358 PLAIN FACTS FOE OLD AND YOUNG 



The addition of a little alum or some other form of 

 astringent to the last portion of water employed, is in 

 many cases advantageous. Alum or tannin may be 

 used in proportion of one dram to the quart of water. 



In cases of sexual apathy, or loss of ability to 

 engage in the sexual act, the application of faradic 

 electricity to the vagina by means of a proper electrode 

 is of very great advantage. One electrode should be 

 placed in the vagina, while the other, connected with 

 the sponge, is passed over the lower portion of the 

 spine, across the lower part of the abdomen, and along 

 the inside of the thighs. 



For directions for further treatment of these and 

 like derangements, the reader is referred to other works 

 by the author, in which the subject is fully treated. 



Drugs, Rings, Etc.— If drugs, per se, will cure 

 invalids of any class, they are certainly not satisfactory 

 in this class of patients. The whole materia medica 

 affords no root, herb, extract, or compound that alone 

 will cure a person suffering from emissions. Thou- 

 sands of unfortunates have been ruined by long-con- 

 tinued drugging. One physician will purge and sali- 

 vate the patient. Another will dose him with phos- 

 X)liorus, quinine, or ergot. Another feeds him with 

 iron. Another plies him with lupuline, camphor, and 

 digitaline. Still another narcotizes him with opium, 

 belladonna, and chloral. Purgatives and diuretics are 

 given by another, and some will be found ready to 

 empty the whole pharmacopoeia into the poor suf- 

 ferer's stomach if he can be made to open his mouth 

 wide enough. 



The way some of these unfortunate persons are 

 blistered, and burned, and cauterized, and tortured in 

 sundry other ways, is almost too horrible to think of; 



