OPINION OF THE MEDICAL PRESS ON THIS WORK. WE doubt whether, among our human relations, there is one that exerts a greater influence upon most of us than that which draws its impulses from the sexual feelings. Indirectly, it governs the whole life of the female, from the time at which she dandles her first doll to the time when she teaches her grandchild "pattycake, pattycake;"-the vices and the virtues of the sterner sex-less confe-sedly, perhaps, but no less really-result from the vagaries and dreams of boyhood, or the waywardness or resolution of adult age, that are prompted by the sexual instincts. Sexual excesses are the monster evil of the present, no less than of former times; it is not, except in particular forms, a subject for legislation, because legislation cannot reach it; but it is essentially a subject for the clergyman and the schoolmaster to deal with. It is folly to ignore what every man who has been at school must know to prevail. It is wisdom to avail ourselves of the holiest aspirations of the youth to enable him to shun evil, not from fear-though from fear, if need be--but from a just appreciation of the immutable laws, which may be traced equally in Holy Writ and in natural theology. We think Mr. Acton has done good service to society by grappling manfully with sexual vice, and we trust that others, whose position as men of science and teachers enable them to speak with authority, will assist in combating and arresting the evils which it entails, and thus enable man to devote more enduring energies and more lofty aims to the advancement of his race, and to the service of his God. We are of the opinion that the spirit which pervades it is one that does credit equally to the head and to the heart of the author.-The British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Quarterly Review. The only way by which some of the most important functional ailments and aberrant physiologic states affecting humanity can be rescued from the grasp of the most disgusting and villainous quackery, and treated with benefit to the patient, is by the scientific and conscientious practitioner openly taking them under his own charge. Now, however, that legitimate and able practitioners permit themselves to be known as willing to bestow as much consideration on the aberrations of the generative functions as on those of any other, we trust that some stoppage will be put to the basest system of plunder ever conducted under the mask of medical advice." In the work now before us, all essential detail upon its subject-matter is clearly and scientifically given. We recommend it accordingly, as meeting a necessary requisition of the day, refusing to join in that opinion which regards the consideration of the topics in question as beyond the duties of the medical practitioner.-The Lancet Mr. Acton has devoted himself for many years with unwearying assiduity to the study of the diseases of the reproductive organs, and after an intimate acquaintance with syphilitic diseases gained in the Clinique of M. Ricord, he has pursued in this country the same series of researches as those which he commenced under that distinguished specialist. Indeed, with Mr. Acton, the investigation of every circumstance connected with the generative function has been (without intending a pun) a labor of love; and we accordingly find that whether as regards the structure, the functions, or the diseases of the organs in question, every circumstance has received the minutest attention. On the subjects of Impotence and Spermatorrhea, those bugbears of so many weak and foolish persous, and sources of inexhaustible wealth to the quack fraternity, Mr. Acton discourses with good sense, and indignantly exposes the nefarious tricks of the scoundrels who, on the preteuse of curing a disease which often exists only in imagination, extract enormous sums from their nuwary victims. He seems to regard the spermatorrhea-phobia, as we may term it, to be a species of monomanía, in which light we ourselves are inclined to regard it; but he judiciously advises that to a patient laboring under this form of mental malady, the tone adopted should be one of sympathy and attention, not of ridicule or disbelief; and that by the employment of appropriate moral and therapeutical means, the morbid terrors of the imagination may be dispelled, and a healthy and hopeful tone of mind be restored. The Medical Times. THE FUNCTIONS AND DISORDERS OF THE REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS IN Childhood, Youth, Adult Age, and Advanced Life CONSIDERED IN THEIR PHYSIOLOGICAL, SOCIAL, AND BY WILLIAM ACTON, M.R.C.S., LATE SURGEON TO THE ISLINGTON DISPENSARY, AND FORMERLY EXTERNE TO THE VENEREAL HOSPITALS From the last London Edition. PHILADELPHIA: LINDSAY AND BLAKISTON. 7-13-1933 PREFACE ΤΟ THE THIRD EDITION. IN the preface to the second edition of this book I expressed a hope that I might at some future time be able, not only to incorporate much new matter in the text, and make many needful improvements and alterations, but entirely to remodel the work. The flattering reception by the profession of two large impressions, warns me that the time has arrived for carrying out my intention. The mass of new material which has accumulated during the four years that have elapsed since I published the first edition, and, perhaps, the more matured views on some points which longer experience and thought have furnished, render me still more desirous of moulding my book into something of the shape in which I should wish permanently to leave it. I have accordingly spared neither labor nor time in my endeavor to render this edition more worthy of the favor which has been so liberally extended to its predecessors. I may, perhaps, be permitted to add that the largest part of the time and pains the book has cost me, has been bestowed on the minute weighing of every sentence, in the hope that in my treatment of a subject so novel and difficult, and in many respects painful, nothing may remain to which fastidiousness itself can fairly object. I gladly take this opportunity of acknowledging the frank and loyal spirit in which my professional brethren, and, with one exception, the periodical press, recognized the difficulty of the question, and appreciated my attempt to treat it as it requires. They heartily expressed their participa tion in my hope that the book might have some good and practical effect on public health and public morals. It has been on its trial now for some years, and I commit this third edition to my profession with that hope increased to confidence, and with hearty thanks to the many friends, both scientific and professional, who have furnished me with information and advice. 17 QUEEN ANN STREET, CAVENDISH SQUARE. |