FERTILITY 645 



into the vagina, and, (4) absence of the ability to experience pleasure 

 during the act of coition, and at the time of the emission of the 

 semen. Or, according to another classification, the causation of 

 impotence may be either anatomical, physiological, pathological, or 

 psychological. Among the anatomical causes may be mentioned 

 defects and deformities in the penis. The physiological and 

 pathological causes include incomplete erections, premature ejacula- 

 tions, diseases of the brain and spinal cord (and more particularly of 

 the centres for the performance of the sexual act), besides such 

 diseases as albuminuria, or prolonged diabetes. The psychological 

 causes include fear, repugnance, want of confidence, etc.^ 



Complete sterility, i.e. inability to procreate owing to the absence 

 of fertile semen, is due to various causes, and may be either 

 congenital or acquired. Congenital sterility occurs when the 

 testicles are never developed, or are so imperfectly developed that 

 they fail to produce ripe spermatozoa. In cases of incomplete 

 descent of the testicles fertility is rare, but it may exist for a short 

 time as in young men from twenty to twenty-three years of age. 

 Acquired sterility results from the various' diseases to which the 

 generative organs are subject, such as tubercle, syphilis, attacks of 

 inflammation, urethral stricture, epididymitis, prostatic enlargement 

 or diminution, etc.^ 



A more special cause of sterility in men is one which operates in 

 the case of workers with radium or the Eontgen rays. Several years 

 ago Albers-Schonberg ^ noticed that the X-rays induced sterility in 

 guinea-pigs and rabbits, but without interfering with the sexual 

 potency. These observations have been confirmed by other 

 investigators,* who have shown, further, that the azoospermia is due 

 to the degeneration of the cells lining the seminal canals. In men it 

 has been proved that mere presence in an X-ray atmosphere 

 incidental to radiography sooner or later causes a condition of 

 complete sterility, but without any apparent diminution of sexual 

 potency." As Gordon observes, for those working in an X-ray 

 atmosphere adequate protection for all parts of the body not directly 

 exposed for examination or treatment is indispensable, but, on the 

 other hand, the X-rays afford a convenient, painless, and harmless 



1 Corner, Diseases of the Male Generative Organs, London, 1907. 



2 Corner, loc. cit. 



•* Albers-Schonberg, " Ueber eine bisher unbekannte Wirkung der Kontgen- 

 strahlen auf den Organismus der Tiere," Milnchener Tned. Wochenschr., No. 43, 

 1903. 



* See Gordon, "Diseases caused by Physical Agents," Osier's System of 

 ^Medicine, vol. i., 'London, 1907. See also Eegaud and Dubreuil, "Action des 

 Rayons de Rontgen sur la Testicule de la Lapin," C. B. de la Soc. de Biol., 

 vol. Ixiii., 1907. 



^ Brown and Osgood, "X-Rays and Sterility," Amer. -lour, of Surgery, 

 vol. xviii., (April) 1905. 



