less takes place, just like that of the saliva, bile, or pancreatic fluid. What proves this is, that it is found in the whole course of the spermatic canal; it is met with not only in the vesiculæ seminales, but in the deferent canals, in the epididymis, and in the testis itself; and the spermatozoa are found likewise in all these situations. It is, therefore, probable that if among the spermatozoa which the microscope enables us to discover, some date from long antecedent periods, there are others that have been recently formed. The oldest of these twenty-seven persons in whom spermatozoa were found was eighty-two years of age; and the rest were from sixty to eighty-two.

Dr. Duplay concludes by saying: "If old men are not so apt to beget children as adults, their inaptitude depends less on the composition of the semen than it does on a want of the other conditions of the reproductive acts.

The ex

The preceding remarks need some comment from me. istence of spermatozoa might lead the senior to exclaim, why may I not exercise my sexual organs, as you show that nature has bountifully provided the old man with semen? My answer is, "do not attempt to spend a great deal out of your small capital." "Would be old, be wisely old betimes."

you

Experience proves that old age cannot support the drain, and the subsequent nervous depression arising from ejaculation. Secretion is not absolutely stopped by bountiful nature; but semen is formed slowly, and with effort, and may remain for a long time pent up in the canals which have secreted it. Professed breeders of animals refuse to rear the produce of old sires or dams, and I am told they recognize this class of young stock by several marks, as for instance the deeper hollows over the eyes, and by the sunken eye itself. So well are these facts known to horse-dealers, that they refuse to purchase young horses presenting these appearances, being convinced that they will not stand work, or turn out well. I am not aware that we possess descriptions of old men's children, but as far as my experience goes, they are not promising. If it is true, as is now generally admitted, that from the moment of conception of the individual the duration of existence is, to a certain extent, predetermined, in consequence of the organization which he has received, I think it follows that one human being born of a rich stock of force 1 Archives Générales de Médecine," quatrième série, tom. lxxx. Dec., 1852, p. 393.

and vitality will take a greater number of years to arrive at the culmination and the term of his existence, than another born under opposite conditions (even more favorable so far as worldly externals are concerned). We are forced to the conclusion that the children of old men have an inferior chance of life; and facts daily observed confirm our deductions. For, look at the progeny of such marriages, what is its value? As far as I have seen, it is of the worst kind-spoilt childhood, feeble and precocious youth, extravagant manhood, early and premature death.

PART II.

DISORDERS.

From the above description we glean what the functions of the generative organs should be in advanced life. Extreme moderation-and the greater the age, the greater the moderation. Entire continence the rule of youth-is hardly less the rule of age. The transgression of this rule, indeed, in age, is more fatal than in youth. There is no superabundant stock of vitality to repair its destructive waste of error or extravagance.

Parise says: "One grand purpose pervades the creation-to live and to impart life. This last function ought to be considered the most important. If men will conform to the laws of nature-laws which, moreover, are immutable and eternal-they must submit themselves to conditions of existence and of organization, and learn how to limit their desires within the spheres of their real wants. If they will do so, wisdom and health will bloom of themselves, and abide without effort; but all this is too often forgotten when the functions of generation are in question. This sublime gift of transmitting life-fatal prerogative, which man continually forfeits-at once the mainstay of morality, by means of family ties, and the powerful cause of depravity-the energetic spring of life and health-the ceaseless source of disease and infirmity-this faculty involves almost all that man can attain of earthly happiness or misfortune, of earthly pleasure or of pain; and the tree of knowledge of good and evil is the symbol of it, as true as it is expressive. Thus, even love by its excesses hastens and abets the inevitable doom for which, in the first instance, by the aid of passion, it had

provided the victims. The greater part of mankind, however, show excessive feebleness in withstanding the abuse of the generative functions; and what surprises us most is, that those advanced in life are not always the least exposed to this reproach. It is certain that in old age, at a time when the passions have given way to reason, there are still many individuals who allow themselves to stray imprudently at the very precipitous edge of these dangerous enjoyments. They applaud themselves for postponing moderation till it is rather forced than voluntary; till they stop from sheer want of vigor. What heroic wisdom! Nature, pitiless as she is, will cause them most certainly to pay dearly for the transgression of her laws; and the steady accumulation of diseases soon gives demonstrative proof of it. This result is the more certain and prompt, inasmuch as in these cases excesses are almost always of very old standing. The libertine in years has usually been dissolute in youth and manhood, so that we may trace the progress and calculate the extent of his organic deterioration.

"If we possess ever so little reflective or physiological knowledge of mankind, how can we fail to inculcate rigorously the precepts of continence, more especially as we find them established and calculated to maintain both the duration and happiness of our life? It is well established that, of all the functions of the economy, no one is lavished upon us by nature with greater profusion, or, at the same time, within more clearly defined limits, than this one of generation."

For the purpose of description, I shall divide the functional diseases in elderly persons in the following manner, premising that it is principally from excesses that those advanced in life suffer. All their functional diseases may be, I think, classified under the following heads, thus enabling me to arrange some curious facts which have not hitherto been brought together for the consideration of the profession:

1. Functional diseases in persons who do not know the consequences of repeated acts of sexual intercourse, and commit excesses from ignorance.

2. Persons who know the consequences, but cannot control their passions.

3. Débauchés who, hoping to supply the loss of power consequent on their previous excesses, stimulate the reproductive organs for the purpose of gratifying their animal passions.

CHAPTER I.

FUNCTIONAL DISEASES IN PERSONS WHO DO NOT KNOW THE CONSEQUENCES OF REPEATED ACTS OF SEXUAL INTERCOURSE, AND COMMIT EXCESSES FROM IGNORANCE.

It is sometimes curious to notice the naïveté exhibited by elderly gentlemen. Patients from sixty to eighty come to me, complaining that they are not what they were—that the sexual act is no longer attended with the same degree of pleasure as formerly. They grumble because the desire does not come on so frequently, or that, when they attempt the act, they do not now experience perfect erection.

This is a class of men that no doubt come before others as well as myself. They are among the most difficult cases we have to treat, and require great management. I, however, meet them on their own ground. I inquire at what age they began sexual indulgence-whether, in their official capacities, they have been in warm or changeable climates and otherwise, with propriety, inform myself as to their antecedents. Thus armed, I ask them if they have considered the consequences which they wish me to bring about. I appeal to their common sense, and gently remind them that their symptoms may be slight warnings of the approach of the enemy: that, as old soldiers, they should begin to exercise a little caution. I recall to their recollection other duties consistent with their age. I ask them if they have no pleasure in the luxuries of the table, or if they wish to so derange their health that their appetites shall fail. I remind them of the saying of Bichat, "that the organ of taste is the last thread on which hangs the pleasure of living." I repeat a few of the hints I have already detailed; and beg them to look around, and consider if their old friends who marry young wives have improved in health, or if they cannot call to mind some very notable cases of the reverse. It occurs to them, and they do not deny, that this may be even so; and as life, and, above all, life with good health, is fully appreciated by this class of men, they are tranquillized. And when I remind them that, if nature has interdicted great sexual indulgence, it still has reserved for them many even physical pleasures-and hint a little later that there are other and higher enjoyments and duties which their posi

tion in society warrants and demands, we usually part pretty good friends; and I trust I have been the means of rescuing many a sexually ignorant man from the dangers which beset his path, and have preserved his powers for a longer discharge of the higher duties than might, under other circumstances, have been hoped for. Lord Bacon's dictum, "Age doth profit rather in the powers of understanding than in the virtues of the affections," is not only the observation of a fact, but the pregnant inculcation of a duty.

There are persons in society, it cannot be concealed (although fortunately they are few), who come to the surgeon ostensibly for other reasons, but virtually under the belief that he will excite their flagging powers. I have already alluded to these cases, and fully described the language which the profession does and should hold toward them.

In all such cases, the man advanced in life should be at once told that, although his powers are somewhat enfeebled, no immediate mischief has yet occurred (if the surgeon can conscientiously say so)-nature only wants rest, and all will be well. It is of great importance that the sexual fears of the elderly person should be quieted. We have seen, in previous pages, the influence of the imagination on the sexual ideas. As age advances, this effect grows still stronger-it is of primary importance that the morale of a man should be strengthened-and I at once tell these patients most positively, that I can relieve their present sufferings: but if I undertake to re-establish their sexual powers, I exact a promise that such convalescence shall be attended with great moderation-on no other terms will I undertake the case; for I tell them it is a better guarantee for their life and happiness to remain invalids as they are, than to have their organs strengthened and then to kill themselves by inches through fresh fits of excitement. I need hardly say that every upright practitioner refuses to be an accomplice in any way whatever to mere excitement. Libertinage is, they should be told, bad enough at any age; in the elderly man it is a crime, and one that the surgeon will not lend himself to abet. This language held to elderly men is good in more ways than one; it "pulls them up" at a moment when they are disposed to go astray, and it shows them that the surgeon has implicit belief in his powers of cure, and that he can re-establish their health; but will not build up for them to pull down. It can shock no "man of the world;"

it