ONAN ESCHEWED - Rick Grunder

horror, it was difficult to believe that he had once belonged to the human race.
. . . He died after several weeks, in June 1757, his entire body covered in edemas
(Stengers & Van Neck, 2001, 65-6, 74).
The troubles experienced by women are just as explicable as those experienced
by men. The humor they lose being less precious, less perfected than male sperm,
its loss does not perhaps weaken them as quickly; but when they indulge
excessively, their nervous system being weaker and naturally more inclined to
spasm, the troubles are more violent (Stengers & Van Neck, 2001, 70).
Tissot claimed also that the self-loathing experienced by masturbators would
often lead to suicide (Stengers & Van Neck, 2001, 116).
Tissot's work was widely read and generally accepted. Originally written in
French, it was translated into several languages, including English, and went
through 80 editions (Phipps, 1977, 185). In these editions, Tissot claimed that the
ills resulting from masturbation included poor eyesight, epilepsy, memory loss,
pulmonary tuberculosis, rounded shoulders, weakened backs, paleness, acne,
gonorrhea, and syphilis (Michael, et al., 1994, 160; Rowan, 2000, 115).
________________________________________________________________________
106 TODD, John. THE STUDENT'S MANUAL: Designed, by Specific Directions, to
Aid in Forming and Strengthening the Intellectual and Moral Character and Habits of
the Student. By Rev. John Todd, Pastor of the Edwards Church, Northampton, Author
of Lectures to Children, &c. Northampton: Published by J. H. Butler. Boston . . .
New-York . . . Philadelphia . . . Buffalo . . . , 1835.
17½ cm. 392, 8 (ads) pp. Original blue floral cloth; gilt-decorated spine. A very
good, attractive copy. Nice inscription on front pastedown, "From the Library of
Rev. John W. James, bought & presented to his sister E.– by her very
aff[ectionate] H. P. Jr. [?], Oct. 20, 1896 . . ." $450
FIRST EDITION of many, and apparently scarce. OCLC locates seven copies.
Careful examination of multiple records on OCLC suggests at least nine
differently-numbered editions in 1835 alone (with this same imprint and
pagination), plus another in New York, plus a stated tenth edition of the same
year in London. These were followed by more editions nearly every year, both
in America and England, until the Civil War and frequently afterward until 1913
or beyond, and an apparent recent translation into Japanese (Tokyo, 2004). The
earliest example I find for sale online (October 19, 2010) is a badly worn exlibrary
copy of the third edition for $75.
THE EARLIEST UNAMBIGUOUS DISCUSSION of masturbation that I have found
in an American publication. It appears on pages 147-49 of this standard, oft-
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