=Physical Results.= If matches between the young and old were successful physically and otherwise, they would be extremely beneficial to the older mate. Normal sexual stimulation, far from driving the aged to an early grave, as old time puritans have taught us, is probably the most potent factor of rejuvenation.
The Steinach operation which enables the hormone-producing cells of the gonads to overdevelop at the expense of the seminiferous cells, seems, when successful, to confer new youth upon the entire organism.
Lorand, Stekel, Hufeland and others hold that sexual activity in the old, when it is possible, is conducive to longevity.
Lorand mentions many interesting cases in which remarriage at incredibly advanced ages seemed in no way to curtail one's life span. Thomas Parré, who died at 162, was arrested for assault at 102 and married again at 120. The Dane Drackenberg, who died at 150, married at 111 a woman of 60, became a widower at 130, and tried to woo a young peasant girl who, however, refused to accept him.
Peter Albrecht, who died at 123, married again at 80 and had seven children. Gurgon Duglas, who died at 120, married at 85 and had 8 children, the youngest one being born when the father was 103. Baron Baravicion dès Capelles died at 104, having had four wives, the last one whom he married when 80.
Lorand adds that, according to his observations, old people with an erotic temperament have a better chance of survival than "cold blooded" ones.
Hufeland says that married people live much longer than the unmarried and that no bachelor was ever known to reach a ripe age.
The sudden bloom and general appearance of rejuvenation of old maids finally finding a mate, of widows who remarry and of neglected wives who give themselves to a potent lover, is a good physiological argument why winter should try to seek the violent stimulation of a union with spring.
=The Fate of the Younger Mate.= The younger mate, however, can hardly hope to escape unscathed when going thru such an experience.
The old are benefited because their muscles, nerves, glands, etc., imitate the attitudes and behavior of the younger mate's organs and become accordingly younger.
The same process of imitation is at work in the younger mate and the damage done to him or her is naturally great, altho not always obvious at first.