312 PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG 



now very certain that in many instances this is its ori- 

 gin. It is of frequent occurrence in those who have 

 indulged in solitary vice or any other form of sexual 

 excess. We have met a number of cases in which the 

 disease was due to this cause. 



Failure of Special Senses. —Dimness of vision, 

 amaurosis, spots before the eyes, with other forms of 

 ocular weakness, are common results of this vice. The 

 same degeneration and premature failure occur in 

 the organs of hearing. In fact, sensibility of all the 

 senses becomes in some measure diminished in old 

 cases. 



Spinal Irritation. —Irritation of the spinal cord, 

 with its resultant evils, is one of the most common of 

 the nervous affections originating in this cause. Ten- 

 derness of the spine, numerous pains in the limbs, and 

 spasmodic twitching of the muscles, are some of its 

 results. Paralysis, partial or complete, of the lower 

 limbs, and even of the whole body, is not a rare occur- 

 rence. We have seen a number of cases in which this 

 was well marked. Two of the patients were small boys 

 who began to excite the genital organs at a very early 

 age. In one, the paralytic condition was complete when 

 he was held erect. The head fell forward, the arms 

 and limbs hung down helpless, the eyes rolled upward, 

 and the saliva dribbled from his mouth. When lying 

 flat upon his back, he had considerable control of his 

 limbs. In this case, a condition of priapism seems to 

 have existed almost from birth, owing to congenital 

 phimosis. His condition was somewhat improved by 

 circumcision. 



In another case, in which phimosis also existed, 

 there was paralysis of a few of the muscles of the leg, 

 which produced clubfoot. Circumcision was also per- 



