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

  • Claude François Lallemand
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.)

    149/416
    enter into details on this subject; but from all that has come to my knowledge, from various and direct sources of information, I do not hesitate to affirm, that nowhere are obscene books circulated more freely and boldly, than in educational establishments; that the origin of the vice is not solely in the scholars, but also in the ushers and servants; that the abuses are not always confined to masturbation; and that they are not always propagated by example or persuasion, but are sometimes enforced by threats and violence. Let it not be thought that I am now speaking of rare and exceptional cases, or that I exaggerate;1 I possess multiplied and convincing proofs of my assertions. I would not, either, that I should be misunderstood. I am far from denying the advantages of education in a public school; and I am ready to admit that the competition among a number of children produces emulation, forms the future character, early shows each his own value, and lays the foundation of friendships which endure through life.2 A too sedentary life is injurious at all ages, especially in childhood, when there exists such constant desire for exercise and change. Gymnastics, therefore, should on this account alone occupy an im- portant position in the system of education ; but they must be viewed under a much more serious aspect. Nothing can prevent the genital organs, at the time of their development, from reacting on the eco- nomy and giving rise to new sensations and ideas. It is impossible to prevent the attention from being attracted by the impressions caused by these organs; impossible to restrain the imagination and to pre- vent it from frequently dwelling on such impressions. The slightest circumstances may, in such a case, lead to a fatal discovery, even if the information be not transmitted directly, and enforced by example. How are such discoveries to be prevented, or rather, how are their results to be guarded against? Study gives us no aid here; indeed, the continued sitting necessarily heats the organs already too excited. The eyes may be fixed on the book, the ears may appear to listen to the master, but who can guard against the wandering of the imagina- tion? At night it is still worse; no surveillance can prevent this. There exists only one means capable of counteracting it, and that is, 1 M. Lallemand of course speaks of the colleges and private schools in France. I regret to say that his statements apply with nearly the whole of their force to the schools of England. Vice is common in them, neglect of physical education and the contracted nature of the studies to which pupils are confined in our classical semina- ries—the understanding being unappealed to, and the reasoning faculties unexercised —the natural sciences neglected, and the whole of the pupil's life until the age of seventeen employed in the study of the dead languages—are matters of vital impor- tance, to which society has only recently begun to direct its attention. [H. J. McD.] - M. Lallemand enters very fully on the subject of education as conducted in France, and well exposes the errors of the system. Most of his remarks apply to our own educational system, yet, as the subject is not strictly medical, and as, moreover, M. Lallemand has treated it at considerable length, I think it best to refer those of my readers who may wish information on it to the original work. Vol. I. page 425. [H. J. McD.]