We do not hesitate to say that this method is seldom followed by beneficial effects, and often by irreparable injury.
Bartholow advises its use in exceptional cases; “those in which,” he says, “the moral effect of the application is desirable.” From this I must dissent; as any superabundance of attention demanded may be bestowed by cauterizing or vesicating the perineum, obtaining an excellent moral effect and even accomplishing, by way of counter-irritation, physical improvement.
We might suppose that these harsh means of treatment, owing to the elevated character of their supporters, were in good repute; and that a work on this subject would be incomplete without a full detail of them; but a better success without than with them has led me to discontinue their use, and conscientiously speaking of the treatment, I can but manifest my disapprobation of all caustic applications to the urethra or prostatic ducts.
_Impotence._――Some misapprehension as to the signification of this term is prevalent, owing to the extent of weakness and the morbid conditions to which it has been applied. The wrong application has been very common; _i. e._, in using it to describe a condition of sexual neurasthenia and temporary suspension of the sexual powers, from moral shock. A young man who exercises a doubt as to his ability to copulate may, upon the occasion, be unable to procure an erection; and yet he may, after a time, secure his own confidence; or, when he the least is thinking of it, be in full possession of his potence. The first attempt at coition, after matrimony, may be unavailing for this reason, and no trouble occur at any time afterwards.
The penis may be erect at first, and become flaccid before intromission can be effected. Even this does not constitute, but may be only a result of, nervous shock or impression produced upon the mind and sexual instinct, from embarrassment, that may occur to any young man who is not self-confident, and is no evidence of any permanent disease.
Impotence, as it should be defined and considered, is the manifestation of a disease in which there is permanent and actual impairment of the nerve-centres and, as a phenomenon of such centric changes, inability to procure an erection of the penis, at any and all times, sufficient to perform the act of coition. This is a chronic malady, of slow advent, and when once established there is very little tendency to recovery. The chagrin manifested in a man who is impotent is at all times striking. He feels that to be impotent is to be worse than dead. Men pride themselves on their ability to perform coition, and feel the loss of sexual power more than mind. Money and time are, therefore, expended exorbitantly to recover this lost power, that they may feel themselves men once more.