ONAN ESCHEWED - Rick Grunder

Its Causes, Prevention, and Cure;" "Hydropathy, or Water-Cure;" "Midwifery, and
Diseases of Women," Etc., Etc., Etc. Illustrated with nearly Three Hundred Engravings.
New York: Fowler and Wells, Publishers, 1857 [c. 1854 by Fowlers [sic] and
Wells].
19 cm. [4](half title & 3 pp. of frontispiece illustrations, all printed in reddishbrown),
816, 4 (ads), 4 (ads), 4 (ads) pp. Orig. light green cloth. Binding dull and
shaken with inner hinges weak. Foxing to text. $50
OCLC shows editions in 1854, '55, '56, '57, '74 and '76 (the latter copyright 1871).
Of the 1857 edition offered here, OCLC locates only the copy preserved at the
Virginia Historical Society Library.
BACKGROUND ITEM ONLY. Classic water-cure manual with interesting diagrams
of various forms of baths in the preliminary pages. Under "Night-pollution—
Seminal Emissions," the author offers this warning against the sort of medical
opportunists whose works we have observed throughout this catalog:
The country is flooded with vile books, spawned by villainous quacks, who set
forth the effects of night-pollution in the most extravagant manner, with the view
of frightening the unwary, that they may cheat them out of a large fee. Not long
since a single gentleman called to consult me in this city for a weakness in his
private member, and who told me that a certain Broadway doctor had induced
him to pay several hundred dollars, for which he promised a perfect cure. . . . I
think doctors would have but little to do with such thankless cases if it were not
for the good round fee. A doctor who understands his business does not look at
a man's private part, sniveled and used up as it is in these cases generally,
without being well paid for it, and that too on the spot. These "old stagers" are
not to be trusted . . . [pp. 259-60]
94 SIEGMEISTER, Walter. REJUVENATION. THE SECRET OF YOUTH. By
Dr. Walter Siegmeister (A.B., Columbia University, M.A., Ph.D., New York
University). Part II, The Physiological Value of Continence . . . Jacksonville Beach,
Florida: School of Human Regeneration, Copyright 1946.
21½ cm. Paged 83-162, apparently complete as issued. Orig. printed green
wrappers, worn around all edges; text very good. $35
Probably quite scarce. Not on OCLC, which shows an open entry for the
presumed same work in parts, produced in Lorida, Florida 1945– by New Age
Publications. The pamphlet offered here contains two chapters from the larger
work with running title, "Rejuvenation." However, "The Physiological Value of
Continence" is the first portion, comprising "Chapter Four" (pp. 83-114). This is
followed by Chapter Five, "A Biochemical Theory of Neuroses and Psychoses,"
100