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 THREE ESSAYS ON THE POWERS OF REPRODUCTION. 

 [Illustration: _Frontispiece. _ VOTIVE COLUMNS Of the Ancient Oscans. ]

 Aphrodisiacs and Anti-Aphrodisiacs:

 THREE ESSAYS ON THE POWERS OF REPRODUCTION;

 WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE JUDICIAL "CONGRESS" AS PRACTISED IN FRANCE DURING THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 

 BY JOHN DAVENPORT. 

 _Ubi stimulus, ibi fluxus. _--HIPPOCRATES. 

 LONDON: PRIVATELY PRINTED. 1869. 

PREFACE. 

The reproductive powers of Nature were regarded by the nations of remoteantiquity with an awe and reverence so great, as to form an object ofworship, under a symbol, of all others the most significant, --the_Phallus_; and thus was founded a religion, of which the traces exist tothis day, not in Asia only, but even in Europe itself. 

That scarcely any notices of this worship should appear in modern works, except in the erudite pages of a few antiquarians may be accounted forby considering the difference of opinion between the ancients and themoderns as to what constitutes--modesty; the former being unable to seeany moral turpitude in actions they regarded was the designs of nature, while the latter, by their over-strained notions of delicacy, renderthemselves, in some degree at least, obnoxious to the charge that, inproportion as manners becomes corrupt, language becomes moreguarded, --modesty, when banished from the heart, taking refuge on thelips. 

To supply, to some extent, this lacuna in our popular literature hasbeen the object of the present work, in which, it is hoped, may be foundmuch curious and interesting physiological information, interspersedwith _recherché_ and festivous anecdotes. 

The text is illustrated by a few plates, drawn from antiquarian sources. 

J. D. 

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

NOTE. --_As it was found impossible always to insert the illustrationsopposite the explanatory text, the following List will assist the readerto those pages which explain the objects represented_:--

 Plate Described on page

 FRONTISPIECE, INSCRIBED VOTIVE COLUMNS Facing title Of small size and of great antiquity; in use amongst the Oscan people, who were finally subjugated by the Sabines. 

 I. _Figure_ 1, EGYPTIAN PHALLUS 1, 2, 3 From "Recueil d'Antiquités Egyptiennes, &c. , par le Comte de Caylus. "

 " 2, DO. , different view 1, 2, 3

 " 3, Two views of a double figure 1, 2, 3

 " 4, ROMAN PRIAPUS over a baker's door at Pompeii 11 From "Musée secret de Naples. "

 II. _Figure_ 1, LINGHAM 1, 2, 3

 From M. Sonnerat's "Voyage aux Indes Orientales. "

 " 2, PAN'S HEAD 9, 10

 From the Collection of Antiquities at Pompeii, _vide_ "Musée secret de Naples. "

 III. _Figure_ 1, LEADEN PHALLUS 5 From the "Forgeais Collection of Plombs Historiques. "

 " 2, DITTO, a different view 5

 " 3, DITTO ditto 5

 " 4, DITTO ditto 5

 IV. _Figure_ 1, ROUND TOWER 5, 6, 7 From O'Brien's "History of the Round Towers of Ireland. "

 " 2, THREE-HEADED OSIRIS 7, 8, 9 From the Comte de Caylus' "Recueil d'Antiquités Egyptiennes, " &c. 

 V. _Figure_ 1, CROSS 12, 13, 14

 From Higgin's "Anacalypsis. "

 " 2, Another example 12, 13, 14 From the same work. 

 " 3, Another example 12, 13, 14 From the same work. 

 " 4, Another example 12, 13, 14 From the same work. 

 VI. _Figure_ 1, EX VOTO, in silver 18, 19, 20 From the British Museum copy of R. Payne Knight's "History of the Worship of Priapus. "

 " 2, DUDAÏM or MANDRAKE 67, 70, 71, 74

 From Dr. Kitto's "Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature. "

 VII. _Figure_ 1, FIBULA 142, 3 From Holyday's "Juvenal. "

 " 2, Another example of a different construction 142, 3

 CONTENTS. 

 ESSAY I. 

 Page ANCIENT PHALLIC WORSHIP:

 Phallic Worship the most ancient and general 1-2

 Phallic Worship found to exist in America 2

 Indian Trimourti or Trinity 3

 Lingham 3

 Yoni or Cteis, and Pulleiar 4

 Taly, Anecdote of the 4

 Leaden Phalli found in the river Rhône 5

 Round Towers in Ireland--Phallic temples 6

 The May-Pole a relic of phallic worship 6

 Phallus held in reverence by the Jews--King David 6

 Le prerogativi de' Testicoli (note) 6

 An Egyptian Phallic Oath 8

 Ancient Welsh Phallic Law 8

 London Costermongers' Oath "By my taters" 9

 Bembo (Cardinal), his saying (note) 10

 Priapus, derivation of the word 10

 Priapus, how reverenced by Roman women 10

 Priapus, decline of his worship 11

 The Cross [Symbol: Tau] known to the Buddhists and the Lama of Thibet 12

 Cross (the) regarded by the Ancients as the emblem of fruitfulness 12

 Rev. Mr. Maurice quoted 12

 The Tau, Crux-Ansata, or triple Phallus 14

 Remains of Phallic Worship in Europe 14

 Lampsacus, the Birth-place of the deity Priapus (note) 14

 Saint Foutin 14

 The Phallus of Foutin at Embrun--the holy vinegar 16

 Curious Phallic Customs 16-17

 Godfrey de Bouillon and the Holy prepuce 18

 Il santo-membro 18

 Sir W. Hamilton's account of the Worship paid to Saints Cosmo and Damianus 18

 _Ex votos_ 18

 ESSAY II. 

 ANAPHRODISIA, OR ABSENCE OF THE PRODUCTIVE POWER:

 Impotency, three kinds of, according to the Canon Law 21

 Impotency, Causes of, proper to Men 21

 Impotency, Causes of, proper to Women 21

 Sterility and its Causes 21

 Morgagni quoted 21

 Clitoris, its length sometimes prevents the sexual union--case quoted by Sir Everard Home 24-25

 Columbus, Martial, Haller, Juvenal, and Ariosto quoted 25-26

 Impotency, Moral Causes of 28-29

 Montaigne's Advice 32

 Impotency caused by too great warmth of Clothing--Hunter's Opinion 33

 Point-Tying--Voltaire's Pucelle d'Orléans quoted 35

 Point-Tying known to the Ancients--instances quoted 37-38

 Point-Tying among the Moderns recognised by James I. 40

 Counter-Charm to Point-Tying 41

 Agreeable Mode of curing such Enchantment 42

 Case of Point-Tying related by Venette 43

 Montaigne's curious Story 44

 Judicial Congress in Cases of alleged Impotency 47

 Manner of conducting the Congress 48

 Judicial Congress originated with the Church 52

 Judicial Congress practised in France during the 16th and 17th Centuries--Forbidden in 1677 52

 Boileau quoted 55-56

 Cases determined by the Judicial Congress 54-58

 Willick, Dr. , his Remarks and Advice upon the Sexual Intercourse 58-63

 ESSAY III. 

 APHRODISIACS AND ANTI-APHRODISIACS:

 The Mandrake or Dudaïm the most ancient aphrodisiac 66

 Rachel and Leah 66

 Solomon's Song 67

 Pliny the Elder quoted 68

 Sappho's love for Phaon accounted for 66

 Superstitious ideas respecting the mandrake during the Middle Ages 69

 The Knights Templars accused of adoring it 69

 Mandrake, Weir's description of it 70

 Mandrake under the name of Mandragora used as a charm 70

 Macchiavelli's Comedy of La Mandragora and Voltaire's account of it 71

 Love potions, Venetian law against them 72

 Richard III. Accuses Lady Grey of witchcraft 72

 Maundrell's account of the Dudaïm 73

 Singular Aphrodisiac used by the Amazons 75

 Philters, or love potions used by the ancients 75

 Hippomanes, wonderful powers of, as an aphrodisiac 79

 Recipes for love-potions 80

 Fish an aphrodisiac--Hecquet's anecdote 86

 Mollusca, truffles and mushrooms used as aphrodisiacal 88

 George IV. 's appreciation of truffles (note) 88

 Effect of truffles described by a lady 89

 Latin epigram on the vices of the monks 90

 _Naïveté_ of a monk on the score of adultery 91

 Curious Quatrain in the Church of St. Hyacinth 91

 Madame Du Barri's secret 93

 Do. , Do. , description of (note) 93

 Tablettes de _Magnanimité_--Poudre de joie--Seraglio Pastilles 94

 Musk, Cantharides--effects of the latter 96

 Cardinal Dubois' Account of a Love-Potion 98

 Caricature upon Dubois (note) 98

 Indian Bang 104

 Stimulating Powers of Odours 106

 Cabanis quoted 107

 D'Obsonville quoted 108

 Portable Gold--Shakespeare quoted 109-110

 Bouchard's Account of Aphrodisiacal Charms 111

 Flagellation--Graham's Celestial Bed--Lady Hamilton--Lord Nelson, &c. 121-126

 Burton quoted 126

 ANTI-APHRODISIACS:

 Refrigerants--Recommendation of Plato and Aristotle 128-129

 Sir Thos. Brown quoted 130

 Origen 130

 Camphor an anti-aphrodisiac 134

 Coffee an anti-aphrodisiac--Abernethey's saying (note) 137

 Infibulation, Holyday quoted 141-144

 Bernasco Padlocks 144

 Voltaire's poem of the Cadenas 146

 Rabelais' anti-aphrodisiacal remedies 147-154

[Illustration: PLATE I. , EGYPTIAN PHALLI. AND Pompeian House--sign. ]

ESSAY I. 

REMARKS UPON THE SYMBOLS OF THEREPRODUCTIVE POWERS. 

From the investigations and researches of the learned, there appears tobe no doubt but that the most ancient of all superstitions was that inwhich Nature was contemplated chiefly under the attribute or property offecundity; the symbols of the reproductive power being those under whichits prolific potencies were exhibited. It is not because modernfastidiousness affects to consider those symbols as indecent, and evenobscene, that we should therefore suppose them to have been so regardedby the ancients: on the contrary, the view of them awakened no impureideas in the minds of the latter, being regarded by them as the mostsacred objects of worship. The ancients, indeed, did not look upon thepleasures of love with the same eye as the moderns do; the tender unionof the sexes excited their veneration, because religion appeared toconsecrate it, inasmuch as their mythology presented to them all Olympusas more occupied with amatory delights than with the government of theuniverse. 

The reflecting men of those times, more simple, but, it must beconfessed, more profound, than those of our own day, could not see anymoral turpitude in actions regarded by them as the design of nature, andas the acme of felicity. For this reason it is that we find not onlyancient writers expressing themselves freely upon subjects regarded byus as indecent, but even sculptors and painters equally unrestrained inthis particular. 

The statesman took advantage of these religious impressions: whatevertended to increase population being held in honour. Those images andPriapi so frequently found in the temples of the ancients, and even intheir houses, and which we consider as objects of indecent lewdness, were, in their eyes, but so many sacred motives exciting them topropagate their species. 

In order to represent by a physical object the reproductive power of thesun in spring-time, as well as the action of that power on all sentientbeings, the ancients adopted that symbol of the male gender which theGreeks, who derive it from the Egyptians, called--Phallus. [1] Thisworship was so general as to have spread itself over a large portion ofthe habitable globe, for it flourished for many ages in Egypt and Syria, Persia, Asia Minor, Greece and Italy: it was, and still is, in vigour inIndia and many parts of Africa, and was even found in America on itsdiscovery by the Spaniards. Thus Garcilaso de la Vega informs us[2]that, in the public squares of Panuco (a Mexican town), _bas-reliefs_were found which, like those of India, represented, in various ways thesexual union; while at Tlascala, another town of that country, thereproductive act was worshipped under the joint symbol of the generativeorgans, male and female. 

A more surprising fact is, that this worship has, as will be shewnhereafter, been perpetuated to a very late date, among the Christians ofEurope. 

In its origin, the Phallus or emblem of the generative and procreativepowers of nature appears to have been of a very simple and inoffensivecharacter--although it was afterwards made subservient to the grossestand most superstitious purposes. 

In India this worship is everywhere to be found accompanying the triuneGod, called by the Hindoos, _Trimourti_ or _Trinity_, and thesignificant form of the single obelisk or pillar called the _Linga_ or_Lingham_;[3] and it should be observed, in justice to the Hindoos thatit is some comparative and negative praise to them, that this emblem, under which they express the éléments and operations of nature is notexternally indecorous. Unlike the abominable realities of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, we see this Indian phallic emblem in the Hindoo religiousexhibitions, without offence, nor know, until information be extorted, that we are contemplating a symbol whose prototype is obscene. [4]

[Illustration: PLATE II. , Fig 1. Lingham, Fig 2. Pan's head. ]

Besides the Lingham, the equally significant _Yoni_ or _Cteis_ is to beseen, being the female organ of generation. It is sometimes single, often in conjunction, for the Indians, believing that the emblem offecundity might be rendered more energetic by combining the organs ofboth sexes, did so unite them, giving to this double symbol the name of_Pulleiar_, confounded by some writers with the Lingham itself. Thispulleiar is highly venerated by the sectarian worshippers of Siva (thethird god of the Trimourti), who hang it round their neck, as a charm oramulet, or enclosing it in a small box, fasten it upon their arm. TheIndians have also a little jewel called _taly_, worn, in like manner, byfemales round their necks as a charm. It is presented to them on theirwedding day by their husbands, who receive it from the hands of theBrahmins. Upon these jewels is engraved the representation, either ofthe Lingham or of the Pulleiar. The following anecdote connected withthis custom is given by M. Sonnerat. [5]

 "A Capuchin missionary had a serious dispute with the Jesuits residing at Pondicherry, which was referred for decision to the judicial courts. The disciples of Loyola, who can be toleration itself when toleration furthers their crafty and ambitious views, had declined all interference with the above custom. M. Tournon, the Pope's legate apostolic, who regarded the matter as one not to be trifled with, and with whom, moreover, the Jesuits were no favourites, strictly prohibited the _taly_, enjoining all female converts to substitute in its place either a cross or a medal of the Virgin. The Indian women, strongly attached to their ancient customs, refused obedience. The missionaries, apprehensive of losing the fruits of their zealous labours, and seeing the number of their neophytes daily diminishing, entered into a compromise by adopting a _mezzo-termine_ with the females in question, and it was agreed that a Cross should be engraved upon the _taly_, an arrangement by which the symbol of Christian salvation was coupled with that of the male and female _pudenda_. "

The deep and enthusiastic veneration felt by the Hindoos for thisworship is naturally explained by their intense anxiety and desire forhaving children who might perform those ceremonies to their _manes_which they firmly and piously believe will have the effect of mitigatingtheir punishment in the world to come. They worship the _Lingham_, therefore, for the sake of having progeny, and husbands, whose wives arebarren, send them to adore that symbol, and, if report be true, theladies take especial care not to disappoint the wish of their dearspouses. 

It is probable that the introduction of this worship is due to theIndians who founded the sect of Siva, imagining, as they no doubt did, that the most effectual means of propagating it would be by presentingtheir deity under the form of that organ by which the reproduction ofthe human race is effected. 

Nothing can be a greater proof of the high antiquity of the Indians thanthis worship, it being certain that the Egyptians did not establish it, as well as the dogma of the Metempsychosis, among themselves, untilafter they had travelled in India. 

Phalli, usually in lead, have been even found in the river Rhône. Thesewere most likely the signs and tokens belonging to some secret societyprobably of a licentious character. Similar ones are in the _Forgeais_collection, and were engraved in the _Plombs Historiés_ of thatantiquarian. [6]

[Illustration: PLATE III. , Figs. 1-4, PHALLUS EMBLEM, found in theRhône, From the Forgeais Collection. ]

According to an ingenious writer, [7] who is of opinion that the Indianssent, at a very remote period, colonists to Ireland, the round towers, so numerous in that island, are no other than ancient Phallic templeserected in honour of the fructifying power of nature emanating, as itwas supposed to do, from the sun, under the name of Sol, Phœbus, Apollo, Abad, or Budh. [8]

Alluding to these towers, Mr O'Brien observes, "the eastern votaries, suiting the action to the idea, and that their vivid imaginations mightbe still more enlivened by the very _form_ of the _temple_, actuallyconstructed its architecture after the model of the _membrum virile_, which, obscenity apart, is the divinity-formed and indispensable mediumselected by God himself for human propagation and sexual prolificacy. "There is every reason to believe that our _May-pole_ is a relic of theancient Phallic worship. 

[Illustration: PLATE IV. , Fig. 1. ROUND TOWER AT KLONDALKIN, IRELAND. , Fig. 2. THREE HEADED OSIRIS. ]

The manners of the ancient Hebrews seem to have differed little, if atall, in this respect, from those of the nations surrounding them: thus, David, dancing with all his might before the ark, lifted up his ephodand exhibited his nakedness to "the eyes of the handmaids of hisservants. " No blame is attached to the king for such gross indecencyduring a public and religious ceremony; while Michal, his wife, waspunished with barrenness, for expressing her disapprobation of hisconduct. [9]

This example attests the great respect entertained by the Hebrews forthe organs of generation;[10] but we have a further proof of thisreverence for them in the fact that, when taking a solemn oath, theyplaced their hand upon them in token of its inviolability: When Abraham, addressing "his oldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that hehad, " is made to say, "Put I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and Iwill make thee swear, by the Lord, the God of Heaven, and the God of theearth that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son, of the daughters ofthe Canaanites:"[11] and when Jacob, at the point of death, called hisson Joseph, and said unto him, "If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and trulywith me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt, "[12] the Hebrew text hasbeen incorrectly translated in both these instances; for, according tolearned commentators, it is not the _thigh_, but the _phallus_ that ismeant; such tact having, in the opinion of the Rabbins, been introducedfor the purpose of doing honour to circumcision. 

This custom obtains in Egypt, even in our own day, for many travellersassert that the Arabs, when desirous of saluting or making a promisewith great solemnity, place their hand upon the part in question. A casein point is related in a letter of the Adjutant-General Julian to amember of the Institute of Egypt. [13] An Egyptian, who had been arrestedas a spy, and brought before the general, finding that all hisasservations of innocence could not be understood "leva sa chemisebleue, et prenant son phallus à la poignée, resta un moment dansl'attitude théatrale d'un dieu jurant par le Styx. Sa physionomiesemblait me dire: _Après la serment terrible que je fais pour vousprouver mon innocence, osez-vous en douter?_ Son geste me rappela que dutems d'Abraham on jurait vérité en portant la main aux organes de lagénération. " The vast antiquity of this custom among the ancientEgyptians is proved by figure 2, Plate IV. This figure, which is copiedfrom Caylus, Vol. VI. , Plate I. , figure 4, represents Osiris graspinghis phallus while taking an oath. 

A custom greatly resembling this manner of swearing existed also in thenorth of Europe, as is proved by an ancient law still extant: thus, oneof the articles of the Welsh laws enacted by _Hoel the Good_, providesthat, in cases of rape, if the woman wishes to prosecute the offender, she must, when swearing to the identity of the criminal, lay her righthand upon the relics of the saints and grasp with her left one, thepeccant member of the party accused. [14]

It may be mentioned, _en passant_, that the low Irish in Dublin, and theLondon costermongers, often make use of an expression which, whetherconnected or not with the custom above noted, offers for ourconsideration a curious coincidence at least. If extra force is toaccompany an assertion, it is very common for the vulgar to say inconclusion: "_S'elp my taters!_" or "_So help me_ TESTES"--equal tosaying, "_I swear by my member_. " That the word "taters" is a corruptionof, and vulgarism for, "_testes_" we see very readily in the expression"_strain my taters_"--_i. E. _, to pass urine or make water. 

The Greeks had consecrated the same symbols of universal fecundity intheir mysteries, the phallus and the cteis being publicly exhibited inthe sanctuary of Eleusis. The _membrum virile_ or _active_ principle ofgeneration was carried to the temple of Bacchus and there crowned with agarland by one of the most respectable matrons of the town or city. TheEgyptian Osiris, and the female _pudenda_, or symbol of the _passive_principle of generation were, in like manner, carried in procession tothe temple of Libera or Proserpine. 

The worship of Priapus among the Romans was derived from the Egyptians, who, under the form of Apis, the sacred Bull, worshipped the generativepower of nature; and, as the syllable _pri_ or _pre_ signifies, in theOriental tongue, _principle_, production, or natural or original source, the word _Priapus_ may be translated _principle of production_ or of_fecundation of Apis_. The same symbol also bore among the Romans thenames of _Tutunus_, _Mutinus_, and _Fascinum_. Among the many placeswhere this divinity was worshipped, Lampsacus, [15] in Asia Minor, wasthe most noted on account of the obscene rites there practised. ThePriapi were of different forms; some having only a human head and thePhallus; some with the head of Pan or of a faun--that is, with the headand ears of a goat. [16] Others, with their indecent attribute, wereplaced in the public roads, and were then confounded with the divinities_Mercury_ and _Terminus_, who presided over boundaries. Scaliger saysthat he saw at Rome, in the palace of a cardinal, [17] a similar statue, whose phallus had served as a sign post. [18] All the human part of thesePriapi were invariably painted red. [19]

When furnished with arms, which he was when representing Terminus, Priapus held in one hand a reaping hook, and, like Osiris, grasped withthe other the characteristic feature of his divinity, which was alwaysof a monstrous size and in a state of energy. 

In the towns, Priapus had public chapels, whither such devotees as weresuffering from maladies connected with his attributes repaired for thepurpose of offering to him _ex-votos_ representing the parts afflicted;these ex-votos being sometimes paintings and, at others, little figuresmade of wax or of wood, and occasionally, even of marble. 

Females as superstitious, as they were lascivious, might be seenoffering in public to Priapus, as many garlands as they had had lovers. These they would hang upon the enormous phallus of the idol, which wasoften hidden from sight by the number suspended by only one woman. 

Others offered to the god as many phalli, made of the wood of the willowtree, as they had vanquished men in a single night. 

St. Augustine informs us that it was considered by the Roman ladies as avery proper and pious custom to require young brides to seat themselvesupon the monstrous and obscene member of Priapus: and Lactantius says, "Shall I speak of that _Mutinus_, upon the extremity of which brides areaccustomed to seat themselves in order that the god may appear to havebeen the first to receive the sacrifice of their modesty?"[20]

These facts prove that the worship of Priapus had greatly degeneratedwith the Romans, since, losing sight altogether of the object typified, they attach themselves to the symbol alone, in which they could see onlywhat was indecent; and hence religion became a pretext forlibertinism. [21]

Respected so long as the Roman manners preserved their pristinesimplicity, but degraded[22] and vilified in proportion as the morals ofthat people became corrupted, the very sanctuary itself of Priapusfailed to protect him from obloquy and ridicule. Christian writers addedtheir indignant invectives to the biting sarcasms of the poets, and theworship of Priapus would have been annihilated had not superstition andthe force of habit, that most indestructible of all human affections, come to the rescue. These two powerful levers of mankind triumphed overreason and Christianity, and succeeded, notwithstanding the strenuousand continued efforts of the latter, in maintaining in some degree theworship of that filthy deity; for the Christian priests, while opposing_à l'outrance_, the superstitions and impure practices already advertedto, did not so do, as regarded the other customs equally repugnant todecency and true religion. Less austere to these, and consulting theirown interests, they turned to their profit the ancient worshipestablished by the Romans and strengthened by habit: they appropriatedto themselves what they could not destroy, and, in order to attract totheir side the votaries of Priapus, they made a Christian of him. 

But besides the Lingham of the Indians, the Phallus of the Greeks, andthe Priapus of the Romans, the Cross ([Symbol: Tau]), although generallythought to be exclusively emblematical of eternal life, has also anaccount of its fancied similarity to the _membrum virile_, beenconsidered by many as typical of the reproductive powers of nature. Itwas known as such to the Indians, being as common in their country as inEgypt or in Europe. [23] "Let not the piety of the Catholic Christian, "says the Rev. Mr. Maurice, "be offended at the preceding assertion thatthe Cross was one of the most usual symbols among the hieroglyphics ofEgypt and India. Equally honoured in the Gentile and the world, thisChristian emblem of universal nature, of that world to whose fourcorners its diverging radii pointed, decorated the hands of most of thesculptured images in the former country (Egypt), and the latter (India)stamped its form upon the most majestic of the shrines of theirdeities. "

[Illustration: PLATE V. , Figs. 1-3, THREE HEADED OSIRIS. ]

It is well known that the cross was regarded by the ancient Egyptians asthe emblem of fruitfulness. Thus the Rev. Mr. Maurice describes astatue bearing a kind, of cross in its hand as the symbol of fertility, or, in other words, of the procreative and generative powers. [24] Thecross [Symbol: Tau] so common upon Egyptian monuments was known to theBuddhists and to the Lama of Thibet 700 years before Christ. The Lamatakes his name from the _Lamah_, which is an object of profoundveneration with his followers: "Cequi est remarquable, " says M. Avril, "c'est que le grand prêtre des Tartares porte le nom de Lama, qui, enlangue Tartare, désigne _la Croix_, et les Bogdoi qui conquirent laChine en 1664, et qui sont soumis au Dulai-Lama dans les choses de lareligion, ont toujours des croix sur eux, qu'ils appalent _lamas_. "[25]

The letter _Tau_ [Symbol: Tau], being the last one of the ancientalphabets, was made to typify, not only the end, boundary, or terminusof districts, but also the generative power of the eternaltransmigratory life, and was used indiscriminately with the Phallus; itwas, in fact, the Phallus. [26] Speaking of this emblem, Payne Knightobserves: "One of the most remarkable of those symbols of generation isa cross in the form of the letter [Symbol: Tau], which thus served asthe emblem of _creation_ and _generation_ before the church adopted itas the sign of salvation, a lucky coincidence of ideas which, withoutdoubt, facilitated the reception of it among the faithful. "[27] Andagain, "the male organs of generation are sometimes represented by signsof the same sort, which might properly be called symbols of symbols. Oneof the most remarkable of these is the Cross in the form of the letter[Symbol: Tau], which thus served as the emblem of creation andgeneration. "[28]

The famous _Crux ansata_[29] which may be seen on all the monuments ofEgypt is what is alluded to by the Prophet Ezekiel, [30] and is affirmedby the learned L. A. Crozius to be nothing else than the triple Phallusmentioned by Plutarch. [31]

We shall now proceed to notice a few of the traces of the phallicworship as were still to be found lingering in some parts of Europe solate as the 18th century, a tenacity of existence by no means surprisingif it be considered that of all the human affections none is moredangerous to oppose, none more difficult to eradicate, than habit. Accordingly it will be found that the above superstition has maintaineditself in countries where Christianity was already established, andthat, bidding defiance to the severe precepts of that pure faith, itsuccessfully resisted for at least seventeen centuries every effort madeto extirpate it by the Christian clergy backed by the civil power. Itstriumph was, however, by no means complete, for this worship wasconstrained to yield to circumstances and to use a disguise by adoptingthe forms and designations peculiar to Christianity, a mask which on theother hand, favoured not a little, its preservation. 

Hence it was that the names of certain legendary saints were given tothe ancient God of Lampsacus, [32] the said names having some relationeither to the act over which that deity presided, or to his mostprominent attributes. 

The first bishop of Lyon was honoured throughout Provence, Languedoc, and the Lyonnais as a saint, and as his name happened to be Pothin, Photin, or Fotin, commonly pronounced by the low orders _Foutin_, thesepeople, who are very apt to judge of the nature of things by the soundof the words by which they are designated, thought St. Foutin worthy ofreplacing Saint Priapus, and accordingly conferred upon him theprerogatives of his predecessor. 

Saint _Foutin de Varailles_ had particular reverence paid to him inProvence, nor is this to be wondered at, since the power was attributedto him of rendering barren women fruitful, stimulating flagginghusbands, and curing their secret maladies. It was consequently thecustom to lay upon his altar, as was formerly done on that of the godPriapus, small votive offerings, made of wax, and representing the weakor otherwise afflicted parts. Sanci says, "To this saint are offeredwaxen models of the _pudenda_ of both sexes. They are strewn in greatnumbers over the floor of the chapel, and should a gust of wind causethem to rustle against one another, it occasioned a serious interruptionto the devotions paid to the saint. I was very much scandalized, "continues he, "when, passing through the town, I found the name of_Foutin_ very common among the men. My landlord's daughter had forgodmother a young lady whose name was _Foutine_. "

The same saint was similarly honoured at Embrun. When the Protestantstook that town in 1585, they found, among the relics of the principalchurch, the _Phallus_ of St. Foutin. The devotees of that town, inimitation of pagan ones, made libations to this obscene idol. Theypoured wine over the extremity of the Phallus, which was dyed red by it. This wine being afterwards collected and allowed to turn sour, wascalled _the holy vinegar_, and, according to the author from whom thisaccount is taken, [33] was applied by women to a most extraordinarypurpose; but what that purpose was we are not informed, and thereforecan only guess it. 

At Orange there was also a phallus much venerated by the inhabitants ofthat town. Larger than the one at Embrun, it was, moreover, covered withleather, and furnished with its appendages. When, in 1562, theprotestants destroyed the church of St. Eutropius, in this town, theyseized the enormous Phallus and burned it in the market place. SimilarPhalli were to be found at Poligny, Vendre in the Bourbonnais, and atAuxerre. 

The inhabitants of Puy-en-Velay even to this day speak of their St. _Foustin_ who, in times not far remote from our own, was invoked bybarren women who, under the idea of giving greater efficacy to theirprayers, scraped the phallus of the saint, and, mixing the particles soabraded in water, devoutly swallowed them, in the hope of thereby beingrendered fruitful. 

It is no doubt to one of these phallic saints that Count de Gebelinrefers when, speaking of the goat _Mendés_, he says: "I have readsomewhere that in the south of France there existed not long ago acustom resembling the one mentioned; the women of that part of thecountry devoutly frequented a temple containing a statue of the saint, and which statue they embraced, expecting that their barrenness would beremoved by the operation. "[34]

In the neighbourhood of Brest stood the chapel of the famous SaintGuignole, or Guingalais, whose Phallic symbol consisted of a long woodenbeam which passed right through the body of the saint, and the fore-partof which was strikingly characteristic. The devotees of this place, likethose of Puy-en-Velay, most devoutly rasped the extremity of thismiraculous symbol for the purpose of drinking the scrapings mixed withwater as an antidote against sterility, and when by the frequentrepetition of this operation, the beam was worn away, a blow with amallet in the rear of the saint propelled it immediately in front. Thus, although it was being continually scraped, it appeared never todiminish, a miracle due exclusively to the mallet. 

Antwerp was the Lampsacus of Belgium, Priapus being the tutelary god ofthat city. _Ters_ was the name given to him by the inhabitants who heldthis divinity in the greatest veneration. Females were accustomed toinvoke him on the most trivial occasions, a custom which Goropiusinforms us continued as late as the 16th century. [35]

So inveterate was this superstition that Godefrey de Bouillon, marquisof that city, the illustrious leader of the first crusade, in order toeradicate it, or to replace it by the ceremonies of the Christianchurch, sent to Antwerp, from Jerusalem, as a present of inestimablevalue, the _foreskin of Jesus Christ_. [36] This precious relic, however, found but little favour with the Belgian ladies, and utterly failed tosupersede their beloved _Fascinum_. [37]

In the kingdom of Naples, in the town of Trani, the capital of theprovince of that name, there was carried in procession, during theCarnival, an old wooden statue representing an entire Priapus, in theancient proportions; that is to say, that the distinguishingcharacteristic of that god was very disproportioned to the rest of theidol's body, reaching, as it did, to the height of his chin. The peoplecalled this figure _il Santo Membro_, the holy member. This ancientceremony, evidently a remains of the feasts of Bacchus, called by theGreeks _Dyonysiacs_, and by the Romans _Liberalia_, existed as late asthe commencement of the 18th century, when it was abolished by JosephDavanzati, archbishop of that town. 

Sir W. Hamilton's account of the worship paid to St. Cosmo and St. Damianus is very curious. "On the 27th September, at Isernia, one of themost ancient cities of the kingdom of Naples, situated in the provincecalled the Contado di Molise, and adjoining the Aruzzo, an annual fairis held which lasts three days. On one of the days of the fair therelics of Sts. Cosmo and Damianus are exposed. In the city and at thefair, _ex-votos_ of wax representing the male parts of generation, ofvarious dimensions, sometimes even of the length of a palm, are publiclyexposed for sale. There was also waxen vows that represent other partsof the body mixed with them, but of those there are few in comparison ofthe number of the Priapi. "

[Illustration: PLATE VI. , Fig. 1, SILVER EX VOTO, Fig. 2. DUDAIM. ]

The distributors of these vows carry a basket full of them in one hand, and hold a plate in the other, to receive the money, crying out, "SaintsCosmo and Damianus!" If you ask the price of one, the answer is, "_piùci metti, più meriti_;" the more you give, the more the merit. The vowsare chiefly presented by the female sex, and they are seldom such asrepresent legs, arms, &c. , but most commonly the male parts ofgeneration. The person who was at the _féte_, in the year 1780, and whogave me this account (the authenticity of which has since been confirmedto me by the governer of Isernia) told me also that he heard a womansay, at the time she presented a vow, "_Santo Cosmo, benedetto, cosi lovoglio_. " Blessed St. Cosmo, "let it be like this!" The vow is neverpresented without being accompanied by a piece of money, and is alwayskissed by the devotee at the moment of presentation. [38]

But, as might naturally be expected, this does not suffice to fructifybarren women; and consequently another ceremony, one which is doubtlessmore efficacious, was required. 

The parties who resort to this fair, slept for two nights, some in thechurch of the Capuchian friars and the others in that of the Cordeliers, and when these two churchs were found to be insufficient to contain thewhole of such devotees, the church of the Hermitage of St. Cosmoreceived the surplus. 

In the three edifices, the women were during the two nights, separatedfrom the men, the latter lying under the vestibule, and the women, inthe church, these, whether in the church of the Capuchins or in that ofthe Cordeliers, were under the protection of the Father guardian, thevicar, and a monk of merit. In the hermitage, it was the hermit himselfwho watched over them. 

From this it may easily be imagined how the miracle was effected withouttroubling Saint Cosmo and Saint Damianus at all, in the matter, as wellas that the virtue, possessed by those two saints was extended even toyoung maidens and widows. 

Essay II. 

ANAPHRODISIA; OR, ABSENCE OF THE REPRODUCTIVEPOWER. 

A description of the symbols under which the _reproductive power_ wasanciently worshipped, having been given in the preceding Essay, thepresent one will contain some account of the _negation_ or _absence_ ofthat faculty, whether total or partial, as known under the names of_Impotency_ and _Sterility_. 

Potency or power, as regards the generative act, may be defined as--theaptitude or ability to beget; and Impotency, the negation or absence ofsuch power. 

The canon law distinguished three kinds of impotency--viz. , that whichproceeds from frigidity; that which is caused by sorcery (ligature orpoint-tying), and that which proceeding from some defect of conformationis properly designated as _impotentia coeundi_. The different lends ofimpotency may be thus classed--1. Those which are proper to men; 2. Those proper to women, and 3. Those common to both sexes. 

The causes of impotency proper to man are natural frigidity; defect ofconformation, and accident. 

The causes of impotency proper to women are all such obstacles as arise_ex clausurâ uteri aut nimia arctitudine_. 

The causes common both to men and women are the defect of puberty andimperfect conformation. [39]

Impotency may also be divided into natural and accidental; the formerbeing that which a person is born with, or which proceeds _ex vitionaturalis temperamenti vel partium genitalium_; and the latter thatwhich arises from some accident, as _ex casu vel morbo_. [40]

Another definition of impotency in man is the _non posse seminare invase idoneo_; three things being considered as indispensable to his dueperformance of the generative act. --_Ut arriget_ or erection; 2, _Ut vasfœmineum resaret_, or intromission, and 3, _Ut in vase seminat_, oremission. 

Sterility must not be confounded with impotency. Many women are barren, but very few are impotent; while, on the contrary, many men are impotentwho ought not, on that account, to be regarded as barren. In either seximpotency is present when from whatever cause an individual cannotconcur in the sexual contact. Sterility exists when the contact, afterhaving been regularly accomplished, is followed by no productive result. 

With the exception of those pathological cases in which deformities aresometimes, but very rarely, met with, it may be affirmed that woman isnever impotent, for her organization opposes it. Radical impotence, infact, results in the female from the complete absence, or the occlusionsimply, of the vagina. Now, these cases are extremely rare, and maythere fore be considered as exceptions or as real monstrosities. 

As the causes of sterility in women are numerous and of various kinds, we shall briefly enumerate them. 

The absence of ovaries or their deceased state are the radical cause ofsterility. These causes may be suspected but not cured. When there is nouterus, still fecundation and pregnancy are not impossible, sinceextra-uterine pregnancies are occasionally observed, that is to say, cases in which the product of conception has escaped the uterus, endproceeded to establish itself in some point of the lower belly. Neitheris the vagina indispensable, for cases are cited of the contraction ofthis organ accompanied by the rectovaginal fistula, in which fecundationis effected, although the fecundating fluid had been confined to therectum. 

Female masturbation is another rife cause of barrenness in women. If itbe true that the number of eggs is limited, and that there are not morethan from 15 to 20 in each ovary, it is evident that sterility mustensue when these 15 or 20 eggs have been detached without fecundation. If, on the contrary, new eggs are continually secreted by the ovaries, it is equally evident that the secretory action must, sooner or later, become exhausted by the over excitement caused by the indulgence abovementioned. 

Another very great cause of sterility, and which must be of frequentoccurrence, is found in the obstructed or choked-up state of theFallopian tubes. These passages, which establish the communicationbetween the ovary and the uterus, may be obstructed by inflammation, either acute or chronic, to which they must be subject in all diseasesto the abdomen, as well as by frequent excitement. 

Morgagni speaks of certain women of the town, with whom the Fallopiantubes were completely obliterated by the thickening of the parietes orsides, an evident consequence of the continual orgasm in which they werekept by immoderate indulgence in coition. 

The absence of menstruation almost always induces barrenness. Cases are, notwithstanding, reported in which women have their menses duringpregnancy, but these are exceptions which so far from invalidating therule, confirm it. 

Polypi, or the developement of fibrous bodies in the uterus, present anequal obstacle to fecundation, their presence having the effect ofperverting the physiological functions of the uterus, nor does theirremoval always cause sterility to disappear. 

Impotency in women can only result from the absence of the vagina, orfrom its excessive narrowness which does not allow of the approach ofthe male, although instances have occured of fecundation being effectedwithout the introduction of the male organ. Thus cases have been foundof women who have been fecundated, and have even arrived at the term ofpregnancy, having been obliged to submit to a surgical operation for theremoval of the Hymen, which membrane had not been broken in the actswhich had nevertheless effected the fecundation. Lastly, the excessivelength, when it does exist, of the clitoris, also opposes the conjugalact, by the difficulty it presents to the introduction of thefecundating organ; the only remedy to employed in this case consists inamputation, an operation which has been frequently performed. The organin question is known to resemble, in a very great degree, the virilemember, both in external form and internal structure, to be susceptibleof erection and relaxation and endowned with exquisite sensibility. Ithas been seen equal to the penis in volume. A remarkable instance isgiven by Home. [41] It occured in a negress who was purchased by GeneralMelville, in the island of Dominica, in the West Indies, about the year1744. She was of the Mandango nation, 24 years of age, her breasts werevery flat, she had a rough voice, and a masculine countenance. Theclitoris was two inches long, and in thickness resembled a common sizedthumb, when viewed at same distance the end appeared round and of a redcolour, but upon closer examination was found to be more pointed thanthat of a penis, and having neither prepuce nor perforation; whenhandled it became half erected, and was in that state fully three incheslong and much thicker than before: when she voided her urine she wasobliged to lift it up, as it completely covered the orifice of theurethra. The other parts of the female organs were found to be in anatural state. Columbus quotes the existence of a woman who had aclitoris as long as the little finger. Haller speaks of another in whomthis organ was seven inches in length. Some have even been said to be ofthe monstrous length of twelve inches. These are the enormous dimensionswhich sometimes deceive as to the real character of the sex, and whichhave occasioned a belief in the existence of real hermaphrodites. Womenso formed have also a great disposition to usurp the virile functions;they preserve scarcely anything of their sex except their habits andmanners. Their stature is in general tall, their limbs muscular, theirface masculine, their voice deep, and their deportment bold andmanly--in a word, they completely justify the words of Martial:

 "Mentiturque virum prodigiosa Venus. "[42]

In the case of man's impotency it often happens, on the contrary, that, with organs to all appearance perfectly formed, he is, nevertheless, impotent. 

If the woman be organized for receiving, the man is formed forimparting; now, in the majority, of cases, his impotency is such that, although he seems to be provided with abundant stores he is precludedfrom offering them. 

 ... "Si Coneris, jacet exiguus cum ramice nervus Et quamvis tota palpetur nocte, jacebit. "[43]

Such, in fact, is the great difficulty of those individuals who haveabused their organs and destroyed their sensibility. The erectile tissuewhose turgescence is indispensable, no longer admits into its vascular_plexus_ or network, a quantity of fluid sufficient to give the organthe power of penetrating--_jacet exiguus_--and, although it may besupposed that the seminal glands perform their functions perfectly well, and secrete abundantly the fluid peculiar to them, the copulative organremains paralyzed. This is the impotence which is brought on by old age, and which Ariosto has so forcibly described in the following lines, wherein he relates the futile attempts made upon Angelica by the hermit:

 Egli l'abbraccia, ed a piacer la tocca: Ed ella dorme, e non più fare ischermo: Or le baccia il bel petto, ora la bocca, Non è, ch'l veggia, in quel loco aspro ed ermo. Ma nel incontro, it suo destrier trabocca Che al desio non risponde, it corpo infirmo: ......... ......... ......... Tutte le vie, tutti i modi tenta, _Ma quel pigre rozzo non però salta_ Indarno el fren gli scoute e li tormenta E non può far che tenga la testa alta. [44]

At other times the impotency of the man is independent of the secretionof the fecundating fluid and even of the erection, both of which areregular. In such case it is caused either by the gland not beingproperly perforated, or by a contraction of the urethral canal, whichcontraction arrests the seminal fluid at the moment of expulsion, causing it to flow back towards the bladder, or else intercepting thecontinuous stream and allowing it to run by dribblets only. The formerof these imperfections technically called _Hypospsdiæos_ is a vice ofconformation in which the penis, instead of being perforated at thesummit of the gland, presents its opening at a greater or less distancefrom the gland, at the lower part of the urethra or at the _perinæum_. 

As might be expected, impotency when precocious, influences, in no smalldegree, the moral character. Cabanis knew three men who, in the vigourof age, had suddenly became impotent, although in other respects theywere in good health, much engaged in business, and had but little reasonto be affected by the loss of pleasures in which they indulged but veryrarely and with great moderation, yet their character became gloomy andirascible, and their mental powers appeared to diminish daily. [45] Thecelebrated Ribeiro Sanchez, a pupil of Boerhaave, observes in his"_Traité des maladies Vénériennes chroniques_, " that these diseasesparticularly dispose those subject to them to superstitious terrors. 

Impotency may, however, equally proceed from moral as from physicalcauses. In this case it consists in the total privation of thesensibility peculiar to the reproductive organs. This insensibility isby no means infrequent in persons whose mental powers are continually inaction, as the following case will shew:--

A celebrated mathematician of a very robust constitution, having marrieda young and pretty woman, lived several years with her, but had not thehappiness of becoming a father. Far from being insensible to the charmsof his fair wife, he, on the contrary, felt frequently impelled togratifying his passion, but the conjugal act, complete in every otherrespect, was never crowned by the emission of the seminal fluid. Theinterval of time which occurred between the commencement of his labourof love and the end was always sufficiently long to allow his mind, which had been for a moment abstracted by his pleasure, to be broughtback to the constant objects of his meditation--that is, to geometricalproblems or algebraical formula. At the very moment even of the orgasm, the intellectual powers resumed their empire and all genital sensationvanished. Peirible, his medical adviser, recommended Madame ---- never tosuffer the attentions of her husband until he was _half-seas-over_, thisappearing to him the only practicable means of withdrawing her learnedspouse from influence of the divine Urania and subjecting him moreimmediately to that of the seductive goddess of Paphos. The adviceproved judicious. Monsieur ---- became the father of several fine andhealthy boys and girls, thus furnishing another proof of the truth ofthe maxim, "_Sine Cerere et Baccho friget Venus_. "

But the impotency arising from the predominance of the intellect is theleast formidable of all. The one most to be dreaded is that whichresults from the excessive and premature exercise of the reproductivefunctions, for, as has been well observed, "the too frequent indulgenceof a natural propensity at first increases the concomitant desire andmakes its gratification a part of the periodical circle of action; butby degrees the over excitement of the organs, abating their tone andvitality, unfits them for the discharge of their office, theaccompanying pleasures are blunted, and give place to satiety anddisgust. "[46]

Such unfortunate persons as are the victims of this kind of anaphrodisiabecome old long before their natural time, and have all their generativeapparatus blasted with impotency. Their testicles withered and dried upsecrete nothing but a serous fluid void of all virtue; the erectiletissue no longer admits into its plexus the quantum of blood necessaryfor turgescence, the principal organ of the reproductive act remains ina state of flaccidity, insensible to the reiterated and most stimulatingsolicitations; the muscles destined to favour erection are stricken withparalysis, and the violence of their desires, joined to the want ofpower to gratify them, drives the unhappy victim to acts of the mostrevolting lubricity and thence to despair. 

An instance of this kind occurred in the case of a young man, the son ofan opulent family. He had arrived at puberty, but from the early age often had been accustomed to indulge in indecent familiarities with younggirls, who had gratified him by lascivious manipulations; theconsequence was an entire loss of the erectile power. Travelling beingrecommended, he proceeded to France, where he consulted, but withoutavail, several celebrated physicians. He then went to the waters of Spa, and there his case was attentively and anxiously considered by Van-Hers. 

The sensibility and weakness of the genital member were so great thaton the slightest touch, and without any sensation or desire to sexualintercourse the young man emitted a fluid similar to whey. Thissecretion continued night and day, every time that he made water, orupon the slightest friction of his linen. After various remedies beingproposed, without any beneficial results, Van-Hers considered thedisease as incurable; but, as the patient would not coincide in hisopinion and was very rich, he continued his travels in Italy, France, and Germany, in the hope of recovering his powers of virility. He failednot, as usual, to meet with physicians who, from mercenary motives, heldout to him the most illusory prospects of a perfect cure. At length, after six years passed in travelling and in vain attempts to regain thegenerative faculty, he returned to the candid and able physician fromwhom he had the truth, and whose opinion he was now convinced was buttoo well founded. As may be supposed, Van-Hers perceived no newcircumstance to justify an alteration in his view of the case, and theunfortunate young man returned home, deeply deploring the advantages ofa fortune which had made him the victim of the precocious abuse ofpleasures to which he must now bid adieu for ever. [47] Too great warmthof passion may not only defeat its own object, but also produce atemporary impotency. A lover, after having, with all the ardour ofaffections, longed for the enjoyment of his mistress, finds himself atthe moment of fruition incapable of consummating his happiness. The onlyremedy for this misfortune is to allay the over-excitement and torestrain the exuberance of the imagination. It would be madness topersist in endeavouring to obtain a victory which must be certain, assoon as the heat of the animal spirits being abated, a portion of themproceeds to animate the agents of voluptuous passion. The following arecases of this description. 

 "A young man whose wife's relations had promised him a considerable estate as soon as she proved to be pregnant, fatigued himself to no purpose by continued devotions at the shrine of love; his over anxiety defeating the very object he so ardently desired to accomplish. In despair at the failure of his repeated efforts, he was, at length, on the point of believing his wife barren, when, following the advice of a judicious physician, he absented himself from home for a fortnight, and upon his return proved by the success which attended his amorous labours, that absence is sometimes the best doctor. "

 "A noble Venetian, aged twenty years, was married to a very handsome lady, with whom he cohabited with a good deal of vigour, but never could emit semen in the coition, whereas in his dreams he could discharge very freely. This misfortune very much afflicted him and his family; and as no remedy could be found at home, the Venetian ambassadors residing at the different courts of Europe were desired to consult some of the most eminent physicians in the cities where they resided, to account for the causes, and to find a cure for this extraordinary complaint of the difference of the states when in sleep and when actually in coition. 

 "I was of opinion that it consisted altogether in the urethra being closely shut by the vigour of the erection in coition which found so great a resistance that the powers that throw the seed out of the _vesiculæ seminals_ could not overcome it; whereas, in dreams, the pressure on the urethra being much less, an evacuation was affected. "

The method of cure was not less successful than obvious from theforegoing account: for gentle evacuations and a slender diet broughtabout and fully completed their desires. [48]

Cabanis is of opinion that debility of the stomach almost alwaysproduces a similar state in the organs of generation. "L'énergie ou ladébilité de l'éstomac produit, presque toujours, un état analogue dansceux de la génération. J'ai soigné un jeune homme chez qui la paralysieaccidentelle de ces derniers avait été produit par certains vices de ladigestion stomachique; et qui reprit la vigueur de son âge, aussitôtqu'il eût récouvré la puissance de digérer. "[49]

Old Montaigne's advice in cases similar to those above cited is worthyof notice. "As to what concerns married people, " says he, "having theyear before them, they ought never to compel, or so much as offer at thefeat, if they do not find themselves very ready. And it is betterindecently to fail of handling the nuptial sheets, and of paying theceremony due to the wedding night, when man perceives himself full ofagitation and trembling, expecting another opportunity at a better andmore private leisure, when his fancy shall be better composed, than tomake himself perpetually miserable for having misbehaved himself, andbeing baffled at the first result. Till possession be taken, a man thatknows himself subject to this infirmity, should leisurely and by degreesmake certain little trials and light offers, without attempting at onceto force an absolute conquest over his own mutinous and indisposedfaculties; such as know their members to be naturally obedient to theirdesires, need to take no other care but only to counterplot their fancy. The indocile and rude liberty of this scurvy member, is sufficientlyremarkable by its importunate, unruly, and unseasonable tumidity andimpatience at such times as we have nothing for it to do, and by itsmost unseasonable stupidity and disobedience when we stand most in needof its vigour, so imperiously contesting the authority of the will, andwith so much obstinacy denying all solicitations of hand and fancy. Andyet, though his rebellion is so universally complained of, and thatproofs are not wanting to condemn him, if he had, nevertheless, feed meto plead his cause, I should, peradventure, bring the rest of hisfellow-members into suspicion of complotting the mischief against him, out of pure envy of the importance and ravishing pleasure peculiar tohis employment, so as to have, by confederacy, armed the whole worldagainst him, by malevolently charging him alone with their commonoffence. "[50]

Too great warmth of clothing round the parts of generation, or too greatpressure upon them, may be reckoned as causes of impotency. The customof wearing breeches was considered by Hippocrates[51] as a predisposingcause of the impotency so common among the ancient Scythians. Mr. Hunterwas also of opinion that this article of dress by keeping the parts toowarm, affording them a constant support, and allowing the muscles butlittle freedom of motion, may, at least, relax and cause them to becomeflaccid, if it do not totally incapacitate them for the due performanceof their functions. 

Equally disadvantageous, in this respect, is the practice of riding uponhorseback, as the organs of generation are, of necessity, frequentlycompressed either against the saddle or the horse's back. Lalemant, inhis Commentaries upon Hippocrates, adduces the case of bakers, uponwhom, by their not wearing breeches, the contrary effect is produced. "We have often heard, " says he, "that bakers and others whose parts ofgeneration are not covered by clothing, but hang freely, have large, well-grown testicles. "[52]

Another cause of impotency is the allowing the parts of generation toremain too long in a state of inaction. Those parts of the body whichare most exercised are always found to be better grown, stronger, andmore fitted for the discharge of their natural functions provided theexercise be neither too violent nor too frequent. The parts, on thecontrary, which are condemned to rest and inactivity wither andgradually lose their tone, as well as the power of effecting themovements natural to them. Galen observes that the genital organs of theathletæ, as well as those of all such whose profession or callingcompelled them to remain chaste, were generally shrunken and wrinkledlike those of old men, and that the contrary is the case with those whouse them to an excess. "All the athletæ, " says he, "as well as those whofor the sake of preserving or improving the voice, are, from theiryouth, debarred the pleasures of love, have their natural parts shrunkenand wrinkled like those of old men, while, in such as have from an earlyage indulged in those delights to an excess, the vessel of those parts, by the habit of being dilated, cause the blood to flow there in greatabundance, and the desire of coition to be proportionately increased, all which is a natural consequence of those general laws which all ourfaculties obey. Thus it is that the breasts of women who have never hadchildren remain always small, while those of females who have beenmothers, and who suckle their children, acquire a considerable volume, that they continue to give milk as long as they suckle their infants, and that their milk does not fail until they cease to nourish them. "[53]So well, indeed, was this fact known to the ancients, that Aristophanesuses the expression, [Greek: _pôosthên mikran_], _penem exiguum_, as anattribute of a youth who has preserved his innocence and [Greek: _kôlênmegalên_], _penem magnum_, as the sign of a dissolute one. 

It will easily be supposed that superstition when brought to act uponweak and ignorant minds, is capable of producing temporary impotence. The pretended charm or witchery common in France as late as the close ofthe 17th century, and known by the name of _nouer l'aiguillette_ (pointtying) is a proof of this:

 Ami lecteur, vous avez quelquefois Oui conter qu'on _nouait l'aiguillette_, C'est une étrange et terrible recette, Et dont un Saint ne doit jamais user, Que quand d'un autre il ne peut s'aviser. D'un pauvre amant, le feu se tourne en glance; Vif et perclus, sans rien faire, il se lasse; Dans ses efforts étonné de languir, Et consume sur le bord du plaisir. Telle une fleur des fear du jour séchée, La tête basse, et la tige penchée, Demande en vain les humides vapeurs Qui lui rendaient la vie et les couleurs. [54]

In olden times, prior to the invention of buttons, the femoralhabiliments of men, or hose, as they were called, were fastened up bymeans of tags or points (Gallice) _aiguillettes_. Thus, Falstaff says, "Their points being cut, down fell their hose. " From this French word_aiguillette_ was derived the term _nouer aiguillette_ (to tie up thepoints), equivalent to--button up the flap, to express the rendering, byenchantment, a husband incapable of performing the conjugal rite. Thewhole secret of this charm consisted in the impostor choosing for hisvictim an individual whose youth, inexperience, or superstitionpresented him with a fit subject to work upon. The imagination of theparty being already predisposed for the trick, a look, a sign, a menace, either of the voice or of the hand, accompanied by some extraordinarygesture, was sufficient to produce the effect, and, as the mereapprehension of an evil frequently occasions its occurrence, it followedthat, superstition having prepared the event, the latter, in his turn, fortified the superstition, a vicious circle which may justly beconsidered an opprobrium to a man's intelligence. 

That such was the opinion entertained of it by sensible men when it wasin vogue, will be seen by the following curious passage from an old andquaint French writer:

 "Quelques uns tiennent cela pour superstition, qui quand on dit la Messe des espousées, lorsque l'on prononce ce mot _Sara_, à la bénédiction nuptiale, si vous estrerignez une esguillette, que le marié ne pourra rien faire á son espousée la nuict suyuante, tant que la dite esguillette demeurera noüée. Ce que j'ay veu expérimenter faux infinies fois: car pourveuque l'esguillette du compagnon soit destachée, et qu'il siot bien roide et bien au point il ne faut point douter qu'il n'accoustre bien la besongne, comme il appartient. Aussi donne l'on vn folastre amulette et digne du subject: c'est à sçavoir que pour oster le sort, it faut pisser au travers d'une bague de laquelle on a esté espousé. Véritablement ie le croy: car c'est à dire, en bon Français que si on degoutte dans cet anneau de Hans Carvel, il n'y a charme qui puisse nuire. Aussi nouer l'esguillette ne signifie autre chose qu'vn coüard amant qui aura le mēbre aussi peu disposé, que si l'esguillette ne sa brayette estoit nouée. "[55]

As to the mode itself of conjuration, Bodin, a writer upon thesesubjects, asserts that there are not less than fifty different ways ofperforming it: of all which the most efficacious one is to take a smallstrip or thong of leather, or silken or worsted thread, or cotton cord, and to make on it three knots successively, each knot, when made, beingaccompanied by the sign of the cross, the word _Ribald_ being pronouncedupon making the first knot, _Nabal_ upon making the second one, and_Vanarbi_ upon making the third and last one; all which must be doneduring the celebration of the marriage ceremony. For the sake of change, one of the verses of the _Miserere mei, Deus!_ may be repeatedbackwards, the names of the bride and bridegroom being thricepronounced. The first time, the knot must be drawn rather tight; thesecond time still more so, and the third time quite close. Vulgaroperators content themselves with pronouncing some cabalistic wordsduring the marriage rite, tracing, at the same time, some mysteriousfigures or diagrams on the earth with the left foot, and affixing to thedress of the bride or bridegroom small slips of paper having magicalcharacters inscribed upon them. Further details may be found in theworks of Sprenger, an inquisitor, Crespet of Sans, Debris, a Jesuit, Bodin, Wier, De Lancre, and other learned demonologists. 

This species of enchantment was not unknown to the ancients. Accordinglyto Herodotus[56] Amasis was prevented enjoying his wife Ladice by asorcery of this description, nor was it till after the Queen had vowed astatue to Venus, "_si secum coiret Amasis_, " that the king's wishes andher own were gratified. 

Plato warns married persons against such sorceries. [57] Virgil speaksalso of impotency effected by ligature. 

 Terna tibi hæc primum, duplici diversa colore Licia circumdo. [58]

Ovid admits the power of such charms in the following lines:

 Carmine læsa, Ceres sterilem vanescit in herbam Deficiunt læsi carmine fontis aquæ: Ilicibus glandes, cantataque vitibus uva Decedit, et nulla forma movente, flexunt. Quid vetat et nervos Et juveni et Cupido, carmine abesse viro. [59]

Of that most detestable of all tyrants, Nero, it is said that, findinghe could not enjoy a female whom he passionately desired, he complainedof having been bewitched. 

The fables of Apuleius are full of the enchantments of Pamphilus. [60]

Numantina, the first wife of Plautius Sylvanus, was accused of havingrendered her husband impotent by means of sorcery "injecisse carminibuset veneficiis vecordium marito. "[61]

Paulus (Julius) of Tyr states that the law of the Twelve Tablescontained an express prohibition against the employment of ligatures;"qui, sacra, impia nocturnave fecerint, ut quem incantarent, obligarent, " &c. [62]

Gregory of Tours relates[63] that Eulatius having taken a young womanfrom a monastery and married her, his concubines, actuated by jealousy, put such a spell upon him, that he could by no means consummate hisnuptials. Paulus Æmilius, in his life of King Clovis says that Theodoricsent back his wife Herméberge to her father, the King of Spain, as hehad received her, a pure virgin, the force of witchcraft havingincapacitated him from taking her maidenhead; which sorcery AimoinusMonachaus[64] asserts to have been effected by Queen Brunchante. 

The practise of point tying was formerly so general that princes andprincess made it one of their most amusing pastimes. Louis Sforza havingseen the young Princess Isabella, daughter of Alphonso King of Arragon, and who was betrothed to Geleas, duke of Milan, was so enamoured of herbeauty that he point-tyed Geleas for several months. Marie de Padille, concubine of Don Pedro King of Castille and Leon, point-tied him soeffectually that he could not give the least marks of his fondness tohis consort Queen Blanche. 

That the church acknowledged the power of these point-tiers is proved bythe fact of their having been publicly anathematized by the provincialCouncils of Milan and Tours, the Synods of Mont-Cassin and Ferriare, andby the clergy of France assembled at Mélun in 1579. A great number ofrituals specify the means to be employed as counter-charms to thesorceries of the point-tiers; and the Cardinal Cu Perron, [65] a veryable and experienced prelate, has inserted in the ritual of Evreux verysage directions for this purpose. Similar precautions may be found inthe synodal statues of Lyons, Tours, Sens, Narbonne, Bourges, Troyes, Orléans, and many other celebrated churches. St. Augustine, St. Thomasand Peter Lombard positively recognise the power of point-tying and ofdisturbing, in this manner, married persons in the enjoyment of theirdearest privilege. "_Certum est_, " says St. Augustine, "_corporis viresincantationibus vinciri_. "

Our James I. , who prided himself so much upon his skill in demonology, declares positively that sorcerers and witches possess the power ofpoint-tying, "Or else by staying married folkes, to have naturally adoewith other, _by knitting knottes upon a point at the time of theirmarriage_. "[66]

The old parliament of France have generally admitted the power of thesesorcerers. In 1582 the Parliament of Paris condemned one Abel de la Rueto be hung and afterwards burnt for having wickedly and wilfullypoint-tied Jean Moreau de Contommiers. A singular sentence waspronounced in 1597 against M. Chamouillard for having so bewitched ayoung lady about to be married that her husband could not consummate themarriage. But the most singular instance of the kind upon record is thatof R. F. Vidal de la Porte, who was condemned by the judges of Riom tomake the _amende honorable_, and afterwards to be hung, and his lady tobe burnt until reduced to ashes for having by sorceries and wicked andsacrilegious words point-tied, not only the young men of his town, butalso all the dogs, cats and other domestic animals, so that thepropagation of these species so useful to man was upon the point ofbeing stopped. In 1718 the Parliament of Bordeaux ordered a famouspoint-tier to be burnt. This pretended sorcerer had been accused andconvicted of having point-tied a nobleman of high family, his wife, andall the men and women servants in his establishment. 

It must not be supposed that no counter-charms or amulets existed. TheCurate Thiers, who has written at large upon this subject, enumeratestwenty-two different ones, the most potent of which were the following:

1. To put salt in the pocket before proceeding to church; pennies markedwith the cross and put into the shoes of the bride and bridegroom wereequally efficacious. 

2. To pass three times under the crucifix without bowing to it. 

3. For the bridegroom to wear upon the wedding day, two shirts, oneturned inside out upon the other, and to hold, in the left hand, duringthe nuptial benédiction, a small wooden cross. 

4. To lay the new married couple naked upon the ground; to cause thebridegroom to kiss the great toe of the bride's left foot, and the bridethe great toe of the bridegroom's right foot: after which they must makethe sign of the cross with the left hand and repeat the same with theright or left hand. 

5. To take the bridegroom's point-hose and pass it through the weddingring: knot the said point, holding the fingers in the ring, andafterwards cut the knot saying, "God loosens what the Devil fastens. "

6. When the new-married couple are about to retire for the night tofasten upon the thigh of each a little slip of paper, inscribed withthese words, _Domine, quis similis tibi?_

7. To broach a cask of white wine from which none has yet been drawn, and pour the first of the liquor which flows, through the wedding ring. 

8. To rub with wolf's grease the door posts through which the marriedcouple pass on their way to the nuptial bed. 

9. To write upon virgin parchment before sunrise, and for nine dayssuccessively, the word _Arigazartor_. 

10. To pronounce the word _Temon_ three times successively at sunrise, provided the day promises to be fine. 

But the mode of procedure in which the learned curate Thiers appears toplace the greatest confidence is that employed by a priest of hisacquaintance. This person's plan was to tie the bride and bridegroom toa pillar and administer to them with his own hand the stimulus withwhich the pedagogue awakens the genius of idle and sluggish pupils;after this flagellation they are unbound and left together, amplyprovided with such restorative and stimulants as are proper to maintainthe condition so favourable to Venus, in which he had placed them. Theresult was in the highest degree satisfactory. 

Bodin informs us that he knew at Bordeaux, a woman of middle age, butstill lively and fresh, who professed to cure radically all enchantmentsof this description. Nothing could be more natural than her _modusoperandi_. She got into bed with her patients, and there by theresources of her amatory powers succeeded so well in arousing theirflagged and sluggish desires that their domestic peace was neverafterwards disturbed by the reproaches of their disappointed spouses. Upon her mother's death, the daughter embraced the same interestingprofession and in addition to acquiring considerable reputation by hersuccessful practise, realized a handsome fortune. 

Ridiculous and contemptible as this quackery now appears, so great atone time was its power, that persons every way qualified for thegenerative act, have been seen suddenly reduced to a humiliatingnullity, in consequence of an impudent charlatan, a village sorcerer ora fortune-teller having threatened them with point-tying. Saint André, aFrench physician, gives an account of a poor weaver, who havingdisappointed Madame André in not bringing home some work was threatenedby that lady with being point-tied by her husband the doctor. The poorfellow was so alarmed that the charm had the same effect as a reality, nor was it until the work he had in hand was finished, and the lady hadconsented to restore him to his natural state, that he could resume theexercises of his conjugal duties. 

Venette gives the case of one Pierre Buriel. "This man, " to useVenette's own words, "was about thirty-five years of age, a cooper andbrandy manufacturer by trade. Being at work one day for my father in oneof his country houses, he offended me by some impertinent observations, to punish which I told him the next day that I would point-tie him whenhe married. It so happened that he had the intention of uniting himselfwith a servant girl who lived in the neighbourhood, and although I hadthreatened him merely in a jesting manner, it made so strong animpression upon him that although, when married, he felt the most ardentdesire to enjoy his connubial rights, he found himself totallyincapacitated for the work of love. Sometimes when he flattered himselfwith being on the point of accomplishing his wishes, the idea of thewitchcraft obtruded itself, and rendered him for the time completelyimpotent. This incapacity alienated the affections of his wife, andproduced on her part towards him the most repulsive coldness. I need notsay what gain I felt on witnessing these effects, how I regrettedhaving, I may truly say, unintentionally caused so unpleasant a state ofthings, and I did and said everything in my power to disabuse the man, and prove to him the folly of his impressions. But the more I did so, the more he testified his abhorrence of me, and his conviction that Ihad really bewitched him. At length the curate of Notre Dame, who hadmarried them, interfered, and after some time succeeded, though withconsiderable difficulty, in freeing him from his imaginary bonds. Theylived together for twenty-eight years, and several children, nowcitizens of Rochelle, were the issue of their union. "

Montaigne gives us a curious story upon this subject, which heintroduces thus: "I am not satisfied and make a very great question, whether those pleasant ligatures with which the age of ours is sofettered--and there is almost no other talk--are not mere voluntaryimpressions of apprehension and fear; for I know by experience, in thecase of a particular friend of mine, one for whom I can be asresponsible as for myself, and a man that cannot possibly fall under anymanner of suspicion of sufficiency, and as little of being enchanted, who having heard a companion of his make a relation of an unusualfrigidity that surprised him at a very unseasonable time, beingafterwards himself engaged upon the same account, the horror of theformer story so strangely possessed his imagination that he ran the samefortune the other had done; he from that time forward (the scurvyremembrance of his disaster running in his mind and tyrannizing overhim) was extremely subject to relapse into the same misfortune. He foundsome remedy, however, for this inconvenience by himself franklyconfessing and declaring beforehand to the party with whom he was tohave to do, the subjection he lay under, and the infirmity he wassubject to; by which means the contention of his soul was, in some sort, appeased; and knowing that now some such misbehaviour was expected fromhim, the restraint upon those faculties grew less, and he less sufferedby it, and afterwards, at such times as he could be in no suchapprehension as not being about any such act (his thoughts being thendisengaged and free, and his body being in its true and natural state)by causing those parts to be handled and communicated to the knowledgeof others, he was at last totally freed from that vexatious infirmity. After man has once done a woman right, he is never after in danger ofmisbehaving himself with that person, unless upon the account of amanifest and inexcusable weakness. Neither is this disaster to be fearedbut in adventures where the soul is over-extended with desire orrespect, and especially where we meet with an unexpected opportunitythat requires a sudden and quick despatch; and in these cases, there isno possible means for a man always to defend himself from such asurprise as shall put him damnably out of countenance. And yet I haveknown some who have secured themselves for this misfortune by cominghalf-sated elsewhere, purposely to abate the ardour of their fury, andothers who being grown old, find themselves less impotent by being lessable; and particularly one who found an advantage by being assured by afriend of his that had a countercharm against certain enchantments thatwould defend him from this disgrace. The story itself is not much amiss, and therefore you shall have it. --A count of a very great family, andwith whom I had the honour to be familiarly intimate, being married to avery fair lady, who had formerly been pretended to and importunatelycourted by one who was invited to and present at the wedding. All hisfriends were in very great fear, but especially an old lady, hiskinswoman, who had the ordering of the solemnity, and in whose house itwas kept, suspecting his rival would, in revenge, offer foul play, andprocure some of these kinds of sorceries to put a trick upon him, whichfear she also communicated to me, who, to comfort her, bade her nottrouble herself, but rely upon my care to prevent or frustrate any suchdesigns. Now, I had, by chance, about me, a certain flat piece of gold, whereon were graven some celestial figures good to prevent frenzyoccasioned by the heat of the sun, or for any pains of the head, beingapplied to the suture; where, that it might the better remain firm, itwas sewed to a ribbon, to be tied under the chin. A fopperycousin-german to this of which I am speaking was Jacques Pelletier wholived in the house, presented to me for a singular rarity and a thing ofsovereign virtue. I had a fancy to make some use of this quack, andtherefore privately told the count that he might probably run the samefortune other bridegrooms had sometimes done, especially some personsbeing in the house who, no doubt, would be glad to do him such acourtesy; but let him boldly go to rest, for I would do him the officeof a friend, and if need were, would not spare a miracle that it was inmy power to do, provided he could engage to me, upon his honour, to keepit to himself, and only when they came to bring him his candle (a customin France being to bring the bridegroom a candle in the middle of thenight, on his wedding night) if matters had not gone well with him, togive such a sign, and leave the rest to me. Now, he had his ears sobattered and his mind so prepossessed with the eternal tattle of thisbusiness, that when he came to it, he did really find himself tired withthe trouble of his imagination, and accordingly, at the time appointed, gave me the sign. Whereupon I whispered him in the ear, that he shouldrise under pretence of putting us out of the room, and after a jestingmanner, pull my night-gown from my shoulders, throw it over his own, andkeep it there till he had performed what I appointed him to do, whichwas that when we were all gone out of the chamber, he should withdraw tomake water, should three times repeat such and such words and as oftendo such and such actions; that at every of the three times be should tiethe ribbon I put into his hand about his middle, and be sure to placethe medal that was fastened to it (the figures in such a posture)exactly upon his reins; which being done, and having the last of thethree times so well girt and fastened the ribbon that it could neitheruntie nor slip from its place, let him confidently return to hisbusiness, and withal not to forget to spread my gown upon the bed sothat it might be sure to cover them both. These ridiculous circumstancesare the main of the effect, our fancy being so far seduced as to believethat so strange and uncouth formalities must of necessity proceed fromsome abstruse science. Their inanity gives them reverence and weight. However, certain it is that my figures proved themselves more _Veneran_than _Solar_, and the fair bride had no reason to complain. "

Upon a due consideration of this singular superstition, it must beobvious to any person of sense that these pretended ligatures are, infact, the consequence of an enfeebled constitution, weak intellects, andsometimes of an ardent imagination, an over-excited desire which carriesthe vitality to the head, and diverts it from its principal direction. Do away with these circumstances and imagine a man in full health, andgifted with a young and vigorous constitution, alike incapable ofallowing himself to be acted upon by vain terrors, and of permitting hispassions an uncontrolable course; and all the charms and incantation ofthese redoubted point-tiers would immediately cease. Who, for instance, could pretend to point-tie that hero of ancient Greece so famous for histwelve labours, of which by far the most brilliant was the transforming, in the course of one night, fifty young virgins into as many women![67]

The most singular circumstance, however, connected with impotency is, that for a long time there existed exclusively in France a particularkind of proof called--The Judicial Congress. In the old jurisprudence ofthat country but little value was attached to moral proofs; all was madeto depend upon material ones, which were made by witnesses. The wholeenquiry after truth was made to depend upon the establishment of thefact, and, too frequently, the administrators of the law were notover-scrupulous as to the nature of the testimony by which it was to beproved. Provided there were such testimony, no matter of whatever kind, no matter how contradictory to common sense, justice pronounced itselfsatisfied, for, relying upon this testimony it was enabled to pronounceits decision, and this was all it required. Hence all those personalexaminations of litigants, so often practised formerly, and hence thejudge, whatever might be the nature of the suit or complaint, ordered areport to be made by parties chosen to that effect, and who were called_experts_ or examiners. This mode of procedure was employed in cases inwhich a woman applied for a divorce from her husband on the ground ofimpotency: hence arose the _Congrés_, in which the justice of theapplication was to be proved in the presence of examiners appointed togive in a report upon the case to the court. "Ce qui est encore plushonteux, " says a writer of the 17th century, "c'est qu'un quelquesprocés, les hommes ont visité la femme, et au contraire, les femmes ontété admises à visiter l'homme, qui a été cause d'une grande irrison etmoquerie, que telles procédures ont servi de contes joyeux et plaisansdiscours en beaucoup d'endroits. "[68] The whole was a most disgustingprocedure, which, although greatly abused, was for a long timeencouraged as offering a legal mode of dissolving a marriage which wasincompatible with the happiness of both the parties, but which the lawdeclared to be indissoluble. The judges who introduced or maintained theCongress, who, in fact, protected it, only contemplated it, butcertainly most erroneously as a proper means of legalizing divorces. 

All historians, and other writers who have treated of this disgracefulinstitution, pretty generally agree in giving it an origin not furtherback than the commencement of the 16th century; it is, however, but theextension of a custom almost as obscene which prevailed in the firstages of Christianity. This was nothing less than the subjecting a younggirl, whether nun or otherwise, accused of fornication, to a rigorouspersonal examination, whence was to result the proof of her innocence orguilt. Siagrius, Bishop of Verona, and who lived towards the close ofthe fourth century, condemned a nun to undergo this disgusting andinsulting examination. St. Ambroise, his metropolitan, disapproved ofthe Bishop's sentence, declared the examination as indecent, thusattesting its existence. The opinion, however of this prelate, supposedas it was by that of several others, did not prevent the continuance ofthis custom for a very long time. The ecclesiastical and civil tribunalsfrequently directed this proof to be made; and Venette[69] cites theprocès-verbal of a similar examination made by order of the Mayor ofParis in 1672, in the case of a woman who complained of violencecommitted on her by a man of dissolute habits. 

We prefer giving the following curious description of the manner ofconducting the Congress in the original quaint and antiquated French:

 "La forme duquel Congrez est, qui le iour et heure prins, et les Expers connenus ou nommez (qui sont ordinairement ceux mêmes qui ont fait la visitation lesquels partant n'ont garde de se contrarier ny de rapporte que l'homme y a fait l'intromission ayant desia (déjà) rapporté sa partie vierge et non corrompüe) le juge prend le serment des parties, qu'elles tascheront de bonne foy et sans dissimulation d'accōplir l'œuvre de mariage sans y apporter empeschement de part ny d'autre: des Expers qu'ils ferōt fidelle rapport de ce qui se passera au Congrez; cela fait les parties et les expers se retirent en une chābre pour ce préparée, où l'homme et la femme sont de rechef visités, l'homme, afin de sçavoir s'il a point de mal, s'en estans trouué à aucuns l'ayans gaigné depuis avoir esté visité qui n'ont laissé d'estre séparés encore, qu'il parust assez par là qu'ils n'estoient impuissans, la femme pour considérer l'estat de se partie honteuse et, par ce moyen cognoistre la difference de son ouverture et dilatation, auant et après le Congrez, et si l'intromission y aura esté faicte, ou non: sans, toutefois, parler en leur rapport de la virginité ou corruption de la femme, reputée vierge, ayant vne fois esté rapportée telle, sans qu'on la visite plus pour cela. En quelques procès (comme en celuy de Bray, 1578) les parties sont visités nues depuis le sommet de la teste iusques à la plante des pieds, en toutes les parties des leurs corps, _etiam in podice_, pour sçavior s'il n y a rien sur elles qui puissent auancer ou empescher le congrez, les parties honteuses de l'homme lavées d'eau tiéde (c'est a sçavoir à quelle fin) et la femme mise en demy bain, où elle demeure quelque temps. Cela fait, l'homme et la femme se couchent en plein iour en un lict, Expers présens, qui demeurent en la chambre, ou se retirent (si les parties le requièrent on l'vne d'elles, en quelque garde-robe ou gallerie prochaine, l'huis (la porte) entreouvert toutefois, et quand aux matrones se tiennent proche du lict, et les rideaux estant tirez, c'est à l'homme à se mettre en devoir de faire preuve de sa puissance habitant charnellement avec sa partie et faisant intromission: ou souvent aduiennent des altercations honteuses et ridicules, l'homme se plaignant que sa partie ne le veut laisser faire et empesche l'intromission; elle le niant et disant qu'il veut mettre le doigt et la dilater, et ouvrir par ce moyen; de sorte qu'il faudroit qu'un homme fust sans apprehension et pire qu'aucunes bêstes, ou que _mentula velut digito uteretur_, s'il ne desbandsit cependant au cas qu'il fust en estat, et si nō obstant ces indignitez il passait autre iusques à faire intromission; encore ne sçauroit il, quelque érection qu'il face (fasse), si la partie veut l'empescher si on ne lui tenoit les mains et les genoux ce qui ne se fait pas. En fin, les parties ayās esté quelque tēps au lict, comme une heure ou deux, les Espers appellex, ou de leur propre mouvement, quand ils s'ennuyent en ayant de subject, _si sint viri_, s'approchent, et ouvrans les rideaux, s'informent de ce qui s'est passé entre elles, et visitent la femme derechef, pour sçavoir si elle est plus ouverte et dilatée que lorsqu' elle s'est mise au lict, et si intromission a été faicte aussi, _an facta sit emission, ubi, quid et quale emissio_. Ce qui ne se fait pas sans bougie et lunettes à gens qui s'en seruent pour leur vieil age, ni sans des recherches fort sales et odieuses: et font leur procès verbal de ce qui s'est passé au Congrez (ou pour mieux dire) de ce qu'ils veulent, qu'ils baillent au juge, estant au mesme logis vne salle, ou chambre à part, avec les procureurs et patriciens, en cour d'Eglise, attendant la fin de cet acte lequel rapporte est tousiours (toujours) au desaduantage des hommes à faute d'auoir fait intromission, sans laquelle, l'érection _etiam sufficiens ad coeundem_, ny l'émission n'empeschent la séparation, comme il se voit par les procès verbaux des Congrez de De Bray des onziesme et vingt unsiesme d'Apuril, 1578. Auxquels Congrez, principalement au premier, il fit érection rapportée suffisante _ad copulem carnalem, et emisit extra vas, sed non intromisit_, et pour cela fut séparé; laquelle intromission ne peust aussi estre faite au Congrez par quelque homme que ce fut, si la femme n'y preste consentement, et empesche, comme il est tout notaire. "

The first judicial sentence which ordered a Congress is said to havebeen caused by the shameless effrontery of a young man who, beingaccused of impotency, demanded permission to exhibit proof of his powersbefore witnesses, which demand being complied with, the practice wasintroduced into the jurisprudence of the country. But, as we havealready shown, the custom of the Judicial Congress may be referred to afar earlier period, in fact, to the remotest times of the middle ages, and that it originated with the Church, when the public morals were farfrom being well ascertained, as is proved by many well-known privilegesbelonging to the Seigneur or Lord of the Manor. Pope Gregory the Great, who was raised to the Pontificate in 590, appears to have been the firstwho conferred upon bishops the right of deciding this description ofquestions. It was, doubtless, from considerations of tender regard forfemale modesty that the Church took upon itself the painful duty ofinvestigating and deciding upon questions of this nature. Numerousinstances prove this, especially the dissolution of the marriage ofAlphonso VI. Of Portugal and his Consort, pronounced in 1688, andmentioned by Bayle. [70] The great antiquity of this custom is proved bythe 17th Art. Of the Capitulars of Pepin, in the year 752, which bears adirect allusion to it: inasmuch as that article established as aprinciple that the impotency of a husband should be considered as alawful cause for divorce, and that the proof of such impotency should begiven, and the fact verified at the foot of the Cross--_exeant adcrucem, et si verum fuerit, separantur_. 

That the Congress originated with the Church, who considered it as anefficacious means for deciding questions of impotency, is still furtherproved by the President Boutrier and by other writers, who assert thatthe ecclesiastical judges of other times were alone empowered (to theexclusion of all secular ones) to take cognizance of cases of impotency. 

It is well attested that during the 16th and 17th centuries all thecourts of law in France held the opinion that a marriage be anulled onthe demand of a wife who claimed the Congress. 

The fatal blow to this disgusting custom was given by a decree of theParliament of Paris, under the presidency of the celebrated Lamoignon, dated Feb. 18, 1677, which decree forbids the practice by any othercourt whatsoever, ecclesiastical or civil. It is supposed that theridicule cast upon it by the following lines of Boileau had no smallshare in causing its suppression. 

 "Jamais la biche en rut, n'a pour fait d'impuissance Trainé du fond des bois, un cerf à l'audience; Et jamais juge, entre eux ordonnant le congrès, De ce burlesque mot n'a sali ses arrêts. "[71]

Three causes were alleged for the abolition of the Congress--itsobscenity, its inutility, and its inconveniences. Its obscenity; forwhat could be more infamous, more contrary to public decency and to thereverence due to an oath than the impurity of the proof, both in itspreparation and execution? Its inutility; for what could be less certainand more defective? Can it be, for one moment, imagined that aconjunction ordered by judges between two persons embittered by alaw-suit, agitated with hate and fury against each other, can operate inthem? Experience has shown that, of ten men the most vigorous andpowerful, hardly one was found that came out of this shameful combatwith success; it is equally certain that he who had unjustly suffereddissolution of his marriage, for not having given a proof of hiscapacity in the infamous Congress, had given real and authenticevidences of it in a subsequent marriage. This degrading mode of proof, in short, far from discovering the truth, was but the cause andfoundation for impotence and falsehood. Its inconveniences; theseare--the declared nullity of a legitimate marriage--the dishonour castupon the husband, and the unjust damages, oftentimes exorbitant, whichhe is condemned to pay--two marriages contracted upon the dissolution ofthe first--both of which, according to purity and strictness, areequally unlawful--the error or the malice discovered, _ex post facto_, and, nevertheless, by the authority of the law, became irreparable. 

It was in the power of the magistrate, upon a complaint of impotencybeing alleged by a wife against her husband, to order examiners to makean inspection of the husband's parts of generation, and upon theirreport to decide whether there was just cause for a divorce; and thiswithout proceeding to order the congress. The following are a few casesof this description, and are extracted from the reports and judgments ofthe Officialty at Paris in cases of impotency. 

Case I. Jean de But, master fringe maker, was, in 1675, charged withimpotency by Genevieve Helena Marcault, his wife; he being inspected byRenauolot, a physician, and Le Bel, a surgeon, by order of the official;they declared that, after a due and thorough examination of all themembers and parts of the said De But, as well genital, as others whichmight throw a light upon the case and likewise his condition of body, his age, the just conformation and proportion of his limbs, butespecially his penis, which was found to be of as proper a thickness, length and colour as could be wished: and likewise his testicles, whichexhibited no perceptible viciousness or malformation, they are ofopinion that from all these outward marks, which are the only ones theyconsider themselves justified in judging from, the said De But iscapacitated to perform the matrimonial act. Signed by them at Paris, July 18, 1675, and attested by the Sieur de Combes. And on August 23, 1675, by the sentence of M. Benjamin, official, the said Marcault wasnon-suited and ordered to return to her husband and cohabit with him. 

Case II. Inspection having been ordered by the official of Paris of thebody of Joseph Le Page, who is taxed with impotency by Nicola de Loris, his wife, the said inspection was made by Deuxivoi and De Farci, physicians, and Paris and Du Fertre, surgeons; their report is asfollows:--

 "We have found the exterior of his person to be like that of other men's, the penis of a good conformation and naturally situated, with the nut or glans bare, its adjoining parts fringed with soft, fine hair, the scrotum of an unexceptional thickness and extent, and in it vessels of good conformation and size, but terminating unequally; on the right side, they end in a small, flabby substance instead of a true testicle; and on the left side we observed a testicle fixed to the extremity of one of the vessels, as usual, invested in its tunicle, which left testicle we do not find to be at all flabby, but of a middling size: upon the whole, we are of opinion that the said Le Page is capable of the conjugal act but in a feeble manner. Signed and dated March 5, 1684. By the sentence of M. Cheron, the official, the said De Loris's petition is rejected, and she is enjoined to return to her husband. "

Case IV. Peter Damour being accused of impotency by his wife LouisaTillot an inspection was ordered to be made by Rainset and Afforti, physicians, and Franchet and Colignon, surgeons. They report asfollows:--"We have proceeded to inspect Peter Damour, master saddler atParis, and having attententively examined his parts of generation, wehave found them well constituted and in good condition as to their size, conformation and situation for the conjugal act; according, however tothe statement of the said Damour himself, the erection is imperfect, thepenis not being sufficiently rigid for perforating the vagina; admittingthis, however, to be the case, we are of opinion that the imperfectionmay be remedied, repaired, and rectified, in time, by proper remedies. Signed January 16, 1703. " In consequence the official, M. Vivant, refusedVillot's demand, and ordered her to go home to her husband and cohabitwith him as her lawful spouse. 

Case V. In the suit of Demoiselle Maris Louise Buchères accusing ofimpotence Antoine de Bret, an inspection was ordered and performed byVenage and Lita, physicians, Lombard and Delon, surgeons. They reportedas follows: "We find the string of the foreskin shorter than it shouldbe for giving the nut free scope to extend itself when turgid:--that thebody of the left testicle is very diminutive and decayed, its tunicleseparated, the spermatic vessels very much disordered by crooked swollenveins--that the right testicle is not of a due thickness, though thickerthan the other: that it is somewhat withered and the spermatic vesselsdisordered by crooked swollen veins. On all which accounts we do notthink that the natural parts of the said Sieur de Bret have all thedisposition requisite for the well performing the functions they weredesigned for; yet we cannot say that he is impotent until we haveinspected the wife. Paris July 11, 1703, Signed. " On the 22d of July, 1703, the wife was inspected by the said physicians and surgeons and bytwo matrons; the result of which was that they observed no visciousnessof conformation in her womb: the valvula were circular and the carunclæmyrtiformes, placed in the neck of the vagina, were soft, supple, flexible, entire, and did not seem to have suffered any violence ordisplacing, and the cavity of the womb-pipe was free and without anyobstacle. Therefore they are of opinion that she is not capable of theconjugal act, and that there has been no intromission, consequently thatshe is a virgin, and that if the marriage had not been consummated, itis her husband's fault, because of his great debility and defectiveconformation of his parts of generation. Another inspection of the sameparties was ordered Aug. 1, 1703. Bourges and Thuillier being thephysicians, and Tranchet and Meri the surgeons, who declared that afterdue and careful examination they had found no defect which could hindergeneration. Their report is dated Paris, Aug. 13, 1703. M. Chapelierordered, in consequence, both parties, --viz. , the Sieur De Bret and thesaid Buchères to acknowledge each other for man and wife. 

Case VI. On the 2nd April, 1653, the Chevalier René de Cordovan, Marquisde Langey, aged 25 years, married Maria de Saint Simon de Courtomerbetween 13 and 14 years of age. The parties lived very happily for thefirst four years, that is to say, up to 1657, when the lady accused herhusband of impotency. The complaint was heard before the _LieutenantCivil_ of the _Chatelet_, who appointed a jury to examine the parties. The examination was made, and the report declared that both parties wereduly and fully qualified for performing the conjugal act. In order toinvalidate this report the lady affirmed that if she was not a virgin itwas in consequence of the brutal efforts of one whose impotency renderedhim callous as to the means he employed to satisfy himself. TheChevalier de Langey, much incensed at this imputation, demanded the_Congress_; the judge granted the petition, the wife appealed from thesentence, but it was confirmed by the superior courts. 

For carrying the sentence into effect, the house of a person namedTurpin, who kept baths, was chosen. Four physicians, five surgeons andfive matrons were present. It is impossible to enter into the details ofthis disgusting prequisition; they are given in full detail in the_procès verbal_. Suffice it to say that the event being unfavourable tothe chevalier, his marriage was declared void by a decree of the 8th ofFebruary, 1659. 

By this decree the chevalier was not only condemned to pay back thedowry which he had had with his wife, but was prohibited fromcontracting another marriage--the lady, on the contrary, was allowed toenter into any other engagement she might think fit, as being consideredentirely freed from her former bonds. 

The next day after this decree the chevalier made his protest against itbefore two notaries, declaring that he did not acknowledge himself to beimpotent, and that he would, in defiance of the prohibition imposed uponhim, enter into wedlock again whenever he pleased. 

The lady St. Simon contracted a marriage with Peter de Caumont, Marquisde Boèsle, and from this marriage were born three daughters. At the sametime the Chevalier de Langley married Diana de Montault de Navaille, andtheir marriage was followed by the birth of seven children. 

In 1670 the Marchioness de Boèsle, the ci-devant Countess de Langey, died. 

It was in consequence of the ulterior proceedings in the law courtsrespecting the real paternity of the children of the marchioness thatthe government availed itself of the opportunity of abolishing, as wehave seen, the useless and obscene ordeal of the congress. 

We shall conclude the present Essay by transcribing Dr. Willick'sjudicious observations upon the sexual intercourse. 

 _Of the_ SEXUAL INTERCOURSE _in particular; its physical consequences with respect to the Constitution of the Individual; under what circumstances it may be either conducive or detrimental to Health. _

 A subject of such extensive importance, both to our physical and moral welfare, as the consequences resulting from either a too limited or extravagant intercourse between the sexes deserves the strictest enquiry, and the most serious attention of the philosopher. 

 The inclination to this intercourse, and the evacuation connected with it, are no less inherent in human nature than other bodily functions. Yet, as the semen is the most subtle and spirituous part of the human frame, and as it contributes to the support of the nerves, this evacuation is by no means absolutely necessary; and it is besides attended with circumstances not common to any other. The emission of semen enfeebles the body more than the loss of twenty times the same quantity of blood; more than violent cathartics, emetics, &c. ; hence excesses of this nature produce a debilitating effect on the whole nervous system, on both body and mind. 

 It is founded on the observations of the ablest physiologists, that the greatest part of this refined fluid is re-absorbed and mixed with the blood, of which it constitutes the most rarified and volatile part; and that it imparts to the body singular sprightliness, vivacity, and vigour. These beneficial effects cannot be expected if the semen be wantonly and improvidently wasted. Besides the emission of it is accompanied with a peculiar species of tension and convulsion of the whole frame, which is always succeeded by relaxation. For the same reason, even libidinous thoughts, without any loss of semen, are debilitating, though in a less degree, by occasioning a propulsion of blood to the genitals. 

 If this evacuation, however, took place only in a state of superfluity, and within proper bounds, it is not detrimental to health. Nature, indeed, spontaneously effects it in the most healthy individuals during sleep; and as long as we observe no difference in bodily and mental energy after such losses, there is no danger to be apprehended from them. It is well established and attested by the experience of eminent physicians, that certain indispositions, especially those of hypochondriasis and complete melancholy and incurable by any other means, have been happily removed in persons of both sexes, by exchanging a single state for wedlock. 

 There are a variety of circumstances by which the physical propriety of the sexual intercourse is in general to be determined. It is conductive to the well being of the individual, if the laws of nature and society (not an extravagant or disordered imagination) induce man to satisfy this inclination, especially under the following conditions:

 1. In young persons, that is, adults, or those of a middle age; as from the flexibility of their vessels, the strength of their muscles, and the abundance of their vital spirits, they can more easily sustain the loss thence occasioned. 

 2. In robust persons, who lose no more than is speedily replaced. 

 3. In sprightly individuals, and such as are particularly addicted to pleasure; for the stronger the natural and legal desire, the less hurtful is its gratification. 

 4. In married persons who are accustomed to it; for nature pursues a different path, according as she is habituated to the reabsorption or the evacuation of this fluid. 

 5. With a beloved object; as the power animating the nerves and muscular fibres is in proportion to the pleasure received. 

 6. After a sound sleep, because then the body is more energetic; it is provided with a new stock of vital spirit, and the fluids are duly prepared;--hence the early morning appears to be designed by nature for the exercise of this function; as the body is then most vigorous, and being unemployed in any other pursuit, its natural propensity to this is the greater; besides, at this time a few hours sleep will, in a considerable degree restore the expended powers. 

 7. With an empty stomach; for the office of digestion, so material to the attainment of bodily vigour, is then uninterrupted. Lastly. 

 8. In the vernal months; as nature at this season in particular, incites all the lower animals to sexual intercourse, as we are then most energetic and sprightly; and as the spring is not only the safest, but likewise the most proper time with respect to the consequences resulting from that intercourse. It is well ascertained by experience that children begotten in spring are of more solid fibres, and consequently more vigorous and robust, than those generated in the heat of summer or cold of winter. 

 It may be collected from the following circumstances, whether or not the gratification of the sexual intercourse has been conducive to the well-being of the body; namely, if it be not succeeded by a peculiar lassitude; if the body do not feel heavy, and the mind averse to reflection, these are favourable symptoms, indicating that the various powers have sustained no essential loss, and that superfluous matter only has been evacuated. 

 Farther, the healthy appearance of the urine in this case, as well as cheerfulness and vivacity of mind, also prove a proper action of the fluids, and sufficiently evince an unimpaired state of the animal functions, a due perspiration, and a free circulation of the blood. 

 There are times, however, in which the gratification is the more pernicious to health, when it has been immoderate, and without the impulse of nature, but particularly in the following situations. 

 1. In all debilitated persons; as they do not possess sufficient vital spirits, and their strength after this venerating emission is consequently much exhausted. Their digestion necessarily suffers, perspiration is checked, and the body becomes languid and heavy. 

 2. In the aged; whose vital heat is diminished, whose frame is enfeebled by the most moderate enjoyment, and whose vigour, already reduced, suffers a still greater diminution from every loss that is accompanied with a violent convulsion of the whole body. 

 3. In persons not arrived at the age of maturity; by an easy intercourse with the other sex, they become enervated and emaciated, and inevitably shorten their lives. 

 4. In dry, choleric and thin persons; these, even at a mature age, should seldom indulge in this passion, as their bodies are already in want of moisture and pliability, both of which are much diminished by the sexual intercourse, while the bile is violently agitated, to the great injury of the whole animal frame. Lean persons generally are of a hot temperament; and the more heat there is in the body the greater will be the subsequent dryness. Hence, likewise, to persons in a state of intoxication, this intercourse is extremely pernicious; because in such a state the increased circulation of the blood towards the head may be attended with dangerous consequences, such as bursting of blood-vessels, apoplexy, etc. The plethoric are particularly exposed to these dangers. 

 5. Immediately after meals; as the powers requisite to the digestion of food are thus diverted, consequently the aliment remains too long unassimilated, and becomes burdensome to the stomach. 

 6. After violent exercise; in which case it is still more hurtful than in the preceding, where muscular strength was not consumed, but only required to the aid of another function. After bodily fatigue, on the contrary, the necessary energy is in a manner exhausted, so that every additional exertion of the body must be peculiarly injurious. 

 7. In the best of summer it is less to be indulged in than in spring and autumn; because the process of concoction and assimilation is effected less vigorously in summer than in the other seasons, and consequently the losses sustained are not so easily recovered. For a similar reason the sexual commerce is more debilitating, and the capacity for it sooner extinguished in hot than in temperate climates. The same remark is applicable to very warm temperature combined with moisture, which is extremely apt to debilitate the solid part. Hence hatters, dyers, bakers, brewers, and all those exposed to steam, generally have relaxed fibres. 

 It is an unfavourable symptom if the rest after this intercourse be uneasy, which plainly indicates that more has been lost than could be repaired by sleep; but if, at the same time, it be productive of relaxation, so as to affect the insensible perspiration, it is a still stronger proof that it has been detrimental to the constitution. [72]

ESSAY III. 

APHRODISIACS, OR, EROTIC STIMULI, ANDTHEIR OPPOSITES, AS KNOWN TO, AND USED BY, THE ANCIENTS AND MODERNS. 

When it is considered how strongly the sexual desire is implanted inman, and how much his self-love is interested in preserving or inrecovering the power of gratifying it, his endeavours to infuse freshvigour into his organs when they are temporarily exhausted byover-indulgence, or debilitated by age cannot appear surprising. 

This remark particularly applied to natives of southern and easternclimes, with whom the erotic ardour makes itself more intensely felt;since it is there that man's imagination, as burning as the sky beneathwhich he first drew breath, re-awakens desires his organs may have longlost the power of satisfying, and consequently it is there moreespecially that, notwithstanding the continual disappointment of hishopes, he still pertinaciously persists in searching for means wherebyto stimulate his appetite for sexual delights. Accordingly it will befound that in the remotest ages, even the vegetable, animal, andmineral kingdoms have been ransacked for the purpose of discoveringremedies capable of strengthening the genital apparatus, and exciting itto action. 

But however eager men might be in the above enquiry, their helpmateswere equally desirous of finding a means whereby they might escape thereproach of barrenness, --a reproach than which none was more dreaded byeastern women. Such means was at last discovered, or supposed to be so, in the mandrake, [73] a plant which thenceforth became, as the followingquotation proves, of inestimable value in female eyes. 

 "And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother, Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes. 

 "And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to-night for thy son's mandrakes. 

 "And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me, for surely I have hired thee with my son's mandrakes. And he lay with her that night. 

 "And God harkened unto Leah, and she conceived and bare Jacob the fifth son. "[74]

There is only one other passage in the Bible in which this plant isalluded to, and that is in Solomon's song:

"The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner ofpleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O mybeloved. "[75]

All that can be gathered from the former of the above quotations is thatthese plants were found in the fields during the wheat harvests andthat, either for their rarity, flavour, or, more probably, for theirsupposed quality of removing barrenness in women, as well as for thestimulating powers attributed to them, were greatly valued by the femalesex. In the quotation from Solomon's Song, the Hebrew word _Dudaim_expresses some fruit or flowers exhaling a sweet and agreeable odour, and which were in great request among the male sex. [76]

According to Calmet, the word _Dudaim_ may be properly deduced from_Dudim_ (pleasures of love); and the translators of the Septuagint andthe Vulgate render it by words equivalent to the English one--mandrake. The word _Dudaim_ is rendered in our authorized version by the word_mandrake_--a translation sanctioned by the Septuagint, which, in thisplace, translates _Dudaim_ by [Greek: mêla mandragorôn], _mandrake_--apples, and in Solomon's Song by [Greek: oi mandraorai](_mandrakes_). With this, Onkelos[77] and the Syrian version agree; andthis concurrence of authorities, with the fact that the mandrake(_atropa mandragora_) combines in itself all the circumstances andtraditions required for the Dudaim, has given to the currentinterpretation, its present prevalence. 

Pythagoras was the first (followed by Plutarch) who gave to this plantthe name of [Greek: anthrôpomorphos] (man-likeness), an appellationwhich became very generally used; but why he gave it is not preciselyknown: Calmet, however, suggests as a reason the partial resemblance itbears to the human form, from the circumstance of its root being partedfrom the middle, downwards. 

The opinion respecting the peculiar property of the mandrake was notconfined to the Jews, but was also entertained by the Greeks and Romans, the former of whom called its fruit--love-apples, and bestowed the nameof _Mandragorilis_ upon Venus. Dioscorides knew it by that of [Greek:Mandragoras], and remarks that the root is supposed to be used inphilters or love-potions;[78] and another writer lauds it as excitingthe amorous propensity, remedying female sterility, facilitatingconception and prolificness, adding the singular fact that femaleelephants, after eating its leaves, are seized with so irresistible adesire for copulation, as to run eagerly, in every direction, in questof the male. [79]

Speaking of the plant Eryngium, the elder Pliny says: "The whole varietyof the Eryngium known in our (the Latin) language as the _centum capita_has some marvellous facts recorded of it. It is said to bear a strikinglikeness to the organs of generation of either sex; it is rarely metwith, but if a root resembling the male organ of the human species befound by a man, it will ensure him woman's love; hence it is that Phaon, the Lesbian, was so passionately beloved of Sappho. "[80] If it be true, as is asserted by medical writers, that the above root contains anessential oil of peculiarly stimulating qualities, the fact wouldaccount, not only for Sappho's passion for Phaon, but also for the highvalue set upon it by the rival wives of Jacob. 

For the same reason as that suggested by Calmet, Columella calls themandrake _semihomo_:

 "Quamvis _semihominis_ vesano gramine fœta Mandragoræ pariat flores. "[81]

 "Let it not vex thee if thy teeming field The half-man Mandrake's madd'ning seed should yield;"

and qualifies its seed by the epithet _vesanus_, because in his time(the first century after Christ) it was still supposed to form one ofthe ingredients of philters or love-potions. The superstitious ideasattached to the mandrake were indeed so current throughout Europe duringthe middle ages, that one of the accusations brought against the KnightsTemplars was that of adoring, in Palestine, an idol to which was giventhe name of Mandragora. [82] Even, comparatively, not very long ago, there might be seen in many of the continental towns quacks andmountebanks exhibiting little rudely-carved figures, which they declaredto be genuine mandrakes, assuring their gaping auditors, at the sametime, that they were produced from the urine of a gibbeted thief, andseriously warning those who might have to pull any out of the ground tostop their ears first, for otherwise the piercing shrieks of theseplants would infallibly strike them with deafness. Wier thus describesthe manufacture of these interesting little gentlemen: "Impostors carveupon these plants while yet green the male and female forms, insertingmillet or barley seeds in such parts as they desire the likeness ofhuman hair to grow on; then, digging a hole in the ground, they placethe said plants therein, covering them with sand till such time as thelittle seeds have stricken root, which, it is said, would be perfectlyeffected within twenty days at furthest. After this, disinterring theplants, these impostors, with a sharp cutting knife, so dexterouslycarve, pare, and slip the little filaments of the seeds as to make themresemble the hair which grows upon the various parts of the humanbody. "[83]

"I have seen, " says the Abbé Rosier, "mandrakes tolerably wellrepresenting the male and female parts of generation, a resemblancewhich they owe, almost entirely, to manual dexterity. For the intendedobject, a mandrake is chosen having a strong root, which, at the end ofa few inches, bifurcates into two branches. As the root is soft, iteasily takes the desired form, which it preserves on becoming dry. "[84]The author then describes the process of producing the resemblance ofhuman hair, and which is similar to that given above. 

In the year 1429, a Cordelier by name Brother Richard, fulminated fromthe pulpit a vigorous sermon against the amulette then much in vogue, and called "Mandragora. " He convinced his auditors, both male andfemale, of its impiety and inutility, and caused hundreds of thosepretended charms which, upon that occasion, were voluntarily deliveredup to him, to be publicly burnt. It is no doubt, to these mandragorasthat an old chronicler alludes in the following strophe:

 J'ai puis vu soudre en France Par grant dérision, La racine et la branche De toute abusion. Chef de l'orgueil du monde Et de lubricité; Femme où tel mal habonde Rend povre utilité. [85]

In the 15th century the mandrake enjoyed in Italy so great a reputationas an erotic stimulant, that the celebrated Macchiavelli wrote a muchadmired comedy upon it, called "_La Mandragora_. " The subject of thispiece, according to Voltaire, who asserts "qu'il vaut, peut être mieuxque toutes les pièces d'Aristophane, est un jeune homme adroit qui veutcoucher avec la femme de son voisin. Il engage, avec de l'argent, unmoine, un _Fa tutto_ ou un _Fa molto_, à séduire sa maitresse et à fairetomber son mari dans un piège ridicule. On se moque tout le long de lapièce, de la religion que toute l'Europe professe, dont Rome est lecentre et dont le siège papal est le trone. "[86]

Callimaco, one of the dramatis-personæ of this comedy, thus eulogizesthe plant in question, "Voi avete a intendere che non è cosa più certa aingravidare, _d'una pozione fatta di Mandragola_. Questa è una cosisperimentata da me due para di volte, e se non era questa, la Reina diFrancia sarebbe sterile, ed infinite altre principesse in quelloStato. "[87]

"You must know that nothing is so sure to make women conceive, as adraught composed of Mandragola. That is a fact which I have verifiedupon four occasions, and had it not been for the virtues of this plant, the queen of France, as well as many noble ladies of that kingdom, wouldhave proved barren. "

By the Venetian law the administering of love-potions was accountedhighly criminal. Thus the law "_Dei maleficii et herbarie_. " Cap. XVI. Of the code, entitled "Della Commissione del maleficio" says, "Statuimoetiamdio che se alcun homo o femina harra fatto maleficii, iguali sodimandono volgarmente _amatorie_, o veramente alcuni altri maleficii, che alcun homo o femina se havesson in odio, sia frusta et bollade, etche hara consigliato, patisca simile pena. "[88]

The notion of the efficacy of love powders was also so prevalent in the15th century in our own country that in the Parliament summoned by KingRichard III. , on his usurping the throne, it was publicly urged as acharge against Lady Grey, that she had bewitched King Edward IV. Bystrange potions and amorous charms. 

 "And here also we considered how that the said pretended marriage betwixt the abovenamed King Edward and Elizabeth Grey, was made of great presumption, without the knowing and assent of the Lords of this land, and also by sorcery and witchcraft committed by the said Elizabeth and her mother Jaquet Duchesse of Bedford, as the common opinion of the people and the public voice and fame is thorow all this land. " (From the "Address of Parliament to the high and mightie Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester. ")[89]

Modern writers, as might be expected, have taken a very wide range intheir inquiries as to what kind of plant the Dudaïm really was, someregarding it as lilies, roses, violets, snowdrops, and jasmine; others, as melons, plantain fruits, whirtleberries, dwarf brambles, the berriesof the physalis or winter cherry, grapes of some peculiar kinds, or evenunderground fungi, as truffles, &c. Many have supposed the word to meanthe ingredients, whatever they might have been, of a charm or lovepotion, and hence have recurred to the mandrake, celebrated, as alreadysaid, throughout antiquity, for its supposed virtues, and whose historyhas been tricked out with all the traditionary nonsense that might beimagined to confirm that report of such qualities. 

Liebentantz, [90] in 1660; the younger Rudbeck, [91] in 1733, andCelsius, [92] in 1745, have displayed much erudition and research intheir inquiries; but the first of these writers arrived at theconclusion that nothing certain could be come to on the subject; whilethe second proposed raspberries as the Dudaïm; and the third maintainedthat they were the fruit of the Zizyphus, the Spina Christi of thedisciples of Linnæus. 

Maundrell, who travelled in the East in the 17th century, informs usthat, having asked the chief priest of Aleppo what sort of a plant orfruit the Dudaïm, or (as we translate it) the _mandrakes_, were whichLeah gave to Rachel for the purchase of her husband's embraces, theholy man replied "that they were plants of a large leaf bearing acertain sort of fruit, in shape resembling an apple, growing ripe inharvest, but of an ill savour, and not wholesome. But the virtue of themwas to _help conception_, being laid under the genial bed. That thewomen were wont to apply it at this day, out of an opinion of itsprolific virtue. "[93]

Some writers have supposed the Dudaïm to be neither more nor less thanthe truffle. Virey asserts it to be a species of Orchis; and, indeed, considering the remarkable conformation of the root of this plant, [94]the slightly spermatic odour of its farinaceous substance, as well asthat of the flowers of another one belonging to the same family, anodour so similar to the emanations of an animal proverbial for itssalaciousness, and to which its bearded spikes or ears give additionalresemblance, the almost unbounded confidence which the ancients reposedin its aphrodisiacal virtues cannot appear surprising. 

One of the most extraordinary aphrodisiacs upon record is that reportedto have been employed by the Amazons. The "Amazons, " saysEustathius, [95] "broke either a leg or an arm of the captives they tookin battle, and this they did, not only to prevent their attempts atescape, or their plotting, but also, and this more especially, to renderthem more vigorous in the venereal conflict; for, as they themselvesburnt away the right breast of their female children in order that theright arm might become stronger from receiving additional nutriment, sothey imagined that, similarly, the genital member would be strengthenedby the deprivation of one of the extremities, whether a leg or an arm. "Hence, when reproached by the Scythians with the limping gait of herslaves, Queen Antianara replied, "[Greek: arista chôlos oiphei], " "thelame best perform the act of love. "

Among the ancient Romans, it was impossible that philters, orlove-potions, should not be introduced amid the general depravity socommon in every class; and hence we meet with frequent allusions to themin their writers. Thus, the emperor Julian, surnamed the Apostate, writing to his friend Callixines, observes "At enim inquies, Penelopesetiam amor et fides erga virum tempore cognita est. Et quis, tandem, inquam, in muliere amorem conjugis sui religioni ac pietati anteponet_quam continuò mandragoræ bibesse judicitur_?"[96]

 "But you, Callixines, observe that Penelope's love to her husband was always thus manifested. To this I answer, who but he _that has habitually drunk Mandragora_ can prefer in a woman conjugal affection to piety?"

The over excitement caused in the nervous system by such potionsfrequently proved fatal. Such, according to Eusebius, was the fate ofthe poet Lucretius, who, having been driven to madness by an amatorypotion, and having, during the intervals of his insanity, composedseveral books, which were afterwards corrected by Cicero, died by hisown hand, in the 44th year of his age. [97] It should, however, beremembered that this account has been questioned by the poet'stranslator and annotator, the late Mr. Mason Good, in these words:

 "By whom the potion was administered is conjectured only from a passage in St. Jerome, [98] who says that a certain Lucilia killed her husband or her lover by giving him a philtre, which was intended to secure his love, but the effect of which was to make him insane. This Lucilia is supposed to have been the wife or the mistress of Lucretius, but by whom the supposition was first made, I am not able to discover. "[99] Suetonius relates the same thing of Caius Caligula, who although, when he arrived at manhood, endured fatigue tolerably well, was still occasionally liable to faintness, owing to which he remained incapable of any effort. He was not insensible to this disorder of his mind, and sometimes had thoughts of retiring. [100] "Creditum, " he continues, "potionatus a Cæsonia uxore, amatorio quodam medicamento, sed quod furorem verterit. "[101]

 "It is thought that his wife Cæsonia administered to him a love-potion, which threw him into a phrensy. " It is in allusion to this that Juvenal writes

 "Tamen hoc tolerabile, si non Et furere incipias, ut avunculus ille Neronis Cui totam tremuli frontem Cæsonia pulli Infudit. "[102]

 "Some nimbler juice would make him foam and rave, Like that Cæsonia to her Caius gave, Who, plucking from the forehead of the foal The mother's love, infused it in the bowl: The boiling blood ran hissing through his veins, Till the mad vapour mounted to his brains. "

These concoctions were publicly sold at Rome, their ingredientsconsisting of herbs of various kinds, in the culling and testing ofwhich the shepherds were often employed. The remora, or sucking-fish, certain bones of the frog, the astroit, or star-fish, and the hippomaneswere also used. Horace informs us that dried human marrow and liver werealso had recourse to:

 "Exsucta uti medulla et aridum jecur Amoris esset poculum. "[103]

 That his parch'd marrow might compose, Together with his liver dried, an amorous dose. 

Del Rio[104] and Wallick[105] assert that to the above were likewiseadded nail-parings, sundry metals, reptiles, and the intestines ofparticular birds and fishes, and even _semen virile_ and _sanguismenstruus_. [106] During the concoction of these filthy, disgusting, andabominable compounds, the Infernal Deities were earnestly invoked. 

Of all the above ingredients the most famous was the hippomanes, which, according to Wier, was a piece of flesh upon the forehead of a youngcolt, of a black or brown colour, in size and shape like a fig, whichthe mare is said to bite off as soon as she has foaled, the mareforsaking her offspring when prevented from so doing; hence thehippomanes, which was in reality nothing more than a caul or part of theomentum attached to the head of the foal, as it is also sometimes tothat of infants, was thought to be particularly effective inconciliating love, especially when calcined or reduced to powder, andswallowed in some of the blood of the person beloved. This superstitionis, however, in some degree excusable, if it be considered that, even inthe present day, many persons in our own country firmly believe thehuman caul to have the power of saving its possessor from drowning; andthat in the good old times, it was regarded as a visible indication thatProvidence had designed the infant so furnished for the service ofreligion, such children, whether male or female, being destined, inconsequence, for the cloister. 

Virgil thus mentions it as one of the ingredients of the philter thatDido caused to be made for her previously to her committing suicide:

 "Falcibus et messæ ad Lunam quæruntur alienis Pubentes herbæ, nigri cum lacte veneni. Quæritur _et nascentis equi in fronte revulsus_ Et matri præruptus amor. "[107]

 "Herbs are brought, by moonlight mow'd With brazen scythes, big, swol'n with milky juice Of curious poison, _and the fleshy knot Torn from the forehead of a new foal'd colt_ To rob the mother's love. "

The following curious account of the wonderful effects of thehippomanes, and which fully justifies the etymology of thatword, is given by Pausanias:

 "Among these (offerings) you may behold those of Phormis Menalius.... His gifts in Olympia are two horses and two charioteers, one of which horses the Ælians assert to have been made by a magician, of brass, into which metal he had previously infused the _hippomanes_, and which, in consequence, possessed the power of exciting in horses a mad desire for coition. The horse so made by the magician was, both in size and shape inferior to many horses which are dedicated within Altis, and was rendered still more deformed by having no tail. Horses desire connection with this image not only in spring, but every day throughout the year, for, breaking their bridles or running away from their drivers, they rush into Altis and attack the horse in a manner much more furious than if it was the most beautiful mare, and one they were acquainted with. Their hoofs, indeed, slip from the side of the image, but nevertheless they never cease neighing vehemently and leaping furiously on the figure till they are driven off by the whip or by some other violent means, for till such methods are applied, it is impossible to disengage them from the brass. "[108]

Many formula for love-potions may be found in the work ofAlbertus Magnus, who, among other things, particularly recommends"the brains of a partridge calcined into powder and swallowedin red wine, " a remedy which is also much insisted uponby Platina, who, in praising the flesh of the partridge, says, "Perdicis caro bene ac facile concoquitur, multum in se nutrimentihabet, cerebri vim auget, _genituram facilitat ac demortuamVenerem excitat_. "[109]

 "The flesh of the partridge, which is of good and easy digestion, is highly nutritious; it strengthens the brain, facilitates conception, and arouses the half-extinct desire for venereal pleasures. " Mery[110] confidently prescribes, for the same purpose, the _partes genitales_ of a cock prepared and administered in like manner. 

The following compositions enjoyed a vast reputation during the 17thcentury:

 FORTUNA VENERIS. --"Take of pismires or ants (the biggest, having a sourish smell, are the best) two handfuls, spirits of wine one gallon; digeste them in a glasse vessel, close shut, for the space of a month, in which time they will be dissolved into a liquor; then distil them in balneo till all be dry. Then put the same quantity of ants as before; do this three times, then aromatize the spirit with cinnamon. Note, that upon the spirit will float an oil which must be separated. This spirit (continues the inventor) is of excellent use to stir up the animal spirits insomuch that John Casimire, Palsgrave of the Rhine, and Seyfrie of Collen, general against the Turks, did always drink thereof when they went to fight, to increase magnanimity and courage, which it did even to admiration. "

 "This spirit doth also _wonderfully irritate them that are slothful to venery_. "[111]

 AQUA MAGNANIMITATIS. --Take of ants or pismires a handful of their eggs two hundred, of millepedes (wood-lice) two hundred, of bees two hundred and fifty; digeste them together, the space of a month, then pour off the clear spirit, and keep it safe. This water or spirit is of the same value as the former. [112]

But, quitting these "fond conceits, " as honest old Burton[113] callsthem, and investigating the subject upon acknowledged and recognisedprinciples, it will be found that, as the ancient philosophers andnaturalists regarded the semen as the purest and most perfect part ofour blood, the flower of our blood and a portion of the brain, so thesole object of all aphrodisiacal preparations should be to promote itscopious secretion. 

Before, however, proceeding to indicate the means most conducivethereto, it may prove interesting to the reader to be informed what werethe opinions of some of the most celebrated philosophers of antiquity, upon the semen. "Let us first, " says Montaigne, [114] "know whether, atleast, all they (physicians) agree about the matter whereof men produceone another.... Archesilaus, the physician, whose favourite and discipleSocrates was, said that men and beasts were formed of a lacteous slime, expressed by the heat of the earth. Pythagoras says that our seed is thefoam or cream of our better blood. Plato, that it is the distillation ofthe marrow of the back-bones; and raises his argument from this: thatthat part is first sensible of being weary of the work. Alcmeon, that itis a part of the substance of the brain, and that it is so, says he, isproved by its causing weakness of the eyes in those who areover-immoderately addicted to that exercise. Democritus, that it is asubstance extracted from soul and body. Aristotle, an excrement drawnfrom the aliment of the last blood which is diffused over all ourmembers; others, that it is a blood concocted and digested by the heatof the genitals. "

But, to return from this digression. Under whatever point of view the_semen verile_ be considered, whether as containing, according to somephysicians, all the parts of the fœtus, under the name of organicmolecules, or as being, in the opinion of others, merely destined tofecundate the female egg, it will be equally true that the semen is afluid impregnated with a vivifying principle regarded as the mostimportant (_validissimum_) of our humours, by Hippocrates, who, insupport of this his opinion, adduces the fact of our becomingdebilitated, however small the quantity we may lose of it in thevenereal act. [115]

Zeno, the father of the Stoic philosophy, called the loss of semen theloss of part of the animating principle; and that sage's practice wasconformable with his principles, for he is recorded to have embraced hiswife but once in his life, and that out of mere courtesy. 

Epicuras and Democritus were nearly of the same opinion as Zeno; and theAthletæ, that their strength might be unimpaired, never married. TheRabbis, in their anxiety to preserve their nation, are said to haveordered, with a view of preventing a loss of vigour, that a peasantshould indulge but once a week, and a merchant but once a month, asailor but twice a year, and a studious man but once in two years; andfor the same reason, Moses forbade indulgence before battle. 

 "Les êtres, " says a writer in the Dictionnaire des Sciences Médicales, [116] "qui font le plus abus de leurs facultés intellectuelles et sensitives extérieures, sont les moins capables d'un coït fréquent, tandis que les idiots, les crétins, l'exercent bien davantage. De même, l'âne, le cochon se livrent plus stupidement à l'acte de propagation et repandent beaucoup plus de sperme que des espèces intelligentes; enfin les animaux à petit cerveau, tels que les poissons, montrent une extrême fécondité. "

If now, it be asked what will best promote the secretion of the seminalfluid, or, in other words, which is the best aphrodisiac, it may beconfidently answered, the use of a substantial nourishment, such asmedical men designate as an analeptic diet. Food of this description, without fatiguing the gastric organs, furnishes an abundant chyle, fromwhich is elaborated a rich blood, and in which the secretory organs findmaterials of an excellent quality, and in an almost constant proportionwith the regular consumption of their products. All food of easy andquick digestion is an analeptic, whence it follows that the samesubstance which is an analeptic to one person, may prove indigestibleand innutritious for another. The numerous treatises upon digestionrender it unnecessary to specify here the different aliments most properfor convalescents, suffice it to say, generally, that those meats inwhich azezome is found are the most nutritious. This animal principle isthat extractive matter of animal fibre which produces the red appearanceof uncooked meat; it is also that which forms what is called the _brown_of roasted meats, gives the flavour to broths and soups, the peculiarsmell to boiled meat, and constitutes the much admired _gout_ of gameand venison. It is not found in the flesh of young animals, which issaid, with reason, to be, on that very account, less nutritious. It isonly when they have attained the adult age that it appears in them; itis abundant in beef, mutton, kid, hare, pigeon, partridge, pheasant, woodcock, quail, duck, goose, and generally, in all animals having darkcoloured flesh. Mushrooms and oysters also contain some, but in a verysmall proportion. 

Food in which this principle exists appears to impress upon the membraneof the stomach an increase of activity; the digestion is easy, and froma small mass of alimentary substance an abundant chyle is obtained. Thechyliferous vessels derive a very great proportion of reparativematerials; there is found but little excrementitious residue, the bloodis enriched and its course accelerated, while the impulsive force of theheart and arteries is strong and more lively. Under the influence ofthis regimen a greater quantity of heat is developed and, in a giventime, there is a greater absorption of oxygen than during a vegetableone; the respiration is performed more freely, the organs increase insize, but it is then a genuine embonpoint; nutrition is, in reality, more active, it is not a deceptive turgidity; the energy of thesecretions and exhalations is redoubled, cutaneous perspiration becomesmore abundant, and the glandular apparatus fulfil their functions withgreater facility. A man who adopts this food becomes consequently verywell fitted to make the sacrifices exacted by the calls of love, towhich he is then more frequently solicited. 

The mollusca in general, and testaceous animals in particular, havebeen considered as endowed with aphrodisiac properties. Juvenalattributes this quality to oysters which, together with mussles, have inthis respect become vulgarly proverbial. 

 "Quis enim Venus ebria curat? Inguinis et capitis quæ sint discrimina nescit Grandia quæ mediis jam noctibus ostrea mordet. "[117]

 "For what cares the drunken dame? (Take head or tail), to her 'tis much the same Who at deep midnight on fat oysters sups. "

Wallich informs us that the ladies of his time had recourse, on suchoccasions, to the brains of the mustela piscis. The Sepia octopus wasalso in great repute, and Plautus, in his play of Cisina, introduces anold man who has just been purchasing some at the market. 

Appuleius, the celebrated author of the _Metamorphoseon de Asino aureo_(Metamorphoses of the Golden Ass), and who lived in the 2nd century, under the Antonines, having married a rich widow, was accused by herfather Æmilian, before Claudius Maximus, pro-Consul of Asia, of havingemployed sorcery and charms in order to gain her affections (a parallelcase with that of Shakspear's Othello). The love-potions alleged to havebeen administered were asserted to be chiefly composed of shell-fish, lobsters, sea hedge-hogs, spiced oysters, and cuttle-fish, the last ofwhich was particularly famed for its stimulating qualities. Appuleiusfulley exonerated himself in his admirable _Apologia ceu oratio deMagica_, so esteemed for the purity of its style as to have beenpronounced by Saint Augustine (De Civitate Dei, lib. Xviii. C. 20) as_copiosissima et disertissima oratio_. The reason adduced by Æmilian forbelieving that Appuleius had chiefly used fish for the purpose was, thatthey must necessarily have great efficacy in exciting women to venery, inasmuch as Venus herself was born of the sea. 

Venette[118] supports this view when he says:

 "Nous avons l'expérience en France que ceux qui ne vivent presque que de coquillages et de poissons qui ne sont que de l'eau rassemblée, sont plus ardents à l'amour que les autres, en effet, nous nous y sentons bien plus y portés _en Caresme qu'en tout autre saison parce-qu'en ce temps là nous ne nous nourrissons que de poissons et d'herbes qui sont des aliments composés de beaucoup d'eau. _"

Should this be true, the Infallible (?) Church must have committed anastounding blunder in thinking to mortify, for six weeks, the sinfullusts and affections of its dupes, by confining them, for the aboveperiod, to the exclusive use of such articles of food. 

There are also some aliments which, although not included in the classof analeptics, are, nevertheless, reported to possess specificaphrodisiacal qualities; such are fish, truffles, and chocolate. 

The following anecdote relative to this property in fish is related byHecquet:[119]

 "Sultan Saladin, wishing to ascertain the extent of the continence of the dervishes, took two of them into his palace, and, during a certain space of time, had them fed upon the most succulent food. In a short time all traces of their self-inflicted severities were effaced, and their _embonpoint_ began to re-appear. 

 "In this state he gave them two Odalisques[120] of surpassing beauty, but all whose blandishments and allurements proved ineffectual, for the two holy men came forth from the ordeal as pure as the diamond of Bejapore. [121]

 "The Sultan still kept them in his palace, and, to celebrate their triumph, caused them to live upon a diet equally _recherché_, but consisting entirely of fish. A few days afterwards they were again subjected to the united powers of youth and beauty, but this time nature was too strong, and the too happy cenobites forgot, in the arms of voluptuousness, their vows of continence and chastity. "

This peculiar property in fish has been attributed to the presence ofphosphorus, which is known to exist somewhat plentifully in theirsubstance, and has also been discovered in their roes in a simple stateof combination. Now, phosphorus is one of the most powerful stimulants:it acts upon the generative organism in a manner to cause the mostviolent priapisms; but this principle does not act alone, and there mustalso be taken into account the different seasonings and condiments whichform the basis of most culinary preparations to which fish aresubjected, and which are all taken from the class of irritants. 

The prolific virtues of fish have, no doubt, been greatly exaggerated, and it is certain that too much importance has been given to theobservation made (rather upon slight grounds) by travellers as to theabundant population of ichthyophagic nations; nor would it be difficultto adduce facts to prove to the incredulous that the continuous use offish excites lasciviousness in such persons only as are constitutionallyinclined thereto. 

The following instances sufficiently establish the aphrodisiacalqualities of phosphorus. A drake belonging to a chemist having drunkwater out of a copper vessel which had contained phosphorus, ceased notgallanting his females till he died. An old man to whom a few drops onlyof phosphoric ether had been administered, experienced repeated andimperious venereal wants which he was compelled to satisfy. Leroy andBattatz, two celebrated French physicians of the last century, tried theeffects of phosphorus upon themselves, with similar results. Sensationsof the same kind are said to be experienced by persons whose occupationrequires the frequent handling of this drug. It may thus be consideredas satisfactorily proved that the above substance is essentially anenergetic stimulant of the genital organs; but, should still furtherevidence be required, it may be found in the fact that theadministration of it, even in small doses, has been productive of themost horrible and fatal results, instances of which are recorded in manymedical works both foreign and English, but more particularly in thoseof Brera, Magendie, and others. 

The erotic properties of truffles and mushrooms are considered by mostwriters as better established than those of fish. The ancient Romanswere well acquainted with truffles, and obtained them from Greece andAfrica, especially from the province of Libya, the fungi found therebeing particularly esteemed for their delicacy and flavour. In moderntimes, also, the truffle is regarded as the _diamond_ of the kitchen, being highly valued for its capability of exciting the genesiac sense, it being a positive aphrodisiac which disposes men to be exacting andwomen complying. [122]

The following instance of its effects is given by Brillat Savarin, [123]to whom the circumstances were communicated, in confidence, by the ladywho was the subject of them:

 "Je soupai, " says she, "un jour chez moi en trio avec mon mari et un de ses amis dont le nom était V----. C'était un beau garçon et ne manquant pas d'esprit et venait souvent chez moi, mais il ne m'avait jamais rien dit qui put le faire regarder comme mon amant, et s'il me fesait la cour, c'était d'une manière si enveloppée qu'il n'y avait qu'une sotte qui eut pû s'en fâcher. Il paraissait, ce jour là, destiné á me tenir compagnie pendant le reste de la soirée, car mon mari avait un rendezvous et devait nous quitter bientôt. Notre souper avait pour base une petite volaill truffée. Les truffes étaient délicieuses, et quoique je les aime beaucoup, je me contins, nonobstant; je ne bus aussi qu'un seul verre de Champagne, ayant quelque pressentiment que la soirée ne se passerait pas sans évènement. Bientôt mon mari partit et me laissa seule avec V---- qu'il regardait comme tout à fait sans consequence. La conversation roula d'abord sur des sujets indifférents, mais elle ne tarda pas à prendre une tournure plus sérieuse et plus intéressante. V---- fut successivement flatteur, expansif, affectueux, caressant, et voyant que je ne faisais que plaisanter de tant de belles choses, il devint si pressant que je ne pus plus me tromper de ses prétensions. Alors, je me reveillai comme d'une songe et me défendis avec autant plus de franchise que mon cœur ne me disait rien pour lui. Il persistait avec une action que pouvait devenir tout à fait offensante; j'eus beaucoup de peine de la remener, et j'avone, à ma honte, que toute espérance ne lui serait pas interdite. Enfin, il me quitta, j'allai me coucher et dormis tout d'un somme. Mais le lendemain fut le jour du jugement; j'examinai ma conduite de la veille, et je la trouvai repréhensible. J'aurais du arreter V---- dès les premières phrases, et ne pas me prêter à une conversation qui ne présageait rien de bon. Ma fierté aurait dû sonner, crier, me fâcher, faire, enfin, tout ce que je ne fis pas. Que vous dirai je, Monsieur, je mis tout cela sur le compte des truffes, et je suis réelement persuadée qu'elles m'avaient donne une prédisposition dangereuse, et si je n'y renonce pas (ce qui eut été trop rigoureux) du moins je n'en mange jamais sans que le plaisir qu'elles me causent ne soit mêlé d'un peu de defiance. "

The mushroom was also equally well known as the truffle to the ancientRomans for its aphrodisiacal qualities. Thus, Martial says:

 "Quum sit anus conjux et sint tibi mortua membra, Nil aliud _bulbis_ quam sater esse potes. "[124]

 "If envious age relax the nuptial knot, Thy food be mushrooms, and thy feast shalot. "

This bulb was believed by the ancients to be so decided a stimulant, that it was always served up, together with pepper and pine-nuts, at thewedding dinner. 

An immoderate use of chocolate was, in the 17th century, considered sopowerful an aphrodisiac that Jean Franco Raucher strenuously enforcedthe necessity of forbidding the monks to drink it, adding that if suchan interdiction had been laid upon it at an earlier period, the scandalwith which that sacred order had been assailed would have beenprevented. It is a singular fact that, fearful of losing theircharacter, or, what, perhaps, was dearer to them, their chocolate, theworthy cenobites were so diligent in suppressing Raucher's work thatfour copies only of it are said to be in existence. 

The history of the middle ages abounds with complaints of the lubricity, gluttony, and drunkenness of the monks, vices which are described asbeing their ruin, in the fallowing pithy distich:

 "Sunt tria nigrorum quæ vestant res monachorum, Renes et venter et pocula sumpta frequenter. "[125]

 "Three things to ruin monks combine-- Venery, gluttony, and wine. "

A monk who was a great enemy to adultery, was one day preaching againstit, and grew so warm in his argument, and took so much pains to convincehis congregation of his own abhorrence of it, that at last he broke outin the following solemn declaration:

 "Yea, my brethren, I had rather, for the good of my soul, have to do with ten maids every month, than, in ten years, to touch one married woman!"

The celebrity they acquired in the field of Venus may readily beimagined from a quatrain that was affixed in a conspicuous part of theChurch of St. Hyacinthe, and which runs thus:

 "Femmes qui désirez de devenir enceinte Addressez cy vos vœux au grand Saint Hyacinthe, Et tout ce que pour vous le Saint ne pourra faire _Les moines de céans pourront y satisfaire_. [126]

 "You ladies who for pregnancy do wish To great St. Hyacinthe your prayers apply, And what his Saintship cannot accomplish _The monks within will surely satisfy_. "

It would have been well had these holy men been contented with these, comparatively, venial indulgences. The following macaronic epigram, however, shows that they were but too much addicted to the _AmourSocratique_:

 "Let a friar of some order tecum pernoctare Either thy wife or thy daughter hic vult violare, Or thy son he will prefer, sicut fortem fortis, God give such a friar pain in Inferni portis. "[127]

But the open violation of their monastic vows, especially that ofchastity, sometimes subjected monks to very severe punishment, asingular instance of which is recorded by Thevet, [128] who, on accountof the inimitable quaintness of his language and style, must be allowedto tell his own story:

 "Phillippus Bourgoin, grād prieur de l'Abbaye de Cluny, voyant l'insolence, riblerïes et putasseries que menoient certains religieux de l'abbaye de Cluny les fist appeller particulièrement, leur demonstra le tort qu'ilz se faisoient et à la saincteté de leur ordre, et appercevant qu'ilz continuoient leur train, en pleine voute ou assemblée, qu'ils font en leur chapitre, leur denonça, pu'estāt en son oratoire Sainct Hugues s'estoit apparu à luy, le chargeant de leur fair entendre qu'ilz amendassent leur vie, ou autremēt, qu'ilz tomberoient en son indignation, les ayant en telle verdeure envoya querir des maistres opérateurs sécretment en son logis et māda querir une nuict tous les plus mauvais garçons de Moynes, les uns après les autres, qui n'estaient plutôt entrez au logis du Prieur qu'ō leur bādoit les yeux, et après _les maistres leurs nettòiét bragardement_ leurs _petites boursettes_ de ce qui les faisoit hennir après leurs voluptéz et après les renvoiet en leurs chambres, _plus legiers de deux grains qu'ilz n'etoiét auparavant, les ayant chappônez_. Après telle exécution le bruict courut qu'ō avoit veu Sainct Hugues se pourmêant près de l'enfermerie de l'abbaye, qui fist croire aux pauvres Moynes hongres, que par adresse autre qu'humaine, ils avoiêt _ainsi esté estropiez_ de leur virilité. "

To these poor monks may, however, be applied the sly remark of Hume, upon a similar act of cruelty perpetuated, though for a far moreinnocent cause, by Geoffry, the father of Henry II. , upon the prior andchapter of Seez in Normandy, viz. , that "of the pain and danger theymight justly complain, yet, since they had vowed chastity, he deprivedthem of a superfluous treasure. "[129]

If the properties of ambergris be less potent than those of phosphorus, they are certainly less fatal. According to Boswell, [130] three grainsof the former suffice to produce a marked acceleration of the pulse, aconsiderable development of muscular strength, a greater activity in theintellectual faculties, and a disposition to cheerfulness and venerealdesires. The same author also says that it is a medicine which can, fora short time, restore an effete old man to juvenility. [131] The ancientsreposed great confidence in the virtues of this drug, employing it as arenovator of the vital powers and of the organs, whose energy had beenexhausted by age or by excess; and throughout the East this perfumestill maintains a reputation for life-preserving qualities. 

Madame Du Barry, [132] the infamous mistress of Louis XV. , is reported tohave availed herself of its aphrodisiacal qualities in order tostimulate the jaded appetites of her royal paramour. "L'attachement duroi pour Madame Du Barry[133] lui est venu des efforts prodigieuxqu'elle lui fit faire au moyen d'un baptême (lavement) ambré dont ellese parfuma intérieurement tous les jours. On ajoute qu'elle joignit àcela un secret dont on ne se sert pas encore en bonne société. "

Piquant as is this anecdote, the key to it is equally so. "Les mouchescantarides, i diabolini l'essence de giroflée, les baptêmes ambrés, etc. , sont des inventions de notre siecle dont la débilité eut étéincurable sans ces secours, l'auteur ne peut rendre le _secret de lamauvaise société_, dont se sert la Comtesse, sans blesser la bonne, toutce qu'il peut dire décemment est que ce secret est un diminutif deserreurs philosophiques. "[134]

The old pharmacopœia are amply furnished with formula of whichamber constitutes the base. These recipes are generally designated bynames which, to a certain extent, indicate the particular use to whichthey are destined by their makers; thus, France formerly boasted her"_Tablettes de Magnanimité_, " or "_Electuaire Satyrion_, " and "_Unpoudre de joie_. " Troches, or odoriferous lozenges, to which theancients gave the pretty name of "_Avunculæ Cypriæ_, " were, and perhapsare still, sold in Paris under that of "_Seraglio Pastilles_. " Ambergrisforms the basis of these, as it also does of the Indian pastilles called"Cachunde, " and which were equally in repute. Zactus Lusitanus[135]states that they were composed of bole Tuccinum, musk, ambergris, aloes-wood, red and yellow sanders (pterocarpus santalinus) mastic, sweet-flag (calamus aromaticus) galanga, cinnamon, rhubarb, Indianmyrobalon, absynth, and of some pounded precious stones, which, however, impart no additional quality to the composition. Speaking of thiscomposition, the Encyclopœdia Perthensis describes it as "a medicinehighly celebrated among the Chinese and Indians; it is composed ofambergris and several other aromatic ingredients, perfumes, medicinalearths, and precious stones. It imparts a sweetness to the breath, is avaluable medicine in all nervous complaints, and is esteemed as aprolonger of life and _an exciter to venery_. "[136]

Rivière[137] gives us the following formula for a potion whose virtue isindisputable. "Take of amber, half a drachm; musk, two scruples; aloes, one drachm and a half; pound them all together, pour upon the mass asufficient quantity of spirits of wine so that the liquor may cover itto the height of about five fingers' breadth; expose it to sand heat, filter and distil it, close it hermetically, and administer it in brothin the dose of three or five drops. This liquor is also advantageouswhen mixed with syrup, prepared as follows:--Take of cinnamon water, four ounces; orange and rose water, each six ounces, and sugar candyq. S. 

Musk taken internally is said by many physicians to be almost equal toambergris for its aphrodisiacal qualities. Externally applied, thissubstance produces very singular phenomena. Borelli details the case ofa man "qui s'étant frotté le penis avec du musc avant de se livrer àl'exercise des fonctions genitales, resta uni avec sa femme sans pouvoirs'en séparer. Il fallait, dans cette position lui donner une quantitéde lavements afin de ramoller les parties qui s'étaientextraordinairement tumifiées. "[138] Diermerbreek and Schurigius gavesimilar instances. The effects of musk are, therefore, almost equal tothose produced by certain plants, as recorded by Theophrastus: "Esseherbas quæ vel ad _sexagesimum coitum_ vim præstant sed at demumsecernitur sanguis. "[139] Weickard says that by means of this drug heresuscitated the genital power in a man who had nearly completed hiseightieth year. 

But, of all aphrodisiacs, the most certain and terrible in its effectsare cantharides, commonly known as Spanish flies. That they exercise apowerful and energetic action upon the organization and stimulate, tothe utmost, the venereal desire, is but too true. The effects, however, which these insects, when applied as a blister upon the skin, are knownto produce, are insignificant when compared with their intense actionupon the stomach when taken internally; nor is it the stomach only whichis affected by them: the bladder experiences an irritation exceedingeven that caused by the severest strangury. To these succeed perforationof the stomach, ulcers throughout the entire length of the intestinalcanal, dysentery, and, lastly, death in the midst of intolerableagonies. Medical works abound with observations concerning the fataleffects of cantharides when unduly administered, whether from ignoranceor for exciting the venereal appetite. The two following cases arerecorded by Pabrol in his "Observations Anatomiques":

 "En 1752 nous fumes visiter un pauvre homme d'Organ en Provence atteint du plus horrible satyriasis qu'on saurait voir et penser. Le fait est tel. Il avait les quartes, pour en guérir prend conseil d'une sorcière, laquelle lui fait une potion d'une once de semences d'orties, de deux drachmes de cantharides, d'une drachme et demi de caboule et autres, ce qui le rendit si furieux à l'acte vénérien que sa femme nous jura son Dieu, _qu'il l'avait chevauchée, dans deux mois, quatre vingt sept fois, sans y comprendre plus de dix fois qu'il s'était_ corrompu lui-même. Dans le temps que nous consultions, le pauvre homme spermatisa trois fois à notre présence, embrassa le pied du lit, et agitant contre lui comme si c'eust été sa femme. Ce spectacle nous étonn et nous hâtâ à lui faire des remèdes pour abattre cette furieusse chaleur, mais quel remède qu'on lui eust faire, se passa-t-il le pas. "

 "Un médecin à Orange, nommé Chauvel avait été appellé en 1758 à Caderousse, petite ville proche de sa résidence, pour voir un homme atteint d'une maladie du même genre. A l'entrée de la maison il trouve la femme du dit malade, laquelle se plaignit à lui de la furieuse lubricité de son mari, _qui l'avait chevauchée quarante fois pour une nuit_, et avait toutes les parties gonflées, étant contrainte les lui montrer afin qu'il lui ordonnast les remèdes pour abattre l'inflammation. Le mal du mari étant venu d'un breuvage semblable à l'autre que lui fut donné par une femme qui gardait l'hôpital, pour guérir la fièvre tierce qui l'affligeoit, de laquelle il tomba dans une telle fureur qu'il fallait l'attacher comme s'il eust été possédé du diable. Le vicaire du lieu fut présent, pour l'exhorter à la présence même du Sieur Chauvel, lesquels il priait le laisser mourir avec le plaisir, les femmes le plièrent dans un linsseuil mouillé en eau et en vinaigre, où il fut lassé jusqu'au le lendemain qu'elles allaient le visiter, mais sa furieuse chaleur fut bien abattue et eteinte, car elles le trouvèrent roid mort, la bouche béante, montrant les dents, et son membre gangréne. "

Paré also relates that a courtezan, having sprinkled the meat given byher to one of her lovers, with pounded cantharides, the wretched youthwas seized with a violent priapism and loss of blood at the anus, ofwhich he died. 

Ferdinand the Catholic, of Castile, owed his death to the effects of aphilter administered to him by his queen, Germaine de Foix, in the hopeof enabling him to beget an heir to the crowns of Aragon, Navarre, andNaples. "Plusieurs dames, " says Mignot, [140] "attachées à la Reine, luiindiquèrent un breuvage qu'il fallait, disoit on donner à Ferdinand pourranimer ses forces. Cette princese fit composer ce reméde, sous sesyeux, et le présenta au roi qui désirait, plus qu'elle, d'avoir un fils. Depuis ce jour, la santé de Ferdinand s'affaiblit, au point qu'il ne larecouvra jamais. "

The life of the celebrated Wallenstein, one of the heroes of the "ThirtyYears' war, " was far a long time endangered from the effects of a potionadministered to him by his countess. "De retour dans sa patrie, il(Wallenstein) sut inspirer une vive passion à une riche veuve de lafamille de Wiezkova, et eut l'adresse de se faire préféré à des rivauxd'un rang plus élevé; mais cette union fut troublée par l'extrêmejalousie de sa femme; ou prétend même qu'elle fit usage de philtres quepensèrent compromettre le santé de son mari. "[141]

Cardinal Dubois, [142] the favourite and minister of Philip Duke ofOrleans, Regent of France, during the minority of Louis XV. , gives thefollowing amusing account of a love potion, to the powerful effects ofwhich he considered himself indebted for his existence. "An oldbachelor, of Brivas, had engaged to marry a young lady of only sixteenyears of age. The night before the wedding he assembled the wise headsof his family for the purpose of consulting upon the best means ofenabling him to perform his part creditably in the approaching amorousconflict. Opinions were divided; some maintained that nature wasadequate to the occasion at any age, while others recommended a certainpreparation in the Pharmacopeia, which would amply supply the defect ofyouth in a sexaginary husband. The old gentleman chose, withouthesitation, the surest and speediest of these two chances of success. The prescription was sent to the shop of my worthy father, who was anapothecary in the town, and he accordingly immediately set to work, andmade up a draught which would have awakened desire even in Methusalehhimself. This valuable philter was not to be sent to the party till thenext day. It was late, and my mother, " continues the Cardinal, "desiredher husband to retire to rest and he, tired with his day's work, quicklyundressed himself, blew out his candle, and deposited himself, like aloving husband, by the side of his dear spouse. Awakening in the middleof the night, he complained of being excessively thirsty, and his betterhalf, roused from her slumbers, got up in the dark, and groping aboutfor something wherewith to quench his thirst, her hand encountered theinvigorating philter, which it truly proved to be, for I came into theworld precisely nine months after that memorable night. "[143]

Although love-potions and philters, as well as the other preparationshad recourse to, for animating and arousing the organs for reproductionfrequently owe, as we have shewn, their advantages to cantharides, andare, but too often productive of terrible effects, yet it cannot bedenied that when administered by a skilful, cautious, and experiencedphysician, they have restored the desired vigour when all other meanshave failed. 

The flesh of the Schinck (scincus), an amphibious animal of the lizardspecies, and sometimes of the land lizard, or crocodile, is said, whenreduced to powder and drunk with sweet wine, to act miraculously inexciting the venereal action; it is also prepared for the same object inthe form of the electuary known by the name of Diasatyrion. Æliusrecommends that in order to cause the erection of the virile organ, theflesh of this animal should be taken from the vicinity of its genitalapparatus. [144] It is a well known fact that the Egyptian peasantscarried their lizards to Cairo, whence they were forwarded, _viâ_Alexandria, to Venice and Marseilles. This species of lizard, whichfeeds upon aromatic plants, was also used as an aphrodisiac by theArabs, and the well known anti-poisonous quality of its flesh had causedit, in more ancient times, to be employed as an ingredient in thefar-famed Mithridates, or antidote to poison. Browne informs us[145]"that in Africa, no part of the Materia Medica is so much in requisitionas those which stimulate to venereal pleasure. The _Lacerta scincus_ inpowder, and a thousand other articles of the same kind, are in continualdemand. " The plant Chervri (_sandix ceropolium_) is also accounted ascapable of exciting amorous propensities, so much so that Tiberius, theRoman emperor, the most lascivious, perhaps, of men, is said to haveexacted a certain quantity of it from the Germans, by way of tribute, for the purpose of rendering himself vigorous with his women andcatamites; and Venette says that the Swedish ladies give it to theirhusbands when they find them flag in their matrimonial duties. [146]

But it was upon the plant called Satyrion (_orchis mascula_) that thosewho required aphrodisiacal remedies rested their most sanguine hopes. This plant, Theophrastus assures us, possesses so wonderful a propertyof exciting venery that a mere application of it to the parts ofgeneration will enable a man to accomplish the act of love twelve timessuccessively. Speaking of this plant, Venette[147] says that the herbwhich the Indian King Androphyl sent to King Antiochus was that it wasso efficacious in exciting men to amorous enjoyment as to surpass inthat quality, all other plants, the Indian who was the bearer of itassuring the king "qu'elle lui avait donné de la vigueur pour soixantedix embrassements, " but he owned "qu'aux derniers efforts ce qu'ilrendait n'était plus de semence. "

Matthoile, however, observing that those persons who made use of it didnot appear much given to lasciviousness, concluded that we had lost thetrue satyrion of the ancients; but, it is nevertheless certain, notwithstanding so adverse an opinion, that this plant long preservedits reputation, and was recommended by all botanists for its aphrodisiacpotency. Of all the species of this plant the one popularly known asdog-stones is reputed to possess the greatest virtue. 

The Turks have also their Satyrion (_orchis morio_), which grows uponthe mountains near Constantinople, and which they make use of to repairtheir strength, and stimulate them to the generative act. From this rootis made the salep of which the inhabitants of Turkey, Persia, and Syria, are extremely fond, being looked upon as one of the greatestrestoratives and provocatives to venery in the whole vegetable world. But besides the aphrodisiacal qualities attributed to this plant by theabove people, they give it credit for other ones, which good opinionexperience has confirmed, and therefore whenever they undertake a longvoyage, they never omit to carry it with them as a specific against alldiseases. Modern practitioners likewise commend its restorative, mucilaginous and demulcent qualities as rendering it of considerableutility, particularly in sea scurvy, diarrhœa, dysentery, and stoneor gravel. In addition to this property, salep also possesses the verysingular one of concealing the taste of sea water, hence to prevent thedreadful calamity of perishing by thirst at sea it has been proposedthat the powder of this plant should form part of the provisions ofevery ship's company. 

Borax is likewise considered to possess peculiar aphrodisiacalqualities. "Il pénètre, " says Venette, "toutes les parties de notrecorps et ouvre tous les vaisseaux, et par la ténuité de sa substance, _il conduit aux parties génitales_ tout ce qui est capable de nousservir de matière à la semence. "[148]

The plant Rocket (_Brasica eruca_) has likewise been especiallycelebrated by the ancient poets for possessing the virtue of restoringvigour to the sexual organs, on which account it was consecrated to andsown around, the statue of Priapus; thus Columella says:--

 "Et quæ frugifero seritur vicina Priapo Excitet ut veneri tardos eruca maritos. "[149]

 "Th' eruca, Priapus, near thee we sow To rouse to duty husbands who are slow. "

Virgil attributes to it the same quality, designing it as--

 "... Et venerem revocans eruca morantem. "[150]

 "Th'eruca, plant which gives to jaded appetite the spur. "

Lobel[151] gives an amusing account of the effects of this plant uponcertain monks in the garden of whose monastery it was sown, an infusionof it being daily doled out to them under the impression that itscheering and exhilarating qualities would rouse them from the state ofinactivity and sluggishness so common to the inmates of suchestablishments. But, alas! the continual use of it produced an effectfar more powerful than had been contemplated by the worthy itinerantmonk who had recommended it, for the poor cenobites were so stimulatedby its aphrodisiacal virtues that, transgressing alike their monasticwall and vows, they sought relief for their amorous desires in the fondembraces of the women residing in the neighbourhood. 

Salt, mala Bacchica[152] Cubebs, Surag, [153] and radix Chinæ (bark), were also regarded by ancient physicians as powerful aphrodisiacs. Gomez[154] asserts of the first of these substances, that women who muchindulge in it are thereby rendered more salacious, and that, for thisreason, Venus is said to have arisen from the sea; whence the epigram:

 "Unde tot in Veneta scortorum millia cur sunt? In promptu causa est. Venus orta mari. "

 "In Venice why so many punks abound? The reason sure is easy to be found: Because, as learned sages all agree, Fair Venus' birth-place was the _salt, salt sea_. "

To the last of the above-mentioned plants, Baptista Porta ascribes themost wonderful powers, his words being: Planta quæ non solum edentibus, sed et genitale languentibus tantum valet, ut coire summe desiderant, quoties fere velint, possint; alios _duodecies_ profecisse, alios ad_sexaginta vices_ pervenisse, refert. [155]

Certain condiments are also aphrodisiacal, acting as they undoubtedlydo, as powerful stimulants. Thus Tourtelle and Peyrible assure us thatpepper is a provocative to venereal pleasures, while Gesner and Chappelcured an atony of the virile member of three or four years' duration, byrepeated immersions of that organ in a strong infusion of mustard seed. 

The principal ingredient of the _Bang_ so much used by the Indians, aswell as of the _Maslac_ of the Turks is a species of the hemp plant. TheIndians, says Acosta, [156] masticate the seeds and leaves of severalspecies of that plant, in order to increase their vigour in the venerealcongress, and very frequently combine with it, ambergris, musk, andsugar, preparing it in the form of an electuary. It has been remarked, moreover, that even in our own climate, the caged birds that are fedwith hemp seed are the most amorously inclined. 

According to Browne[157] whole fields are in Africa sown with _hashish_, the _bang_ of the East Indies, for the purpose of being used as astimulant to amorous dalliance. It is used in a variety of forms, but innone, it is supposed, more effectually than what in Arabic, is calledMaijûn, a kind of electuary, in which both men and women indulge toexcess. 

It is said that the Chinese, domesticated at Batavia, avail themselvesof a certain electuary for the purpose of stimulating their appetite forsexual intercourse. This preparation, called by them Affion, is chieflycomposed of opium, and it is asserted that its effect is so violent thata brutal passion supervenes and continues throughout the night, thefemale being obliged to flee from the too energetic embraces of herlover. [158]

Narcotics, in general, and especially, opium, have been considered asdirect aphrodisiacs, an opinion which, if well founded, would enable usto account more easily far those agreeable sensations by which the useof these substances is followed. 

But it is very probable that narcotics act upon the genital organs in noother way than they do upon the other ones, that is to say, theycertainly do simulate them, but only proportionately to the increase offorce in the circulation of the blood and to the power or tone of themuscular fibre. It is also very probable that the voluptuousimpressions superinduced by them depend upon the circumstances underwhich those persons are, who habitually indulge in them, and that theyare connected with other impressions or with particular ideas whichawaken them. If, for instance, in a Sultan reclining upon his sofa, theintoxication of opium is accompanied by images of the most ravishingdelight, and if it occasions in him that sweet and lively emotion whichthe anticipation of those delights awakens throughout the whole nervoussystem, the same inebriation is associated in the mind of a Janizary ora Spahi with ideas of blood and carnage, with paroxysms, the brutal furyof which has certainly, nothing in common with the tender emotions oflove. It is in vain to allege in proof of the aphrodisiacal qualities ofopium the state of erection in which the genital members of Turks arefound when lying dead on a field of battle, [159] for this state dependsupon, or is caused by, the violent spasm or universal convulsivemovements with which the body is seized in the moment of death: the samephenomenon frequently appears in persons who suffer hanging. In warmcountries, it is the concomitant of death from convulsive diseases, andin our own climate, it has been observed in persons who have died fromapoplectic attacks. 

The power which certain odours possess of exciting venereal desiresadmits not the slightest doubt, at least as far as the inferior animalsare concerned. Nearly all the mammifera exhale or emit, in the ruttingseason, peculiar emanations serving to announce from afar to the malethe presence of the female and to excite in him the sexual desire. Factshave been observed with respect to insects even, which cannot beotherwise accounted for than by odorous effluvia. If, for instance, thefemale of the bombyx butterfly, be placed in a box accurately closed, itwill not be long before several males will be seen flying around theprison, and which could not possibly have known, by means of theirvisual organs, the presence of their captive Dulcinea. Now the questionis, does anything analogous take place in our own species? Many authorsassert that there does, and among them Virey, who, speaking of suchexhalations, says: "L'extrême propreté des hommes et des femmes, l'habitude de se baigner et de changer souvent de linge _fontdisparaïtre_ les odeurs génitales. [160] ... On doit aussi remarquer quela haire des Cénobites, la robe des Capucins, le froc des moines, lesvêtements rudes et mal-propres de diverses corporations religieusesexposent ceux qui les portent à de fortes tentations, à cause de laqualité stimulante et de la sueur fétide dont étaient bientôt empreintestoutes ces sortes d'habillements. "[161] "Odours, " observes Cabanis[162]"act powerfully upon the nervous system, they prepare it for all thepleasurable sensations; they communicate to it that slight disturbanceor commotion which appears as if inseperable from emotions of delight, all which may be accounted for by their exercising a special actionupon those organs whence originate the most rapturous pleasure of whichour nature is susceptible. In infancy its influence is almost nothing, in old age it is weak, its true epoch being that of youth, that oflove. "

It is certain that among most nations, and from the remotest antiquity, voluptuous women strengthened their amorous propensities by the use ofvarious perfumes, but particularly of musk, to which has been attributedthe power of exciting nocturnal emissions. The great Henry IV. , ofFrance, no novice in love affairs, was opposed to the use of odours, maintaining that the parts of generation should be allowed to retaintheir natural scent, which, in his opinion, was more effectual than allthe perfumes ever manufactured by art. 

Another aphrodisiacal remedy, which for a long time enjoyed a greatreputation was the penis of the stag, which was supposed to possess thevirtue of furnishing a man with an abundance of seminal fluid. Perhapsthe reason why the ancients attributed this property to the genitalmember of that animal was from the supposition that it was thereceptacle of the bile; that the abundance and acrid quality of thisfluid caused lasciviousness, and that the stag being transported by anerotic furor during the rutting season, he was the most salacious ofanimals, and consequently that the genital organ of this quadrupedwould, when applied to man's generative apparatus, impart theretoconsiderable heat and irritation. A somewhat similar opinion respectingthe horse appears to have obtained among the Tartars, if we may judgefrom the following account given by Foucher d'Obsonville:[163] "Lespalefreniers aménent un cheval de sept à huit ans, mais nerveux, biennourri et en bon état. On lui présente une jument comme pour la saillir, et cependant on le retient de façon à bien irriter ses idées. Enfin, dans le moment où il semble qu'il va lui être libre de s'élancer dessus, l'on fait adroitment passer la verge dans un cordon dont le nœudcoulant est rapproché au ventre, ensuite, saisissant à l'instant oùl'animal parait dans sa plus forte érection, deux hommes qui tiennentles extrémités du cordon le tirent avec force et, sur le champ, lemembre est séparé du corps au dessus le nœud coulant. Par ce moyen, les esprits sont retenus et fixés dane cette partie laquelle restsgonflée; aussitôt on la lave et la fait cuire avec divers aromatiques etépiceries aphrodisiaques. "

The means of procuring the vigour necessary for sexual delights has alsobeen sought for in certain preparations celebrated by the alchymists. Struck by the splendour of gold, its incorruptibility, and other rarequalities, some physicians imagined that this metal might introduce intothe animal economy an inexhaustible source of strength and vitality;while empirics, abusing the credulity of the wealthy and the voluptuousmade them pay exorbitantly for aphrodisiacal preparations in which theyassured their dupes that gold, under different forms, was an ingredient. Among innumerable other instances, is that of a French lady who, toprocure herself an heir, strove to reanimate an exhausted constitutionby taking daily in soup what she was made to believe was potable gold, to the value of 50 francs, a fraud to expose which it suffices to saythat the largest dose of perchloride of gold that can be safelyadministered is 1/6th of a grain. The tincture of gold known by the nameof _Mademoiselle Grimaldi's potable gold_ enjoyed a wonderful reputationtowards the close of the 18th century as an efficacious restorative andstimulant; and numerous instances of its all but miraculous powers wereconfidently adduced. Dr. Samuel Johnson, indeed, in a note upon awell-known passage in Shakespeare, [164] denies the possibility of makinggold potable: "There has long, " he observes, "prevailed an opinion thata solution of gold has great medicinal virtues, and that theincorruptibility of gold might be communicated to the body impregnatedwith it. Some have pretended to make gold _potable_ among other fraudspractised upon credulity. " So far back, however, as the 17th century theAbbé Guence shewed that it was feasible, and even described the processminutely; and it is now known to every chemist that gold is susceptibleof entering into immediate combination with chlorine by the agency ofheat, that it may even be dissolved in water charged with chlorine, andthat various methods exist of obtaining chlorate of gold, a combinationwhich is often successfully employed in the treatment of syphiliticcases. Ether, naptha, and essential oils take gold from its solvent, andform liquors which have been called _potable_ gold. 

Even the Christian Church itself possessed, in its early times, aphrodisiacs peculiarly its own. "On trouve, " says Voltaire, [165] "dansla lettre à Maitre Acacius Lampirius (Literæ virorum obscurorum) uneraillerie assez forte sur la conjuration qu'on employait pair se faireaimer des filles. Le secret consistoit à prendre un cheveu be la fille, on le plaçoit d'abord dans son haut-de-chausses; on faisoit uneconfession générale et on fesoit dire trois messes, pendant les quelleson mettoit le cheveu autour de son col; on allumait un cièrge béni audernier Evangile en on prononcait cette formule. 'O Vierge! je teconjure par la vertu du Dieu tout-puissant, par des neuf chœurs desanges, par la vertu gosdrienne, amène moi icelle fille, en chair et enos, afin que _je la saboule_ à mon plaisir. '"

Bourchard, Bishop of Worms, has transmitted to us[166] an account ofcertain aphrodisiacal charms practised by women of his time, thedisgusting obscenity of which is such that we cannot venture upontranslating the passage:

 "Fecisti quod quædam mulieres facere solent? Tollunt menstruum suum sanguinem et immiscunt cibo vel potui et dant viris suis ad manducandum vel ad bibendum ut plus diligantur ab eis. Si fecisti, quinque annos per legitimas ferias pœniteas. 

 "Gustasti de semine viri tui ut propter tua diabolica facta plus in amorem exardisceret? Si fecisti, septem annos per legitimas ferias pœnitere debeas. 

 "Fecisti quod quædam mulieres facere solent? Prosternunt se in faciem et discoopertis natibus, jubent ut supra nudas nates conficirtur panis, ut eo decocto tradunt maritis suis ad comedendum. Hoc ideo faciunt ut plus exardescant in amorem suum. Si fecisti, duos annos per legitimas ferias pœniteas. 

 "Fecisti quad quædam mulieres facere solent? Tollunt piscem vivum et mittunt eum in puerperium suum, et tamdiu ibi tenent, donec mortuus fuerit, et decocto pisce vel assato, maritis suis ad comedendum tradunt. Ideo faciunt ut plus in amorem suum exardescant. Si fecisti, duos annos per legitimas ferias pœniteas. "

Remedies taken internally are not the only ones which stimulate man tosexual intercourse. External applications materially contribute to thatend, and liniments have been composed wherewith to anoint the parts ofgeneration. These washes are made of honey, liquid storax, oil and freshbutter, or the fat of the wild goose, together with a small quantity ofspurge, pyrethrum, ginger or pepper to insure the remedy's penetrating:a few grains of ambergris, musk, or cinnamon are to be added by way ofperfume. 

Remedies for the same purpose may also be applied to men's testiclesespecially; as according to the opinion of Galen, those parts are thesecond source of heat, which they communicate to the whole of the body;for, besides the power of engendering, they also elaborate a spirituoushumour or fluid which renders man robust, hardy, and courageous. Thebest application of this kind is that composed of cinnamon powder, gilliflower, ginger and rose water, together with theriac, the crumb ofbread, and red wine. 

In addition to the means already mentioned for restoring vigour to thegenerative organs, two others may be reckoned which have beensuccessfully resorted to for bracing them in such persons whosereproductive faculties lie dormant rather than extinct: these twomethods are known as _flagellation_ and _urtication_. [167]

Flagellation was recommended by several of the ancient physicians as aneffectual remedy in many disorders, and this upon the physiologicalaxiom of Hippocrates--_ubi stimulus, ibi affluxus_. Seneca considers itas able to remove the quartan ague. Jerome Mercurialis speaks of it asemployed by many physicians in order to impart embonpoint to thin, meagre persons; and Galen informs us that slave merchants used it as ameans of clearing the complexion of their slaves and plumping them up. Alædeus of Padua, recommends flagellation with green nettles, that is, urtication, to be performed on the limbs of young children for thepurpose of hastening the eruption of the small pox. ThomasCampanella[168] attributes to flagellation the virtue of curingintestinal obstructions, and adduces in proof to his assertion, the caseof the Prince of Venosa, one of the best musicians of his time, whocould not go to stool, without being previously flogged by a valet keptexpressly for that purpose. 

Even at a later period the same opinion obtained as to the efficacy offlagellation, it being supposed by many physicians to reanimate thetorpid circulation of the capillary and cutaneous vessels, to increasemuscular energy, to promote absorption, and to favour the necessarysecretions of our nature. [169] As an erotic stimulant, more particularlyit may be observed that, considering the many intimate and sympatheticrelations existing between the nervous branches of the extremity of thespinal marrow, it is impossible to doubt that flagellation exercisedupon the buttocks and the adjacent parts, has a powerful effect upon theorgans of generation. 

Meibomius, [170] the great advocate for the use of this remedy, remarks, that stripes inflicted upon the back and loins are of great utility inexciting the venereal appetite, because they create warmth in thoseparts whose office it is to elaborate the semen and to convey it to thegenerative organs. He, therefore, considered it by no means wonderfulthat the miserable victims of debauchery and lasciviousness, as well asthose whose powers have been exhausted by age or excess, should haverecourse to flagellation as a remedy. He observes that its effect isvery likely to be that of renewing warmth in the now frigid parts, andof furnishing heat to the semen, an effect in producing which the painitself materially contributes by the blood and heat which is therebydrawn down to the part until they are communicated to the reproductiveorgans, the erotic passion being thus raised, even in spite of natureherself, beyond her powers. A similar view is taken by a modern writer, whose opinion is "that the effect of flagellation may be easily referredto the powerful sympathy which exists between the nerves of the lowerpart of the spinal marrow and other organs. Artificial excitementappears in some degree natural; it is observed in several animals, especially in the feline race. Even snails plunge into each other abony, prickly spur, that arises from their throats, and which, like thesting of the wasp, frequently breaks off, and is left in thewound. "[171]

After the appearance of the Abbé Boileau's _Histoire de laFlagellation_, the Jesuits condemned several propositions found eitherin that work or in others approved by him. The following is one:

 "Necesse est cum musculi lumbares virgis aut flagellis diverberantur, spiritus vitales revelli, adeoque salaces motus ob vicinam partium genitalium et testium excitari, qui venereis ac illecebris cerebrum mentemque fascinant ac virtutem castitatis ad extremas augustias redigunt. "

From out of almost innumerable instances of the efficacy of flagellationas an aphrodisiac, the following are selected. 

Cornelius Gallus, the friend of Virgil, Horace, Tibullus, and Catullus, and who, according to Pliny, died the most delightful of deaths byexpiring in the embraces of the fondest object of his affections, [172]was solely indebted for the delicious transports he enjoyed with her tothe scourge with which her severe father chastised her for the faultsthat originated in too warm a temperament, a punishment which, insteadof counteracting, furthered the wishes of the voluptuous Roman. 

Jean Pic de Mirandole relates[173] the case of a person known to himwho, being a great libertine, could not consummate the act of lovewithout being flagellated until the blood came, and that, therefore, providing himself for the occasion with a whip steeped in vinegar, hepresented it to his _inamorata_, begging her not to spare him, for "pluson le fouettait, plus il y trouvait des délices, la douleur et lavolupté marchant, dans cet homme, d'un pas egal. "

Meibomius mentions the case of a citizen of Lubeck who, being accusedand convicted of adultery, was sentenced to be banished. A woman ofpleasure with whom this man had been for a long time intimate, appearedbefore the judges as a witness on his behalf. This woman swore that theman was never able to consummate the act of love with her unless he hadbeen previously flogged, --an operation which it was also necessary torepeat before each successive indulgence. 

That this was a means employed by Abelard in his commerce with Heloisa, appears from the following passages in two of his letters to her;

 "Verbera quandoque dabat amor non furor, gratia non ira quæ omnium unguentorum suavitatem transcenderent. "[174]

 "Stripes which, whenever inflicted by love, not by fury but affection, transcended, in sweetness, every unguent. "

 "Nosti quantis turpitudinibus immoderata mea libido corpora nostra addixerat et nulla honestatis vel Dei reverentia in ipsis diebus Dominicæ passionis vel quantarumque solemnitatem ut hujus luti volutabro me revocavit. Sed et te nolentem aut dissuadentem quæ natura infirmior eras, ut sæpius minis ac flagellis ad consensum trahebam. [175]"

 "Thou knowest to what shameful excesses my unbridled lust had delivered up our bodies, so that no sense of decency, no reverence for God, could, even in the season of our Lord's passion, or during any other holy festival, drag me forth from out that cesspool of filthy mire; but that even with threats and scourges I often compelled thee who wast, by nature, the weaker vessel, to comply, notwithstanding thy unwillingness and remonstrances. "

The renowned Tamerlane, the mighty conqueror of Asia, required a likestimulus, [176] the more so perhaps from the circumstance of his being amonorchis. [177]

The Abbé Boileau, in his well known and entertaining "Histoire desFlagellants, " partly attributes the gross licentiousness of that periodto the strange practice then in vogue of doing penance by being scourgedin public; and his brother the celebrated poet and critic, defending theAbbé against the animadversions of the Jesuits, remarks very forcibly:

 "Non, le livre des Flagellans N'a jamais condamné, lisez le bien, mes pères, Ces rigidités salutaires Qui, pour ravir le Ciel, saintement violens, Exercent sur leurs corps, tant de Chrétiens austères; Il blâme seulement ces abus odieux D'étaler et d'offrir aux yeux Ce que leur doit toujours cacher la bienveillance, Et combat vivement la fausse piété, _Qui sous couleur d'eteindre en nous la volupté Par l'austérité méme, et par la pénitence Sait allumer le feu de la lubricité_. [178]"

Flagellation, indeed, as well as the custom of wearing the hair-shirt, so common with the monks, and even with religious lay catholics, was, bythe stimulus it imparted to the skin, and hence to the internal viscera, much more likely to increase the energy of the physiological functions, and _thus excite the commission of the very acts they are intended tosuppress_. 

The Abbé Chuppe d'Auteroche, member of the Académie des Sciences, andwho died in California a few days after the observation of the Transitof Venus in 1760, remarks that the stripes given to persons frequentingthe vapour baths in Russia impart activity to the fluids and elasticityto the organs and gives additional stimulus to the venerealappetite. [179]

M. Serrurier records the following curious case. "One of myschoolfellows, who found an indescribable pleasure in being flogged, purposely and wilfully neglected his duty in order to draw upon himselfthe correction, which never failed to produce an emission of semen. Asmay easily be imagined he soon began the practice of masturbation, inwhich he indulged to so frightful an extent that rapid consumptionensued, and he died, a most horrible and disgusting object, affording amelancholy example of that fatal vice. "[180]

The case of Jean Jacques Rousseau is well known. When a child he was byno means displeased with the corrections administered to him by a ladyconsiderably his elder, he even frequently sought for a whipping at herhands, especially after he perceived that the flagellation developed inhim the manifest token of virility. But he must be allowed to give hisown account of it. "Assez long temps, " says he, "Madame Lamberciers'entint à la menace, et cette menace d'un châtiment tout nouveau pourmoi me semblait très effrayante, mais après l'exécution, je la trouvaimoins terrible à l'épreuve que l'attente ne l'avait été, et ce qu'il ya de plus bizarre est qui ce châtiment m'affectionna davantage d'ellequi me l'avoit imposé. Il fallait même toute la vérité de cetteaffection et toute ma douceur naturelle pour m'empêcher de chercher leretour du même traitement en le méritant, car j'avais trouvé dans ladouleur, dans la honte même, un mélange de sensualité qui m'avait laisséplus de désir que de crainte de l'éprouver derechef, par la même main. Il est vrai que comme il se mêlait, sans doute, à cela quelque instinctprécoce du sexe, le même châtiment reçu de son frère, ne m'eut point dutout, parut plaisant. "[181]

As flagellation is practised by striking the skin with a rod formed oftwigs, until the heat and redness become more intense, so if the twigsbe replaced by fresh nettles, the operation will become, --_urtication_. 

The employment of urtication is of great antiquity, for Celsus as wellas Aretæus mentions the use of it, it being in those times, a popularremedy. That the Romans had frequent recourse to it in order toarouse the sexual appetite, is proved by the following passage fromPetronius Arbiter, which for obvious reasons, we shall contentourselves with giving in the original only. "Oenothea semiebria ad merespiciens;--Perficienda sunt, inquit, mysteria _ut recipas nervos_. 

"Simulque profert scorteum fascinum quod, ut olio et minuto pipere, atque_urticæ_ trito circumdedit semine, paulatim cœpit inserere ano meo. Hoc crudelissima anus spargit subinde femina mea Nasturcii[182] succumcum abrotono miscet, perfusis que inguinibus meis, viridis urticæ fascemcomprehendit omnes que infra umbilicum cœpit lenta manu cædere. "[183]

Menghus Faventinus assures us that nettles have "une propriétémerveilleuse pour allonger, tendre, grossir et ériger le membre viril, qui, par une parsimonie de la nature, feroit craindre lastérilité. "[184]

Urtication appears to have been well known in France during the time ofRabelais, who alluding to this mode of procuring the vigour necessaryfor the amorous conflict, says, "se frotter le cul au panicaut (aspecies of thistle) vrai moyen d'avoir au cul passion. "

 Une femme en mélancholie Pour faute d'occupation, Frottez moi le cul d'ortie Elle aura au cul passion. [185]

The irritation caused by nettles produces effects analogous to thosewhich are observed in persons afflicted with the itch, the ring-worm andleprosy. The lubricity of those unfortunates is sometimes uncontrolable;they suffer violent priapisms, which are followed by ejaculation, whenever a severe itching forces them to scratch themselves with a kindof furor or madness. 

 "In a medical point of view, " observes Dr. Milligen, "urtication, or stinging with nettles, is a practice not sufficiently appreciated. In many instances, especially in cases of paralysis it is more efficacious than blistering or stimulating frictions. Its effects, though perhaps less permanent, are general and diffused over the limb. This process has been found effectual in restoring _heat to the lower extremities_, and a case of obstinate lethargy was cured by Corvisart by a repeated urtication of the whole body. During the action of the stimulus, the patient, who was a young man, would open his eyes and laugh, but then sink again into a profound sleep. In three weeks, however, his perfect cure was effected. "[186]

In 1783, Dr. James Graham, an humble imitator of the celebratedCagliostro, commenced giving his sanatary lectures, which he illustratedby the dazzling presence of his Goddess of Health, a character which, for a short time, was sustained by Emma Harte, afterwards the celebratedLady Hamilton, wife of Sir William Hamilton, English Ambassador at theCourt of Naples, and the _chère amie_ of the immortal Nelson. 

After describing various aphrodisiacal remedies, the lecturer thusproceeds: "But, gentlemen, if all the above means and methods, which Ihave thus faithfully, ingenuously, and with the frankest and mostunreserved liberality, recommended, fail, suffer me, with greatcordiality, and assurance of success, to recommend my celestial, ormedico, magnetico, musico, electrical bed, which I have, with so muchstudy and at so vast an expense, constructed, not alone to insure theremoval of barrenness, when conception is at all in the nature of thingspossible, but likewise to improve, exalt, and invigorate the bodily, andthrough them, the mental faculties of the human species. This bed, whoseseemingly _magical_ influences are now celebrated from pole to pole andfrom the rising to the setting sun! is indeed an _unique_ in science!and unquestionably the first and the only one that ever was mentioned, erected, or even, perhaps, thought of, in the world; and I will nowconclude the lecture with giving you a slight descriptive sketch of thestructure of the bed, and the nature of those influences with which itglows--which it breathes forth, and with which it animates, regenerates, and transports those happy, happy persons who have thehonour and the paradisiacal blessedness of reposing on it. 

 "The Grand Celestial State Bed! then, gentlemen, which is twelve feet long by nine wide, is supported by forty pillars of brilliant glass, of great strength and of the most exquisite workmanship, in regard to shape, cutting, and engravings; sweetly delicate and richly variegated colours, and the most brilliant polish! They are, moreover, invisibly incrusted with a certain transparent varnish in order to render the insulation still more complete; and that otherwise, properly assisted, we may have, in even the most unfavourable weather, abundance of the electrical fire. 

 "The sublime, the magnificent, and, I may say, the super-celestial dome of the bed, which contains the odoriferous, balmy, and ethereal spices, odours, and essences, and which is the grand magazine or reservoir of those vivifying and invigorating influences which are exhaled and dispersed by the breathing of the music, and by the attenuating, repelling, and accelerating force of the electrical fire, --is very curiously inlaid or wholly covered on the under side with brilliant plates of looking-glass, so disposed as to reflect the various attractive charms of the happy recumbent couple, in the most flattering, most agreeable and most enchanting style. 

 "On the top or summit of the dome, are placed, in the most loving attitudes, two exquisite figures, representing the marriage of Cupid and Psyche, with a fine figure of Hymen behind, and over them, with his torch flaming with electrical fire in one hand and, with the other, supporting a celestial crown, sparkling, likewise, with the effulgent fire over a pair of real living turtle-doves, who, on a little bed of roses, coo and bill under the super-animating impulses of the genial fire! The other elegant groups of figures which sport on the top of the dome--the Cupids, the Loves, and the Graces!--besides festoons of the freshest and most beautiful flowers, have each of them musical instruments in their hands, which by the exquisite and most expensive mechanism, are made to breathe forth sounds corresponding with the appearance of the several instruments, --flutes, guitars, violins, clarionets, trumpets, horns, oboes, kettle-drums, &c. On the posts or pillars, too, which support the grand dome are groups of figures, musical instruments, organ-pipes, &c. , which, in sweet concert with the other instruments, at the commencement of the tender dalliance of the happy pair, breathe forth celestial sounds! lulling them in visions of elysian joys! opening new sources of pleasure, and "untwisting all the chains which tie the hidden soul of harmony!" At the head of the bed, in the full centre front, appears, sparkling with electrical fire, through a glory of burnished and effulgent gold, the great, first, ever-operating commandment, BE FRUITFUL, MULTIPLY, AND REPLENISH THE EARTH! under this is a most elegant and sweet-toned organ, in the front of which is a fine landscape of moving figures on the earth, birds flying, swans, &c. , gliding on the waters, a fine procession, too, is seen, village nymphs strewing flowers before priests, brides, bridegrooms, and their attendants, who, all entering into the temple of Hymen, disappear from the delightful eye. The painting and embellishment of this front are most masterly, and reflect the highest honour on the artists by whom they were executed; and the whole view is terminated with fountains, waterfalls, shepherds, shepherdesses, and other peasants, as pastoral sports and rural employment, and by a little church, the dial of which points out truly and distinctly the hour. 

 "In the celestial bed no feather bed is employed; sometimes mattresses filled with sweet new wheat or cut straw, with the grain in the ears, and mingled with balm, rose leaves, lavender flowers, and oriental spices, and, at other times, springy hair mattresses are used. Neither will you find upon the celestial bed linen sheets; our sheets are of the richest and softest silk or satin; of various colours suited to the complexion of the lady who is to repose on them. Pale green, for example, rose colour, sky blue, black, white, purple, azure, mazarin blue, &c. , and they are sweetly perfumed in the oriental manner, with otto and odour of roses, jessamine, tuberose, rich gums, fragrant balsams, oriental spices, &c. ; in short, everything is done to assist the ethereal, magnetic, musical and electric influences, and to make the lady look as lovely as possible in the eyes of her husband and he, in hers. But to return, in order that I might have for the important purposes, the strongest and most springy hair, I procured, at a vast expense, the tails of English stallions, which when twisted, baked and then untwisted and properly prepared, is elastic to the highest degree. 

 "But the chief elastic principle of my celestial bed is produced by artificial loadstones. About fifteen hundred pounds' weight of artificial and compound magnets are so disposed and arranged as to be continually pouring forth in an ever-flowing circle inconceivable and irrestibly powerful tides of the magnetic effluxion, which is well known to have a very strong affinity with the electric fire. 

 "Such is a slight and inadequate sketch of the grand celestial bed, which, being thus completely insulated, --highly saturated with the most genial floods or electrical fire!--fully impregnated moreover, with the balmy vivifying effluvia of restorative balsamic medicines and of soft, fragrant, oriental gums, balsams and quintescence, and pervaded at the same times with full springing tides of the invigorating influences of music and magnets both real and artificial, gives such elastic vigour to the nerves, on the one hand, of the male, and on the other, such retentive firmness to the female; and, moreover, all the faculties of the soul being so fully expanded, and so highly illuminated, that it is impossible, in the nature of things, but that strong, beautiful, brilliant, nay, double-distilled children, if I may use the expression, must infallibly be begotten. "

A digression may, perhaps, be here pardonable, in order to give somenotice of the latter and last days of the beautiful, highly accomplishedand fascinating woman mentioned above. 

She had been presented to Nelson by her husband, who had previously toldher that he was about to introduce her to a little _thread-paper_ of aman, who could not boast of being very handsome, but who would become, some day, one of the greatest men that England ever produced. After thebattle of the Nile he again visited Naples, and was now little betterthan a perfect wreck. At Calvi, in 1794, he had lost an eye. AtTeneriffe his right arm was shattered and amputated close to theshoulder. At the battle of the Nile he was severely wounded in the head. Incessant anxiety and watchfulness for his country's honour and welfarehad blanched his brow, and shattered the "little thread-paper of a man"at the outset, till, on his return in triumph to his mistress, he seemedto be on the verge of an early grave. 

Yet she proved herself a true woman, if an erring one, in her receptionof the man she loved, and unhesitatingly and unequivocally forsook herall, to attend upon and worship him. 

Not far from Merton turnpike stood the house of Nelson and his mistress. It was left with all its liabilities to Lady Hamilton, but she wasobliged to take a hasty departure, and, harassed by creditors, insickness of heart and without funds, the unhappy woman escaped toCalais. 

Now for the sad, sad finale. From the portal of a house, as cheerlessand dreary as can be imagined, in the month of January, with a blacksilk petticoat stretched on a white curtain thrown over her coffin for apall, and an half-day Irish dragoon to act as chaplain over the grave, which was in a timber-yard, were the remains of Nelson's much-adoredfriend removed to their final resting place, under the escort of a_sergent de ville_. 

She died without the common necessaries of life, and was buried at theexpense of the town, notwithstanding Nelson's last words, "_Blackwood, take care of my poor Lady Hamilton!_"

"Whatever the errors of Lady Hamilton may have been, " says Doran, "letus not forget that without her aid, as Nelson said, the battle of theNile would never have been fought, and that in spite of her sacrificesand services, England left her to starve, because the government was toovirtuous to acknowledge the benefits rendered to her country by a ladywith too loose a zone. "

The remarks of honest old Burton[187] upon Aphrodisiacs, though quaint, are so judicious and pertinent, that we cannot better conclude this partof our essay than by quoting them:--

 "The last battering engines, " says he, "are philters, amulets, charms, images, and such unlawful meanes: if they cannot prevail of themselves by the help of bawds, panders, and their adherents, they will fly for succour to the devil himself. I know there be those that denye the devil can do any such thing, and that there is no other fascination than that which comes by the eyes. It was given out, of old, that a Thessalian wench had bewitched King Philip to dote on her, and by philters enforced his love, but when Olympia, his queen, saw the maid of an excellent beauty well brought up and qualified: these, quoth she, were the philters which enveagled King Philip, these the true charms as Henry to Rosamond. "[188]

 "One accent from thy lips the blood more warmes Than all their philters, exorcismes, and charms. "

With that alone Lucretia brags, in Aretine, she could do more than allphilosophers, astrologers, alychmists, necromancers, witches, and therest of the crew. As for herbs and philters I could never skill of them. _The sole philter I ever used was kissing and embracing, by which aloneI made men rave like beasts, stupefied and compelled them to worship melike an idol. _[189]

ANTI-APHRODISIACS. 

The means best calculated to produce effects contrary to those justtreated of are of several kinds, but such as are derived from hygieneare entitled to be considered as the most powerful. Previously, however, to describing the medicinal substances that may be efficaciouslyemployed in moderating, or rather checking, too violent a propensity tovenery, some notice must be taken of the diet adapted to insure such aresult. 

The use of milk, vegetables, such as lettuce, water-purslain, cucumbers, &c. , and especially of fruit in which the acid principle predominates, slackens the movement of the heart and of the sanguineous system; itdiminishes the animal heat, the chief source of which is in the activityof the circulation; it produces a feeling of tranquillity and ofcoolness; the respiration being more slow, occasions the absorption of aless quantity of oxygen, add to which, as a less quantity of reparativematerials is contained in this description of aliments, there result aless active nutrition, the loss of embonpoint and the completeprostration of every principle of irritability; in short, it is of alldiets the one least capable of furnishing fuel to the passions. Forcommon drink mere water, and, if the impulse of passion should increase, a small quantify of nitre, vinegar, or vitrolic acid, may, occasionallybe added to the water to make it more cooling. 

Other means conducive to the same end are a laborious life, much bodilyexercise, little sleep, and a spare diet, so that the fluids may be moreeasily conducted to other parts, and that there may not be produced agreater quantity than is requisite for the support of the body. Equallyvaluable

 "When there's a young and sweating devil That commonly rebels, "

will be found what Shakespeare recommends--

 "A sequester from liberty, fasting and prayer, Much castigation, exercise devout. "[190]

Should the desire of committing excesses rise to any height, immediaterecourse must be had to some serious and mind-absorbing occupation, lessnutritious food and drink should be taken, all dishes peculiarlystimulating to the palate avoided, as well as the use of wine and otherspirituous liquors. 

A cool regimen in every respect was particularly insisted upon by theancients: hence Plato and Aristotle recommended the custom of goingbarefoot as a means of checking the stimulus to carnal desire, asuggestion which appears to have been acted upon by some of the monkishorders. The cold bath was considered equally efficacious, while some, among whom may be reckoned Pliny and Galen, advised thin sheets of leadto be worn on the calves of the legs and near the kidneys. 

The first and most important of the hygienic means consists in shunningevery species of excitement and in having little or no communicationwith the sex, and the earlier such restraint is imposed, the better. "Hethat is chaste and continent, not to impair his strength, or terrifiedby contagion, will hardly be heroically virtuous. Adjourn not thatvirtue until those years when Cato could lend out his wife, and impotentsatyrs write satires against lust--but be chaste in thy flaming days, when Alexander dared not trust his eyes upon the fair sisters ofDarius, and when so many men think that there is no other way than thatof Origen. "[191][192]

The next means is that of carefully abstaining from the perusal of allpublications calculated to inflame the passions, by which publicationsare meant, not obscene books only. With respect to these, indeed, agreat error obtains, for the persons most anxious to peruse them are, for the most part, old, worn-out debauchees, men whose generative powersare, comparatively, feeble, if not altogether destroyed, and who, unfortunately for themselves, require this unnatural and detestable kindof stimulus, while, on the contrary, young men and those in middle life, who had not drawn too largely upon their constitution, and for whom theallurements of nature are themselves a sufficient provocative, regardsuch publications with horror and disgust. It is not, therefore, werepeat, works of this description which we allude to, but those theperusal of which is more dangerous during the period of thepassions--novels, more especially such as, under the pretext ofdescribing the working of the human heart, draw the most seducing andinflammatory pictures of illicit love, and throw the veil of sentimentalphilosophy over the orgies of debauchery and licentiousness. Nothing ismore perilous to youth, especially of the female sex, than thisdescription of books. Their style is chaste, not one word is found thatcan offend the ear, while the mind of the unsuspecting reader is oftentainted and corrupted by the most impure ideas and descriptions clothedin the most elegant phraseology. How admirably does Voltaire stigmatisethis attention to a mere superficial (if the epitaph be allowed) purity!"Plus, " says he "les mœurs sont dépravés, plus les expressionsdeviennent mésurées: on croit de gagner en langage ce qu'on a perdu envertu. La pudeur s'est enfuite des cœurs et s'est refugiée sur leslèvres. "

There are two kinds of study particularly adapted to preserve the mindand the affections from the assaults of vice and libidinousness. Thefirst of these is the _Mathematics_, whose efficacy in this respect hasbeen proved by frequent experience. The Venetian lady mentioned byRousseau in his "Confessions" was not ignorant of this their power, when, seeing the singular effect which her charms had produced upon the, as yet, youthful philosopher, said to him, "_Gianetto, lascia le donne estudia la matimatica_. " "James, give up the ladies, and apply yourselfto mathematics. " It will, indeed, be found that, in all ages, mathematicians have been but little disposed or addicted to love, andthe most celebrated among them, Sir Isaac Newton, is reputed to havelived without ever having had sexual intercourse. The intense mentalapplication required by philosophical abstraction forcibly determinesthe nervous fluid towards the intellectual organs, and hinders it frombeing directed towards those of reproduction. 

After the study of the Mathematics comes that of _Natural History_, which will be found to be almost equally beneficial, requiring as itdoes, the unremitting attention of the student, his perambulation of theopen country, and the personal observation of all animated objects. 

This peculiar influence of the above-mentioned studies oughtparticularly to engage the attention of persons who superintend theeducation of youth; there being no doubt that the effervescence ofyouthful passions may, to a great extent, be allayed by directing thejuvenile mind to either of those studies, according as the constitutionexhibits greater or less ardour and precocity. Sometimes, however, thereare found idiosyncrasies which bid defiance to remedies of thisdescription, but, nevertheless, yield to the force of medicine: of such, the following is an instance:

 "A man, by profession a musician, of an athletic figure and sanguine complexion, with red hair, and a very warm temperament, was so tormented with erotic desires that the venereal act, repeated several times in the course of a few hours, failed to satisfy him. Disgusted with himself, and fearing, as a religious man, the punishment with which concupiscence is threatened in the Gospel, he applied to a medical practitioner, who prescribed bleeding and the use of sedatives and refrigerants, together with a light diet. Having found no relief from this course of treatment, he was then recommended to have recourse to wedlock, and, in consequence, married a robust and healthy young woman, the daughter of a farmer. At first, the change appeared to benefit him, but, in a short time, he tired his wife out by his excessive lubricity, and relapsed into his former satyriasis. His medical friend now recommended frequent fasting, together with prayer, but these also failing of effect, the unhappy man proposed to submit to castration, an operation which was judged to be highly improper, considering the great risks the patient must necessarily incur. The latter, however, still persisted that his wish should be complied with, when, fortunately, a case having occurred in Paris, in which a person afflicted with nephritic pains occasioned by the presence of a calculus, was cured by a preparation of nitre, at the expense, however, of being for ever incapacitated for the pleasures of love, the hint was taken, and doses of nitre dissolved in _aqua nymphæ_ were given, night and morning, during the space of eight days, and with such success that, at the end of that time, he could scarcely satisfy the moderate claims of his wife. "[193]

Some physicians place great confidence in the medicines calledrefrigerants. The most favourite of these are infusions from the leavesor flowers of the white water-lily (_nymphea alba_), sorrel, lettuce, perhaps also from mallows, violets, and endive (cichorium), oily seeds, and waters distilled from lettuce, water lily, cucumbers, purslain, andendives. In equal esteem are the syrups of orgeat, lemons, and vinegar, to which may be added cherry-laurel water, when given in proper andgradually-increasing doses. Hemlock, camphor, and agnus-castus, havelikewise been much recommended as moderators of the sexual appetite. 

According to Pliny, [194] the nymphea alba was considered so powerfulthat these who take it for twelve days successively will then findthemselves incapable of propagating their species, and if it be used forforty days, the amorous propensity will be entirely extinguished. 

With respect to hemlock, it is too dangerous a medicine to reposeconfidence in. 

The ancients had a high opinion of camphor, a reputation which this drugpreserved until, comparatively, a late period, for Scaliger informsthat, in the 17th century, monks were compelled to smell and masticateit for the purpose of extinguishing concupiscence; and it was afavourite maxim of the medical school of Salernum[195] that--

 "Camphora per nares castrat odore mares. "

 Camphor if smell'd A man will geld. 

This fatal property, however, has been denied by modern medicalauthorities, and apparently with reason, if the fact be true that suchworkmen as are employed in extracting this useful vegetable product, andwho may be said to live constantly in a highly camphorated atmosphere, do not find themselves in the leash degree incapacitated for gratifyingthe calls of _l'amour physique_. 

There is no doubt, on the other hand, that camphor has been successfullyemployed in cases of nymphomania, and that several medical writers haveasserted its efficacy in neutralising the properties of cantharides, adducing instances which would appear to prove its sedative power: thefollowing one is related by Groenvelt:--[196]

A young man who had taken a large dose of cantharides in some wine, feltat first, a sort of violent itching, accompanied by great irritation inthe bladder, and soon after he suffered greatly from extreme heat, together with an intolerable strangury. Bleeding, emulsions, injections, and opium preparations afforded not the slightest relief. Groenveltprescribed two scruples of camphor in two boluses. The first dose partlymitigated the pains, and the second one removed them entirely. Theremedies which were first administered had, no doubt, weakened theinflammation, and the strangury being no longer kept up by the spasmodicstate of the urinary apparatus, camphor sufficed to effect a cure. Burton asserts the value of camphor as an anti-aphrodisiac, and saysthat when fastened to the parts of generation, or carried in thebreeches, it renders the virile member flaccid. 

Agnus castus, so called from the down on its surface resembling thatupon the skin of a lamb, and from its supposed anti-aphrodisiacalqualities, was in great repute among the Athenians, whose women, duringthe celebration of the Thesmophoria, or feasts and sacrifices in honourof Ceres or Thesmophoria, the legislatress, abstained for some days fromall the pleasures of love, separating themselves entirely for that timefrom the men. It was also usual with them during the solemnities tostrew their beds with agnus castus, fleabane, and other herbs as weresupposed to have the power of expelling amorous inclinations. Arnaud deVilleneuve[197] exaggerates, almost to a ridiculous degree, the virtueof the agnus castus, asserting as he does, that the surest way topreserve chastity, is to carry about the person, a knife with a handlemade of its wood. It was also, and perhaps is still, much used by themonks, who made an emulsion of its seeds steeped in Nenuphar water, andof which they daily drank a portion, wearing at the same time roundtheir loins a girdle made of its branches. Lettuce has also thereputation of being anti-aphrodisiacal. Lobel instances the case of anEnglish nobleman who had long been desirous of having an heir to hisestates, but all in vain. Being, however, at length advised todiscontinue eating lettuces, of which he was particularly fond, hiswishes were gratified by his being blessed with a numerous offspring. 

The desire for coition was also supposed to be diminished by drinking adecoction of the pounded leaves of the willow. Vervain, dried coriander, and also mustard, drunk in a fluid state, are also said to prevent theerection of the penis. Alexander Benedictus declares that a topaz havingbeen previously rubbed against the right testicle of a wolf, thensteeped in oil or in rose water and worn as a ring, induces a disgustfor venereal pleasures, as does also, if we may credit the same sapientphysiologist, a powder made of dried frog. The two followingprescriptions are also said to be of great efficacy:--

 "Da verbena in potu, et non erigitur virga sex diebus. Utere menthâ siccâ cum aceto: genitalia illinita succo hyoscyami aut cicutæ coitûs appetitum sedant. "

It has even been asserted that coffee possesses the same property. Inthe year 1695 it was maintained, in a thesis at the Ecole de Médicine atParis, that the daily use of coffee deprived both man and woman of thegenerative power. M. Hecquet[198] relates the following anecdote as aproof of such effect:--

A Queen of Persia seeing some grooms using all their efforts to throw ahorse upon the ground, enquired the reason of the trouble they were thustaking. Her attendants gave her to understand as delicately as theycould, that it was far the purpose of castrating him. 

 "How unnecessary is so much trouble, " said her majesty, "they have only to give him coffee, and their object will be fully and easily attained. "[199]

Most probably the queen spoke from her own experience of itsanti-aphrodisiacal effects upon her royal consort. 

There are some diseases which are considered as anti-aphrodisiacal, onaccount of the decided aversion which the patient who is afflicted withthem feels for the pleasures of the sexual union. Thus a species ofepidemic leprosy is common among the Cossacks of the Jaik, which isattended by pains in the joints and a disgust for copulation, a disgustthe more extraordinary, not only because exanthematous diseases, ingeneral excite a desire for the above act, but also inasmuch as thismalady, in particular usually attacks persons in the prime of theiryouth. Another disease analogous to the one just mentioned, thePlica-Polonica, rages, during the autumnal season, in Poland, Lithuania, and Tartary. It is said to have been introduced into the first of thesecountries by the Tartars, who had it originally from India. One of themost singular phenomena attending this disorder, and which evidentlyproves the close sympathy existing between the head and the organs ofgeneration, is that when the patient is bald, the Plica not unfrequentlyfastens upon the sexual parts, and acquires such a length as to descendbelow the calves of the legs. The mode of treatment, that of mercury andsudorifics, proves the mucous character of the disorder, and, consequently, accounts for its well known tendency to strike the wholeanimal economy with that prostration of strength which produces a totalindifference to the sex. 

Continual exercise on horseback was considered by Hippocrates[200] asanti-aphrodisiacal and Van Sweiten commenting upon that opinion, justlyobserves that the continual joltings caused by so violent an exercise, added to the compression produced upon the parts of generation by theweight of the body, was by no means unlikely to produce a focalrelaxation of those organs to such an extent as to prevent erectionaltogether. 

If whatever opposes an obstacle to the gratification of thesexual appetite may be considered as having a place among theanti-aphrodisiacs, certain mechanical processes may be ranked as such. Of these, _fibulation_, from the Latin word _fibula_ (a buckle or ring)was the very reverse of circumcision, since the operation consisted indrawing the prepuce over the glans, and preventing its return, by theinsertion of the ring. [201]

The _Fibula_ (buckle) is so called, because it serves to fix togetherand to re-unite parts which are separated. It was, formerly a surgicalinstrument which, besides the use now particularly in question, servedalso to keep closed the lips of any extensive wounds. It is mentioned asbeing so applied by Oribuse, [202] and by Scribonius Largus. [203]Employed, therefore, as it was for various uses, the _fibula_ appears tohave different shapes, now but little known to us. Rhodius[204] hastreated of all those mentioned in the writings of antiquity. 

Meinsius thinks that the custom of infibulating may be traced back tothe time of the siege of Troy, for the singer Demodocus, who was leftwith Clytemnestra by Agamemnon, [205] appears to that critic, to havebeen a eunuch, or, at least, to here been infibulated. [206]

Among the ancients, as well as among many modern nations, the laws ofchastity and the restraints of honour appeared scarcely sufficient tohinder the sexes from uniting, in spite of all the obstacles opposed bya vigilant watch and strict seclusion. [207] Indeed, what Roman virgincould entertain very strict ideas of modesty while she saw the goddessof love honoured in the temple, or the amours of Venus and Marscelebrated, while the poor cuckolded Vulcan, after seizing the amorouscouple in his net, way only thereby exposed to the ridicule of theOlympic Divinities. There can be little doubt but that excess of thisdescription bastardized and corrupted the ancient Greeks and Romans, andthat recourse was necessarily had to the _fibula_ when the deitiesthemselves set the example. Of what use, indeed, could be the morallessons of a Plato or a Socrates, even when enforced by infibulation, ifvice was thus sanctioned by divine example? The only aim of such a stateof things was to vanquish obstacles. The art of eluding nature wasstudied, marriage was despised, notwithstanding the edicts of Augustusagainst bachelors; the depopulated republic wallowed in the mostabandoned lust, and, as a natural consequence, the individual members ofit became corrupted and enervated from their very infancy. 

The infibulation of boys, sometimes on account of their voice, and notunfrequently, to prevent masturbation, was performed by having theprepuce drawn over the glans; it was then pierced, and a thick threadwas passed through it, remaining there until the cicatrizing of thehole; when that took place, a rather large ring was then substituted, which was not removed but with the permission of the party ordering theoperation. [208] The Romans infibulated their singers in order topreserve their voice:

 "Si gaudet cantu; _nullius fibula_ durat Vocem vendentis prætoribus. "[209]

 "But should the dame in music take delight, The public singer is disabled quite; In vain the prætor guards him all he can, She slips the buckle (_fibula_) and enjoys her man. "

They even subjected to the same operation most of theiractors:

 "Solvitur his magno comœdi fibula. Sunt, quæ Chrysogonum cantare vetent. "[210]

 "Take from Chrysogonus the power to sing, Loose, at vast prices, the comedian's ring. "

 "Dic mihi, simpliciter, comœdis et citharœdis, Fibula, quod præstat?... Carius ut futuunt. "[211]

"Tell me, clasp! frankly, of what advantage are you to actresses andlute-players? To enhance their favours. "

 "Menophili, penem tam grandis fibula vestit Ut sit comœdis omnibus, una satis Hunc ego credideram (nam sæpe lavamur in unum) Sollicitum voci parcere, Flacce, suæ; Dum ludit media populo spectante palæstra, Delapsa est misero, fibula; verpus erat. "[212]

 "Una si gran fibula copre il membro di Menofila, che sola basterebbe a tutti i commenianti. Io O Flacco, avevo creduto (imperocche si siamo sovente lavati insiême) che esso sollecito avesse cura delle sua voce; lotta in mezzo la palestra a vista del popolo, la fibula cascó sventvrato; era un' inciso. "

Nor were dancers and gladiators exempted from the same operation, especially the latter, in order that they might preserve all the vigourrequired in their horrible and degrading occupation. 

The best description of the _fibula_ is that given by Holiday: "Thefibula, " says he, "does not strictly signifie a button, but also abuckle or clasp, or such like stay. In this place, the poet expresses byit the instrument of servilitie applied to those that were employed tosing upon the stage; the Prætor who set forth playes for the delight ofthe people, buying youths for that purpose, and that they might not, bylust, spoil their voice, their overseers closed their shame with a caseof metal having a sharp spike of the same metal passing by the side ofit, and sometimes used one of another form; or by a nearer crueltie, they thrust a brazen or silver wire thought that part which the Jew didlose in circumcision. 

"The form of the first, and also another fashion, the curious reader mayhere see (being without any immodestie) as they are represented byPignerius, _de servis_, p. 82. But whatsoever the fashion or inventionwas, the trust was but fond that was committed to them, seeing that theart of lust and gold could make them as vain as the Italian engines ofjealousy in this day. Thus, 'O Lentulus, ' says the poet, speakingfiguratively to some nobleman, 'it is that thou art married; but it issome musician's or fencer's bastard that is born under thy lordlycanopie. '"[213]

[Illustration: PLATE VII. , Figs. 1-2, PHALLIC FIBULÆ. ]

Winkleman furnishes us with a description of an infibulatedmusician, [214] it being a small bronze statue representing a nakeddeformed individual, as thin as a skeleton, and carrying a ring in his_enormi mentula_. Martial, who laughs at everything, speaks of thesesingers sometimes breaking their ring, and says that it becomesnecessary to send them to the fibula-makers in order to have the damagerepaired:[215]

 "Et cujus refibulavit turgidum, faber, penem, Il di cui turgido membro abbia fabro fibbiato. "

The practice of infibulation was very common in India, from religiousmotives. As a proof of their sanctity, many of the Santons, orMohammedan saints, as well as other devout persons, bonzes, fakirs, andthe like, devoted themselves to perpetual virginity. Whether it was withthe intention of placing themselves beyond the possibility of breakingtheir vow, or of giving evidence of their constancy, certain it is thatthey loaded their prepuce with an enormous fibula, or ring; and, intheir warm climate, where nudity does not shock ideas of propriety ordecency, devout women not unfrequently repaired to these _soi-disant_saints, to admire and venerate such efforts of virtue and self-denial;they are even reported to have knelt down, and, in that humiliatingposture, to have kissed the preputial ring, no doubt with the vain hopeof thereby obtaining indulgences. In some places, these martyrs fastentheir fibula with a lock, the key which they deposit with the magistrateof the town or village. But, nature insisting upon her rights, is oftentoo strong for this self-violence, nor can desire, or thenot-to-be-mistaken symptom of it, be opposed, or even prevented, frombeing gratified; and since the lock, which obstructs the extremity ofthe prepuce only, cannot hinder a kind of erection, nor, indeed, ofeffusion of the seminal fluid, it cannot do more than oppose theintroduction of the male organ into the receptacle destined for it. 

Another description of fakirs were formerly to be seen in India, and, especially, in its southern peninsula, whose custom it was to traversethe country in a state of nudity, and who had been rendered impotent bythe following regimen. The children destined for this penitential stateare taken away from their parents at the age of six or seven years, andmade to eat, daily, a quantity of the young leaves of a tree called_Mairkousie_. At first, the dose given them is not larger than afilbert. This regimen must be persisted in until the party reaches theage of five-and-twenty years, the dose being increased till, at themaximum, it is as large as a duck's egg. During all this time, thedevotee is subjected to no other regimen, except a light purge, once insix months, by means of _Kadoukaie_, or the black mirobolan. Althoughrendered completely impotent by this mode of treatment, so far fromtheir physical strength and beauty of form being diminished ordeteriorated thereby, they are, on the contrary, improved by it; theenjoyment of constant good health is likewise almost an invariableconsequence. 

Infibulation is not confined to the male sex exclusively, for it ispractised on girls and women in India, Persia, and the East, generally, and most commonly consists in joining together the female sexual organ, or closing the labia of the vagina by a suture made with waxed thread, asmall aperture being left for the egress of the urine and the menstrua. 

Linschet witnessed the operation at Pegu, as did also Schultz, Brown sawit performed, at Darfour, on females from eleven to twelve years ofage. [216] At the time of marriage, a cut of the bistouri dissevers theparts which have been closed by the effects of the suture. Sometimesjealousy contents itself by passing a ring through the parts. Women, aswell as girls, are subjected to this disgusting operation, the onlydifference being that the ring of the latter cannot be removed, whilethat of the former has a kind of lock, the key of which is in thehusband's possession. Pallas informs us that the beautiful nation of theTcherkesses, or Circassians carefully preserve the virginity of theirgirls by means of a leathern girdle, or rather corslet made of skin, andsewn immediately upon the naked body. The husband alone has the right ofsevering this corslet, which he does, on the nuptial night. 

When the violation of virgin chastity and conjugal fidelity became morefrequent, fathers and husbands had recourse, even in Europe, to amechanical contrivance for the purpose of preserving intact the honourof the family. This was a kind of padlock, which shut up all access tothe seat of voluptuousness. The invention is attributed to one Francescodi Carrera, an imperial judge of Padua, who lived about the close of the15th century. The machine itself was called the _Girdle of Chastity_. Francesco's acts of cruelty brought him to the scaffold, where he wasstrangled in 1405, by a decree of the Senate of Venice. One of theprincipal accusations brought against him was the employment of the_Girdle of Chastity_, for his mistresses, and it is said by Misson[217]that a box filled with these articles was for a long time preserved inthe palace of St. Mark, at Venice. Rabelais speaks of these girdles, which he calls _Ceintures_ á la Bergamasque, "Nay, " says he, Pantagruel, "may that Nick in the dark cellar, who hath no white in his eye, carryme quiet away with him, if, in that case, whenever I go abroad from thepalace of my domestic residence, I do not, with as much circumspectionas they use to ring mares in our country, to keep them from beingsaillied by stoned horses, clap a Bergamesco lock upon my wife. "Brantome has the following notice of these chastity preservers. "Destemps du roi Henri il yeut un certain Quinquallier qui apporte unedouzaine de certains engins à la foire de St. Germain pour brider le casdes femmes. Ces sortes de cadenas estoient en usage à Venise dès devantl'année 1522, estoient faites de fer et centuroient comme une ceinture, et venoient à se prendre par le bas, et se fermer à clef, si subtilementfaites, qu'il n'estoit pas possible que la femme en estant bridée undfois, s'en peust jamais prévaloir pour ce doux plaisir, n'ayant quequelques petits trous menus pour servir à pisser. "[218]

An endeavour was made to introduce these Bernasco padlocks into Franceduring the reign of Henry II. , and a shop was opened by an Italian atthe fair of St. Germain, where they were publicly sold, and in suchnumbers, that the French gallants, becoming alarmed, threatened tothrow the vendor into the Seine, if he did not pack up his merchandiseand decamp, which he immediately did for fear that the menace might beput in execution. 

Voltaire describes the Cadenas as originating with Pluto, who, jealousof his wife Proserpine, was advised:

 Qu'un cadenas, de la structure nouvelle Fut le garant de sa fidélité, A la vertu par la force asservie, Plus ne sera l'amant favorisé. En un moment, feux, enclumes, fourneaux Sont préparés aux gouffres infernaux; Tisiphone, de ces lieux, serrurière, Au cadenas met la main, la première, Elle l'achève et des mains de Pluton Proserpine reçut ce triste don, Or ce secret aux enfers inventé Chez les humains tôt après fut porté Et depuis ce temps dans Venise et dans Rome Il n'est pédant, bourgeois, ou gentilhomme Qui pour garder l'honneur de sa maison De cadenas n'ait sa provision. [219]

 This sage advice, a loud applause From all the damned assembly draws; And straight, by order of the State, Was registered on brass by fate; That moment, in the shades below, They anvils beat and bellows blow. Tisiphoned, the blacksmith's trade Well understood; the locks she made: Proserpina, from Pluto's hand Receiving, wore it by command. This lock, which hell could frame alone, Soon to the human race was known; In Venice, Rome, and all about it, No gentlemen or cit's without it. [220]

We shall close this our third essay with the amusing summary ofanti-aphrodisiacal remedies, as given by Rabelais. 

 "You say, " said the physician Rondibilis to Panurge, "that you feel in you the pricking stings of sensuality, by which you are stirred up to venery. I find in our faculty of medicine, and we have founded our opinion therein upon the deliberate resolution and final decision of the ancient Platonics, that carnal concupiscence is cooled and quelled five several ways:--

 "_Firstly_. By the means of wine. I shall easily believe that quoth Friar John, for when I am well whittled with the juice of the grape, I care for nothing else, so I may sleep. When I say, quoth Rondibilis, that wine abateth lust, my meaning is, wine immoderately taken; for by intemperance, proceeding from the excessive drinking of strong liquor, there is brought upon the body of such a swill-down bouser, a chillness in the blood, a slackening in the sinews, a dissipation of the generative seed, a numbness and hebetation of the senses, with a perversive wryness and convulsion of the muscles, all which are great lets and impediments to the act of generation. Hence it is that Bacchus, the god of bibbers, tipplers, and drunkards, is most commonly painted beardless and clad in a woman's habit, as a person altogether effeminate, or like a libbed eunuch. Wine, nevertheless, taken moderately worketh quite contrary effects, as is implied by the old proverb, which saith, --That Venus taketh cold, when not accompanied by Ceres and Bacchus. [221] This opinion is of great antiquity as appeareth by the testimony of Diodorus the Sicilian, and confirmed by Pausanias, and it is usually held among the Lampsacians, that Don Priapus was the son of Bacchus and Venus. 

 "_Secondly_. The fervency of lust is abated by certain drugs, plants herbs and roots, which make the taker cold, maleficiated, unfit for, and unable to perform the act of generation; as hath often been experimented by the water-lily, Heraclea, Agnus-Castus, willow-twigs, hemp-stalks, woodbine, honeysuckle, tamarisk, chastetree, mandrake, bennet keebugloss, the skin of a hippopotamus, and many other such, which, by convenient doses proportioned to the peccant humour and constitution of the patient, being duly and seasonably received within the body--what by their elementary virtues on the one side, and peculiar properties on the other, do either benumb, mortify and beclumpse with cold, the prolific semence, or scatter and disperse the spirits which ought to have gone along with, and conducted the sperm to the places destined and appointed for its reception, --or lastly, shut up, stop and obstruct the way, passages, and conduits, through which the seed should have expelled, evacuated, and ejected. We have, nevertheless, of those ingredients, which, being of a contrary operation, heat the blood, bind the nerves, unite the spirits, quicken the senses, strengthen the muscles, and thereby rouse up, provoke, excite and enable a man to the vigorous accomplishment of the feat of amorous dalliance. I have no need of those, quoth Panurge, God be thanked and you, my good master. Howsoever, I pray you, take no exception or offence at these my words; for what I have said was not out of any ill-will I did hear to you, the Lord, he knows. 

 "_Thirdly_. The ardour of lechery is very much subdued and mated by frequent labour and continual toiling. For by painful exercises and laborous working so great a dissolution is brought upon the whole body, that the blood which runneth alongst the channels of the vein thereof for the nourishment and alimentation of each of its members, had neither time, leisure, nor power to afford the seminal resudation or superfluity of the third concoction, which nature most carefully reserves for the conservation of the individual, whose preservation she more heedfully regardeth than the propagation of the species and the multiplication of human kind. Whence it is that Diana is said to be chaste, because she is never idle, but always busied about hunting. For the same reason was a camp, or leaguer of old called--Castrum, [222] as if they would have said--Castum; because the soldiers, wrestlers, runners, throwers of the bar, and other such like athletic champions, as are usually seen in a military circumvallation, do incessantly travail and turmoil, and are in a perpetual stir and agitation. To this purpose, also, Hippocrates writeth in his book, _De Aere, Aqua et Locis_:--That in his time there were people in Scythia as impotent as eunuchs in the discharge of a venerean exploit; because that, without any cessation, pause or respite, they were never from off horseback, or otherwise, assiduously employed in some troublesome and molesting drudgery. 

 "On the other part, in opposition and repugnancy hereto, the philosophers say, that idleness is the mother of luxury. When it was asked Ovid, why Ægisthus became an adulterer? he made no other answer than this, Because he was idle. [223] Who were able to rid the world of loitering and idleness might easily disappoint Cupid[224] of all his designes, aims, engines and devices and so disable and appal him, that his bow, quiver, and darts should from thenceforth be a mere needless load and burthen to him; for that it could not then lie in his power to strike or wound any of either sex with all the arms he had. He is not, I believe so expert an archer as that he can hit the cranes flying in the air, or yet the young stags skipping through the thicket, as the Parthians knew well how to do; that is to say, people moiling, stirring, and hurrying up and down, restless and without repose. He must have those hushed, still, quiet, lying at a stay, lither and full of ease, whom he is able to pierce with all his arrows. In conformation thereof, Theophrastus being asked on a time, What kind of beast or thing he judged a toyish, wanton love to be? he made answer, That it was a passion of idle and sluggish spirits. [224] From which pretty description of tickling-tricks, that of Diogenes, the Cynic, was not very discrepant when he defined lechery--The occupation of folk destitute of all other occupation. For this cause the Sicyonian sculptor Canachus, [225] being desirous to give us to understand that slowth drowsiness, negligence, and laziness, were the prime guardians and governesses of ribaldry, made the statue of Venus, not standing, as other stone-cutters had used to do, but sitting. 

 "_Fourthly_. The tickling pricks of incontinency are blunted by an eager study; for from thence proceedeth an incredible resolution of the spirits, that oftentimes there do not remain so many behind as may suffice to push and thrust forwards the generative resudation to the places thereto appropriated, and therewithal inflate the cavernous nerve, whose office is to ejaculate the moisture for the propagation of human progeny. Lest you should think it is not so, be pleased but to contemplate a little the form, fashion, and carriage of a man exceeding earnestly set upon some learned meditation and deeply plunged therein, and you shall see how all the arteries of his brains are stretched forth, and bent like the string of a cross-bow, the more promptly, dexterously and copiously to suppeditate, furnish and supply him with store of spirits, sufficient to replenish and fill up the ventricles, seats, tunnels, mansions, receptacles and cellules of common sense--of the imagination apprehension, and fancy--of the ratiocination, arguing, and resolution--as likewise, of the memory, recordation, and remembrance; and with great alacrity, nimbleness, and agility, to run, pass and course from one to the other, through those pipes, windings, and conduits, which to skilful anatomists are perceivable at the end of the wonderful net, where all the arteries close in a terminating point; which arteries taking their rise and origin from the left capsule of the heart, bring, through several circuits, ambages, and anfractuosities, the vital spirits, to subtilize and refine them in the ætherial purity of animal spirits. Nay, in such a studiously meditating, musing person, you may espy so extravagant raptures of one, as it were out of himself, that all his natural faculties for that time will seem to lie suspended from each their proper charge and office, and his exterior senses to be at a stand. In a word, you cannot choose than think, that he is by an extraordinary ecstasy quite transported out of what he was or should be; and that Socrates did not speak improperly when he said, That philosophy was nothing else but a meditation upon death. This possibly is the reason why Democritus[226] deprived himself of the sense of seeing, prizing, at a much lower rate, the loss of his sight, than the diminution of his contemplation which he had frequently found disturbed by the vagrant flying-out strayings of his unsettled and roving eyes. [227] Therefore is it that Pallas, the goddess of wisdom, tutoress and guardianess of such as are diligently studious and painfully industrious, is and hath been still accounted a virgin. The Muses upon the same consideration are esteemed perpetual maids: and the Graces, for the same reason, have been held to continue in a sempiternal pudicity. 

 "I remember to have read that Cupid, [227] on a time, being asked by his mother Venus, why he did not assault and set upon the Muses, his answer was, that he found them so fair, so neat, so wise, so learned, so modest, so discreet, so courteous, so virtuous, and so continually busied and employed, --one in the speculation of the stars, --another in the supputation of numbers, --the third in the dimension of geometrical quantities, --the fourth in the composition of heroic poems, --the fifth in the jovial interludes of a comic strain, --the sixth in the stately gravity of the tragic vein, --the seventh in the melodious disposition of musical airs, --the eighth in the completest manner of writing histories and books on all sorts of subjects, and--the ninth in the mysteries, secrets, and curiosities of all sciences, faculties, disciplines and arts whatsoever, whether liberal or mechanic, --that approaching near unto them he unbent his bow, shut his quiver, and extinguished his torch, through mere shame and fear that by mischance he might do them any hurt or prejudice. Which done, he thereafter put off the fillet wherewith his eyes were bound, to look them in the face, and to hear their melody and poetic odes. There took he the greatest pleasure in the world, that many times he was transported with their beauty and pretty behaviour, and charmed asleep by their harmony, so far was he from assaulting them or interrupting their studies. Under this article may be comprised what Hippocrates wrote in the afore-cited treatise concerning the Scythians, as also that in a book of his intituled, Of Breeding and Production, where he hath affirmed all such men to be unfit for generation as have their parotid arteries cut--whose situation is behind the ears--for the reason given already, when I was speaking of the resolution of the spirits, and of that spiritual blood, whereof the arteries are the sole and proper receptacles; and that likewise he doth maintain a large portion of the parastatic liquor to issue and descend from the brains and backbone. 

 "_Fifthly_. By the too frequent reiteration of the act of venery. There did I wait for you, quoth Panurge, and shall willingly apply it to myself, whilst any one that pleaseth may, for me, make use of any of the four preceding. That is the very same thing, quoth Friar John, which Father Scyllion, [228] Prior of St. Victor, at Marseilles, calleth maceration and taming of the flesh. I am of the same opinion, and so was the hermit of Saint Radegonde, a little above Chinon; for, quoth he, the hermits of Thebaïde can no way more aptly or expediently macerate and bring down the pride of their bodies, daunt and mortify their lecherous sensuality, or depress and overcome the stubbornness and rebellion of the flesh, than by dufling and fanfreluching five and twenty or thirty times a day. "

FOOTNOTES

 [1] For a representation of the Egyptian "Phallus" see Plate I. , figures 1, 2, and 3. These are taken from the "_Recueil d'Antiquités Egyptiennes_" by the Comte De Caylus, who, speaking of the first of them, observes: "Cette figure représente le plus terrible Phallus qu'on ait vû, proportion gardée, sur aucun ouvrage. On n'ignore point la vénération que les Egyptiens avaient pour cet emblême, il est vrai; mais je doute que cette nation sage et peu outrée dans sa conduite eût consacré dans les premiers siécles, c'est a dire, avant le régne des Ptolemées, une pareille figure. "

 [2] Historia de los Incas. Cap. VI. 

 [3] In the church of St. Peter's at Rome, is kept, _en secret_, a large stone emblem of the creative power, of a very peculiar shape, on which are engraved [Greek: Zeus Sôtêr]. Only persons who have great interest can get a sight of it. Is it from this stone having some peculiar virtue that those _preux chevaliers_, the cardinals, keep it so closely? Perhaps they choose to monopolize the use of it? I never saw it, but I know that it was at St Peter's. --HIGGINS. 

 [4] See Plate II. , figure 1. This figure of the Lingham presents a kind of Trinity, the vase represents Vishnu, from the middle of which rises a column rounded at the top representing Siva, and the whole rests upon a pedestal typifying Brahma. From the _Voyage aux Indes Orientales et à la Chine_, par M. Sonnerat, depuis 1774 jusqu'en 1781. Tom. I. , p. 179. 

 [5] _Voyage aux Indes et à la Chine_, par Sonnerat, depuis 1774 jusqu'en 1781; Tom. I. Liv. 2. 

 [6] See plate III. , figures 1, 2, 3, and 4. 

 [7] Henry O'Brien, Round Towers of Ireland. London, 1834. Chapter viii. 

 [8] See Plate IV. , figure 1. 

 [9] Samuel II. , chap. Vi. , v. 20, 21, 22, 23. 

 [10] The indispensable and inseparable appendages to the male organ have thus been eulogized by Giov. Francesco Lazzarelli in his poem entitled, La Cicceide, p. 120. 

 LE PREROGATIVI DE'TESTICOLI. 

 Gran sostegni dei mondo, almi C ...... Del celeste Fattor, opre ingegnose; Da caricare i piccoli cannoni, Ond' armata va l'uom, Palle focose: Robusti, anchorè teneri Palloni, Con cui guiocan tra lor, mariti e spose; Del corpo uman spermatici Embrioni; De' venerei piacer fonti amorose; Magazzini vitali, ove Natura L'uman seme riposto, a' figli suoi D' assicurar la succession procura! etc. 

 [11] Genesis, chap. Xxiv. V. 2, 3. 

 [12] Genesis, chap. Xlvii. V. 29. 

 [13] Mémoires sur l'Egypte, publiés pendant les Campagne de _Bonaparte_, Partie, 2, p. 193. 

 [14] The Latin text of the law is as follows:--"Si mulier stuprata lege cum illo agere velit, membro virili _sinistra prehenso et dextra reliquos sanctorum imposita, juret, super illas quod is per vim se, isto membro, vitiaverit_. "--Voyage dans le Département du Finisterre, Tom. Iii. , p. 233. 

 [15] Hunc locum tibi dedico consacroque, Priape, Quæ domus tua, Lampsaei est, quaque silva, Priape. Nam te præcipue in suis urbibus colit, ora Hellespontia, cæteris ostreosior oris. --Catullus, Carm. Xviii. 

 [16] See Plate II. , figure 2. 

 [17] From possessing such an article of VIRTU, his Eminence must surely have been of the opinion of Cardinal Bembo--_that there is no sin below the navel_. 

 [18] Falce minax et parte tui majore, Priape, Ad fontem quæso, dic mihi, qua sit iter. --Priapeia Carm. 

 [19] See note [21], p. 11. 

 [20] See S. Augustine, Civ. Dei. , lib. 6, cap. 9, and Lactantius _De falsa religione_. Lib. I. 

 [21] See Plate I. , figure 4. This phallus was found at Pompeii over a baker's door. 

 [22] Thus his statue was placed in orchards as a scare-crow to drive away superstitious thieves, as well as children and birds. 

 Pomarii tutela, diligens _rubro_ Priape, furibus minare mutino. --Priapeia Carm. 73. 

 [23] Ind. Antiq. Ii. , p, 361. 

 [24] Ind. Antiq. , vol. I. , p. 247. 

 [25] Voyage dans la Chine par Avril, Liv. Iii. , p. 194. 

 [26] Higgins, Anacalypsis, vol. I. , p. 269. 

 [27] Worship of Priapus. 

 [28] _Ibid. _, p 48. 

 [29] For some ingenious and learned observations on the Tau or Crux Ansata see Classical Journal, No. 39, p. 182. 

 [30] Chap. Ix. , v. 3. "And the Lord said unto him: Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the forehead of the men that sigh and cry for the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. "

 [31] For a description of some of the above-mentioned Crosses, see Plate V. , also "_Voyage dans la basse et la haute-Egypte pendant les campagnes de Bonaparte_, 1802 et 1829, " par Denon--Planches 48, 78. 

 [32] This city was the birth place of the deity Priapus, whose orgies were there constantly celebrated. Alexander the Great, in his Persian expedition, resolved to destroy Lampsacus on account of its many vices, or rather from a jealousy of its adherence to Persia; but it was saved by the artifice of the philosopher Anaxamenes, who, having heard that the king had sworn to refuse whatever he should ask him, begged him to destroy the city. 

 [33] Journal d'Henri III. Par l'Etoile. Tom. 5. 

 [34] Historie Religieuse du Calendrier, p. 420. 

 [35] Johannis Goropii Becani, Origines Antwerpianæ, 1569, lib. I. , p. P. 26 and 101. 

 [36] The foreskins, still extant, of the Saviour, are reckoned to be twelve in number. One was in the possession of the monks of Coulombs; another at the Abbey of Charroux; a third at Hildesheim, in Germany; a fourth at Rome, in the Church of St. Jean-de-Latran; a fifth at Antwerp; a sixth at Puy-en-Velay, in the Church of Notre Dame, &c. , &c. So much for relics!

 [37] Dulaure, Singularités Historiques de l'Historie de Paris, p. 77. Paris, 1825. 

 [38] Letter of Sir W. Hamilton prefixed to Payne Knight's "Worship of Priapus. "

 For a representation of the ancient, _Ex voto_, in silver, the size of the original see Plate VI. , figure 1. It is copied from an additional plate inserted by M. Panizzi, late librarian of the British Museum, in the fly-leaf of Payne Knight's "_Worship of Phallus_. "

 [39] To these the canon law adds sorcery, ligature or point-tying. 

 [40] Zachais, Quæst. Medico. Leg. Lib. II. , tit. I, quæst. I. 

 [41] See _Lectures on Comparative Anatomy_ by Sir Everard Home, Bart. Vol. III. , p. 166. London 1823. 

 [42] Lib. I. , Epigram. 91. 

 [43] Juvenal Sat. I. , vv. 204, 105. 

 [44] Orlando Furioso, Can. I, stanz. 49, 60. 

 [45] Rapport, Tom. I. , p. 335. 

 [46] Sir Charles Morgan, Philos. Of Morals, p. 25. 

 [47] Nosographie philosophique. 

 [48] Medical Essays published by a society in Edinburgh, vol. I. , p. 270. Case reported by W. Cockburn, M. D. 

 [49] Rapport, tome II. , p. 422. 

 [50] Essays, Book I. , chap. Xx. Cotton's translation. 

 [51] Hippocrates de Aer: aqua et loco, 210. 

 [52] Treatise on the Venereal Disease. 

 [53] Comment. De Aer: aqua et loco, 210. 

 [54] Voltaire, Pucelle d'Orléans, Chant. Xii. 

 [55] Bigarrures du Seigneur des Accords. 

 [56] Herodotus Enterpe clxxxii. 

 [57] De Legibus, lib. Ii. 

 [58] Ecologa viii. 

 [59] Amor. , lib. Iii. , Eleg. 6. 

 [60] De Asino Aureo, lib. Ii. , v. 3. 

 [61] Tacitus Annal. , lib. Iv. , 22. 

 [62] Lib. V. , Sentent, tit. 23. 

 [63] De rebus gestis Francorum, lib. 4. Cap. 94. 

 [64] Histoire des Français. 

 [65] Nominated to the Bishopric of Evreux by Henry IV. Of France. His favourite authors were Rabelais and Montaigne. 

 [66] Demonologie, 1603, Book I. , Chap. III. , p. 12. 

 [67] "Hercules, puer, L. Virgines, una nocte, gravidus reddit. "--Cœlius, lib. 14, cap. 8. 

 [68] Traité premier de la dissolution de Mariage pour l'impuissance et froideur de l'homme, ou de la Femme, par Antoine Hotman, p. 63. 

 [69] Tableau de l'Amour considéré dans l'état du Mariage, par II. , chap. 2, art. 3. 

 [70] Art. Portugal. Rem. F. 

 [71] Boileau Despréaux, Satires, Satire VIII. 

 [72] Willick's Lectures on Diet and Regimen, p. 538, et seq. 

 [73] From [Greek: mandra], relating to cattle, and [Greek: agaron], baneful, injurious. 

 [74] Genesis, Chap. Xxx. , v. 14, 15, 16, 17. The last verse must be considered as decisive of the efficacy of the mandrake. 

 [75] Solomon's Song, chap. Vii. V. 13. 

 [76] See the word _Dudaïm_, in Dr. Kitto's Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature. The learned doctor has given a sketch of the plant Mandragora, a copy of which the reader will find in plate VI. 

 [77] Onkelos was a celebrated rabbin contemporary with St. Paul, and to whom the Targum, that is, a translation or paraphrase of the Holy Scriptures, is attributed. 

 [78] Lib. IV. , cap. 76. 

 [79] Quoted by Oct. Celsius in his "_Hierobotanicon_, " Part I. , par. 5. Art. _Dudaim_, from Epiphan: Physiolog. C. 4. 

 [80] Pliny's "Natural History, " Vol. IV. , p. 397 (Bohn's Classical Library). 

 [81] Columella _De hortorum Cultu. _, v. 19, 20. 

 [82] See a manuscript Interrogatory still preserved in the "Bibliothèque Nationale, " Fonds de Baluze, Rouleau 5. 

 [83] See "_De l'imposture des Diables_, " par Jacques Grévin, Tom. IV. , p. 359. 

 [84] From Weir "De Mag: demonia:" Cours Complet d'agriculture par l'Abbé Rosier, Tom. VI. , p. 401. 

 [85] Récollections des choses merveilleuses Advenues en notre temps par George Chastelain, Edition de Coustelier, p. 150. 

 [86] Lettres d'Amabed, Vol. XXXIV. , p. 261. Edition Beuchot, Paris. 

 [87] Mandragola, Atto II. Scena 6. See also La Fontaine's tale of "La Mandragore, " founded upon the above comedy. 

 [88] See Warburton on Shakespear's Othello, Act I. , Scene 8. 

 "_By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks. _"

 [89] See Speed's Historie of Great Britaine. Richard III. Book II. , page 913 folio edition, 1632. 

 [90] Exercitatio de Rachelis Deliciis, 420, 1678. 

 [91] Atlantica illustrata, 1733. 

 [92] Hierobotanicon, 1745. 

 [93] "Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem at Easter, A. D. , 1697. "

 [94] _Orchis_ is a Greek word signifying _testicle_, a name given by the ancients to this plant on account of the supposed resemblance of its root to that organ. 

 [95] Eustathii Commentarii ad Homerum, Vol. I. , p. 325, 403-9. Editio Lipsiæ, 1827. 

 [96] Juliani Calixenæ Epistola. 

 [97] "Amatorio poculo furorem versus, quum aliquot libros per intervalla conscripserat. "

 [98] Epist. Dissuas: ad Rufinum C. 22. Tom XII. P. 245, ad Varon. 

 [99] Remarks on the life and poems of Lucretius, p. Vi. (Bohn's Classical Library). 

 [100] Probably to Anticyra, a Greek town situated at the mouth of the river Sperchius, and reputed to produce the genuine hellebore, recommended by the ancient physicians as a cure for insanity, whence the well known adage, "Naviget Anticyram. "

 [101] Sueton. Calig. 50. 

 [102] Juvenal. Sat. Vi. V. 614. 

 [103] Hor. Epod Lib. Carm. V. 1703. See also the admirable notes of Dacier and Sanadon upon the above ode. 

 [104] Disquisitionum Magicarum, Lib. III. Quæstio III. De Amatorio Malaficio, page 7. 

 [105] Cinq livres de l'imposture et tromperie des diables. Lib. II. , p. 216, 1569. 

 [106] De Margarum Daemonomania. Lib. I. , Cap. III. , p. 27. 

 [107] Æneid, Lib. IV. , v. 13, 14, 15, and 16. 

 [108] Pausanias, Græciæ Descriptio, Lib. V. , c. 27. 

 [109] In his work "De valetudine tuendâ. "

 [110] Traité universel des drogues simples. 

 [111] The Holy Guide by John Heyden, Gent. , [Greek: Philonomos] a servant of God and a Secretary of Nature, Lib. V. P. 61. 

 [112] Ibid. , p. 62. 

 [113] Anatomy of Melancholy. 

 [114] Essays, Vol. II. , p. 262-3. Translated by Cotton. London, 1743. 

 [115] "Cujus rei istud est argumentum, quod ubi rem veneream exercemus, tantillo emisse, imbecilles evadimus. "--_De Genitura. _

 [116] Tome 52, p. 286, et seq. 

 [117] Juvenal, Sat. 6, v. 302. "Ad venerem, " says Lubinus in a note on this passage, "miris modis instigant (_i. E. _, ostreæ), inde turpissimæ illæ bestiæ (feminæ) ostrea comedebant, _ut ad Venerem promptiores essent_. "

 [118] De la génération de l'homme, p. 272. 

 [119] Traité des dispenses et de Carême, Paris, 1709, en 12mo, réimprimé trois fois. 

 [120] Names given to the female slaves or concubines in the harem of the Sultan. 

 [121] A large province of the Deccan, said to have been famous, in ancient times, for its diamond mines. 

 [122] That Coryphæus of voluptuaries, George IV. , so highly appreciated this quality in truffles, that his Ministers at the courts of Turin, Naples, Florence, &c. , were specially instructed to forward by a state messenger to the Royal Kitchen any of those fungi that might be found superior in size, delicacy or flavour. 

 [123] Physiologie du Gout, par Brillat Savarin, Paris, 1859. 

 [124] Martial, Epigram, lib. Xiii. Epig. 34. 

 [125] Ducange, Glossaire. 

 [126] J. H. Meibomius de flagrorum usu in Re medica et Venerea, Paris, 1792, p. 125. 

 [127] See Macaronéana, par M. Octave Delepierre, Paris, 1852, p. 3. 

 [128] Thevet, Portraits des Vies des Hommes Illustres, Vol. I. , p. 13, fol. Edit. , Paris, 1584. 

 [129] Hume's Hist. Of England, Vol. I. , p. 348. 

 [130] Dissertatio Inauguralis de Ambra, § iv. P. 36. 

 [131] Medicamentum quod non solum potenter stimulat, sed vel effœtum senem, pro brevi tempore, ad juventutem iterum restituit. _Ibid. _ § viii. , p. 44. 

 [132] Née dans une condition obscure, vouée au libertinage dés sa plus tendre jeunesse, autant par goût que par état, Made. Du Barry ne put offrir à son auguste amant, malgré la fleur de la jeunesse et les brillants appas dont elle étoit encore pourvue, que les restes de la plus vile canaille, de la prostitution. " Vie privée des maîtresses de Louis XV. , p. 153. --"You are no doubt curious to hear an opinion of Madame Du Barri's beauty from the lips of one who has seen her both in her days of prosperity and after her downfall. She was a person of small, almost diminutive stature, extremely frail and delicate in feature, which saved her from being vulgar; but even from the first, she always wore that peculiarly _fane_ look which she owed to a youth of dissipation, a maturity of unbounded indulgence. At the period of my visit she was about thirty-six years of age, but, from her child-like form and delicacy of countenance, appeared much younger, and her _gambades_ and unrestrained gestures of supreme delight on having, as she said, _quelqu'un à qui parler_, did not seem displaced. Although alone, and evidently not in expectation of visitors, her toilet was brilliant and _recherché_, the result of the necessity of killing time. "--"Talleyrand Papers. "

 [133] Espion de la Cour. 

 [134] Gazetier Cuirassé, ou Anecdotes Scandaleuses de la Cour de France. 

 [135] In his "_Praxis Medica Admiranda_, " wherein he also gives the formula of an electuary _ad excitandum tentiginem nulli secundum_, p, 295, Observ. XCI. , as well as a recipe for pills ad _Coitûs ignaviam_, CXIII. , p. 297. 

 [136] Encyclopœdia Parthensis, Article Cachunde. 

 [137] See his Premier Traité de l'homme et de son essentielle anatomie, avec les éléments et ce qui est en eux, de ses maladies, médicine et absolus remèdes, etc. , Paris, 1588. 

 [138] Cent. 2. 

 [139] See Celius, lib. Xiv. , cap. 3. 

 [140] Histoire de Ferdinand et Isabelle, Tom. II. , 326. Paris, 1766. 

 [141] Biographie Universelle, Art. Wallenstein. 

 [142] Detested by the Parisians, Dubois was the object of innumerable caricatures, of which the most _sanglante_ was one representing him "à genoux aux pieds d'une fille de joie qui prenait de ce sale écoulement qui afflige les femmes, tous les mois, pour lui en rougir sa calotte et le faire Cardinal. " See Erotika Biblion. Paris, 1792, p. 52. 

 [143] Mémoires du Cardinal Dubois, vol. I. , p. 3. 

 [144] Ælius Tetrabilis, I. , Disc. Chap. 32 and 33. 

 [145] Browne's Travels in Africa, etc. , p. 343. 

 [146] La génération de l'homme, ou tableau de l'amour conjugal. Tom. 1. , p. 276. 

 [147] Ibid. , p. 232. 

 [148] Venette, Génération de l'homme, Tom. I. , p. 279. 

 [149] De cultu hortorum, v. 108. 

 [150] Moretum, v. 85. 

 [151] Mag. Nat. , Lib. Vii. 

 [152] Mala Bacchica tanta olim in amoribus prævalerunt, ut coronæ ex illis statuæ Bacchi ponerentur. 

 [153] Surag radis ad coitum summe facit: _si quis comedat aut infusionem bibat, membrum subite erigitur_. Leo Afric. , Lib, IX. , cap. Ult. , p. 302. 

 [154] Gomez (Ferdinand) of Ciudad Real, a celebrated physician, born 1388, died 1457. 

 [155] Mag. Nat. Lib. VII. , c. 16. 

 [156] Tractado de las drogas y medicinas de las Indias Orientales chap. LXI. , p. 360, Burgos, 1578. 

 [157] Travels in Africa, &c. , p. 341. 

 [158] Lignac. A physical view of man and woman in a state of marriage. Vol. I. , p. 190. 

 [159] Turcæ ad Levenzinum contra Comitem Ludovicum Souches pugnantes, opio exaltati turpiter cæsi, et octo mille numero occisi, _mentulas rigidas_ tulere. Christen. Opium Hist. 

 [160] It was, perhaps, the knowledge of this fact that suggested to La Fontaine the lines:--

 "Un muletier à ce jeu Vaut trois rois. "

 "To play at which game, I'm sure it is clear, Three kings are no match for one muleteer. "

 [161] Histoire Naturelle du Genre Humain. Tom. II. , p. 123. 

 [162] Cabanis, Rapport, &c. , Tom. II. , p. 89. 

 [163] Essais philosophiques sur les mœurs de divers animaux étrangers. 

 [164] "The care on thee depending Hath fed upon the body of my father, Therefore, thou best of gold art worst of gold; Other less fine in carat is more precious, Preserving life in _medicine potable_. "

 _Henry IV. _, sec. Part, act iv. Sc. V. 

 [165] Lettres sur François Rabelais. Let. II. 

 [166] De Pœnitentiâ Decretorum, lib. Xix. 

 [167] See Millengen's "Curiosities of Medical Experience, " art. Flagellation Vol. II. , p. 47 et seq. 

 [168] Medic. , Lib. III. , art. 12. 

 [169] See Richter, Opuscula medica Col. I. , p. 273, "Qui novit ex stimulantium fonte, cardiaca, _aphrodisiaca_, diaphoretica, diuretica aliaque non infirmi ordinis medicamenta peti, perspicit plenius quam larga _verberibus_ bene merendi sit, uti præsertim in torpore nervorum, paralysi, _impotentia ad Venerem_ et naturalium excretionum eluxit. "

 [170] Author of the work entitled, "_De flagrorum usu in re venerea_, " Lug. Bat. , 1639, with the motto:

 "Delicias pariunt Veneri crudelia flagra, Dum nocet, illa juvat, dum juvat, ecce nocet. 

 "Lo! cruel stripes the sweets of love ensure, And painful pleasures pleasing pains procure. "

 [171] Millingen, "Curiosities of Medical Experience. " Vol. II. , p. 52. 

 [172] To this personage may justly be applied the French epitaph upon one who died under similar circumstances:

 "Je suis mort de l'amour enterpris Entre les jambes d'une dame, Bien heureux d'avoir rendu l'âme, Au même lieu où je l'ai pris. "

 [173] See his work, _contra Astrologos_, Lib. III. , cap. 27. 

 [174] Petri Abœlardi Abbatis Rugensis et Heloissæ Abbatissæ Paracletensis Epistolæ. Epist. I. , p. 10. 

 [175] Ibid. , Epist. III. , p. 81. 

 [176] See Meibomius, p. 43, note a. Edit. Paris, 1792, 12mo. 

 [177] Name given to persons having only one testicle. 

 [178] Œuvres, Tom. I, p. 283. Ed. 1714. 

 [179] Travels in Siberia in 1661, Tom. I. , p. 319. 

 [180] Dictionnaire des Sciences Médicales. Art. Pollution. 

 [181] Confessions, Tom. I. 

 [182] De Nasturcio mira refert Dioscoridas I. , 2, c. 185. 

 [183] Satyricon, Caput xxxviii. 

 [184] Pract. Part. Ii. Cap. De passioni membré-génital. 

 [185] Ducatiana ii. , b. 505. 

 [186] Curiosities of Medical Experience, vol. II. , p. 55. 

 [187] Anatomy of Melancholy, Part 3, memb. 3, subj. 5. 

 [188] Pornodidascalus seu Colloquium Muliebre Petri Aretini _ingeniossimi et ferè incomparabilis virtutum et vitiorum demonstratoris_: De Astu nefario, horrendisque dolis, quibus impudicæ mulieres juventuti incautæ insidiantur. --Francofurti. Anno 1623. 

 [189] Verum omni istâ sciencâ (magica) (says Lucretia) nunquam potui movere cor hominis solâ vero salivâ mea (id est ampleux et basiis) inungens tam furiosè furere tam bestialiter obstupefieri plurimos coegi ut instar idoil me Amoresque meos adorarint. --p. 47-8. 

 [190] Othello, Act iii. Sc. 10. 

 [191] Sir Thos. Browne's Works, Vol. III. , p. 89. Bohn's Edit. 

 [192] Origen, one of the Fathers of the Church, born in A. D. 185, is a melancholy proof how far the reason may be perverted by erroneous views in religious matters; for according to Fulgos, "ut corpus ab omni venerea labe mundum servaret, omnique suspicione careret, sectis genitalibus membris, eunuchum se fecit. " He, however, lived long enough to condemn his error. See his 15th sermon upon St. Matthew, cap. 19, v. 12; his work against Celsus, lib. 7; and his 7th Treatise upon the 18th and 19th Chapters of St. Matthew. 

 [193] Baldassar Timœus Cas. Med. Lib. XIX. , Salacitas nitro curata. 

 [194] Historie Mundi, Lib. XXVI. , c. 7. 

 [195] The medical school of Salerno (_latine_ Salernum) was founded by Robert Guiscard at the end of the 11th century; and about the year 1100 a collection of medical aphorisms, was composed in Latin verse by a certain John of Milan, and published under the title of _Medicina Salertina_. Of this poem, which originally consisted of 1239 verses, only 373, or about a third, are extant. These were published at Paris in 1625 by Réné Moreau; in 1653 it was travestied by L. Martin; paraphrased by Bruzen de la Martinière in 1743, and by Dr. Levacher de la Feuverie in 1782. 

 [196] De tuto cantharidum in medicinâ usu interno. 

 [197] Arnaud de Villeneuve was one of the luminaries of the 13th century, being distinguished for his profound knowledge of medicine, chemistry, astrology, and theology. He discovered the sulphuric, muriatic and nitric acids, and was the first to compose alcohol and the essence of terebinth or turpentine. 

 [198] Traité des dispenses du carême. 

 [199] "Any man, " said Abernethy, the celebrated and eccentric surgeon, "that drinks coffee and soda water, and smokes cigars, may lie with my wife. "

 [200] De Aer: Aquā et Locis. Liber, caput x. 

 [201] Comment. In Boerh. Aphor. Sec. 1063, Vol. III. 

 [202] _De Machinis_, C. IV. 

 [203] No. 206. 

 [204] _Exercitatio de aciá_, Cap. 4, _et seq. _

 [205] Odyssey VIII. Line 477. 

 [206] Introd. To Hesiod, cap. VI. P. 14. Edit. Plautin, 1603, in voce [Greek: aoidos]. 

 [207] Annals of Gallantry. 

 [208] Celsus has described the operation, in detail. Medicina, lib. VII. C. 25. 

 [209] Juvenal, Sat. VI. V. 379-80. 

 [210] Ibid. , v. 73-74. 

 [211] Martialis, lib. XIV. Ep. 215. 

 [212] Martialis, lib. VII. Ep. 81. 

 [213] Holiday's Juvenal, Sat. VI. , illustr. 11, note "_Unbutton a Comedian_. " For a copy see plate VII. , fig. 1. And 2. 

 [214] Monumenti Antichi inediti. Rome, 1767, fol. , p. IV. C. 8, p. 247, fig. 188. 

 [215] Martial, Lib. IX. Epig. 28, v. 12. 

 [216] Travels in Africa and Egypt. 

 [217] "There (in the arsenal) are also various whimsical bolts and locks with which he (Carrera) used to keep his concubines confined. " Travels in Italy. See _The World_, vol. 18, p. 154. 

 [218] Brantome, Dames Galantes, tom. Iii. , p. 138. 

 [219] Le Cadenas. This poem was composed by the author when he was only eighteen years of age, and it was occasioned by a lady who was in the circumstances here spoken of. 

 [220] Dr Smollett's translation, Vol. XXXII. 

 [221] Sine Baccho et Cerere friget Venus. 

 [222] "_Castrum quasi Castum, Castra_, " says Isidorus in his _Etymologies_, Lib. IX. , "sunt ubi miles steterit: dicta autem, castra, quasi casta, eo quod ibi castraretur libido. " _A castle_ from _castrating of lust_. 

 [223] Quæritur Ægystus quare sit factus adulter In promptu causa est: desidiosus. --De Remed. Amoris. 

 [224] "Otia si tollas, periere Cupidinis artes. "

 [225] See Pausanias's "Corinthians. "

 [226] Vide Cicero, lib. V. , Tusc. Questions and Plutarch's Treatise of Curiosity. It must, however, be observed, that this story is wholly incredible, inasmuch as the same writers affirm that Democritus employed his leisure in writing books and in dissecting the bodies of animals, neither of which could very well be effected without the eyes. 

 [227] In Lucian, in the Dialogue entitled--"Venus and Cupid. "

 [228] The story itself is the same as that related by Poggio (Bracciolini) of a hermit of Pisa. "Eremita, " says he, "qui Pisis morabatur, tempore Petri Gambacurtæ, meretricem noctu in suam ce lulan deduxit, vigesiesque ea nocte mulierem cognovit; semper cum moveret clunes, ut crimen fugeret luxuriæ vulgaribus verbis dicens: 'domati, carne cattizella;' hoc est, doma te, miserrima caro!"

THE END.