Manhood Perfectly Restored | Page 8

is the most common, which
corresponds to the _+melancholia+ of +Pinel+, or the +lypemania+ of
+Esquirol+, terminating in +dementia+._ Several of the most
characteristic cases which have happened under my observation
correspond to the _+delusional insanity+ of +Bucknill and
Tuke+_."--[Manual of Psychological Medicine, Phila. ed., p. 103.]
INSANITY FROM SPERMATORRHOEA.
Many writers are disposed to underrate the importance of this tendency
in spermatorrhoea. The statistics of any of our large insane asylums
will illustrate the influence of masturbation in the production of
insanity. Mr. Holmes Coote, in a discussion which followed Dr.
Drysdale's paper on the "Medical Aspects of Prostitution," read before
the Harveian Society of London, remarked that "he still entertained the
opinion that there were no worse evils appertaining to human weakness
than this. He had opportunities of witnessing the fact that among the
young there was no cause of insanity more common than indulging in
habits which he would not further particularize, but which were known
to result in the most complete bodily and mental prostration."--[British
Medical Journal, Feb. 17, 1866.]
Dr. John P. Gray, the distinguished Superintendent of the State Asylum
at Utica, New York (Twenty-Fourth Annual Report, 1867), thus speaks
of the +influence of masturbation+ in the production of +insanity+:
"The records of this institution show five hundred and twenty-one cases

admitted directly attributable to this vice, and I am well convinced that
the number is greatly understated."
We might add confirmatory testimony from a variety of sources, but
the foregoing is sufficient for our purpose.
IMPORTANT.--_Peculiar, numb, dead, aching, or tingling sensations
in the hands, arms, legs or feet, and headache and specks before the
eyes on stooping or reading; also sleeplessness, too sound sleep, and
apprehensive dreams should be watched for, and the moment they
appear danger from Paralysis or Insanity is to be apprehended and
proper treatment at once taken. These symptoms may mean nothing in
some cases, but they are terrible harbingers of ill in others._
A CASE OF INSANITY FROM SELF-ABUSE.--(Fig. 4.)
The following case, taken verbatim from the Care Book of the Insane
Asylum at Blackwell's Island, will serve as a type of the many to be
found in every hospital for the insane in this country. (_And a terrible
and noteworthy fact is, that according to the recent annual reports of
these institutions, both in this country and Europe, insanity, idiocy and
dementia from Seminal Losses and Sexual Abuses, are increasing from
year to year._)
{Illustration: Fig. 4. Appearance of James McC----, a few weeks before
he died. (See below.)}
"James McC----, admitted to the Asylum ten days ago. Single, clerk,
born in N.Y. State. Was found on 6th Avenue surrounded by a crowd
who were attracted by his violent and frantic efforts to destroy
everything within his reach. On being arrested and taken to the 29th
Precinct Station House, he was recognized by the Sergeant on duty at
the desk as having been arrested twice before within a week--once for
violent shouting and disturbance in the street, and once for an attempt
at suicide by drowning. As he had attempted his life by hanging the last
time he was locked up, and had afterwards seriously injured himself by
trying to dash his brains out, he was adjudged insane, and a watch set
on him all night. In the morning, when taken before the magistrate, he

was violent and abusive, using the most frightfully obscene and profane
language. There he was held for examination and sent to Bellevue in a
"straight-jacket," which was found to be necessary in order to control
him. From the padded cell there he was sent here.
"Upon examination he is found to be suffering from acute mania,
alternating with periods of intense melancholia in which he invariably
attempts to take his own life. His language when excited exceeds in
obscenity anything ever heard. During the intervals of quiet he is
constantly practicing the vile habit which has undoubtedly been the
cause of his insanity. He has lost all sense of shame and continues to
practice before visitors, attendants and physicians. He makes no effort
to go to the water-closet, and his clothes and cell are in a filthy and
disgusting state. Ever since admission he has refused all food, and it
has been necessary to feed him with a stomach pump. He is losing flesh
and strength every day, and is fast wasting away.
"From his relatives who have twice called to see him it was learned that
his mental trouble came on very suddenly, although his memory and
faculties have been failing for some time past. They say that he
complained of sleeplessness, numbness and tingling sensations in the
arms and legs, headache, and a peculiar itching of the skin, for months
before any distinct symptoms of insanity appeared. They attribute it all
to