The facts presented in the foregoing quotations from Dr. Dalton may be summarized as follows:--
1. The s.e.xual function is for the purpose of producing new individuals to take the place of those who die, and thus preserve the species from becoming extinct.
2. In the animal kingdom generally, the reproductive function is _necessarily_ a periodical act, dependent upon the development of the reproductive organs of both the male and the female at stated periods.
3. In those exceptional cases in which the organs of the male are in a state of constant development, s.e.xual congress occurs, in lower animals, only at those periods when the periodical development occurs in the female.
4. Fecundation of the female element can only take place about the time of periodical development in the female.
5. The desire for s.e.xual congress naturally exists in the female only at or immediately after the time of periodical development.
6. The constant development of the s.e.xual organs in human males is a condition common to all animals in which development occurs in the female at short intervals, and is a provision of nature to secure a fruitful union when the female is in readiness, but not an indication for constant or frequent use.
7. The time of s.e.xual congress is always determined by the condition and desires of the female.
An additional fact, as stated by physiologists, is that, under normal conditions, the human female experiences s.e.xual desire immediately after menstruation more than at any other time. It has, indeed, been claimed that at this period only does she experience the true s.e.xual instinct unless it is abnormally excited by disease or otherwise.
From these facts the following conclusions must evidently be drawn:--
1. The fact that in all animals but the human species the act can be performed only when reproduction is possible, proves that in the animal kingdom in general the sole object of the function is reproduction.
Whether man is an exception, must be determined from other considerations.
2. The fact that the males of other animals besides man in which the s.e.xual organs are in a state of constant development do not exercise those organs except for the purpose of reproduction, is proof of the position that the constant development in man is not a warrant for their constant use.
3. The general law that the reproductive act is performed only when desired by the female, is sufficient ground for supposing that such should be the case with the human species also.
The opinions of writers of note are given in the following quotations:--
"The approach of the s.e.xes is, in its purest condition, the result of a natural instinct, the end of which is the reproduction of the species.
Still, however, we are far from saying that this ultimate result is, in any proportion of cases, the actual thought in the minds of the parties engaged."
"The very lively solicitations which spring from the genital sense, have no other end than to insure the perpetuity of the race."[12]
[Footnote 12: Dr. Gardner.]
"Observation fully confirms the views of inductive philosophy; for it proves to us that coitus, exercised otherwise than under the inspirations of honest instinct, is a cause of disease in both s.e.xes, and of danger to the social order."[13]
[Footnote 13: Mayer.]
"It is incredible that the act of bringing men into life, that act of humanity, without contradiction of the most importance, should be the one of which there should have been the least supposed necessity for regulation, or which has been regulated the least beneficially."[14]
[Footnote 14: Dunoyer.]
"But it may be said that the demands of nature are, in the married state, not only legal, but should be physically right. So they are, when our physical life is right; but it must not be forgotten that few live in a truly physical rect.i.tude."[15]
[Footnote 15: Gardner.]
"Among cattle, the s.e.xes meet by common instinct and common will; it is reserved for the human animal to treat the female as a mere victim to his l.u.s.t."[16]
[Footnote 16: Quarterly Review.]
"He is an ill husband that _uses his wife as a man treats a harlot_, having no other end but pleasure. Concerning which our best rule is, that although in this, as in eating and drinking, there is an appet.i.te to be satisfied, which cannot be done without pleasing that desire, yet since that desire and satisfaction were intended by nature for other ends, they should never be separated from those ends."
"It is a sad truth that many married persons, thinking that the flood-gates of liberty are set wide open, without measures or restraints (so they sail in the channel), have felt the final rewards of intemperance and l.u.s.t by their unlawful using of lawful permissions.
Only let each of them be temperate, and both of them modest."[17]
[Footnote 17: Jeremy Taylor.]
Says another writer very emphatically, "It is a common belief that a man and woman, because they are legally united in marriage, are privileged to the unbridled exercises of amativeness. This is wrong.
Nature, in the exercise of her laws, recognizes no human enactments, and is as prompt to punish any infringement of her laws in those who are legally married, as in those out of the bonds. Excessive indulgence between the married produces as great and lasting evil effects as in the single man or woman, and is nothing more or less than legalized prost.i.tution."
Results of Excesses.--The sad results of excessive indulgences are seen on every hand. Numerous ailments attributed to overwork, const.i.tutional disease, or hereditary predisposition, know no other cause and need no other explanation.
_Effects upon Husbands_.--No doubt the princ.i.p.al blame in this matter properly falls upon the husband; but it cannot be said that he is the greatest sufferer; however, his punishment is severe enough to clearly indicate the enormity of the transgression, and to warn him to a reformation of his habits. The following is a quotation from an eminent medical authority:--
"But any warning against s.e.xual dangers would be very incomplete if it did not extend to the excesses so often committed by married persons in ignorance of their ill effects. Too frequent emissions of the life-giving fluid, and too frequent excitement of the nervous system are, as we have seen, in themselves most destructive. The result is the same within the marriage bond as without it. The married man who thinks that because he is a married man he can commit no excess, however often the act of s.e.xual congress is repeated, will suffer as certainly and as seriously as the unmarried debauchee who acts on the same principle in his indulgences--perhaps more certainly from his very ignorance, and from his not taking those precautions and following those rules which a career of vice is apt to teach the sensualist. Many a man has, until his marriage, lived a most continent life; so has his wife. As soon as they are wedded, intercourse is indulged in night after night, neither party having any idea that these repeated s.e.xual acts are excesses which the system of neither can bear, and which to the man, at least, are absolute ruin. The practice is continued till health is impaired, sometimes permanently, and when a patient is at last obliged to seek medical advice, he is thunderstruck at learning that his sufferings arise from excesses unwittingly committed. Married people often appear to think that connection may be repeated as regularly and almost as often as their meals. Till they are told of the danger, the idea never enters their heads that they are guilty of great and almost criminal excess; nor is this to be wondered at, since the possibility of such a cause of disease is seldom hinted at by the medical man they consult."
"Some go so far as to believe that indulgence may increase these powers, just as gymnastic exercises augment the force of the muscles. This is a popular error; and requires correction. Such patients should be told that the shock on the system each time connection is indulged in, is very powerful, and that the expenditure of seminal fluid must be particularly injurious to organs previously debilitated. It is by this and similar excesses that premature old age and complaints of the generative organs are brought on."
"The length to which married people carry excesses is perfectly astonishing."
"Since my attention has been particularly called to this cla.s.s of ailments, I feel confident that many of the forms of indigestion, general ill health, hypochondriasis, etc., so often met with in adults, depend upon s.e.xual excesses.... That this cause of illness is not more generally acknowledged and acted on, arises from the natural delicacy which medical men must feel in putting such questions to their patients as are necessary to elicit the facts."
"It is not the body alone which suffers from excesses committed in married life. Experience every day convinces me that much of the languor of mind, confusion of ideas, and inability to control the thoughts, of which some married men complain, arise from this cause."[18]
[Footnote 18: Acton.]
The debilitating effects of excessive s.e.xual indulgence arise from two causes; viz., the loss of the seminal fluid, and the nervous excitement.
With reference to the value of the spermatic fluid, Dr. Gardner remarks:--
"The sperm is the purest extract of the blood.... Nature, in creating it, has intended it not only to communicate life, but also to nourish the individual life. In fact, the re-absorption of the fecundating liquid impresses upon the entire economy new energy, and a virility which contributes to the prolongation of life."
Testimony of a French Physician.--A French author of considerable note,[19] remarks on the same subject:--
"Nothing costs the economy so much as the production of s.e.m.e.n and its forced e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n. It has been calculated that an ounce of s.e.m.e.n was equivalent to forty ounces of blood.... s.e.m.e.n is the essence of the whole individual. Hence, Fernel has said, "Totus h.o.m.o s.e.m.e.n est." It is the balm of life.... That which gives life is intended for its preservation."
[Footnote 19: Parise.]
It may be questioned, perhaps, whether physiology will sustain to the fullest extent all the statements made in the last quotation; but perhaps physiology does not appreciate so fully as does pathology the worth of the most vital of all fluids, and the fearful results which follow its useless expenditure.
Continence of Trainers.--"The moderns who are training are well aware that s.e.xual indulgence wholly unfits them for great feats of strength, and the captain of a boat strictly forbids his crew anything of the sort just previous to a match. Some trainers have gone so far as to a.s.sure me that they can discover by a man"s style of pulling whether he has committed such a breach of discipline over night, and have not scrupled to attribute the occasional loss of matches to this cause."[20]
[Footnote 20: Acton.]
A Cause of Throat Disease.--The disease known as "_clergyman"s sore throat_" is believed by many eminent physicians to have its chief origin in excessive venery. It is well known that s.e.xual abuse is a very potent cause of throat diseases. This view is supported by the following from the pen of the learned Dr. X. Bourgeois:--
"We ought not, then, to be surprised that the physiological act, requiring so great an expenditure of vitality, must be injurious in the highest degree, when it is reiterated abusively. To engender is to give a portion of one"s life. Does not he who is prodigal of himself precipitate his own ruin? A peculiar character of the diseases which have their origin in venereal excesses and masturbation is chronicity."