UNCHASTITY 305 



spermatozoa. This point can be determined by the 

 microscope alone. The discharge is the result of sex- 

 ual excitement or irritation, nevertheless, and indicates 

 a most deplorable condition of the genital organs. The 

 patient is sometimes unnecessarily frightened by it, 

 and often exaggerates the amount of the losses, and 

 the symptoms arising from them. However, when a 

 single nocturnal emission occasions such detrimental 

 results, what must be the effect of repeated discharges 

 occurring several times a day, or every time an indi- 

 vidual relieves his bowels, urinates, or entertains an 

 unvirtuous thought! If the losses were always semi- 

 nal, the work of ruin would soon be complete; fortu- 

 nately, those discharges which are the most frequent 

 are only occasionally of a true seminal character. It 

 is not so, however, as has been claimed by some writers, 

 one at least, that they are never seminal, as we have 

 proved by repeated microscopic examinations. 



Causes of Diurnal Emissions.— The causes of 

 these discharges are spasmodic action of the muscles 

 involved in ejaculation, which is occasioned by local 

 irritation, and pressure upon the seminal vesicles by 

 the distended rectum or bladder. They denote a con- 

 dition of debility and irritation which may well occa- 

 sion grave alarm. 



In occasional instances, the internal irritation 

 reaches such a height that blood is discharged with the 

 seminal fluid. 



Spontaneous ejaculation as the result of a depraved 

 state of mind is not infrequent in women who give 

 themselves up to evil thoughts. The observations of 

 the author will support the view that this form of dis- 

 ease is more frequent in women than in men. Women 

 whose sexual organs have been weakened by abuse are 



