OR FITS). This dread disease is one of the most common and serious complications of the more advanced stages of spermatorrhea. The injury done to the nerve-centres by the practice of masturbation is manifested in epileptic convulsions, more or less frequent. If proper treatment be early adopted, and faithfully pursued, the case is not yet hopeless; though, in the majority of cases, the patient never recovers after the disease assumes this phase.

Paralysis. Paralysis, or Palsy, when occurring as a complication of spermatorrhea, may be preceded by an attack of apoplexy, in which the patient loses consciousness, and lays in a condition of profound stupor for a time, and on recovery from his unconscious state, finds himself unable to use one or more of his limbs, or the disability and loss of power, which may also be accompanied by more or less loss of sensation, may come on gradually, without any premonition or marked manifestation of its approach. In either case, its appearance is to be regarded as a matter of serious importance. Paralysis, when occurring as a consequence of masturbation or sexual excesses, is usually difficult of cure; yet, now and then, cases are cured at our Institutions even after this grave malady has appeared as a complication.

Softening of the Brain. This malady, although less common as a result of masturbation than the complications mentioned in the preceding paragraphs, is of sufficiently frequent occurrence to entitle it to a passing notice here. This condition usually results ultimately in complete dementia, or loss of reason. It is an incurable disease.Insanity. This deplorable malady is not a very uncommon result of masturbation and its various resultant morbid conditions, as the records of the many institutions for the unfortunate class of sufferers from this disease bear abundant witness. Sometimes it manifests itself in the milder forms of hallucination, or monomania, but in the majority of cases, the patient sinks into a despondent hypochondria, which is many times followed, sooner or later, by a raving mania.

In cases of monomania resulting from masturbation, the mental derangement is often so slight as to escape detection by the patient's friends, the peculiar freaks of disposition being regarded rather as eccentricities of character than as symptoms of serious disease. Fits of despondency are usually common with such sufferers. The mental derangement is not always accompanied or preceded by spermatorrhea or frequent seminal emissions, the injury done to the nervous system by the practice of self-abuse, or sexual excesses, being first noticeable in various phantasms or imaginings on the part of the patient. These are, in different cases, so various, both in character and degree, as not to admit of any classification, each case presenting phases peculiar to itself. In many cases, the patient imagines that his best friends are conspiring to injure him, or that some great calamity is about to befall him. In most cases there is danger of the patient's committing suicide, if not closely watched. Especially is this true of those who suffer from fits of hypochondria.

Except in its milder forms, insanity resulting from masturbation and sexual excesses, is rarely curable.

Don't be Alarmed. A nocturnal seminal emission now and then, or at long intervals is not, in and of itself, evidence of the existence of spermatorrhea or other serious disease. A full blooded, strong, passionate man, in vigorous health, and who has never abused himself, may now and then, at long intervals, if his sexual passions be not gratified naturally, or if he permit his mind to run much upon lascivious subjects, experience an emission while asleep and dreaming. As to whether such occurrences are evidence of disease or not, in any given case, depends upon their frequency, and as to whether they are the result of a weakness of the organs and are followed by more or less depression and debility, or are merely the overflow of a robust system, or the outburst of restrained, pent-up, and ungratified passions. In the latter case, and when only occurring at long intervals, the emissions are not followed by any perceptible enervating or weakening effects.

Quackery Rampant. This country is flooded with cheap circulars and pamphlets, circulated openly and broadcast, wherein ignorant, pretentious, blatant quacks endeavor to frighten young men who may never have practiced self-abuse, or been guilty of excesses in any way, and yet who experience, now and then at long intervals, nocturnal seminal emissions. In such cases, it is the duty of the conscientious, honest, and sympathetic practitioner of the healing art to give assurance, and not to unnecessarily alarm those who experience nothing inconsistent with a state of fairly good health. To frighten such young men into believing themselves diseased, when in reality they experience nothing but what may occasionally occur in the experiences of any robust, healthy man, is the most detestable, downright quackery.

Treating the Wrong Disease. Not only are many men subjected to useless treatment by general practitioners who overlook the real disease, caused by pernicious youthful habits pursued in solitude, or later excesses in venery, but the female sex are also quite as often subjected to treatment for diseases which do not exist, the real trouble being nervous debility and other weaknesses that have resulted from the youthful pernicious practices common to both sexes, or later excesses in marital pleasures.

Moral Considerations. Masturbation is a habit which tyrannizes over the mind, perverts the imagination, and forces upon the victim venereal desires, even while he is forming the strongest resolutions to reform. It constrains into its service the higher faculties, such as friendship, confidence, love, reason, and imagination, to make its ideal graceful and beautiful.

Sensual Lust. The fancy creates an attractive partner, possessed of girlish beauty, a perfect type of goodness, blended with sexuality, and whom the subject worships with all the ardor of passion. Around this beau ideal all his affections are clustered; to her the purest of his blood is offered in sacrifice, and it is no wonder that female associates seem tame and unattractive when such imaginary and consummate divinity is courted. In the sensual delirium is conceived an elysium of carnal bliss, where half-nude nymphs display their charms and invite to sensual enjoyments. Thus we see how this habit makes the spiritual faculties subservient to morbid passion, and by what means elevating influences are prostituted to vulgar and base-born creations.

Symptoms Vary in Different Cases. We can only partially delineate the terrible effects resulting from the abuse of the sexual organs. The symptoms are multitudinous, but, as we have before stated, no two persons are similarly influenced by this disease. The symptoms will vary according to the severity of the affection, the age of the patient, and his constitutional peculiarities. The presence of only a few of the symptoms which we have enumerated is evidence of abnormal weakness, which demands treatment.

Montaigne says: "We must see and get acquainted with our sins if we expect to correct them." Virtue presupposes trials just as much as victory implies warfare. The triumph of virtue is to defeat morbid or excessive passion, for virtue is only realized when it is a conquering force. Innocence is passive but virtue is an active quality, purified in the fiery furnace of temptation. As men have in all ages been influenced by passions, so temptation has ever found its victims. It is an obligation that one owes to himself to overcome every evil passion or weakness to which he is subject, and the discharge of this personal duty requires moral courage.

The Reward of Virtue. Our Saviour invited all erring mortals to enter upon a higher life when He said, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The invitation is accompanied with a promise. To all who are weary of excess and bowed down by passion, rest and restoration are promised, if they will but reform and employ proper means to that end.

The Sufferers Must Reform. Just as there is no spiritual restoration without obeying the Saviour, so there can be no physical restoration unless we fulfill nature's imposed conditions. There can be no salvation unless sin be discarded, and so there can be no redemption from the bad effects of a practice, so long as it is continued. It is no easy task to master a despotic passion. Appetite is often stronger than the will. The treatment must begin with moral reformation. Every manly impulse, and all the higher qualities of the patient's nature, must be enlisted in the struggle for virtue and health.

If the passions are restrained, then the capital of health increases, for the saving of the vital secretions is equal to compound interest. This illustrates the truth of the Latin proverb: "No gain is so certain as that which proceeds from the economical use of what you have"! The patient actually acquires confidence and manly courage by the retention of the seminal fluid, which directly increases his virile powers.

Hygienic Advice to Patients. Daily physical exercise and regular habits must be established. It is important that the mind, as well as the physical powers, be directed into active and wholesome channels. There must be restraint and discipline. It is useless to begin medical treatment while the patient continues to read exciting, amorous stories and obscene books, which are suggestive of lewd thoughts. Something practical ought to occupy the thoughts and engage the hands.

Regular and vigorous physical exercise is necessary to assist the circulation of the blood, and compel its determination into the minute and extreme parts of the vascular system. When the blood is thus directed, nutrition is more vigorous and the activity of all the functions is augmented.

Not only should there be regularity in eating, but sound discretion should be exercised in selecting a plain, wholesome diet, consisting of such articles of food as best favor a daily and free evacuation of the bowels. Avoid the use of those articles of food which produce excessive acidity of the stomach. Hearty or late suppers are not allowable. The patient should use no alcoholic beverages, and should abstain from such stimulants as tea, coffee, beer, wine, and tobacco. We cannot even recommend their moderate use, for total abstinence is the better plan.

The patient should sleep in a well-ventilated room, on a hard bed, and have only sufficient covering for warmth and comfort. He should not lie upon the back, because in this position nightly emissions are more likely to occur. The patient should go to bed when he feels sleepy, and not resist the inclination until wakefulness is induced.

He should rise early in the morning and immediately take a cold hand bath. For this purpose a quart or two of water and a common hand towel only are required. After bathing, rub the surface of the body with the dry hand or a crash towel, and continue the friction until the skin is red and a reaction is established. Do not excuse yourself from following these hygienic suggestions. A refreshing bath changes the morbid sensibilities to a more healthful state by the reaction of the nervous system.

It is beneficial to apply a towel saturated with cold water to the genital organs fifteen minutes before leaving the bed. Douching, or showering the genital organs with cold water once or twice a day will also be beneficial. It should not be practiced, however, just before going to bed. It is well to bathe the head with cold water, and this can be done much better if the hair be kept closely cut.

Horseback riding, climbing, and all exercises which rub, chafe, or excite the genital organs, should be avoided. Even the clothing should be loose, so that walking will not produce friction or cause any excitement of these organs. The calls of nature should receive prompt attention, and the urine be voided at any time (especially during the night) when there is an inclination. If there be irritation of the bladder and lower bowels, the patient will receive decided benefit from the daily use of an injection of cold water into the bowels. From a half pint to a pint of cold water may be used at one time, and the injection should be retained for a few minutes before going to bed. The bowels will thus be relieved, the heat and irritation subdued, and the liability to seminal emissions lessened.

Patients afflicted with spermatorrhea should not allow their thoughts to dwell upon their ailments, for they are apt to become moody, self-deceived, and even insane upon this subject. To avoid this, harmless amusements should be indulged in, and good moral company cultivated. They become suspicious, skeptical, and believe that they are victims of imposture. When they lose self-reliance, their faith and trust in others begins to waver, especially if their health does not improve so rapidly as they had anticipated: As much depends upon the faithful observance of the hygienic rules as upon the constant and proper use of medicines. The rapidity of recovery depends upon the constitutional energies and the vigor of the vital resources. If the blood be greatly impoverished, or the nervous system much impaired, recovery will be necessarily slow. Time, patience, and perseverance, are just as essential to a recovery from the effects of these abuses as the best medical treatment that can be employed.

The Medical Treatment of Spermatorrhea and Impotency. Few diseases require so many modifications of treatment, to suit the peculiarities of individual cases as spermatorrhea, because it is attended with so many complications and morbid functional and structural changes. Every complication must be considered, and great judgment exercised in the selection of remedies. As this selection must depend upon the peculiarities of the case involved, it is impossible to impart to the non-professional readers sufficient medical knowledge to enable them to choose the appropriate remedies for these intricate disorders. Hence it would be useless to specify the various medicines which our specialists employ in treating them. It would only lead to many fruitless experiments, which might result in great harm to the afflicted. For remedies powerful enough to effect cures of spermatorrhea and impotency are capable, when improperly employed, of doing great harm. Especially should all ready-made, proprietary or put-up medicines, such as are sold in drug stores and chemists' shops, be avoided, for reasons already mentioned. Great harm, also, often results from the employment of "galvanic belts," "galvanic batteries and pads," and other catch-penny devices, with which the too confiding are not only duped and swindled, but terribly injured. They are all worse than useless, and often render the mildest case very difficult to cure by inducing serious complications. It is better to take no medical treatment, but rely solely on the hygienic advice we have given, rather than to resort to any of the so-called "specifics" found in the drug shops, or to any such silly, good-for-nothing trash as the various "Pastilles," "Boluses," "Curative Rings," "Voltaic Belts," or other quackish medicines and contrivances.

Importance of Hygienic Discipline. The invalid should restrict his attention to hygiene, and learn that patient endurance and heroic perseverance are necessary, even when taking the most efficient remedies. His entire system having gradually become deranged, corrective medicines must necessarily be chronic in their operations; in other words, they must act insensibly, slowly, and progressively. Some of the symptoms of sexual weakness will, under proper hygienic and medical treatment, generally begin to disappear within a month. If the nervous system be very much impaired, however, a longer time will elapse before the restorative effects of treatment will be observed. Neither the physician nor the patient should expect that a broken-down constitution can be immediately repaired. The day of miracles is past. The most rational method of treating the sick promises nothing supernatural, nothing which is not in accordance with science. Diseases of this character are always slow in their inception, or development and progress, and must be cured in like manner, step by step. Nature never hurries; atom by atom, little by little, she achieves her work.

Our Improved Treatment. Tears ago our specialists resolved to pay particular attention to the investigation and treatment of these diseases, which are not only alarmingly prevalent, but sadly neglected and mistreated by the general practitioner of medicine.

Unfailing Remedies. Having successfully treated many thousands of cases, we can safely say of our remedies that they are very positive in their remedial effects. The great success which has attended the employment of these remedies has led us to rely upon them with implicit faith. By their persistent use, spermatorrhea and threatened impotency can be cured as readily as other chronic or lingering diseases. We particularly solicit those cases which have heretofore been regarded as incurable. The patient is subjected to no surgical operation, and he can safely and accurately follow the directions given, while the treatment does not interfere with any ordinary occupation in which he may be engaged. These delicate diseases should not be intrusted to physicians who advertise under fictitious names, or to those of ordinary qualifications. The general practitioner may be thoroughly read in these diseases, but he cannot acquire the skill of a specialist who annually treats thousands of cases, while the former seldom, if ever, has occasion to prescribe for them.

Signs of Improvement When Under Treatment. Under our peculiar and improved system of treatment, gradual improvement in the patient's condition will be manifested. The eye becomes more brilliant and sparkling, the patient is less morose, his digestion improves, he is less listless and despondent, takes more interest in business and other affairs, his sleep is less disturbed and more refreshing, the strength improves, and, if the sexual organs had become wasted in size, weak in function, and flaccid and soft, they begin, by and by, to have more tone and firmness, and to develope and increase in size, as their nutrition is restored, by the checking of the exhausting drain which they have sustained. If nocturnal emissions occur occasionally, the discharge will, under the microscope, be found to be less watery, and to contain increased numbers of spermatozoa, with heads and filaments perfect. The patient now begins to gain in self-confidence, courage, and other manly attributes, and, instead of the bashful, retiring, nervous, languid hypochondriac, we see a man of ambition and energy, competent to battle with the adversities of life. Who can estimate the value of such a transformation from nervousness and despondency to vigorous manhood? Who would begrudge all their earthly goods and treasures when thus afflicted, to be so restored to health and enjoyment for of what avail are the greatest riches when health and manhood itself are lost?

Our Terms Business-like and Fair. Occasionally persona solicit us to undertake the cure of these ailments, and, in case of failure, receive no compensation. They write: "If you will warrant that your prescriptions will result in a perfect restoration to health, we will gladly pay the fees that you ask." The absurdity of such a request is apparent, and therefore we answer: "We cannot warrant that you will live even for the next twenty-four hours. We do not bet, play for stakes, or wager our skill for money. Personal responsibility cannot be shifted or evaded, and life and health, with all their momentous considerations, are necessarily individual affairs. Therefore a proposal to make the conditions of health a subject of speculation is a challenge to gamble." The patient may not comply with the specified conditions, and the physician's success depends upon a faithful application of the prescribed treatment. For these reasons only a quack will be a party to any such transaction. Ours is not a trading, hazardously speculative profession. Besides, thousands of our patients reside long distances away and we cannot know of their responsibility or honesty, nor spend time inquiring after their financial standing.

Evidences of the Curability of Spermatorrhea and Impotency. Many individuals afflicted with spermatorrhea and impotency, particularly those who have been swindled by some of the many charlatans who are to be found in nearly every city, are incredulous, and doubt our ability to cure these maladies. Others are skeptical, because their physician, who may be a very skillful general practitioner, but who has had very little or no experience in treating these delicate maladies, has failed to relieve them, and, perhaps, has told them the disease is incurable.

We therefore beg the indulgence of our readers for here offering some indisputable evidence of the extraordinary success which we have achieved, by our peculiar methods of treating these affections, as pursued at the World's Dispensary and Invalids' Hotel and Surgical Institute.

This evidence is introduced for the encouragement of an unfortunate class of invalids, for many of whom existence has ceased to possess any charms. The grateful manifestations which we have received from this class of sufferers have afforded us one of the greatest pleasures of our lives, and have alone been a rich remuneration for the diligent study and arduous labors devoted to the investigation of these diseases and to the perfecting of our peculiar and successful methods of treating them.

Sacredly Confidential. In introducing the following extracts from our extensive files of letters, the names of the writers will be omitted, as we regard all such correspondence, as well as facts communicated to us in personal consultations, as sacredly confidential.Lack of space and fear of wearying the reader, prevent us from introducing more than a few extracts; but these are only fair samples of thousands that have been received. Those given, present cases in almost every stage of treatment, some soon after commencing, others further advanced, and still others which are cured. If we could devote the space, and had we time to select them, we could insert an almost unlimited number of those received from patients who have been perfectly cured; but we think the reader will be more interested in expressions coming from patients in all stages of treatment, as they are daily received. Therefore, without regard for literary excellence, we append a number chosen miscellaneously, and given verbatim. They express the sentiments of persons in all stages of life, and illustrate the views and feelings generally entertained by those whom we have been called upon to treat.

The following extracts are spontaneous acknowledgments, and are, therefore, more valuable and truthful than if obtained by solicitation, a practice contrary to our sense of propriety, and, hence, one in which we never indulge. Although ofttimes less expressive of satisfaction and gratitude than if the communication were presented in full, yet only sufficient space can be spared for a brief quotation from each letter.