888 OF GENERATION ACTION OF THE MALE. 



disease is generally found to be connected with some obvious cause of irrita- 

 tion of the generative system, such as pruritus, active congestion, etc. That 

 some part of the Eucephalou is the seat of this as of other instinctive pro- 

 pensities, appears from the considerations formerly adduced ; but that the 

 Cerebellum is the part in which this function is specially located, cannot be 

 regarded as by any means sufficiently proved ( 554, 556). The instinct 

 when once aroused (even though very obscurely felt), acts upon the mental 

 faculties and moral feelings ; and thus becomes the source, though almost 

 unconsciously so to the individual, of the tendency to form that kind of at- 

 tachment towards one of the opposite sex, which is known as love. This 

 tendency cannot be regarded as a simple passion or emotion, since it is the 

 result of the combined operations of the reason, the imagination, and the 

 moral feelings; and it is in this ingraftment (so to speak) of the psychical 

 attachment, upon the mere corporeal instinct, that a difference exists between 

 the sexual relations of Man and those of the lower animals. In proportion 

 as the Human being makes the temporary gratification of the mere sexual 

 appetite his chief object, and overlooks the happiness arising from spiritual 

 communion, which is not only purer but more permanent, and of which a 

 renewal maybe anticipated in another world, does he degrade himself to a 

 level with the brutes that perish. Yet how lamentably frequent is this 

 degradation. 



736. When, impelled by sexual excitement, the Male seeks intercourse 

 with the Female, the erectile tissue of the genital organs becomes turgid 

 with blood ( 276), and the surface acquires a much increased sensibility; 

 this is especially acute in the Glans penis. By the friction of the Glaus 

 against the rugous walls of the Vagina, the excitement is increased ; and 

 the impression which is thus produced at last becomes so strong, that it 

 calls forth, through the medium of a ganglionic centre, probably situated in 

 the lower portion of the Spinal Cord, a reflex contraction of the muscular 

 fibres of the Vasa Deferentia, and of the muscles which surround the Vesic- 

 ulse Semiuales and Prostate gland. These receptacles discharge their con- 

 tents into the Urethra; from which they are expelled with some degree of 

 force, and with a kind of convulsive action by its own Compressor muscles; 

 whilst they are prevented from passing back into the bladder, according to 

 Kobelt, by the great distension of the Verumontanum which occurs during 

 the period of erection. Now although the sensations concerned in this act 

 are ordinarily most acutely pleasurable, there appears sufficient evidence 

 that they are by no means essential to its performance; and that the impres- 

 sion which is conveyed to the Spinal Cord need not give rise to a sensation, 

 in order to produce the reflex contraction of the Ejaculator muscles ( 507). 

 The high degree of nervous excitement which the act of coition involves, 

 produces a subsequent depression to a corresponding amount; and the too 

 frequent repetition of it is productive of consequences very injurious to the 

 general health. This is still more the case with the solitary indulgence, 

 which (it is feared) is practiced by too many youths; for this substituting an 

 unnatural degree of one kind of excitement for that which is wanting in 

 another, cannot but be still more trying to the bodily powers. The secre- 

 tion of seminal fluid being, like other secretions, very much under the con- 

 trol of the nervous system, will be increased by the continual direction of 

 the mind towards objects which awaken the sexual propensity ( 725); and 

 thus, if a frequent discharge be occasioned, whether by natural or unnatural 

 excitement, a much larger quantity will altogether be produced, although 

 the amount emitted at each period will be less, and its due perfection will 

 not be attained, the fluid under such circumstances being found to contain 

 an unduly large proportion of immature seminal cells. The formation of 



