The Catise. 



profession ? We have seen that they are mostly 

 agreed that epilepsy is traceable to a large ex- 

 tent to sexual abuses ; surely it is the duty of 

 doctors in general to act in accordance with this 

 large agreement ! It would simplify matters 

 very much, and perhaps lead to the stamping 

 out of a very troublesome disease. 



Epilepsy has been very much on the increase 

 of late years, and any reasonable methods should 

 be adopted to stay its progress. A word in sea- 

 son is worth a ton of medicine in these cases, 

 and as regards the feelings of the victims it 

 would be better to give them a slight shock, 

 than to allow them to go on suffering in 

 ignorance. In cases where the disease is heredi- 

 tary, the patients themselves would not take 

 offence at being questioned ; it is only the guilty 

 who are afraid of the truth. 



Other diseases are traceable to " Tabus des 

 plaisirs de 1'amour." 



It has been mentioned already that that 

 terrible scourge, consumption, is traceable to the 

 same cause : 



" Hippocrate a deja decrit la consomption 

 dorsale, produite par Tabus des plaisirs de 

 Tamour. Cette maladie nait, dit-il, de la 

 moelle de Tepine. Toutes les fois qu'ils vont a 

 la selle ou qu'ils urinent, ils perdent abondam- 

 ment une liqueur seminale tres liquide. Ils sont 

 inhabiles a la generation, et ils sont souvent 

 occupes de Tacte veneriens dans leurs songes. 

 Les promenades, surtout dans les routes penibles, 

 les essoufflent, les affaiblissent, leur procurent 

 des panenteurs de tete, et des bruits d'oreilles : 

 95 



