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DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE SYSTEM. 407
it is said, will break through stone walls. Not less
fierce are the struggles of lust, when its fires are kin
dled by passional starvation. Continence, in the season
of vigor and passion, is a terrible discordance. All
male animals especially suffer from it. It is said to be
the cause of canine hydrophobia. The law of every
faculty is proper, natural, harmonious exercise. The
motto of every organ should be that which is sometimes
printed on the ace of spades, in a pack of cards, "
use,
out don't abuse me."
The symptoms of this disease are an excessive and
perpetual desire for sexual intercourse ; a mind filled
with lascivious ideas, and excited to frenzy by every
voluptuous image ; a real monomania, in which one
idea fills the whole horizon to the exclusion of all
others. There is no longer any discrimination of
beauty, or fitness, or attraction ; to the diseased man
every female, and even a female animal, is an object
of desire. Black or white, old or young, beautiful or
ugly, it makes no difference. Under the influence of
this disease men have committed rapes on little chil
dren and aged women. It is a frequent
incest.
cause of
When women or girls are affected with nympho
mania, or furor uterinus, there are similar and even
more striking
manifestations. There is often a mild
attack at the age of puberty, when girls
have such a
"
desire for the other sex, that, as one said, every man
looks like an angel." They invite familiarity, and seek
personal contact under every pretext. Plays and rompings
are often accompanied with these manifestations.
Their embraces are full of warmth—their kisses humid