A practical treatise on the causes, symptoms, and treatment of spermatorrhoea / by M. Lallemand ; translated and edited by Henry J. McDougall.

  • Lallemand, F. (François), 1790-1853?
Date:
1858
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A practical treatise on the causes, symptoms, and treatment of spermatorrhoea / by M. Lallemand ; translated and edited by Henry J. McDougall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    this case, and still more that I lost sight of the patient, as I am in- clined to believe that the epileptic paroxysms might have been kept up by involuntary seminal discharges, after having been once ex- cited by masturbation. This is a point which I earnestly recommend to the attention of the profession. Another very frequent symptom in cases of spermatorrhoea, is the occurrence of urethral discharge from very slight excitement. Several cases of this kind have come under my notice, the patients having consulted me on account of the discharge. These cases often give rise to distressing suspicions, and much family unhappiness, espe- cially as they often occur in married men. The symptoms are often almost as severe as those of virulent clap, and the discharge is at- tended with great irritation in the neighbourhood of the prostate, and frequent desire of micturition. The discharge came on in one case of a married man who consulted me, after taking a single tumbler of whisky and water at night—this gentleman not having been in the habit of taking spirits for several years, on account of continued ill health. The discharge in these cases is thicker than that of or- dinary clap, and sticks in patches on the linen. These patches may be scaled off, after which there is little mark left, and the discharge seldom penetrates through calico, so that on the opposite side of the shirt there is little or no appearance of stain. On wetting the linen, the discharge feels slippery, and it is washed off with difficulty. I am inclined to believe that these discharges are not contagious; but notwithstanding this, sexual intercourse should be avoided on account of the injury that may result to the patient himself. In most cases, indeed, connexion is impossible during the first stages of the dis- charge, on account of the painful chordee to which excitement gives rise. I have generally, on questioning these patients, found that such discharges were connected more or less with deficiency of generative power. In the case I have above alluded to, impotence was almost complete; and in another similar case occurring in the person of a married surgeon, the powers had greatly declined. Both these pa- tients were in the prime of life, and both had, in their youth, led very irregular lives. . The irritation in these cases, I am inclined to believe, is situated in the posterior part of the urethra. Indeed, the surgeon whose case I have just alluded to, believed himself affected by enlarged prostate-many of the symptoms of which generally accompany the discharge I have described, especially frequent desire to pass water, and a feeling as though the bladder were never completely emptied, or as though two or three drops of urine were retained in the pos- terior part of the urethra. In the treatment of these cases, I have found the application of the solid nitrate of silver most effectual. The condition of the mucous membrane is immediately modified by it; w.thm twelve hours the