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.)

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    tion is difficult to relieve by pharmaceutical means, but it often yields readily enough to the abundant use of strawberries; raspberries and cherries produce somewhat similar, but much less active effects. The advice given by Hippocrates, to fatten the patient as much as possible, is by no means opposed to the diet I have recom- mended, for it is well known, that matters containing sugar and fe- cula in abundance, favour the formation of fat. Hippocrates adds, that wine should be abstained from during a year, and I have frequently had opportunities of remarking the wisdom of this advice. Many patients, indeed, grow abstemious as the result of their own experience. The prohibition of wine should include all other fermented liquors, as well as tea and coffee—indeed, all exciting drinks. But there are cases of spermatorrhoea, arising from irritation, in which wine may be allowed, and in these cases it may be advantageously taken iced, or mixed with an alkaline, or carbonated water. In cases of well established spermatorrhoea, all excitement of the genital organs increases the pollutions; the patients must, there- fore, not only abstain from coitus, but from every thing which may excite venereal ^desires, or lascivious ideas. Still, however, when convalescence is advancing, very moderate sexual intercourse is ne- cessary to relieve the overfilled seminal vesicles, and to prevent them from again falling into a habit of involuntary contraction. Fatigue is hurtful to patients whose pollutions arise from irrita- tion, but moderate exercise is beneficial. Excessive mental exertion is also to be avoided. In the milder cases of involuntary discharge, caused by irritation, the introduction of a catheter may be sufficient, as in cases of morbid sensibility, to modify the condition of the mu- cous membrane.1 The remedy in the severer cases I have still to consider, I mean cauterization of the mucous membrane of the pro- static portion of the urethra, by means of the nitrate of silver. Cauterization.—This operation is especially indicated in cases of chronic inflammation, or irritation of the urethra: its results may be considered certain when involuntary discharges follow a common clap, or non-contagious gleet. I have also found it successful in many cases where atony, or relaxation seemed to predominate, and in a few cases of marked nervous disorder, and congenital predis- position. In the latter cases, however, the benefit derived from cauterization has seldom proved permanent, though I believe that by changing the condition of the tissues, the foundation has been laid for the successful use of other means. Before proceeding to cauterization it is indispensably necessary to introduce a catheter, for the double purpose of taking the exact length of the urethra, and of completely emptying the bladder. On slowly withdrawing the instrument, during the escape of urine, the stream is i I have successfully treated a mild case in this manner. [II. J. M'D.]