The loss of flesh and strength is not the only symptom of consumption which _undermine gradually_ the onanist: many signs indicate that all the functions are affected as it were with a loss of strength. The countenance instead of the vermilion glow of health, is pale and without freshness, or of a yellowish, earthy, leaden, and livid teint; the lips lose their color, a bluish circle surrounds the eyes, the eyelids are puffed out with œdema: the flesh is soft and flaccid: the pulse is small and feeble: upon the slightest motion or during sleep, the forehead, chest and palms of the hands are bathed with profuse perspiration: in some patients the hands and feet are edematous: in short, the symptoms are those of general atony, which are attended with a slow hectic fever, denoting that the economy does not yield without reaction to the destructive disease.
We ought perhaps to wait before speaking of the disturbance of the digestive organs, which almost constantly attends venereal abuses, until we had finished describing the symptoms of voluntary spermatorrhœa and were stating the diseases resulting from it. In fact the digestion is deranged then only because the digestive organs are diseased, and are affected with dyspepsy, gastritis, erteritis, &c.; but these derangements are so common after the loss of the seminal fluid, that we think ourselves authorized to treat these derangements as symptoms. Venereal excesses may affect the digestive organs in several ways, first by disturbing digestion if they occur while this process is going on: this fact has already been stated. We might add that when food is taken too soon after masturbation or coition digestion is seldom performed well. This fact did not escape the notice of Sanctorius, who remarks, _Cibus copiosior solito post immoderatum coition interimeret nisi succederet aliqua ciborum corruptela_. Venereal excesses may also affect the digestive apparatus in another manner besides that of directly disturbing its functions. This system is so intimately connected with all parts of the human body that all are influenced by it. If then the digestive functions are disturbed by most morbid states, can they remain uninjured when so many symptoms are presented by the genital apparatus which has become the focus of so many symptoms! Certainly not: these functions also take a part and a large part in the disorders which are the usual consequences of venereal excesses. A moderate exercise of the genital organs may excite the stomach, render the appetite more keen and the digestion more rapid. Hence why young men who begin to masturbate or to indulge with women have frequently an insatiable appetite, which leads them to eat constantly, which is very striking inasmuch as debility and loss of flesh ensue in just the same manner. But such a state of things cannot long continue: thus numerous signs soon show that excesses in venery may act on the digestive tube in another manner than by rendering the appetite more keen and the digestion more easy. In fact the appetite does not long resist excesses of onanism: it first diminishes, then disappears, and is often replaced by a decided disgust for every kind of food; in some patients it becomes irregular, capricious: in others it remains: the latter have most cause of complaint, for it continues longer than digestion is performed. “My appetite remains,” writes an onanist to Tissot, “but it is a misfortune, as eating is followed by pain in the stomach and my food is rejected.” Many onanists feel pains of a similar character after eating. In others there is a sense of oppression, of fulness, in the epigastric region. In some there is a gnawing feeling resembling that produced by a want of food: this symptom is very common in girls, who in consequence of secret practices, have become affected with leucorrhœa. In some the face and cheeks present a redness which contrasts remarkably with their habitual paleness: onanists are frequently affected with headache, vertigo, flushed face, &c. In some the slowness of the digestion is indicated by eructations, which occur long after taking food: or the belly is tense and filled with wind. Food, which was formerly digested with ease, is now oppressive: and the list of articles of diet is shortened every day. Some onanists have been known in these cases to indulge in ardent spirits with the vain hope of exciting their appetite, and regaining their strength. Repeated vomitings, constant pain in the belly and a slow fever are also frequent symptoms of the deep-seated affections of the digestive organs. In many patients the intestinal canal is more liable to be affected by venereal excesses, than the stomach.