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198 ESOTERIC ANTHROPOLOGY.
and during the period of nursing, carefully permit the
intercourse of their husbands, whom they love, but do
not allow themselves to be excited, using the restraint
of a strong will. There are thousands of women, how
ever, who never experience the ecstasy of a sexual or
gasm. There are others in whom it can only be excited
with great difficulty, and by various artifices. The
more spontaneous the feeling, the less exhausting ; the
more difficult to excite, the more it tasks the vital ener
gies. Men are naturally desirous that their partners
should experience pleasure, as it adds to their own. To
effect this, they resort to manipulations of the clitoris,
with their fingers, etc., and to various novel, and, to a
certain extent, unnatural methods and positions. Out
of these grow terrible mischiefs, especially to women.
Many of the worst cases of ovarian and uterine dis
of artificial
ease are caused by the forced pleasures
excitement.
EFFECTS OF FOOD AND STIMULANTS.
"
Oysters and eggs," says Byron, " are amatory
food." This is true, also, of fish, flesh, and fowl. It is
also true of many vegetable substances. Salt and phos
and all
phorus in food are excitants. Pepper, spices,
stimulating condiments, provoke to venery. Coffee
stimulates the nervous system, and the stimulation is
apt to take this direction. Wine and ardent spirits, in
small quantities, do the same ; but taken to excess, they
produce the opposite effect. Carbonate of soda, ad
ministered for several successive days, in small doses, is
said to be used successfully in English prisons, to sub
due the desire for masturbation. A full diet provokes