Project Gutenberg's The Plague of Lust, Vol. I (of 2), by Julius Rosenbaum This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. Title: The Plague of Lust, Vol. I (of 2) Being a History of Venereal Disease in Classical Antiquity Author: Julius Rosenbaum Translator: Anonymous Release Date: June 1, 2020 [EBook #62300] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PLAGUE OF LUST, VOL. I (OF 2) *** Produced by Turgut Dincer, Les Galloway and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.) Transcriber’s Notes Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations in hyphenation and accents have been standardised but all other spelling and punctuation remains unchanged. Anchors for footnotes 27 and 59 were missing and have been added in appropriate places. The Orphean hymn in footnote 12 is in error. The correction is shown with the footnote. (the act the Lesbian) in footnote 327 is erroneous but could be ‘to act ...’ or ‘the act of ...’ so remains uncorrected. The book contains several blank pages and long and multi page footnotes hence there are gaps in, and variable spacing of, page numbers. Many index entries refer directly to muli-page footnotes, where this is clearly the case, the index link directs to the footnote. An index to both volumes is included in volume II. This has been copied into the end of this volume by the transcriber. THE PLAGUE OF LUST VOLUME I This work, printed for a small number of subscribers, Medical Men—Experts and Specialists in Nervous Diseases—Lawyers—Psychiatrists Travellers and Anthropologists—is not sold to the Trade, and is strictly limited to FIVE HUNDRED NUMBERED COPIES. The present copy is No. 105 THE PLAGUE OF LUST, BEING A HISTORY OF VENEREAL DISEASE IN CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY, and Including:—Detailed Investigations into the Cult of Venus, and Phallic Worship, Brothels, the Νοῦσος Θήλεια (Feminine disease) of the Scythians, Paederastia, and other Sexual Perversions amongst the Ancients, AS CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARDS THE EXACT INTERPRETATION OF THEIR WRITINGS BY Dr. JULIUS ROSENBAUM TRANSLATED FROM THE SIXTH (UNABRIDGED) GERMAN EDITION BY AN OXFORD M.A. The First of Two Volumes Paris CHARLES CARRINGTON Publisher of Medical, Folk-lore and Historical Works. 13, Faubourg Montmartre, 13 MDCCCCI The price of this work complete is FIVE GUINEAS. TRANSLATOR’S FOREWORD. THE TRANSLATOR OF DR. ROSENBAUM’S GREAT BOOK, THE Geschichte der Lustseuche im Alterthume, FEELS THAT NO APOLOGY IS REQUIRED FOR PRESENTING A WORK OF THIS CALIBRE AND IMPORTANCE IN AN ENGLISH DRESS,—FOR THE FIRST TIME. NEEDLESS TO SAY THE BOOK IN NO WAY APPEALS,—OR IS MEANT TO APPEAL,—TO THE GENERAL READING PUBLIC. IT IS A BOOK FOR STUDENTS AND SPECIALISTS, AS IS RECOGNIZED INDEED BY THE CONDITIONS OF THE PRESENT PUBLICATION, IN A LIMITED EDITION AND AT a high price. TO HISTORICAL STUDENTS AND MEDICAL SPECIALISTS ALIKE IT IS OF THE HIGHEST VALUE AND INTEREST, AND IN MANY RESPECTS AN INDISPENSABLE ADDITION TO THEIR LIBRARY. THE OBJECT THE WRITER PROPOSED TO HIMSELF WAS A HISTORY OF VENEREAL DISEASE, TO TRACE ITS EXISTENCE, SYMPTOMS AND INCIDENCE, FROM THE EARLIEST NOTICES OF ITS OCCURRENCE RECORDED IN LITERATURE ONWARDS. THIS AMBITIOUS PROGRAMME HE HAS ONLY PARTIALLY CARRIED OUT IN THE PRESENT WORK, WHICH FORMS PART I. OF THE PROJECTED TREATISE AS A WHOLE, AND DEALS WITH THE DISEASE UNDER ITS VARIOUS FORMS AND SUCCESSIVE MANIFESTATIONS THROUGHOUT ANTIQUITY. IN IT HE DEVOTES HIS EFFORTS TO PROVING,—AND WE THINK WITH CONCLUSIVE SUCCESS,—THE EXISTENCE, DENIED BY SO MANY, OF THE DREAD DISEASE IN DIFFERENT SHAPES IN EUROPE, ASIA AND AFRICA LONG BEFORE THE CHRISTIAN ERA, AND ALL THROUGH THE PERIOD OF CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY, SCOUTING UTTERLY, THE POPULAR THEORY OF ITS FIRST INTRODUCTION AT THE END OF the Fifteenth and beginning of the Sixteenth Centuries from America. WITH THIS END IN VIEW THE LEARNED AND LABORIOUS AUTHOR COLLECTS AN ENORMOUS apparatus criticus OF QUOTATIONS FROM GREEK AND LATIN WRITERS, BOTH IN PROSE AND VERSE, AND THIS NOT MERELY FROM THE BETTER KNOWN AUTHORS OF ANTIQUITY, BUT EQUALLY FROM LATER AND MUCH LESS FAMILIAR SOURCES. OBSCURE EROTIC WRITERS, HISTORICAL FRAGMENTS, CHRISTIAN FATHERS,—ALL IS FISH THAT COMES TO HIS COMPREHENSIVE, THOUGH NOT UNDISCRIMINATING, NET; AND PROBABLY THERE IS NOT TO BE FOUND IN THE WHOLE RANGE OF SCHOLARSHIP SO WIDE AND COMPLETE A COLLECTION OF HISTORICAL AND LITERARY ILLUSTRATIONS AND ALLUSIONS BROUGHT together with the express purpose of throwing light on one special subject of enquiry. SUCH IN BRIEFEST OUTLINE IS THE SCOPE AND ACHIEVEMENT OF DR. ROSENBAUM’S MASTERPIECE. BUT BRIEF AS IT IS, IT SUFFICES TO SHOW TO HOW MANY CLASSES OF STUDENTS AND SCIENTISTS THE WORK APPEALS. FIRST AND FOREMOST IT IS OF DIRECT SERVICE TO PHYSICIANS IN GENERAL AND SPECIALISTS IN VENEREAL DISEASE IN PARTICULAR, TO ENQUIRERS INTO THE PROBLEMS OF INSANITY AND THE MORBID MANIFESTATIONS OF A DISEASED BRAIN, AS WELL AS TO ANTHROPOLOGISTS AND ALL SCIENTIFIC OBSERVERS OF HUMANITY. ON ANOTHER SIDE, IN VIRTUE OF ITS WEALTH OF CURIOUS AND RECONDITE QUOTATION, IT IS OF THE HIGHEST INTEREST AND ATTRACTION TO CLASSICAL SCHOLARS AND EVERY STUDENT OF ANTIQUITY AND ANCIENT LITERATURE; WHILE MIDWAY BETWEEN THESE TWO CATEGORIES, STUDENTS OF MORALS AND HUMAN INSTITUTIONS CANNOT POSSIBLY AFFORD TO NEGLECT A STOREHOUSE OF “HUMAN DOCUMENTS” SO invaluable in the domain of their studies. EVEN TO THE GENERAL HISTORICAL STUDENT, WHO WITHOUT LAYING ANY CLAIM TO THE PROUD TITLE OF SPECIALIST, IS DEEPLY INTERESTED IN THE CONDITIONS OF HUMAN LIFE ON OUR PLANET IN FORMER DAYS, AND EAGER TO ENQUIRE INTO ALL MATTERS RELATING TO THE HEALTH AND HAPPINESS OF MANKIND, THE BOOK HAS A GREAT DEAL TO OFFER. FEW THINGS HAVE MORE PROFOUNDLY MODIFIED THESE FACTORS OF HUMAN WELL-BEING THAN VENEREAL DISEASE AND ITS RAVAGES IN ALL AGES; WHILE ANY SYSTEMATIC ENQUIRY INTO THIS MOST IMPORTANT SUBJECT CANNOT FAIL TO THROW MANY SIDE-LIGHTS,—LURID ENOUGH, BUT NONE THE LESS INSTRUCTIVE,—ON LIFE AND MORALS, SOCIAL RELATIONS AND SEXUAL ABERRATIONS, AMONG DIFFERENT PEOPLES AND AT DIFFERENT EPOCHS. WHAT CAN BE MORE INTERESTING,—PAINFUL AS THE INTEREST OFTEN IS,—THAN MUCH OF THE INFORMATION HERE AFFORDED, AT FIRST HAND AND FROM AUTHENTIC CITATIONS OF ANCIENT WRITERS, OF SOCIAL AND SEXUAL HABITS AND IDEALS, OF STRANGE RITES AND RITUALS AND ABOMINABLE practices, prevalent as well in the free Republics of Greece as under the corrupt sway of the Roman Emperors. GREAT AND WONDERFUL NO DOUBT WERE THE COMMUNITIES OF THE ANCIENT WORLD, BEAUTIFUL THE FINE FLOWER OF GRACEFUL LIVING, AND HIGH THE LEVEL OF PHILOSOPHIC AND LITERARY CULTURE ATTAINED, CONSUMMATE THE ARTISTIC RELICS THEY HAVE LEFT US; BUT WHAT A SEAMY SIDE THIS SAME CLASSICAL CIVILIZATION HAD TO SHOW,—WHAT UNSPEAKABLE ABOMINATIONS UNDERLAY ITS SOCIAL LIFE, WHAT ATROCITIES OF FOULNESS, CRUELTY AND LUST,—SOME OF THEM FLOURISHING UNDER THE SANCTION OF RELIGION ITSELF,—COUNTERBALANCED the virtues of wise citizenship and warlike valour and Stoic self-denial. Lurid and terrible indeed are some of the pictures OF HORROR THAT SHAPE THEMSELVES FROM CERTAIN OF DR. ROSENBAUM’S PAGES,—THE WHOLE SECTION, FOR INSTANCE, IN VOL. I. DEALING WITH “BROTHELS AND COURTESANS”, AND IN AN EVEN HIGHER DEGREE THAT ON “PAEDERASTIA” AND THE DISEASES CONSEQUENT ON THIS UNNATURAL PRACTICE. SPECIALLY GRAPHIC AND VIVID SECTIONS AGAIN, IN VOL. II., ARE THOSE TREATING OF THE practice of “Depilation” among Greeks and Romans, and the Baths and Bathing habits of Antiquity. TO RETURN FOR A MOMENT TO THE MEDICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF THE WORK. PERHAPS NO SINGLE BRANCH OF SCIENTIFIC ENQUIRY HAS MADE SUCH NOTEWORTHY STRIDES OF LATE YEARS AS ANTHROPOLOGY, AND IN PARTICULAR THE SPECIAL DEPARTMENT OF THAT SCIENCE DEVOTED TO MORBID AND ANOMALOUS MANIFESTATIONS OF THE SEXUAL APPETITE,—UNNATURAL LUSTS, SENSUAL ABERRATIONS, SEXUAL INVERSIONS, AND ALL THE REST. THE SUBJECT, NO DOUBT, IS REPULSIVE, BUT IT IS NONE THE LESS PROFOUNDLY IMPORTANT FROM THE SCIENTIFIC SIDE, IN CONNEXION BOTH WITH THE GENERAL ADVANCE OF OUR KNOWLEDGE OF MANKIND, AND WITH THE SPECIAL STUDY OF INSANITY AND MADNESS, AS WELL AS FROM THE HUMANITARIAN POINT OF VIEW AS GIVING MATERIAL FOR THE EVENTUAL ALLEVIATION OF MANY OF THESE MANIFESTATIONS OF MENTAL DISEASE. OUT OF A HOST OF NAMES, IT IS ONLY NECESSARY to mention two, those of Lombroso and Krafft-Ebing, to demonstrate the high place these investigations have vindicated FOR THEMSELVES AMONG THE SCIENTIFIC TRIUMPHS OF THE CENTURY THAT HAS JUST CLOSED. ON THIS SIDE THE Geschichte der vi vii viii ix Lustseuche IS OF THE HIGHEST IMPORTANCE, SUPPLYING AS IT DOES INNUMERABLE INSTANCES OF THOSE VERY PHAENOMENA OF MORBID SEXUAL PERVERSIONS THAT CONSTITUTE THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THIS RAPIDLY PROGRESSIVE BRANCH OF SCIENCE, ONE LIKELY IN the near future to prove of infinite benefit to afflicted humanity. OF THE AUTHOR PERSONALLY THERE IS NO NEED TO SAY MUCH, NOR INDEED IS THERE MUCH TO BE SAID. HIS LIFE WAS QUIET AND UNEVENTFUL, AS A SCHOLAR’S AND SAVANT’S SHOULD BE. AFTER HOLDING A PROFESSORSHIP AT BERLIN, HE WAS SUMMONED TO FILL A SIMILAR POST AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HALLE, WHERE HE SUCCEEDED TO THE CHAIR LEFT VACANT BY THE DEATH OF THE CELEBRATED DR. BAUMGARTEN-CRUSIUS; AND IT WAS HERE THAT HE COMPLETED HIS GREAT WORK,—IN SPITE OF DIFFICULTIES AND LACK OF BOOKS, WHICH HE NAÏVELY AND RATHER PATHETICALLY LAMENTS IN HIS PREFACE. HALLE HAD ALREADY BEEN MADE ILLUSTRIOUS BY AN EARLIER AND EVEN MORE DISTINGUISHED WORKER IN THE SAME FIELD, THE FAMOUS SPRENGEL (DIED MARCH 15, 1833), AUTHOR OF A MASTERLY History of Medicine AND MANY OTHER PROFESSIONAL WORKS; AND WITH A CHARACTERISTIC TOUCH OF TEUTONIC SENTIMENTALITY OUR Author dates the Preface to his own Geschichte on Sprengel’s birth-day. A BY NO MEANS UNIMPORTANT FEATURE OF DR. ROSENBAUM’S BOOK, AND ONE ACCORDING WELL WITH HIS PATIENT AND LABORIOUS METHODS, IS THE VERY EXTENSIVE AND VALUABLE BIBLIOGRAPHY, WHICH WILL BE FOUND AT THE END OF THE WORK. THIS EMBRACES ALMOST EVERYTHING THAT HAS BEEN WRITTEN ON THE SUBJECT IN ALL LANGUAGES, AND SHOULD PROVE OF INESTIMABLE SERVICE TO THE serious student. FOR ANY ERRORS THAT MAY HAVE CREPT INTO HIS VERSION, THE TRANSLATOR MUST CRAVE INDULGENCE. SOME SUCH ARE INEVITABLE, MORE PARTICULARLY IN THE RENDERINGS OF THE INNUMERABLE LATIN AND GREEK QUOTATIONS, MANY OF WHICH ARE INVOLVED IN DICTION AND OBSCURE IN ALLUSION, AND SOME OF DISPUTED INTERPRETATION. THE LABOUR INVOLVED HAS BEEN NO SMALL ONE,—THE MERE proof-reading itself being a heavy task in a book like the present crammed with citations from several languages. FOR THE GENERAL APPEARANCE AND GET UP OF THE BOOK, THE PUBLISHER, MR. CHARLES CARRINGTON, OF PARIS, IS RESPONSIBLE, AND HIS NAME, SO WELL KNOWN IN CONNECTION WITH THE PRODUCTION OF MEDICAL AND SCIENTIFIC WORKS OF THIS KIND, IS A sufficient guarantee of excellence. IN CONCLUSION, THE TRANSLATOR OFFERS WITH CONFIDENCE THE RESULT OF HIS LABOURS TO ALL ENGLISHMEN INTERESTED AS SPECIALISTS IN THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE, IN ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF INSANITY, AS ALSO IN CLASSICAL SCHOLARSHIP AND THE STUDY OF ANTIQUITY AND ANCIENT LITERATURE, AS WELL AS TO ENQUIRERS GENERALLY INTO THE HISTORY OF MORALS AND THE LIFE AND LIFE CONDITIONS OF EARLIER DAYS. IN DOING SO, HE FEELS SURE OF A FAVOURABLE RECEPTION FOR SO IMPORTANT AND SCHOLARLY A Work, throwing such a flood of light on all these different departments of study. OXFORD, June 14, 1901. DR. ROSENBAUM’S PREFACE TO THE FIRST (GERMAN) EDITION x AUTHOR’S PREFACE TO THE FIRST (GERMAN) EDITION. IT IS NOW SIX YEARS AGO, DURING MY RESIDENCE IN BERLIN, AND WITH A VIEW TO A HISTORICAL SURVEY OF MILIARY FEVERS, THAT I BEGAN A CLOSER AND MORE SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF THE EPIDEMICS OF THE XVTH. AND XVITH. CENTURIES. IN THE COURSE OF THESE ENQUIRIES MY ATTENTION WAS INEVITABLY DIRECTED TO THE SUBJECT OF VENEREAL DISEASE, WHICH EXERTED SO POWERFUL AN INFLUENCE AT THAT EPOCH BOTH ON THE PHYSICAL AND THE MORAL LIFE OF NATIONS. ACCUSTOMED AS I WAS TO REGARD HISTORY AS BEING SOMETHING MORE THAN A MERE QUASI-MECHANICAL AGGREGATION OF FACTS, THE OBSERVATION WAS SOON BORNE IN UPON ME THAT ONLY THROUGH A PAINSTAKING EXAMINATION OF THE CONTEMPORARY CONDITIONS OF EPIDEMIC DISEASE COULD THE VENEREAL DISEASE OF THE PERIOD BE REALLY UNDERSTOOD. CONSEQUENTLY I FELT I MUST ISOLATE THIS TERRIBLE SCOURGE OF HUMANITY FROM THE general survey,—so general as to be well-nigh all-embracing,—and consider it as a phænomenon apart. ONCE STARTED ON THESE LINES, I OCCUPIED MYSELF SPECIALLY WITH THE SUBJECT, AND ARRIVED AT THE SURPRISING RESULT, THAT THE VENEREAL DISEASE OF THE XVTH. CENTURY OWED ITS TERRIBLE CHARACTERISTICS SOLELY AND ENTIRELY TO THE CONTEMPORARY EXANTHEMATIC-TYPHOÏDAL Genius Epidemicus, WHICH MADE ITSELF KNOWN IN THE SOUTH OF EUROPE BY PETECHIAL FEVERS AND BY THE Sudor Anglicus (ENGLISH SWEATING-FEVER) IN THE NORTH. I CONCLUDED FURTHER THAT THE DISEASE WAS NOT EPIDEMIC AT ALL, MERELY LIABLE TO ARISE UNDER EPIDEMIC INFLUENCE; AND MUST CONSEQUENTLY HAVE BEEN ALREADY EXTANT BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF the said Genius Epidemicus. TIME AND CIRCUMSTANCES COMPELLED ME TO REMAIN SATISFIED PROVISIONALLY WITH THIS GENERAL CONCLUSION, AND ONLY AFTER I HAD FIXED MY ABODE PERMANENTLY AT HALLE, COULD I RESUME MY EARLIER INVESTIGATIONS. YET AGAIN THESE WERE INTERRUPTED, PARTLY BY MY WORK ON THE DISEASES OF THE SKIN FOR THE DICTIONARY OF SURGERY EDITED BY PROF. BLASIUS, PARTLY BY MY HABILITATION (FORMAL ENTRY ON THE STAFF) AT THE UNIVERSITY OF THAT PLACE, TO WHICH I HAD BEEN REPEATEDLY INVITED AFTER THE UNEXPECTED DEATH OF THE LATE DR. BAUMGARTEN-CRUSIUS. EVENTUALLY I WAS ENABLED TO DEVOTE THE GREATER PART OF MY LEISURE HOURS TO THIS SUBJECT, ONE WHICH IN THE MEANTIME WAS NEVER QUITE LOST SIGHT OF. I BEGAN TO SIFT AND ARRANGE THE MATERIAL I FOUND ACCUMULATED, BUT IN A SHORT TIME I CONVINCED MYSELF THAT IN ITS TREATMENT I HAD TO STRIKE OUT A DIFFERENT ROAD FROM THAT FOLLOWED HITHERTO, IF I EVER INTENDED ON MY OWN ACCOUNT TO REACH IMPORTANT RESULTS; AND I FELT IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO COMPLETE THE WHOLE SURVEY IN A SINGLE MODERATE-SIZED VOLUME. CONSEQUENTLY I PROCEEDED TO LIMIT MYSELF TO THE ENQUIRY WHETHER OR NO VENEREAL DISEASE HAD BEEN EXTANT IN ANCIENT TIMES, AND IT IS THIS INVESTIGATION THAT I NOW PUBLISH as a first Part of the History of Venereal disease. THE GENERAL PLAN I HAVE FOLLOWED IN MY TREATMENT OF THE SUBJECT IS SUFFICIENTLY EXPLAINED IN THE INTRODUCTION; WHILE A PERUSAL OF THE TEXT WILL SHOW IN WHAT RELATION MY INVESTIGATIONS STAND TOWARDS THOSE OF MY PREDECESSORS, AND AT THE SAME TIME TO WHAT EXTENT THESE HAVE BEEN MADE USE OF, OR INDEED COULD BE MADE USE OF, IN MY WORK. OWING TO THE VERY NATURE OF THE SUBJECT THE SURVEY AS A WHOLE WAS BOUND TO ASSUME A CRITICAL CHARACTER, DEALING AS IT DOES NOT SOLELY WITH THE HISTORY OF THE DISEASE, BUT ALSO WITH THE EXAMINATION OF AN EXTENSIVE ARRAY OF VIEWS AND OPINIONS ALREADY FORMULATED. THE CONDUCT OF THIS EXAMINATION I LEAVE THE READER TO JUDGE OF; BUT I BELIEVE I CAN CONFIDENTLY ASSERT IT WAS ALWAYS THE MATTER, NEVER THE MAN, THAT I SUBJECTED TO CRITICAL TREATMENT. ACCORDINGLY I LAID LITTLE STRESS ON BRILLIANT RESULTS, AND MADE NO EFFORT TO CONCEAL LACK OF FACTS BY DAZZLING HYPOTHESES; INSTEAD I MADE IT MY SUPREME OBJECT TO COME AT THE TRUTH AS NEAR AS POSSIBLE, AND PREFERRED TO CONFESS MY IGNORANCE, IF THE HELPS AND AUTHORITIES I HAD AT MY DISPOSAL FAILED ME, RATHER THAN ADVANCE PROPOSITIONS THE BASELESSNESS OF WHICH A SOBER CRITICISM IS ONLY TOO SOON IN A POSITION TO demonstrate. “I IMPOSED THIS LAW ON MYSELF—TO BELIEVE NO MAN’S MERE ASSERTION; TO DEPEND ON ORIGINAL AUTHORITIES; TO LOOK AT EVERY PASSAGE WITH MY OWN EYES, AND READ IT IN CONNEXION WITH ITS CONTEXT; TO PICK OUT THE PLAIN FACT OBSERVED FROM THE CHAOS OF HYPOTHESES, AND TO ACCEPT AS EXACT ONLY WHAT I COULD DEDUCE FROM THE AUTHORITIES MYSELF AND SEE TO BE THE EVIDENT PURPORT OF THE OBSERVATION,—ABSOLUTELY UNCONCERNED HOW EACH ARBITRARY THEORY MIGHT BE AFFECTED OR THE SACROSANCT AUTHORITY OF SUCH OR SUCH A SCHOLAR STAND OR FALL. WHY SHOULD WE DEEM GREAT MEN INFALLIBLE? WHY FIND IT IMPOSSIBLE TO HONOUR THEM AND YET DISSENT FROM THEM IN OPINION?—I FELT I OWED TO MY READER A CORRESPONDING impartiality in statement of the facts and arguments based upon them. If I was determined to take nothing on trust, but to EXAMINE AND SEE FOR MYSELF, I COULD NOT REASONABLY DEMAND FAITH FROM THE READER AND REFUSE TO COMMUNICATE TO HIM THE PROOFS AND ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS I HAD DRAWN UPON. IT WAS NO CASE OF MERE QUOTATION FROM BOOKS,—I WAS BOUND TO LAY OPEN THE ORIGINAL EVIDENCE FOR HIS INSPECTION.” THESE WORDS OF HENSLER’S I TOOK AS MY GUIDING-PRINCIPLE, AND IF I HAVE DEVIATED FROM THEIR STANDARD IN THE THIRD SECTION, THIS ONLY HAPPENED BECAUSE THE GREATER PART OF THE PASSAGES THERE QUOTED HAVE BEEN REPEATEDLY HANDLED BY MY PREDECESSORS, AND I FEARED TO INCREASE THE BULK AND CONSEQUENTLY THE COST of the Book to the prejudice of the reader. I AM WELL AWARE THAT THE METHOD I HAVE ADOPTED HARDLY CORRESPONDS WITH THE TASTE OF THE PRESENT DAY; AND IF THE PUBLIC CHOOSE TO FIND IN MY WORK NOTHING BUT AN IDLE DISPLAY OF QUOTATIONS, I CANNOT FAIL TO BE MORTIFIED. NEVERTHELESS I PREFER TO ENCOUNTER, IF NEEDS BE, THE REPROACH OF PEDANTRY RATHER THAN THAT OF SUPERFICIALITY. WITH THE DIFFICULTIES I MET WITH IN CONNECTION WITH PARTICULAR INVESTIGATIONS I NEED NOT TROUBLE THE READER AT GREATER LENGTH, AS THEY ARE SUFFICIENTLY xiii xiv xv xvi FAMILIAR TO EVERYONE ENGAGED IN SIMILAR RESEARCHES. I MAY BE ALLOWED TO POINT OUT WHAT A TASK WAS PRESENTED BY THE CO- ORDINATION OF SO CONSIDERABLE A NUMBER OF SCATTERED DATA. THESE I HAD, IN THE ALMOST TOTAL ABSENCE OF EARLIER WORKS ON THE SAME SUBJECT, TO COLLECT MOSTLY BY MY OWN READING FROM VERY WIDELY SEPARATED AUTHORS; AND ANYTHING LIKE SYMMETRY OF ARRANGEMENT WAS MADE STILL MORE DIFFICULT WHEN, AS OCCURRED MORE THAN ONCE, THE DISCOVERY OF A SINGLE PASSAGE FORCED ME TO ENTIRELY RE-WRITE A SUBSTANTIAL PART OF MY MANUSCRIPT, OFTEN WITHIN A SHORT TIME OF ITS GOING TO PRESS. FOR THE SAME REASON THE INDULGENT READER MUST EXCUSE IT, IF HERE AND THERE A LATER OBSERVATION INVOLVES THE SUPPLEMENTING AND IN SOME DEGREE CORRECTING OF A PREVIOUS STATEMENT,—A THING THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN DONE MUCH MORE FREQUENTLY, HAD I NOT DREADED TREATING MY MATERIAL IN TOO RAMBLING A FASHION. IT WOULD BE QUITE EASY NOW TO SUBJOIN IN THE FORM OF APPENDICES A MULTITUDE OF ADDITIONAL PROOFS, OF COURSE ONLY CORROBORATING VIEWS ALREADY LAID DOWN,—PROOFS I OWED TO FURTHER READING OF THE ANCIENT AUTHORS. HOWEVER ABSOLUTE COMPLETENESS IS IMPOSSIBLE OF ATTAINMENT FOR THE INDIVIDUAL; AND I CAN only hope THE HUMBLE REQUEST I HEREBY EXPRESS,—A REQUEST ADDRESSED SPECIALLY TO PROFESSIONAL STUDENTS OF ANTIQUITY,— THAT OTHERS MAY FAVOUR ME WITH CONTRIBUTIONS AND REMARKS RELEVANT TO MY SUBJECT, MAY BE NOT ENTIRELY WITHOUT RESULT. SO LATER ON PERHAPS THE MATERIAL ACCUMULATED MAY BE UTILISED MORE EFFICIENTLY, IF THE INTEREST MANIFESTED BY THE LEARNED IN MY undertaking is of such a nature as to demand a re-modelling of the whole Investigation. THE NECESSITY I FOUND MYSELF UNDER OF EXPRESSING THIS REQUEST FOR COUNTENANCE ON THE PART OF STUDENTS OF ANTIQUITY IS THE VERY THING THAT SPECIALLY INDUCED ME TO STRONGLY RECOMMEND THE FIRST PART OF MY WORK, EVEN ON ITS TITLE-PAGE, TO THEIR PARTICULAR CONSIDERATION; AND IT WILL BE A SOURCE OF SELF-CONGRATULATION IF THE ATTEMPTS INCIDENTALLY INTRODUCED TO GAIN A BETTER INSIGHT INTO THE RELICS OF ANTIQUITY, MEETING WITH THEIR APPROVAL, BECOME AN INDUCEMENT TO THE PHYSICIAN IN HIS PROFESSIONAL STUDIES TO OFFER A HELPING HAND TO HUMAN WEAKNESSES. THE QUESTION AT ISSUE IS NOTHING LESS THAN THAT OF GAINING A CLEAR INSIGHT INTO THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF THE OPERATION OF A DISEASE THAT DESTROYS THE VERY MARROW OF NATIONS. WITHOUT SUCH INSIGHT THE PHYSICIAN CANNOT HOPE, WHETHER IN THE PARTICULAR CASE OR SPEAKING GENERALLY, TO OBTAIN A RADICAL CURE; AND OF ALL FORMS OF DISEASE THE VENEREAL IS PRE-EMINENTLY THAT WHERE OBSCURITY IN THE HISTORY OF THE MALADY conditions obscurity in its curative treatment. For the first time it is successfully proved with irrefragable certainty that the ANCIENTS WERE INFESTED WITH THIS morbus mundanus (WORLD-DISEASE) JUST AS MUCH AS THE MODERNS. HONOURABLE NATIONS ARE FREED FROM THE SHAMEFUL REPROACH OF FATHERING THIS COMPLAINT; AND AT THE SAME TIME PHYSICIANS SEE THEMSELVES FORCED TO SEEK A REASON FOR THE UNTRUSTWORTHINESS THEY RECOGNISE AT THE PRESENT DAY AS BELONGING TO THE SO-CALLED “SPECIFICS”, NOT IN THE NATURE OF THESE REMEDIES, BUT IN THE CHANGES WHICH THE DISEASE HAS UNDERGONE UNDER EXTERNAL INFLUENCES. Moreover they WILL FIND THAT THE NON-MERCURIAL TREATMENT NOWADAYS SO HIGHLY EXTOLLED IS FAR FROM BEING THE MERE CREATURE OF FASHION; RATHER IT IS THE DIRECT CONSEQUENCE OF THE ALTERATION IN THE COMMON AND UNIVERSAL genius OF THE COMPLAINT, WHICH APPEARS AT THIS MOMENT TO BE AGAIN TENDING TO A GRADUAL DISAPPEARANCE. THE GROUNDS FOR THIS ASSERTION I HAVE ALREADY MORE THAN ONCE EXPLAINED TO MY HEARERS IN MY REPEATED LECTURES ON VENEREAL DISEASE; AND I PROPOSE TO communicate them fully in the Second Part of my History of the Disease, framed on the same principles as the First. WHEN I SHALL PUBLISH THIS SECOND PART, IF EVER, WILL DEPEND FIRST ON THE RECEPTION OF THE PRECEDING VOLUME; SECONDLY ON WHETHER MORE FAVOURABLE EXTERNAL CONDITIONS PROVIDE THE LEISURE THAT IS INDISPENSABLY NECESSARY FOR HISTORICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF THE SORT, AND AT THE SAME TIME PUT AT MY DISPOSAL A MORE COMPLETE LITERARY APPARATUS THAN HAS HITHERTO BEEN THE CASE. FOR HISTORICO-MEDICAL STUDIES IN GENERAL THERE EXISTS HARDLY A MORE UNFAVOURABLE 1 PLACE THAN HALLE; AND THIS IS SPECIALLY AND PECULIARLY SO WITH REGARD TO EPIDEMIC DISEASES. AS FAR AS VENEREAL DISEASE IS CONCERNED THE WHOLE LITERARY WEALTH OF OUR UNIVERSITY LIBRARY AMOUNTS TO SOMETHING LIKE TEN OR TWELVE WORKS, HALF OF WHICH ARE ALL BUT WORTHLESS. I MYSELF SHRANK FROM NO EXPENSE TO OBTAIN POSSESSION OF THE LITERARY HELPS REQUIRED, AND MY COLLECTIONS, PARTICULARLY ON THE SUBJECT OF EPIDEMICS, MIGHT BOAST OF BEING NOT INFERIOR TO THOSE OF ANY PRIVATE INDIVIDUAL; YET THEY ARE quite insufficient FOR MY PURPOSE, SO MUCH, ESPECIALLY FROM THE EARLIER CENTURIES, BEING NO LONGER PROCURABLE BY WAY OF purchase. BUT WHEN ALL THAT IS EXTANT IN WRITING IS PROCURED, THE BUSINESS IS STILL FAR FROM BEING DONE. I AM STILL IN WANT OF QUITE A FORMIDABLE ARRAY OF FACTS THAT CAN ONLY BE THE FRUIT OF OBSERVATIONS IN MORE RECENT TIMES. FOR THIS REASON MAY I APPEAL TO MY ELDER PROFESSIONAL BRETHREN, AND ABOVE ALL TO THE DIFFERENT MEDICAL UNIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS AT HOME AND ABROAD WITH THE REQUEST THAT THEY WILL, WHETHER DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, HELP ME TO THE POSSESSION OF THE FACTS IN QUESTION. SUCH ARE IN PARTICULAR FACTS CONCERNING THE INFLUENCE OF THE Genius Epidemicus ON THE DIFFERENT FORMS OR VENEREAL DISEASE, AND FIRST AND FOREMOST IT BEHOVES ME TO LEARN— what influence Typhus manifested during the first fifteen years of this Century, particularly since 1811, in different Countries. That such an influence, and a disastrous one, did take place IS EVIDENCED NOT ONLY BY THE 364 PP. OF COLLECTED AUTHORITIES, BUT ALSO BY THE DATA OF THE BRILLIANT SACHS IN HIS “CONCISE DICTIONARY OF PRACTICAL THERAPEUTICS”, II. PT. 1. (ARTICLE: GUAJAC) P. 637. TO MY SORROW I HAVE ONLY JUST, SINCE THE APPEARANCE OF THE INDEX TO THAT VALUABLE WORK, BECOME ACQUAINTED WITH THESE DATA, WHICH APPEALED TO ME ALL THE MORE from the fact that throughout they corroborate the results reached by myself in the historical sphere. SACHS, AND SO FAR AS I KNOW HE WAS THE FIRST TO EXPRESS THIS OPINION OPENLY, HOLDS AS A FULLY ESTABLISHED CONCLUSION THAT THE VENEREAL DISEASE OF THE XVTH. CENTURY OWED THE CHARACTERISTICS IT THEN POSSESSED MERELY TO THE PREVAILING Genius epidemicus typhodes; THOUGH AT THE SAME TIME I CANNOT FAVOUR HIS ASSUMPTION OF A LEPROUS-SYPHILITIC DIATHESIS (GENERAL CONDITION OF BODY) AS ALREADY EXISTENT. NOTHING IS BETTER FITTED TO GIVE A CLEAR INSIGHT INTO THESE EARLIER CONDITIONS THAN A KNOWLEDGE OF THE PERIOD OF THE THIRTY YEARS’ WAR AND OF THE TYPHUS EPIDEMICS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE PRESENT CENTURY. WOULD IT HAD HAPPENED TO ANY OF THOSE HEROES OF THE HEALING ART WHO PLAYED AN ACTIVE PART IN THE GREAT DRAMA OF THAT TIME TO HAVE CROWNED HIS DAY’S-WORK BY LEAVING US A MORE DETAILED MEDICAL RECITAL OF THE INCIDENTS. THE NUMBER OF MEN QUALIFIED FOR THE TASK GROWS DAILY FEWER, THE POSSIBILITY OF GATHERING THE MATERIAL REQUIRED DAILY HARDER OF realization; and, though it is not so yet, the work may later on be impracticable2. xvii xviii xix xx IN CONCLUSION—MAY I BE ALLOWED HEREBY TO OFFER MY SINCERE THANKS TO ALL WHO IN ANY WAY HAVE GRANTED ME ACTIVE SUPPORT IN THE COURSE MY ENQUIRIES. I SHOULD BE GLAD TO GIVE THEIR NAMES, DID I NOT FEAR THEY MIGHT DISLIKE SEEING THEMSELVES RECORDED IN CONNECTION WITH A HISTORY OF VENEREAL DISEASE. IN SPITE OF THIS SCRUPLE I FEEL COMPELLED TO MAKE AN EXCEPTION IN THE CASE OF ONE OF THEM, VIZ. MY FRIEND, DR. ECKSTEIN, HEADMASTER OF THE ROYAL HIGH-SCHOOL (PÄDAGOGIUM) OF HALLE. HE SHARED WITH ME THE EXCEEDINGLY LABORIOUS DUTY OF CORRECTING THE PROOFS; AND BOTH MYSELF AND my readers into the bargain owe him a debt of warmest gratitude for so doing. Written on the birth-day of C. SPRENGEL. CONTENTS AND GENERAL INTRODUCTION. xxiii CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. INTRODUCTION: PAGE CONCEPTION AND CONTENTS OF THE HISTORY OF A DISEASE IN GENERAL XXV POSSIBILITY OF THE HISTORY OF A DISEASE IN GENERAL AND OF VENEREAL DISEASE IN PARTICULAR XXVIII ABSTRACT OF OPINIONS XXXI GENERAL SCHEME OF TREATMENT XXXIV FIRST PART. Venereal Disease in Antiquity. AUTHORITIES DISCUSSED 3 INFLUENCES WHICH PROMOTED THE GENERATION OF DISEASE CONSEQUENT UPON USE OR MISUSE OF THE GENITAL ORGANS 10 THE CULT OF VENUS 12 THE LINGAM AND PHALLIC WORSHIP 33 MALADIES OF THE GENITAL ORGANS AT ATHENS 39 MALADIES OF THE GENITAL ORGANS AT LAMPSACUS 41 PLAGUE OF BAAL-PEOR 49 BROTHELS AND COURTESANS 64 PAEDERASTIA 108 DISEASES CONSEQUENT ON PAEDERASTIA 126 THE ῥέγχειν (SNORING, SNORTING) OF THE INHABITANTS OF TARSUS 133 Νοῦσος Θήλεια (FEMININE DISEASE) OF THE SCYTHIANS 143 BIBLIOGRAPHY: AUTHORITIES AND HISTORIANS 257 xxiv INTRODUCTION. Conception and Contents of the History of a Disease in general. IF WE WOULD UNDERTAKE TO WRITE THE HISTORY OF A DISEASE, THE VERY FIRST THING NEEDFUL IS TO FRAME IN ONE’S OWN MIND A CLEAR CONCEPTION OF WHAT THE HISTORY OF A DISEASE IN A GENERAL WAY IS, FOR IT IS FROM A RIGHT PRELIMINARY CONCEPTION, THAT THE RIGHT CONDITIONS WILL FOLLOW WHICH A HISTORIAN AS SUCH IS BOUND TO FULFIL. CONSULT EXPERIENCE,—IN OTHER WORDS ENQUIRE WHAT HAS BEEN USUALLY UNDERSTOOD UNDER THE NAME HISTORY OF A DISEASE, AND YOU FIND TO BE INCLUDED IN THE IDEA,—FIRST, A MORE OR LESS COMPLETE CHRONOLOGICAL COMPARISON OF THE DIFFERENT OBSERVATIONS AND VIEWS OF DIFFERENT PHYSICIANS AT different times on such or such a Disease, secondly, a survey of the course of the Disease in the individual case. The first IS PROPERLY ONLY A HISTORY OF THE OPINIONS OF PHYSICIANS, THE HISTORY OF THE LITERATURE SO TO SPEAK OF THE DISEASE, WHICH MUST COME BEFORE THE actual HISTORY, WHILE THE LATTER IS NOTHING ELSE THAN A HISTORY OF A DISEASE IN A SINGLE INSTANCE, THAT IS TO SAY THE HISTORY OF A PARTICULAR CASE OF DISEASE, THE HISTORY OF INDIVIDUAL PATIENTS; AND THIS WE HAVE LONG BEEN IN THE habit of reckoning a part of Clinics. NAY, THE sum OF SUCH CLINICAL HISTORIES IF TAKEN ALL TOGETHER WILL NOT HELP US TO THE ACTUAL HISTORY OF A DISEASE, SO LONG AS THEY MERELY GIVE AN ACCOUNT OF THE VISIBLE SYMPTOMS BY WHICH THE DISEASE MAKES ITS PRESENCE KNOWN. BY THIS MEANS WE SHALL BE LEARNING MERELY THE IDEAL COURSE OF THE MALADY, GETTING A PICTORIAL REPRESENTATION OF IT SUCH AS IS DEMANDED BY PATHOLOGICAL SPECIALISTS,—AS IT WERE THE internal HISTORY OF THE DISEASE. WE CANNOT WRITE THE HISTORY OF A SINGLE MAN OR OF A SINGLE NATION SO AS TO BE A SUFFICIENT BASIS FOR THE UNDERSTANDING AND RIGHT APPRECIATION OF THEM, IF WE GRASP ONLY THEIR INNER HISTORY, THAT OF THEIR internal DEVELOPMENT, AND CONSEQUENTLY VIEW THEM BY THEMSELVES AS A SOMETHING SEPARATED OFF FROM ALL SURROUNDINGS, INSTEAD OF BEARING IN MIND AS WE SHOULD THE FORMS THEIR RELATIONS TAKE TO ENVIRONMENT, TO THE OUTER WORLD GENERALLY,—IN FACT THEIR external HISTORY. SIMILARLY WE ARE JUST AS LITTLE IN A POSITION TO FURNISH THE HISTORY OF A Disease, IF WE INCLUDE IN THE MATTER OF OUR ENQUIRY ONLY THE COURSE OF THE DISEASE AND NOT ITS external relations as well. IT IS ONLY THE INNER GENETIC CO-ORDINATION OF THE TWO, VIZ. THE INTERNAL AND THE EXTERNAL HISTORY (FOR DISEASE HAS ALSO AN EXTERNAL HISTORY) THAT CAN CONDUCT TO THE actual History OF THE DISEASE. THIS MAY BE DEFINED AS a genetic co- ordination and statement of the symptoms of a Disease under different conditions and in different individuals, from the first moment at which they arose and came under observation down to the time when the report is made; OR, EXPRESSED MORE BRIEFLY, THE HISTORY OF A DISEASE IS a genetic co-ordination and account of its development and progress in time (AS CONDITIONED BY TIME). SUPPOSING TIME, RELATIONS, AND NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS DEFINITELY LIMITED, A SPECIAL HISTORY IS THE RESULT; WHILE THE GENERAL HISTORY OF A DISEASE PROPERLY SPEAKING CAN never BE VIEWED AS ISOLATED FROM ITS SURROUNDINGS. IN THAT CASE THE CONDITIONS ON WHICH THE GENERATION AND ORIGIN OF THE PARTICULAR Disease depend would necessarily cease entirely and for ever to exist. NOW IF WE ANALYSE THE CONCEPTION OF THE HISTORY OF A DISEASE INTO ITS COMPONENT PARTS, WE SHALL GET TO KNOW ITS SPECIAL contents, THE EFFICIENT FACTORS OF WHICH IT IS COMPOUNDED, AND WHICH THE HISTORIAN HAS TO COMPREHEND AND EXPRESS. THE FUNCTION OF HISTORY IS TO EXHIBIT SOMETHING THAT HAS HAPPENED; NATURALLY THEREFORE THE FIRST THING THE HISTORIAN MUST DO IS TO LOOK OUT FOR THE POINT OF TIME AT WHICH THE PROCESS OF CHANGE BEGAN. BUT CERTAIN GENERATING FACTORS AND INFLUENCES ARE INDISPENSABLE TO EVERY PROCESS OF CHANGE, AND THEIR ACTIVITY AGAIN IS DEPENDENT ON CERTAIN FAVOURABLE EXTERNAL CONDITIONS; AND SO IT BECOMES THE NEXT DUTY OF THE HISTORIAN TO AUTHENTICATE THE EXISTENCE OF THE SAID FAVOURABLE INFLUENCES AS WELL AS OF THE GENERATING FACTORS, AND CONCURRENTLY TO DETERMINE IN WHAT MANNER THEY CAME INTO ACTIVE OPERATION. INASMUCH AS IT HAPPENS HOWEVER SOMETIMES THAT THE INTERPOSING OR FAVOURING AS WELL AS THE GENERATIVE FACTORS ARE KNOWN TO BE PRESENT, AND YET NO OUTBREAK OF DISEASE OCCURS, SO FAR AS WE SEE, OR ONLY AN INCOMPLETELY DEVELOPED one, those influences also will require authentication which hindered or modified the potential activity of the factors. ONLY AFTER ALL THIS HAS BEEN SYSTEMATICALLY AND SUFFICIENTLY ANALYZED, WILL IT BECOME POSSIBLE TO TRACE THE DEVELOPMENT AND COURSE OF THE DISEASE ITSELF AND TO MARK THE SUCCESSIVE CHANGES OFFERED TO OBSERVATION FROM ITS FIRST APPEARANCE TO the time when its history was recorded. Now these changes are imposed upon it either by its own proper nature or from OUTSIDE, AND SO THE HISTORIAN MUST EXPLAIN ALSO THE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL RELATIONS INVOLVED. AGAIN IN ANY INDIVIDUAL CASE THE VARIOUS MANIFESTATIONS OR SIGNS OF A DISEASE BY NO MEANS APPEAR ALL TOGETHER AT ONE TIME, BUT RATHER DEVELOPE IN A SERIES; SO IN THE general COURSE OF A DISEASE, AS RECORDED HISTORICALLY, A SIMILAR CONTINUOUS SERIES OF SYMPTOMS WILL BE MORE OR LESS CLEARLY NOTICEABLE, YET WITHOUT IMPLYING THAT IT IS DEPENDENT SOLELY ON EXTERNAL CONDITIONS. FURTHER, AS EVERY Disease is liable at any given time to come INTO CONFLICT WITH ANOTHER, THE HISTORIAN WILL IN THIS CASE ALSO HAVE TO POINT OUT, WHAT FORMS THE RELATIONS OF EITHER TOOK AT THE MOMENT, WHETHER THE DISEASE IN QUESTION SHOWED ITSELF AS DETERMINING THE OTHER OR WAS ITSELF DETERMINED BY IT, WHETHER IT CONSENTED TO ENTER INTO COMBINATIONS, WHETHER IT LED TO THE ANNIHILATION OF ITS ADVERSARY OR WAS ITSELF ANNIHILATED, OR WHETHER LASTLY BOTH REMAINED IN A MANNER NEUTRAL. FINALLY ACCOUNT MUST BE taken of the influence of medical aid, and generally of the relation of the Physician to the Disease. THESE DIFFERENT POINTS ONCE SUCCESSFULLY AND IN A COMPETENT MANNER CO-ORDINATED INTO A KIND OF ORGANIC CONNEXION, THE RESULTING HISTORY OF DISEASE, A CLINICAL HISTORY, YET AS WIDE AS HUMANITY ITSELF, WILL SUPPLY THE MOST MOMENTOUS FACTOR xxv xxvi xxvii xxviii TOWARDS AN INSIGHT INTO THE NATURE AND ESSENCE OF DISEASE. IT WILL NOT MERELY AFFORD THE THEORETICAL ENQUIRER THE NECESSARY MATERIALS FOR HIS SPECULATIONS AS TO DISEASE IN GENERAL AND SYSTEMS OF TREATMENT, BUT ALSO TEACH THE PRACTICAL PHYSICIAN THE CONDITIONS OF A RATIONAL METHOD OF THERAPEUTICS; AND WILL CONSEQUENTLY BE EQUALLY INTERESTING, AND WHAT IS MORE, EQUALLY NEEDFUL TO BOTH. SUCH AN ORGANIC CONNEXION CAN ONLY BE ESTABLISHED ON THE CONDITION THAT THE HISTORIAN CALLS TO REMEMBRANCE STEP BY STEP, AS HE PROCEEDS, THE SCIENCES OF PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY. ONLY BY THEIR HELP IS IT POSSIBLE ALWAYS AND EVERYWHERE TO MARK THE INNER NECESSITY OF THE RELATION OF CAUSE AND EFFECT AND TO DISTINGUISH THE ESSENTIAL from the accidental. Possibility of the History of a Disease in General and of Venereal Disease in Particular. HAVING LEARNED THE CONCEPTION AND PROPER CONTENTS OF THE HISTORY OF A DISEASE, WE NATURALLY PROCEED TO ANOTHER CLOSELY CONNECTED QUESTION,—DO ALL DISEASES ADMIT OF SUCH A HISTORICAL EXPOSITION? IT MAY BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED AT THE OUTSET WITH TOLERABLE CERTAINTY THAT THE ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION WILL BE AFFIRMATIVE FOR THE MAJORITY OF ACTUAL DISEASES; AT ANY RATE HARDLY AN OBJECTION CAN BE ALLEGED FROM THE THEORETICAL STAND-POINT. AT THE SAME TIME PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE MUST be allowed a voice on this point. UNHAPPILY WE GAIN BUT LITTLE THAT IS COMFORTING FROM EXPERIENCE. IT CAN SCARCELY BE SAID THAT EVEN A BEGINNING HAS BEEN MADE SO FAR TOWARDS WRITING THE HISTORY OF A DISEASE IN THE INDICATED SENSE; AND BESIDES THIS, DISEASES HAVE BEEN PRIMARILY SELECTED FOR CONSIDERATION IN WHICH THE HISTORICAL FACTOR OBTRUDES ITSELF, AS IT WERE, ON THE ATTENTION, TO WIT THE EPIDEMIC DISEASES. FOR THE REST HARDLY ANYTHING AT ALL HAS BEEN DONE, EXCEPTING ONLY IN THE CASE OF LEPROSY AND THE VENEREAL DISEASE, FOR WHICH WITH SINGULAR UNANIMITY AN EPIDEMIC CHARACTER HAS ALWAYS BEEN CLAIMED. THE PROTEUS-LIKE CHARACTER OF THESE MALADIES HINDERED EVERY ATTEMPT OF SPECULATION TO PENETRATE THEIR NATURE, AND SO ENQUIRERS SAW THEMSELVES FORCED TO CONSULT HISTORY. BUT THE MEREST SUPERFICIAL GLANCE AT THE TREATMENT OF VENEREAL DISEASE BY ITS HISTORIANS (AND THIS APPLIES EQUALLY TO LEPROSY) WILL SHOW THAT LITTLE MORE THAN AN INSUFFICIENT COLLECTION OF MATERIALS TOWARDS AN ACTUAL HISTORY OF THE DISEASE HAS THUS FAR SEEN THE LIGHT; AND THIS IN SPITE OF THE FACT THAT NO CONTEMPTIBLE NUMBER OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS HAVE DEVOTED TIME AND TROUBLE TO THE SUBJECT, IN MANY CASES MAKING IT THEIR life’s work. HOWEVER, IF THE MATTER IS LOOKED INTO MORE CLOSELY, IT WILL BE EVIDENT THAT A LARGE PROPORTION OF THESE SCHOLARS DIRECTED THEIR ATTENTION TO ONE SINGLE POINT ONLY, VIZ. THE ANTIQUITY AND TIME OF ORIGIN OF THE DISEASE; AND REGARDED ALL THE OTHER FACTORS ONLY IN SO FAR AS THEY SUPPORTED ONE OR OTHER OF THE VIEWS THEY HAD FORMULATED. BESIDES THE CO-ORDINATION OF THESE FACTORS IS SEEN TO BE SO LOOSE THAT NO GENERAL RESULT OF ANY STRINGENCY COULD EVER BE OBTAINED. THE FEW MEN WHOSE DEFINITE PURPOSE IT WAS TO ARRIVE AT SUCH A RESULT, FAILED, IN VIEW OF THE DIFFICULTY OF COLLECTING THE MATERIAL, TO REACH THE COMPLETENESS THEY HAD PROPOSED, AND SO DEFERRED WORKING UP WHAT THEY HAD ACCUMULATED TILL DEATH PUT AN END TO THEIR ENTERPRISE. IN ESPECIAL THIS WAS THE CASE WITH Hensler, AND THE NON-APPEARANCE OF THE SECOND PART OF HIS HISTORY OF THE Venereal Disease must doubtless long continue to be mourned as an irreparable loss. THE PAST, ON WHICH ALL EXPERIENCE MUST DRAW, AFFORDS US SO LITTLE ASSISTANCE HERE THAT IT IS TO THE FUTURE WE MUST LOOK FOR EVERYTHING. THE PRESENT CANNOT SHOW US IN EXISTENCE ANY HISTORY OF VENEREAL DISEASE AS WE UNDERSTAND IT, BUT THIS IN NO WAY ENTITLES IT TO DENY THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH A HISTORY. THUS IT IS OF THE HIGHEST IMPORTANCE TO MAKE THE ATTEMPT TO ARRANGE AND SIFT THE MATERIAL NOW READY AND ACCESSIBLE, SO FAR AS IT CONCERNS THE VENEREAL DISEASE, ON PRINCIPLES CONFORMABLE TO THE CONCEPTION AND PROPER CONTENTS AS INDICATED ABOVE OF THE HISTORY OF A DISEASE, AND FOR THIS A RELATIVE COMPLETENESS OF THE COLLECTED MATERIALS SUFFICES. IF IN THIS WAY WE ARE SUCCESSFUL IN SKETCHING THE HISTORY OF VENEREAL DISEASE AT ANY RATE IN ITS GENERAL OUTLINES, IT CAN QUITE WELL BE LEFT TO THE CONTINUED EFFORTS OF OTHER INVESTIGATORS TO FILL IN THE INDIVIDUAL LINES OF THE PICTURE, ESPECIALLY AS THEN AND THEN ONLY IS THE PARTICULAR POINT ASCERTAINED BY anticipation, at which later accessions must be worked in. IN EVERY HISTORY, WHAT COMES FIRST AND FOREMOST IS TO GET TO KNOW THE ORIGINAL AUTHORITIES FROM WHICH THE MATERIAL FOR ITS TREATMENT CAN BE DRAWN, AND THIS FORMS THE PROPER CONTENTS OF THE Literary HISTORY OF THE DISEASE. ACCORDINGLY OUR FIRST DUTY WILL BE TO GIVE A GENERAL SURVEY OF THE LITERARY HELPS LYING READY TO HAND FOR THE USE OF THE HISTORIAN OF VENEREAL DISEASE, AND AT THE SAME TIME TO SPECIFY HOW FAR THESE WERE ACCESSIBLE TO OURSELVES. THUS THE READER WILL BE ENABLED AT THE VERY OUTSET TO FORM A JUDGEMENT AS TO THE COMPLETENESS OF THE INFORMATION SUPPLIED; AND SUCCEEDING ENQUIRERS WILL learn the gaps that are left remaining for them to fill up. THIS WILL CONCLUDE A SURVEY OF THE HISTORICAL RESULTS SO FAR OBTAINED IN CONNECTION WITH THE ANTIQUITY AND TIME OF ORIGIN OF THE DISEASE; AND IT WILL THEN BE POSSIBLE TO INDICATE THE SPECIAL SCHEME WE PROPOSE TO FOLLOW IN OUR TREATMENT OF THE task before us. Abstract of Opinions advanced at various Periods on the question of the Antiquity and First Rise of the Venereal Disease. THE DIFFERENT OPINIONS ADVANCED AT VARIOUS PERIODS ON THE QUESTION OF THE ANTIQUITY AND ORIGIN OF THE VENEREAL DISEASE MAY AT THE OUTSET BE BROUGHT UNDER TWO MAIN DIVISIONS, ACCORDING AS THE DISEASE IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN ALREADY KNOWN TO THE ANCIENTS AND FROM THEIR TIME ONWARDS TO HAVE BEEN CONTINUOUSLY OBSERVED, or ON THE OTHER HAND REGARDED AS HAVING FIRST ARISEN IN THE NINETIETH YEAR OF THE XVTH. CENTURY. BOTH VIEWS WERE FRAMED MUCH ABOUT THE SAME TIME, AND DEPENDED LARGELY ON THE POSITION AND EDUCATION OF THE PERSON DELIVERING JUDGEMENT. THE FORMER MAY BE STYLED THE VIEW OF THE LEARNED, THE LATTER THE POPULAR VIEW, THOUGH INDEED AT THEIR FIRST INCEPTION IT WAS NOT SO MUCH SCIENTIFIC xxix xxx xxxi reasons in either case as men’s prejudices that formed their basis. THE FEW REALLY LEARNED PHYSICIANS OF THE END OF XVTH. CENTURY AND BEGINNING OF THE XVITH. TOOK AS THE THEME OF THEIR STUDY NOT NATURE BUT RATHER THE MEDICAL WRITINGS OF THE GREEKS AND ARABIANS, A FIELD THAT HAD LONG BEEN LEFT UNAPPROPRIATED BY THEM, AND ALL WERE FAR TOO FIRMLY CONVINCED, THAT Hippocrates, AND STILL MORE Galen AND Avicenna had already included in their Works everything that could ever be the subject of scientific treatment at any given time. ATTENTION WAS CONCENTRATED UPON THE SKIN AFFECTION THAT WAS THE PREDOMINANT FORM AT FIRST, AND THIS WAS NATURALLY ENOUGH TAKEN FOR A KIND OF LEPROSY, AND CALLED SOMETIMES ELEPHANTIASIS ( Seb. Aquilanus, Phil. Beroaldus), SOMETIMES “Formica” (Schellig, Cumanus, Gilinus, Leonicenus, Steber), BY OTHERS “SAPHAT” (J. Widmann, Nat. Montesaurus, Jul. Tanus, Jo. de Fogueda, Sim. Pistor). HENCE THE VIEW ADVANCED SUBSEQUENTLY BY Sydenham, Haller, Plenk, Thierry, Haward, AND HELD FOR A TIME BY Sprengel, THAT THE ORIGINAL FORM OF THE VENEREAL DISEASE WAS THE “YAWS” OR “PIANA”, AND CONSEQUENTLY THAT AFRICA MUST BE ASSIGNED AS THE ORIGINAL HOME OF THE DISEASE; AND IN THIS WAY THE MOORS ALSO WERE BROUGHT IN AS PART OF THE CONCATENATION. LATER ON, WHEN THE CONVICTION GREW UP THAT THE BEGINNING OF THE DISEASE CONSISTS IN LOCAL AFFECTIONS OF THE GENITAL ORGANS, IT WAS EASY TO SHOW THAT THESE HAD ALWAYS BEEN IN EXISTENCE FROM THE MOST ANCIENT TIMES. BUT AS NO DIRECT INFORMATION ON THE RELATION BETWEEN AFFECTIONS OF THE GENITALS AND SKIN- DISEASE WAS TO BE FOUND IN THE EARLIER WRITERS, ENQUIRERS WERE DRIVEN TO THE SUPPOSITION, THAT SYPHILITIC AFFECTIONS OF THE Skin had been confounded by the Ancients with Leprosy. A VIEW, WHICH Becket FIRST SOUGHT TO ESTABLISH ON PRECISE GROUNDS, APPEARED ON THE CONTRARY TOO BOLD TO OTHER INVESTIGATORS, WHO THOUGHT TO FIND SOME WAY OF EVADING IT. THIS WAS TO THE EFFECT THAT LEPROSY UNDER FAVOURABLE CONDITIONS HAD CHANGED INTO VENEREAL DISEASE, AND THE INCREASED RARITY OF THE FORMER SEEMED TO SPEAK FOR THIS OPINION. SUPPORTERS OF THIS LAST VIEW ARE IN ESPECIAL Sprengel AND Choulant IN HIS PREFACE TO FRACASTORI’S “SYPHILIS”. WHILST THE PARTICULAR HOME OF THE DISEASE WAS FIXED IN THIS WAY BY SOME AUTHORS, Swediaur AND Beckman THOUGHT TO FIND IT IN THE EAST INDIES, AND HELD THAT THE “DSCHOSSAM”, A FAMILIAR INDIAN DISEASE, OR ELSE THE “PERSIAN FIRE” MUST BE LOOKED UPON AS THE ORIGINAL FORM OF THE COMPLAINT. Schaufus AGREED WITH THEM IN PART; HE BELIEVED VENEREAL DISEASE TO HAVE BEEN BROUGHT BY THE GYPSIES FROM INDIA TO EUROPE. Dr. Wizmann3 MADE THE DISEASE ARISE IN THE IIND. CENTURY IN DACIA, WHICH AT THAT DATE WAS TRANSFORMED INTO A ROMAN COLONY AND HAD TO WELCOME THE LICENTIOUS ROMAN SOLDIERY. THE EXCESSES OF THESE COLONISTS, IN A STRANGE CLIMATE, AND SECONDED BY A COMBINATION OF CONDITIONS FAVOURABLE TO EPIDEMIC SICKNESS, PRODUCED THE DISEASE, WHICH HE SAYS IS GENERATED TO THIS DAY IN ITS GENUINE FORM IN TURKEY. ACCORDINGLY Wizmann, AS ALSO Sprengel AND Choulant, AND TO SOME EXTENT Gruner, WHO CONSIDERED THE MOORS TO BE THE PARENTS OF THE VENEREAL DISEASE, MAY BE REGARDED AS TAKING UP AN INTERMEDIATE POSITION BETWEEN THE TWO EXTREME VIEWS, AND AS making a sort of transition to the opinions of those who look upon the Disease as a new one. THE SPECIAL SUPPORTERS OF THIS VIEW WERE, AS MENTIONED ABOVE, THE NON-MEDICAL, THOUGH A CONSIDERABLE NUMBER OF MEN CALLING THEMSELVES PHYSICIANS AGREED WITH THEM, THOUGH ON OTHER GROUNDS, DIFFERING ONLY AS TO THE MODE IN WHICH THE DISEASE AROSE. THE PREVAILING ASTROLOGICAL VIEWS FOUND THE ORIGINAL CAUSE OF THE DISEASE IN THE CONJUNCTION OF THE Planets, a conjunction declared beforehand by prophecy to bode disaster. With this were included as contributing to the EFFECT INUNDATIONS, THE OPPRESSED CONDITION OF NATIONS, FAMINE AND THE LIKE. THE DISEASE WAS CALLED AN EPIDEMIC, OR WHAT AT THAT PERIOD WAS PRACTICALLY SYNONYMOUS, A PESTILENTIAL DISEASE, A PLAGUE, AND ASCRIBED OF COURSE TO THE WRATH OF GOD. THERE WERE OTHER ACCOUNTS GIVEN, THAT STILL CARRY SOME SHOW OF PROBABILITY; THE DISEASE WAS REFERRED TO THE POISONING OF WELLS AND OF WINE (CAESALPINUS), TO THE ADMIXTURE OF GYPSUM WITH THE FLOUR (FALLOPIA), OR ACTUALLY TO indulgence in human flesh. WHEN COITION COULD NO LONGER BE DENIED AS AN INTERPOSING FACTOR, RUMOUR RESORTED TO ALL SORTS OF WILD TALES, THE COPULATION OF A COURTESAN WITH A LEPER, COPULATION WITH ANIMALS, AND PARTICULARLY WITH ASSES, AND FINALLY WITH THE VOLUPTUOUS INDIAN WOMEN OF AMERICA. FROM THE LATTER STORY GREW UP BY DEGREES THE THEORY OF THE AMERICAN ORIGIN OF VENEREAL DISEASE, WHICH FOUND ITS CHIEF SUPPORTERS IN Astruc AND Girtanner, AND IN SPITE OF HENSLER’S EXERTIONS SEEMS even yet not absolutely forgotten. General Scheme of Treatment. IT NOW BECOMES IMPORTANT TO CONSIDER MORE CLOSELY THESE VARIOUS VIEWS, AS WELL AS THE REASONS ADVANCED FOR THEM, AND TO SUBJECT THEM TO EXAMINATION. BUT AS THE RESULT OF THIS EXAMINATION WILL COVER TO SOME EXTENT THE SAME GROUND AS THE FORMAL HISTORY, IT WILL BE EXPEDIENT TO TREAT THE TWO AS FAR AS POSSIBLE IN CONNECTION WITH ONE ANOTHER. BY THIS METHOD IT WILL ipso facto APPEAR HOW FAR THE INDIVIDUAL VIEWS ARE TENABLE, AND HOW FAR THE GROUNDS ALLEGED IN THEIR FAVOUR VALID. AND THIS IS ALL THE MORE NECESSARY FOR TWO REASONS, FIRST BECAUSE BY THIS MEANS A HOST OF REPETITIONS IS AVOIDED, SECONDLY because only in this way are such gaps as still remain clearly recognised and made tangible. ALL THE DIFFERENT VIEWS FALL, AS ALREADY STATED, INTO TWO GROUPS, ACCORDING AS THEY MAINTAIN THE ANTIQUITY OR THE MODERNNESS OF THE VENEREAL DISEASE. IN CONFORMITY WITH THIS DIVISION WE MUST SEPARATE OUR INVESTIGATION FROM THE OUTSET INTO TWO PARTS, OF WHICH PART I IS TO COMPRISE THE VENEREAL DISEASE IN ANTIQUITY, PART II THE VENEREAL DISEASE TO THE END of the XVth. Century. To this will be added further as a Third Part, the History of the Disease down to our own day. EACH OF THE TWO EARLIER PARTS WILL OPEN, IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE VIEWS DECLARED ABOVE, WITH A STATEMENT AND examination of the Authorities. AFTER THAT WILL FOLLOW AN INVESTIGATION OF THE INFLUENCES THAT EVOKED DISEASES AS A CONSEQUENCE OF THE USE OR MISUSE OF xxxii xxxiii xxxiv xxxv THE GENITAL ORGANS AND ARE FAVOURABLE TO THEIR GENESIS, AS WELL AS THOSE INFLUENCES CAPABLE OF STAYING, OR IN THE CASE OF DISEASES ALREADY ESTABLISHED, MODIFYING THEIR PROGRESS. THE DIFFICULTY OF SUCH AN INVESTIGATION IS AS STRIKING AS IS ITS NECESSITY; FOR ON THIS SUBJECT THERE IS AN ALMOST TOTAL LACK OF PREVIOUS WORKS OF ANY USE TO CONSULT; AND YET IT IS ONLY BY their help we can possibly win a deeper insight into the history of Venereal Disease. THE ATTITUDE OF MEDICAL SCIENCE IN FACE OF THESE INFLUENCES AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES WILL NEXT CLAIM OUR ATTENTION, SO FAR AS IT IS COMPETENT TO EXERT A DETERMINING AND MODIFYING EFFECT ON THE FORM AND CHARACTER OF THE DISEASE. IN THIS CONNECTION IT IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE PHYSICIANS CORRECTLY DIAGNOSED THESE DISEASES FOR WHAT they are, or generally speaking had any opportunity of doing so. HAVING COME TO A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING, AS FAR AS IS POSSIBLE, ON ALL THESE POINTS, WE SHALL THEN BE IN A POSITION TO GIVE A GENETIC EXPOSITION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DISEASE ITSELF. THIS WILL FORM THE CONCLUSION OF EACH SEPARATE PART, AS WELL as of the whole Work; and then and then only we shall be able to say our task is fulfilled. THE PLAGUE OF LUST IN CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY. First Part. AUTHORITIES. IN ANTIQUITY WE FIND THAT FOR A CONSIDERABLE LENGTH OF TIME THE MEDICAL SCIENCES WERE FAR FROM BEING CONFINED TO A DISTINCT PROFESSION, AND FURTHER, WHERE THIS DOES SEEM TO BE THE CASE, THERE IS ALWAYS A NOT INSIGNIFICANT PROPORTION OF SUCH KNOWLEDGE THAT COMES TO US MERELY AS POPULAR OR TRADITIONAL MEDICINE. IT IS THEREFORE EVIDENT, THAT IF WE WOULD GAIN DEFINITE INFORMATION AS TO THE EXISTENCE OF A DISEASE AMONG THE ANCIENTS, WE OUGHT BY NO MEANS TO CONFINE OUR ATTENTION TO THE MEDICAL WRITERS. THIS BECOMES STILL MORE NECESSARY, IF WE ARE BOUND AT THE SAME TIME TO TRY AND DISCOVER THE ÆTIOLOGICAL RELATIONS OF SUCH A DISEASE, OF WHICH IT CAN BE STIPULATED AT THE OUTSET THAT IT IS INTIMATELY CONNECTED WITH THE WHOLE LIFE AND ACTIVITY OF PEOPLES. THE HISTORIAN ACCORDINGLY IS ABSOLUTELY COMPELLED TO TEST AND EXAMINE THOROUGHLY everything that can possibly enlighten him as to these relations,—to interrogate the Literature of whole Nations. BUT HERE COMES IN THE DRAWBACK THAT ONLY COMPARATIVELY SPEAKING A VERY RESTRICTED PROPORTION OF THE AUTHORS OF ANTIQUITY HAVE COME DOWN TO US, EVEN AFTER DUE ACCOUNT HAS BEEN TAKEN OF THE POSSIBILITY THAT MANY AN UNKNOWN AUTHOR MAY LURK CONCEALED IN SOME CORNER OR OTHER OF THE GLOBE. THEN AGAIN THE AUTHORS THAT have BEEN PRESERVED ARE ALMOST WITHOUT EXCEPTION GREEKS OR ROMANS, SO THAT FOR THE MAJOR PART OF THE NATIONS OF ANTIQUITY THE NATIONAL AUTHORITIES ARE ALL BUT ENTIRELY LACKING, OR ELSE, WHERE SOMETHING OF THE SORT DOES EXIST, IT IS WRITTEN IN A LANGUAGE THE CORRECT INTERPRETATION OF WHICH IS STILL PARTIALLY TO SEEK. FROM ALL THIS IT CLEARLY FOLLOWS THAT A COMPLETE AND FINAL EXPLANATION OF ANY CONTROVERTED MATTER OF ANCIENT TIMES CAN NEVER STRICTLY SPEAKING BE EXPECTED, AND IN PARTICULAR THAT IT WOULD BE A VERY RASH CONCLUSION TO DECLARE POSITIVELY THAT A DISEASE DID NOT EXIST IN ANTIQUITY, because IN THE EXTANT AND KNOWN BOOKS NO MENTION occurs of it. BUT IN AS MUCH AS THIS GENERAL INCOMPLETENESS OF INFORMATION EXISTS WITH REGARD TO ALL RELATIONS OF ANTIQUITY, AND YET FOR MANY OF THEM SUFFICIENT EXPLANATIONS HAVE ALREADY BEEN OBTAINED, IT IS OBVIOUSLY INCUMBENT ON US TO UNDERTAKE FOR OUR SUBJECT ALSO THE ENQUIRY HOW FAR THE EXTANT AUTHORITIES ARE CAPABLE OF THROWING LIGHT ON IT,—A TASK THAT EXCEEDS INDEED THE POWERS OF ANY INDIVIDUAL, EVEN SHOULD HE BE ABLE TO BRING TO IT ALL THE QUALIFICATIONS INDISPENSABLE FOR THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE SAID AUTHORITIES. CONSEQUENTLY THERE IS NO OTHER COURSE LEFT OPEN FOR HIM BUT TO INSTITUTE AT THE OUTSET A SURVEY OF WHAT HAS SO FAR BEEN ACCOMPLISHED AND ASCERTAINED, AND THEN TO BRING INTO LINE WITH THIS WHATEVER HE HAS GLEANED FROM HIS OWN STUDY OF THE AUTHORITIES, IN THE HOPE THAT ANOTHER ENQUIRER, LIKE-MINDED AND BETTER EQUIPPED, MAY follow on in the track of his endeavours, and so by dint of united efforts the intended goal may one day be reached. It would be unprofitable for us, having laid claim, as...