Dr. Joseph William Howe

  • Dr. Howe, professor of clinical surgery at Bellevue Hospital Medical School, believes that sclerosis of nerve fibers of the cerebellum may be caused by involuntary emissions of semen by night or day. He also thinks that "diseases of the brain and cord are ushered in and accompanied by frequent ejaculations of seminal fluid. Many of the cases are accompanied by impotence, others develop satyriasis and priapism. He adds:

    "In one case of partial cerebral sclerosis which involved a small portion of the cerebellum, the patient suffered from frequent emissions before any symptoms of cerebral trouble manifested themselves. Coincident with manifestations of the sclerosis, the pollutions were increased in frequency, and as the disease progressed, were of daily and nightly occurrence.
    "Progressive locomotor ataxia was at one time supposed to arise from inordinate sexual congress and onanism.... A majority of patients suffering from locomotor ataxia have spermatorrhea of troublesome nature. In the later stages of the disease there is complete loss of virile power. In the cases which are preceded by spermatorrhea, the disease is of a more serious nature, and is more apt to run a rapid course and reach a fatal termination.
    "Other diseases of the spinal cord, such as white softening, tumors and injuries, are all accompanied by some disarrangement of the genital functions. In some instances, they are characterized by frequent ejaculations and loss of virility; in others priapism and aspermitism are present. In injuries which produce a certain amount of irritation and inflammation, the latter conditions are more likely to be present, while in anemic conditions, or chronic softening, seminal emissions and impotence are usual. Chronic or white softening of the spinal cord may arise as a result of masturbation and sexual excess."1

 

Footnotes:

1. Dr. Bernard. R.W., Science Discovers the Physiological Value of Continence. (1957) Health Research: Pomeroy

Joseph William Howe, EXCESSIVE VENERY, MASTURBATION, AND CONTINENCE: THE ETIOLOGY, PATHOLOGY AND TREATMENT OF THE DISEASES RESULTING FROM VENEREAL EXCESSES, MASTURBATION AND CONTINENCE. (1887) E.B. Treat.
http://books.google.com/books?id=oHpzq3lG18cC&pg=PA17#PPA177,M1