Practical remarks on the treatment of spermatorrhoea and some forms of impotence / by John L. Milton.

  • Milton, J. L. (John Laws), 1820-1898.
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Practical remarks on the treatment of spermatorrhoea and some forms of impotence / by John L. Milton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    the worst symptoms subsided; occasionally a mass of mucus was thrown out after going to stool. He had been addicted to mastur- bation, and had then caught a gonorrhoea, which made him w’orse. Having relieved the indigestion and costiveness, and got him into habits of morning exercise, I injected the urethra with the perforated syringe, and applied the nitrate of silver with my own instrument; still the urethral gleet conti- nued, and he had occasionally an evacuation of mucus after a stool. A blister was there- fore applied to the penis, and in this case, also, there was not a single discharge for three weeks after; quinine was used, and a cure speedily followed. Case 6.—Night Discharges and Stric- ture.—F , aged twenty-two, applied August 15th, 1853, with seminal emissions, which occurred every night, and had now lasted, he said, seven years. He looked pale and shattered, and had been recently under the care of a surgeon, who had used the bougie, and materially relieved him. A slight stricture was now detected, which the bougie soon removed. Salines, containing nitrate of potass, were given, and these, with quinine, and mustard poultices to the perinaeum, effected a comparative cure to his previous state. Case 7.—Night and Day Discharges, with accumulation of Sebaceous Matter.—G , a stout, healthy young man, applied, June 18, 1853, with seminal emissions, occurring two or three times a day, exclusive of those at night; they appeared to have resulted from gonorrhoea and a very unhealthy em- ployment ; never guilty of masturbation. Ordered, quinine twice a day; exercise and cold sponging. 25th.—He is much better; there is some sebaceous matter about the neck of the glans. To wash this well with soap and water, and afterwards apply a zinc lotion; the mixture to be continued. 30th.—He is just well, and has only had three seminal emissions the last week. He has removed all the sebaceous matter, and the prepuce is seen to be very red inside. To continue. As complete a cure ensued as ever does in these cases, a seminal emis- sion at night occurring from time to time. Case 8.—Night and Day Discharges.— II , a pale, delicate young man, applied, June 25,1853, with gleet and seminal emis- sions, occasionally in the day, but mostly at night. He complained of great weakness, pain in the back, and cough. An opium ; plaster to the loins, quinine twice a day. meat diet, and volatile liniment to rub on the chest; morning exercise. During the latter part of July he had a few days’ sea- bathing, which did him a great deal of good ; the opium plaster relieved the pain in the back, and was accordingly repeated as often as it fell off. By the 12th of September he was so far improved that he had no seminal discharges for three weeks; but the gleet grew so much worse, that I was obliged to order him injections. Having left off his medicines, he had a slight relapse, but, on resuming them, was rapidly ciued of aU but an occasional discharge at night. e. Case 9.—Day Discharges.—Mr. J applied, November, 1852. He had two to six times a day faint erections, and imme- diately after a thin discharge. The urethra was red, and there was a strong smell from the glans. He was pale, nervous, and so weak, that he thought he could not live, and he was tormented by a constant cough, with indigestion and costiveness. Salines, con- taining a little syrup of red poppies, and five grains of nitrate of potass, three times a day; mustard poultices to the perinmum ; veratria ointment to the testicles. Soon after quinine was commenced. He gradually re- covered, and at the end of ten weeks was so far advanced towards a cure that he gave himself no further trouble about the matter. f. Case 10.—Spermatorrhoea and Con- genital Imperfect Erections.—Mr. J applied, August 12, 1852. Erections never had taken place, and there was a constant discharge from the urethra, which was in an inflamed state, of rank, thin fliud. He was, and always had been, very weak. Cauteri- zation had been tried, and failed. He was the type of this class of patients. Every secretion and every sense was at fault, as if the whole constitution suffered from the struggle to establish the defective virile power. Blisters, quinine, and nitric acid, &c., were aU tried in succession, with little im- provement in either the spermatorrhoea or the erections. Lastly, I would only urge the patient to banish from his mind the idea that a perfect absence of seminal emissions at night is com- patible w'ith health and continence. Those who tell him so deceive liim or are deceived; and I cannot conclude better than by quoting apart of Mr. Curling’s letter: “ I assume,” he says, “ the cure of spermatorrhoea to mean, not the arrest altogether of involun- tary emissions, hut the prevention of their frequency to such a degree as to weaken the powers and impair the health.” THE END.