§ 2. POWER OF THE GENITAL ORGANS CONSIDERED IN A STATE OF EXCITEMENT.
When these organs are in a state of excitement, they present a greater degree of excitement than at any of the phases of the state of repose, not even excepting that of puberty. We may say that they have passed from the chronic to the acute state. They not only become the seat of a vivid and special sense, but they also present a kind of turgescence of erethism, and I will say of very remarkable inflammation. They swell, become firm and redder, hotter, and moister: their sensibility becomes extreme. Their power ought certainly to be increased in proportion to the distance between this state and the one of repose. This excitement however is so transient, and the functions on which it reacts are so mysterious, that a great part of its immediate influence cannot be estimated. For in order to mark the action of the genital organs on the mode of existence on the action of the different tissues we must compare individuals to individuals, that is a whole life with a whole life, or at least we must compare two long portions of the same life. On this point the study of the state of repose, of that state which is incomparably the most common, has been useful to us, for we have arrived at facts, by considering their remote consequences, which at the moment of their production, constantly escape. The state of excitement however does not manifest itself solely by the sensations which attend it. Different signs show that the rest of the economy feels that the power of the genital organs is increased.
In fact when this state is well marked, the heat of the other parts of the body is increased. The eyes are more brilliant: the colour of the complexion is more lively, the pulse is quicker, and the patient experiences a kind of febrile agitation which in satyriasis and nymphomania, that is, in the greater degrees of human venery, presents the characters of a highly marked fever. The secretions also undergo important modifications, which are but slightly marked in man, but are easily recognised in a great number of animals, who exhale during the period of heat, a strong and most generally a disagreeable odour. The function of nutrition also suffers from this state: thus if it appears too frequently, or is continued too long, the embonpoint disappears, the flesh becomes dry, and the body exhibits that leanness which is seen so frequently in those who are extremely salacious. But, I repeat, a great part of the influence exercised upon the nutritive functions by the genital organs when in a state of excitement would be overlooked, if only the phenomena mentioned were taken into account. In fact these phenomena are only those which fall directly under the notice of the senses, and we believe that their number and proportions would increase infinitely, if the observer could directly inspect the tissues closely.
But the most striking fact in the state of excitement is the development of a special sense, the venereal sense. This fact characterizes this state and it effaces the others to such an extent that it seems to form it alone. We shall not attempt to describe the genital sense: a sense cannot be described. We may however ask what is required? Even as hunger impels to eat and thirst to drink, this sense impels to the act of venery. It is the bond which brings the two sexes toward each other, which unites them and which makes, in the words of the disciples of a new belief, a perfect individual of the male and female. This sense may be only feebly excited, and then may have only a moderate degree of power. But when it is exalted, the chain with which it binds the free will is of incalculable power. The male dreams of the female: the latter of the male. One of the opposite sex is continually present to the mind and eyes and imagination. Individuals and forms which at other times appear by no means remarkable, now seem perfect and excite transports of admiration. Riches and honors are no longer esteemed, and even life itself is considered as not worth possessing. All necessities have disappeared before one only. Hunger and thirst are no longer felt. In fact it is a state of delirium. All the senses are concentrated in one: it commands them and receives from them, like a blind master, all the illusions which they present to it: and then fatigued by this violent state and exhausted by its excess, even when not satisfied, it is as it were extinguished. Such is the power of the genital organs, those organs which are abused by the onanist. Who then can question the physical evils with which its abuse may be attended.
§ 3. POWER OF THE GENITAL ORGANS CONSIDERED IN A STATE OF ACTION.
If the individual either by legitimate modes or otherwise, wishes to satisfy his desires, the state of excitement becomes changed to one of action, and the genital organs then arrive at their greatest degree of power. All parts of the genital system are interested, and combine their actions: the testes prepare the semen: the excretory ducts convey it: the prostrate gland and the muciparous follicles secrete their special humours, and the mucous fluids flow to the sexual parts. The erectile tissue, which forms the whole of the glans, the cavernous bodies, the clitoris, and most of the external and internal labia, the vagina &c., solicits to itself and retains the blood, becomes swelled by as much as it can contain, hardens and enlarges to the utmost of its capacity. At the same time the genital sense passes rapidly through all the degrees of excitement: and finally arrives at that point beyond which it cannot extend: every muscle, every mature fibre in the genital system is then convulsed: the seminal vesicles, the muscles surrounding the urethra and those which are attached to the anus contract with violence, and the semen, the loss of which causes so much exhaustion even when discharged involuntarily, is convulsively expelled.
The scene now changes: the genital apparatus, lately so full of life now becomes flaccid: the scrotum becomes loose and pendent, and a sensation of torpor, of fatigue, of chill follows. The convulsive motions are succeeded by a kind of paralysis, and all attempts at new excitement are vain.
During this tumult and after this crisis, the general state of the patient conforms in every manner to that of the genital system. Thus the face reddens, the neck swells, the veins become filled; the skin is now burning and now moistened with sweat, the heart beats with rapidity; in fact there is a state of fever, which almost justifies us in placing the act of venery among diseases. At the same time the nervous centres, the cerebrum, the cerebellum, the spinal marrow, experience a very powerful impression. As the state progresses, consciousness is lost, and the subject is as it were in a state of delirium. The will is suspended, and the muscles are not controlled by it, but by the nervous centres which are so much irritated. Thus the trunk and limbs are agitated by involuntary motions and chills. This disturbance increases until the crisis arrives, when the convulsion affects the genital system; a fit of epilepsy as it were ensues: the sight becomes dim, the trunk stiffens and the neck is thrown back: and finally this state might be regarded as a violent access of disease if the beginning and end of it were not known.
Now however the individual is changed: his face has lost its color, his limbs are stiff, without motion and as it were paralyzed: the head is painful,