SPERMATORRHCEA. 



103 



dilatation of the excretory ducts of the vesiculae seminales arid other 

 morbid but not well-known changes (probably catarrh and erosions), 

 in the caput galinaginis, appear to be at the root of the disease. 



Lallemand and others have exaggerated the injurious results as 

 well as the frequency of spermatorrhcea. I knew a railroad agent in 

 Magdeburg who, for at least ten years, lost a considerable quantity of 

 semen with every stool, without any observable bad effect on his gen- 

 eral health. He was married, and his wife had several children by 

 him while he was affected with the spermatorrhoea ; he also acknowl- 

 edged that, during his daily trips to Leipzig, he not unfrequently 

 committed sexual excesses. In some persons, it is true, the same 

 symptoms occur that we described when speaking of pollutions. 



Treatment is comparatively powerless against a morbidly-increased 

 inclination to pollution. The best results are attained by paying par- 

 ticular attention to the constitution of the patient, and seeking to rec- 

 tify any thing that is out of order. This may be the reason why fer- 

 ruginous preparations and the natural chalybeate baths are so popular 

 for pollutions, and why some patients are improved or cured by sea- 

 bathing, others by the cold-water treatment. Cold sitz-baths and 

 washing the genitals with cold water have the reputation of strength- 

 ening the sexual organs and arresting pollutions ; but these should 

 not be used in the evening, especially just at bedtime, for, if used at 

 that time, they absolutely favor the occurrence of pollutions. Heavy 

 suppers and drinking freely of tea, etc., just before bedtime, should 

 be forbidden. It is improper to prescribe camphor, lupulin, and sim- 

 Jar medicines. 



Greatly as cauterization of the caput galinaginis, by means of 

 Tjdllemand's porte-caustic, was esteemed for a time, it has since gone 

 out of fashion. When Lallemand' } s work first became known, every 

 practitioner considered it necessary to have one of his instruments, 

 but most of them have been laid on the shelf for years. However, 

 where the emissions of semen are abundant, and the constitution of 

 the patient undermined, and where, by excluding other anomalies, we 

 may regard relaxation or dilatation of the ducts of the vesiculae semi- 

 nales, or chronic inflammation in the back part of the urethra, as the 

 probable causes of spermatorrhoea, we may cauterize the caput galina- 

 ginis, lege artis. In other cases we may confine ourselves to prevent- 

 ing constipation, ordering the genitals to be washed in cold water, and 

 treating any existing complications. 

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