Vol. 4: A Treatise of the Use of Flogging (1761)

many

many mafters, and beginning with great heat, was
fenfibly extinguished. Now the curiofity of the in-
genious is turned another way, and new employments
fucceed the old, fince the learned phyficians have be-
gun to fearch with more eagernefs into the hidden
fecrets of the human fyftem, and not to reft contented
with difcoveries which were hitherto rather believed
than demonftrated. Farewell.

From my beat
at Hageftadt,
"0"<5t. 24, 1669.

J. BARTHOLIN

OF THE

USE

OF

FLOGGING.'

RECEIVE, at laft, my dear friend Caffius, the
effay I promifed you over a bottle, upon the
uncommon fubject of the ufe of rods, and the confe-
rence of that fubject, a difcourfe of the. principal
offices of the loins and reins. You may remember I
engaged to fend it you, when we fupped together with
our intimate friend, Martin Gerdefius, counfellor to
your mod excellent prince, and your colleague. I
can't well recollect the firft occafion of it, any farther
than that I affirmed that ftripes and ftrokes were of
ufe in the cure of fome diftempers^ which both of you

looked

t 32 J

looked upon as a paradox: upon which I began to*
affert the truth of my obfervations from experience,
and appeal to the phyficians, who, in many of their
writings, affirm the fame. For inflance : It is long
fince Titus, a difciple of Afclepiades (who flourifhed
in Augustus's time, as I have fhewn in the Lives of
the Phyficians), directs us, in his book on the foul, that
Madmen are to be managed by ftripes and blows,
and their fenfes to be recovered by that difcipline.
Ccelias Aurelianus, in his firft book, and fifth chapter,
on the regulation of the paffions, informs us, That it
was no uncommon thing to order perfons grown
melancholy, or mad for love, to be beaten and cor-
rected ; and that the method very often anfwered,
and brought the patients to a right ufe of their reafon.
Rhafes, in his firfl book, and fourth chapter, on Con-
tinence, frequently cites an eminent Jewifh phyfician
who, when all other means were unfuccefsful, directs
thofe mad for love to be bound and beaten floutly
with a lufly lift; nay, and to repeat the experiment
often, if a good effect did not immediately follow—
fince (as he merrily applies the proverb) it is not one
fwallow that makes the fummer. Ant. Guainerius, in

his Practical Treatifes, chap. 109, agrees with the

opinion

C "33 "J

opinion of Rhafea. Valefcus de Taranta is of the fame
fide of the queftion, chap. "II, "and I (hall cite his
words—If the patient be young, let him be flogged on
the pofteriors with rods; and if the madnefs is not fo
cured, let him be put into a dark hole, and dieted
with bread and water 'till he returns to his fenfes ;
and let this difcipline be continued. It we believe
Seneca, in his fixth chap., v. "II, "of Benefits—Some
quartans have been cured by blows, perhaps from the

ftrokes warming the vifcid bilious humour, and difli-
pating them by motion, as Lipfius rightly conjectures
in his commentaries. Hieronymus Mercurialis, in his
fourth book, chap. "9, "On the art of exercife, tells us—
Other phyficians advifed lean perfons to be whipped,
in order to plump th b dies; and Galen, in his
twelfth book, chap. 6, Of the method of phyfic, proves
the truth of the experiment a long time fince, from
the example of thofe who deal in the fale of flaves:
for it is certain that the flefh is raifed by that practice,
and fo the food is more forcibly attracted to it; be
fides, it is a vulgar obfervation and experiment to cuic
relaxed limbs, by the whipping them with rods of
nettles, and fo forcing the heat and blood into the
cold and deaden parts of the body; befides which,

Themifon

C J

"t 36 1"

But I am to give you an account of a rougher and
ftronger flagellation, and the firft I fhall cite upon
this head is Johannes Picus, Count of Mirandola, who
flourifhed about a century and a-half ago. He, in his
third book against the aftrologers, chap. 27, relates
this of an acquaintance of his:—" There is now alive,"
fays he, "a man of a prodigious and almoft unheard
" of kind of lechery—for he is never inflamed to plea-
" fure but when he is whipt; and yet he is fo intent
" on the act, and longs for the ftrokes with fuch an
" earneftnefs, that he blames the flogger that ufes him
" gently, and is never throughly mafter of his wifhes
" unlefs the blood ftarts, and the whip rages fmartly
" o'er the wicked limbs of the monfter. This creature
" begs the favour of the woman whom he is to enjoy,
" brings her a rod himfelf, foaked and hardened in

■

" vinegar a day before for the fame purpofe, and en-
^u treates the bleffing of a whipping from the harlot on
" his knees; and the more fmartly he is whipt, he rages.
" the more eagerly, and goes the fame pace both to
" pleafure and pain—a Angular inftance of one who
" finds a delight in the midft of torment; and as he is
" not a man very vicious in other refpects, he acknow-
" ledges his diftemper, and abhors it." So far Picus,

from

I I "37 "J

from whom Nevizanus in his Marriage Rites, and
Campanelle in the place before cited, quotes it. If I
am not miftaken, there is another perfon much
like Picus's acquaintance mentioned by Ccelius Rho-
diginus in his Ancient Readings, book the nth, chap.
15. From him Andreas Tiraquellus cites in his Laws
of Wedlock, the 15th, and number the 5th. Ccelius
relates the ftory in this manner:—" It is certain, upon
" the oath of credible perfons, that not many years
⁴¹ fince, there lived a man, not of a falacioufnefs re-
⁴⁴ fembling that of cocks, but of a more wonderful and
" almoft incredible fort of lechery—who, the more
{tripes he received, was the more hurried to coition.
" The case was prodigious, fince it was a queftion
⁴⁴ which he defired moft—the blows, or the act itfelf,
^M unlefs the pleafure of the laft was meafured by the
⁴⁴ number of the former; befides, it was his manner to
⁴⁴ heighten the fmartnefs of the rod with vinegar the
•" day before it was to be ufed, and then to requeft the
* discipline with violent entreaties. But if the flogger
" feemed to work flowly, he flew into a paffion, and
⁴⁴ abufed her. He was never contented unlefs the blood
** fprung out, and followed the lafhes—a rare inftance
7 of a man who went an equal pace to pleafure and to

• pain,

I "38 "J

" pain, and who, in the midft of torture, either fatis-
" fled or excited a pleafing titillation, and a furious
" itch of luft." We may add another of the fame
nature to thefe, from Otho Brunfelfius, a famous
phyfician, who, in his Phyfical Dictionary, under the
word Coition, fays—" That at Munich, the feat of the
" Duke of Bavaria, there lived a man who never could
" enjoy his wife if he was not foundly flogged to it
" before he made the attempts." I fubjoin a new and
late inftance, which happened in this city of Lubeck
where I now refide. A citizen of Lubeck, a cheefe-
monger by trade, lived in the Millers-ftreet, was cited
before the magiftrates, among other crimes, for adul-
tery, and the fact being proved, he was banifhed. A
courtefan, with whom this fellow had often an affair
contended before the Deputies of the State, that he
could never have a forcible erection, and perform the
duty of a man, till fhe had whipped him on the bacl<
with rods; and that when the bufinefs was over, that
he could not be brought to a repetition unlefs ex-
cited by a fecond flogging. The adulterer at firfi
denied the charge, but being ferioufly preffea about
the fubject, he confeffed the fact.

Foi

[ 39 I

For the trutn of this narration, I appeal to the
judges appointed by the Senate, Thomas Storningius
and Adrian Mollerus, my friends, who, as you know,
are ftill living. Befides, it is not many years fince
that a perfon of a fmall poft in a noted town in
Holland, very much addicted to venery, was catched
in the very act with a woman, whom he could never
effectually enjoy without being ftimulated by flogging.
The poor man, upon an information to the magiftrates,
paid feverely for his luft by the lofs of his office *

Hcec fuit in toto notijjima fabula vulgo.

O'er the whole town the noted ftory roll'd,
By merry cits at every meeting told.

Now, fince, I believe, you neither would, nor can

* Perhaps the oddeft whim among whipping anecdotes is
that of a certain nobleman, who flourifhed in the reign of George
II. This fingular character rented a houfe in St. JamesV
place, and made an elderly good-looking woman houfekeeper.
It was his woman's bufinefs one day of each week to provide
every article for fcrubbing out a room, and to engage two
pretty women to meet him there on the day—one to reprefent a
houfekeeper, and the other a chamber-maid. While he was
fcrubbing the room, he fancied himielf a "parijh •rirl, "and he
did his work io very bad, that one or the other ot the women,
or both, whipped him in the lame unmerciful manner thole
poor girls are whipped by cruel miflreLwa.

you

you deny the truth of thefe inftances, let us next con-
fider what reafon can be given for an action fo odd
and uncommon. If you have recourfe to the aftrolo-
gers, they will impute the whole of the bufinefs to the
ftars, and accufe heaven that fometimes provokes fuch
an appetite in man by a peculiar and hidden influence.
They will fay, as Picus expreffes it, That the man's
propenflty to Venus was caufed in his geniture, and
deftined to flogging by oppofite and threatening rays
of the ftars—on which fubject Francifcus Junctinus
takes a great deal of pains to inftruct us in the cal-
culation of nativities, chap. 6. But fince the heavens
and the ftars are univerfal caufes, and fo cannot occa-
sion fuch particular effects in one or two individuals,
Picus, for good reafon, rejects their influence, and en-
quires after a nearer and more immediate reafon. He
thinks it was occafioned in his acquaintance by cuftom :
for fo he proceeds in his narration—" When I ferioufly
" enquired of him the caufe of this uncommon plague,
" his reply was, I have ufed myfelf to it from a boy.
" And upon repeating the queftion to him, he added,
" that he was educated with a number of wicked boys,
" who fet up this trade of whipping among themfelves,
" and purchafed of each other thefe infamous ftripes

" at

"•4t"

"-it"

"4t"

"a"

"HI"

"[ 41 ]"

^4t at tne expence of their modefty." Of the fame
opinion is Ccelius, who has tranfcribed both Picus's
hiftory and opinion. His words are—" Now, it is lefs
wonderful that this uncommon vice mould be known
by the perfon, and that he mould hate and condemn
*' himfelf for it; but by the force of a vicious habit
gaining ground upon him, he practifed a vice he
difapproved. But it grew more obftinate and rooted
in his nature, from his ufing it from a child, when a
reciprocal friction among his fchool-fellows ufed to
⁴¹ be provoked by the titillation of (tripes—a ft range
" inftance what a power the force of education has in
*' grafting inveterate ill habits on our morals." So far
they: for my part, I don't deny the great influence of
cuftom, and Ariftotle has long fince informed us, both
in his treatife on Memory and his Ethics, that it is a
fort of fecond nature—which Ennius obferves in thefe
lines—

Ufus longus mos eft_y ac meditatio crebra.
Hunc tandem affero naturam mortalibus effe

Long ufe, and frequent thinking, cuftom makes,
And this with man, at laft, grows into nature.

and

And Galen, in his book of Habits, elegantly fhews;
the great force and influence of cuftom, and calls it
Second Nature. I allow, in the inftance given by
Picus and Ccelius, that cuftom in a tract, of time might
contribute fomething to the caufe; but in the cafe
produced by Brunfelfius and mine, that caufe will not
anfwer. And again, as Thomas Campanella fays, in
the place before cited, Why did not the reft of this
youthful fraternity go on in the lame, as well as this
acquaintance of Picus ? for cuftom only effects fome-
thing particular in one or two individuals. Neither is
it probable that all thofe boys we mentioned began
their youth with expofing their chaftity to fale with
this reciprocal communication of vice, and ufed rods
at the firft to provoke lechery. I congratulate our
Germany, that thefe vices of perverfe luft, thefe dif-
graces of children, and mutual pollutions of males„,
are almoft unknown among us, and if by accident
fuch a cafe happens, the offenders are feverely
punifhed, by being burnt for their crimes. "The
" Germans know no luch thing, and men live with
" more regard to morality near the ocean, as Quintilian
^u faith of our anceftors, in his declamation for the
" foldier Marianus, whofe chaftity had been attempted

"[ 43 "I

? by a Tribune, on which I have dilated more in my
* commentary upon the Death of Hippocrates."

Since, then, neither the ftars nor cuftom are the
caufe why ftripes excite venery, we muft fee if there
be any other reafon—in the fearch after which, we
muft trace the matter a little higher before we can
explain it

We are to underftand, then, that this flogging and
whipping with rods was practifed on no part of the
body but the back, which the Lubeck ftrumpet con-
feffed, and is manifeft of all the reft; for it is im-
poflible that the penis can bear the ftrokes of rods,
undoubtedly not to an eruption of the blood—and we
all know the back is frequently ufed fo. Now, ^he
loins compofe the chief part of the back: for that
part of the body that takes its rife from the five
vertebra;, which are placed behind the vertebrce of the
t/iorax, is continued quite to the os facrum. Thefe
parts, the mufcles, fkin, and fat, cover outwardly;
inwardly, they are furrounded and braced by the
mufcles. The reins adjoin to thefe, the left and right,
one on each fide, and take up about the fpace of iour

"vertcb7"'cc_>

"t "44 ]

vertebra, and are annexed to the vena cava and the
large artery; but the reins receive as well from the
vetia cava as the arteria magna large and notable
veffels which are called emu/gents; each receives, "of
"each fide, one veffel, a vein, and an artery, which by
many ramifications are varioufly difperfed into the
fubftance of the reins themfelves. On the right "of
"the vena cava, juft under the emnlgent, arifes the right
feminal vein ; and in the fame place, from the arteria
magna, arifes the feminal artery, both defcending into
the right tejlicle. On the left, the feminal artery
arifing from the trunk of the arteria magna, and the
feminal vein from the left vein of the emulgent, are
both inferted into the left tejlicle. Befides thefe,
there are nerves coming from the part of the fpinal
marrow, contained in the vertebrce, that reach to the
reins, and not only pierce their coats, but penetrate
their very fubftance. Laftly, the ureters, produced
from the cavity of the reins themfelves, are inferted
into the bladder. As we may call all thefe by a
fmgle appellation of the loins, fo we may very
properly affign one and the fame common ufe to them
all, as Marfilinus Cagnatus rightly determines in his
Various Readings, lib. IV. chap. 7. Authors, indeed,

have

r "45 }"

have been very inquifitive into the ufe of the fingle
parts, of the bones, mufcles, reins, and veflels, but
have not fo well confidered what they altogether con-
tribute to one common ufe.

Cagnatus is of opinion, that all of them, but each
in a different manner, are appropriated as well for the
elaborating the feed as performing the work of gene-
ration, which the philofopher calls the mofr, natural.
Hieronymus Montuus and Tiraquellus feem to counte-
nance this opinion, and that with good reafon and
judgment *

For it is evident from the unanimous confent of all
writers, whether facred or prophane, that antiquity
attributes fome fuch office to the loins, reins, and fides.
As for the Scriptures, they frequently appropriate the
work of generation to the loins, as in the thirty-fifth
chapter of Genefis, verfe "I., "Kings fhall proceed from
thy loins. And in the epiflle to the Hebrews, chap.
VII. ver. 15, The fons of Abraham are faid to have
come from his loins; and vcr. 16, Levi is faid to have
been in his loins. From whence Bafil the Great, in

"his"

[ 46 ] •

his commentary on Ifaiah, remarks thus: In many
places of the Scripture, the loins are put for the
organs of generation. And Origen, in homily the
firfl:, on the 36th pfalm, ver. the 8th, upon thefe words,
My loins are filled with a fore difeafe, comments thus:
The loins are faid to be the receptacle of the human
feed, from whence that kind of fin is here infmuated,
which is the effect of luft. It is a proverb among the
Hebrews, To gird the loins, fignifying to preferve their
chaitity, and forbear lewdnefs. In this fenfe "God
"fpeaks to Job. in the fourth chapter, ver. 2, Gird up
thy loins like a man: that is, reftrain like a brave
man thy appetite, as Ifidorus fays, In thefe veffels
that they may be prepared to refift, fince in them is
the feat of lewdnefs. We may compare Suidas with
this paffage. St. Jerome interprets that of the prophet
Nahum, Look upon thy way. Strengthen thy loins,
and fecure thy virtue. So that of John the Baptift,
Matth. III. ver. 4, Who had a leathern girdle about
his loins; and whom, upon that account, Gregory
Nazianzen and Nicetus would have us imitate.
Neither is Jeremiah, chap. I. ver. 16; nor Ifaiah,
chap. XXXII. ver. 11; nor St. Paul to the Ephefians,
*chap. IV. ver. 14, to be otherwife underftood; nor

Solomon,

"E "47 "J"

Solomon, when he fpeaks of a virtuous woman, Pro-
verbs XVI.—She girt her loins with courage. In St.
Peter's epiftle, too, chap. I. ver. 19, To be girt on the
loins of the mind, fignifies—as Montuus, in the place
before cited, obferves—to drive luxurious thoughts
from the foul. I am miftaken, too, if the Romans had
not this meaning in view, when they accounted a per-
fon girt as an inftance of modefty, regularity, and a
good mind ; and ungirt, as a token ol diffolute morals
—upon which head I have faid more in my life of
Mecaenas. At this very day it is the cuflom in France
to prefent thofe who carry the prize of poetry with a
filken girdle, as a trophy to gird their loins with. To
this purpofe Ranchinus, in his commentary upon
Hippocrates's oath, remarks the neceflity of a phyfieian
being chafte; becaufe a girdle fignifies a binding of
the reins, and an abftinence from an immoderate ufe
of the loins. From hence the ancients thought Diana,
the goddefs of chaftity, always wore a girdle; and
from hence the words to unloofe the girdle, in the
conjugal ceremony, denotes the lofs of virginity: and
^Etius rightly obferves, That the ufe of venery is pre-
judicial to fuch who have weak reins and loins, and
fuch perfons are therefore called broken-loined.

Euftathius,

I 48 J

Euftathius, in the catalogue of the fhips, recites a.
proverb on thefe perfons—

Lumbos folulus, tanquam afcellus Myjius.

Weak in the loins, as Myfius the afs,

Which Junius explains, as fpoken of foft, effeminate^
and un-loined men. Upon the fame fcore is Petronius's
Satire: thofe of loofe loins are thofe who were ener-
vated by venery, fuch as Catullus fpeaks of, epig.
XVI.—

Qui duros nequeunt movere lumbos.
Poor weakly things, who cannot move their loins..
To thefe Martial oppofes, book V.—

Lafcivo* docili tremore lumbos*

"■"

Salacious loins for frequent motion apt.

■

And the author of a free poem fays, verfe 18—

m, t,,.,,,. —,

■

Crijfabit tibi fiucluante lumbo.

When will the clafping Theletufa rife

To my embrace with waving loins and thighs ?

Fo*

"t 49"

For to fluctuate, is to move often, and tofs up and
down in the manner of a wave. The Latins call it
Criffare: for that fignifies an immodefl kind of dance,
which we now term it Bargamafco, and which is never
danced but by people in mafks. Juvenal fpeaks of
them thus—

-plaufuque probata,

Ad terrain tremulo defcendunt dune Puella.

The dancing girls in wanton motions bend,
Shake as they rife, and with a clap defcend.

Arnobius fays of thefe representations, lib. 2, "" "Tht
" lafcivious multitude would run into the mofl extra-
^u vagant poftures of body, and caper, and fing, and
" turn themfelves round in a circle, and at lafl, by the
* activity of their loins, raife their poiteriors and
" thighs into a fwimming elegancy of motion." You
may confult, if you pleafe, on this occafion, the epiftle
of Megara to Bacchis, concerning Thryallis. Perfius
has this in view when, fpeaking of lafcivious verfes
that raife a pruriency in the audience, he fays—

-cum carmina lumbum

Intrant, & tremulo fcalpuntur ubi intima verfa.

Such

"d"

"[ 50 ]"

Such lufcious longs as pierce the fecret chine,
Tickle the loins, and work the luftful fpine.

And Juvenal, fpeaking of the pipes at the bona
Dea—

Nota Bonce fecreta Dece> cum tibia /umbos
Excilat, & comu paritcr vinoq ; feruntur.

When mufic and when wine to lult confpire,
Provoke the blood, and fet the loins on fire.

Upon this account, Ifidorus, in the paffage before
recited, derives the word loins from the lafcivioufnefs
of lull, becaufe both the caufe and feat of corporeal
pleafure lies in them. Nicolaus, Perotius, in his Cor-
nucopia, derives it more plainly from the word lubido:
that lumbi comes from lubendo, by inferting the letter
m, as is frequent in derivations. So Martinius, in his
Lexicon, derives cumbo from cubo_y pango from pago,
frango from frago.

Again, as this office is attributed to the loins, fo it
is to the reins, which are a part of the loins—and, in
regard of the formation of the body, a very principal
one. That thefe adminiller to generation is hinted

2 Kings

"[ 51 1"

2 Kings, chap. VIII. verfe 12, The Ton who comes out
of thy reins. From whence Tertullian, in his book
On the refurre&ion of the flefh, calls the reins con-
fcious of feed. Hefychius, the prefbyter, in his com-
mentaries on Leviticus, lib. "i, "fays—The reins are the
fervants of the feed in coition; and foon after, The
feeds of coition are in the reins. St. Auguftin, on the
eighth pfalm, writes, That the pleafures of venery are
fignified by the word reins. And St. Jerome, in his
commentary on the prophet Nahum, affirms, That all
the parts that contribute to coition come under the
appellation of the reins; and he repeats almoft the
fame word often in his commentary on Ezekiel.
Farther, Nicolas Lyra explains thefe words of Jere-
miah ; and the fame in the Revelations, Searching
the reins and heart, thus examining and punifhing
libidinous and evil thoughts. For, in the Scripture
language, by the heart is meant the thoughts; and by
the reins is underftood concupifcence. Therefore the
Pfalmift, in the twenty-fixth pfalm, defires "God "to
purify his heart and reins; and the church, from him,
ufes it in the fame fenfe in this hymn, Purify our reins
and heart by the fire of thy Holy Spirit, that we may
ierve thee with a chafte body, and be accepted by

thee

"d "2

"52 ]"

thee with a clean heart. The divines, too, in general,,
underftand by the precept in Exodus, to thofe who
eat the Pafchal Lamb, to bind up their reins, an ab-
flinence from luft. Aufonius has exprelTed the in-
dulgence of luft by the ufe of the reins—

Utere rene tuo. Epig. XIIL

Go, exercife thy reins.

And it is a common jeft among the vulgar to fay„
That thofe who facrifice to Venus purge their reins,
which is the reafon that Hippocrates, Ariftotle, Galen,
jEtius, Avicenna, and abundance of other phyficians
aflert, that an intemperate ufe of venery is prejudicial
to the reins. Hence it is that the reins were dedicated
to Venus by the ancients: for Fulgentius, in his.
mythology, in the fable of Peleus and Thetis, cites
Democritus's phyfiology to prove that the Heathens
thought that every part of the human body was under
trie influence of a peculiar deity; fo they afligned the
head to Jupiter, the arms to Juno, the eyes to Minerva,
the breaft to Neptune, the waift to Mars, the reins to
Venus, and the feet to Mercury. But laftly, if we
enquire into the etymology and derivation of the

word

"f 53 J"

word "varrOy "whom Qaintilian ftyles, the mod learned
of the Romans derives renes, as it the canals of the
obfcene humours—that is, the feed—arofe from them,
if we believe La£tantius and Ifidorus. xor is there
any reafon that we fhould, as fome have done, under-
ftand the urine by the obfcene humour: lor Ifidorus,
explaining "varro, "lays—" The veins and marrow diflil
* a thin fluid into the reins, which liquor, being re-
diffolved, runs from the reins in the heat of the
** venereal a6l, which no man in his fenfes can think
^u fpoken of the urine." The Hebrews, too, derive the
reins from a word that imports concupifcence.

And now, becaufe the reins are fituated in the loins
near the fide, they, too, were believed to contribute
to venery and the work of generation. Thus, the
modefteft of women (according to fame), Penelope,
when fhe was to make a trial of the ftrength and
robuft fides of her fuitors, brings them to the bow,
and bids them flretch the firing.

Penelope vires juvenum tentabat in A "rcu:
"Qui latus argueret, corneus Arcus erat.

Her

i 54 :

Her fuitors by the bow the matron tried:
this was the teft of ev'ry manly fide.

As Ovid, in the eighth elegy, fays, and Penelope does
not deny it in the following fixty-ninth epigram—

Nemo mco melius nervum tendebat Ulyjfe :
Sive illi laterum, feu fuit artis opus.
2ui quoniam periit modo vos intendite : qualem
Effe virum fciero, vix fit ut ille mues.

The bow-firing none like my Ulyffes drew,
Whether by Height or flrength his arrow flew ;
Since he is dead, by that your pow'rs be tried,
Who proves his manly force and lufly fide
Befl by the bow, fucceeds him in his bride.

From whence, To try the fide in Martial, fignifies to
give a trial of your flrength in venereal affairs, book
VII., epig. "lvii. "And in Ovid, book II., eleg. x., To
give flrength to the fides is to excite luft.

Et lateri dabit in vires alimeata voluptas.

Pleafure is thus with nutriment fupplied,
And gives a lufly vigour to the fide.

And in Apuleius, book VIII., The induftry of the fide

"is"

[ 55 1

is a potency in luft. " They brought," fays he, " a
" lufty countryman well furnifhed with an indufbry of
fides, and a length of label." So, in Juvenal and
Ovid, to fpare the fides is to abftain from venery.
Thus the former, on the Catamite, fat. 6—

--Nec queritur, quod

Aut later i parcas, nec quantum juffus anheles.

Nor is the cafe how much you fpare your fides,
Or at what coft of breath the matter rides.

And, in the Art of Love, book II.—

Et lateri ne parce tuo ; pax omnis in illo eft.
Spare not your fides, for all your hopes are there.

On the other hand, to brake the fides, in Martial, is to
indulge pleafure too much, book XL, epig. cv.—

Et juvat admijfa rumpere luce latus.

He lets the fun behold his play,
And brakes his fides in open day.

And again, book XII., epigram "xcviii.—
"Rumpis BaJJe laius, fed in comatis.

You,

"I 56 1"

You, Baffus, take a filly pride,

But 'tis with boys to burft your fide.

So in Tibullus, or whoever is the author of the
Iamoics to Priapus—

Et inquietus inguina arrigat tumor,
Neque incitare cejfet, njque dum mibi
Venus jocoju molte ruperit latus.

Unruly tumours, panting for delight,
Erect their nerve, and ftimulate the fight,
Nor ceafe to glow, till Venus often tried
In mirthful plealure firfl my languid fide

Petronius, in his fatire, mentions the convulfions of
the fide. " I am afraid," fays he, " I fhould have
" raifed convulfions in my fide." In other places, the
fides are faid to be weak, worn out, enervated, drained,
languid, wearied; which phrafe amounts to be ex-
haufted by venery. Ovid, in the tenth elegy of the
third book—

Vidi ego cum foribus laffus prodiret amator
Tnvalidum refercns, emeritumque latus,

"I"

"[ 57 ]"

I have beheld the wearied lover go \

From the fair dame ridiculoufly flow, >

His fides all faint, exhaufted all below. J

Catullus, in epigram "vii.—"

Quur non tarn latera exfututa pendas ?
Why not difplay thy dry, thy iaplefs fides ?

Priapus, in the libertine verfes, epigram "xv.—"

Ipfi cerniiis exfututus ut fim_t
Confeclufque, marcerque, ^//idufque, &c.
Defeat latus, & perictUofam
Cum tufh mifer expuo falivam.

You fee how dryly drained I fail,
All wafted, meagre, thin, and pale,
My fides are fpent, a fhort drawn breath,
And bloody cough portend my death.

Suetonius, in the life of Caligula, chap. 26, has this
remarkable paffage—"Valerius Catullus, a youth of
^Ai a confular family, faid publicly, that Caligula was
' endorfed by him, and that his fides were quite tired
⁴¹ with the ufe of his bedfellow." Apuleius, book
VIII., recites this manner of falutation—"May you

"«"

live

C "58 ]"

" live long and pleafc your matters, and fpare my now
" decayed fides." From all which the point is as.
plain, to ufe the words of Plautus—

Quam So/Is radii olim, quam fudum eft, folent.

Clear as the noonday-fWs tranfpiercing rays.

And that this is no new or modern opinion, but
founded on the unanimous confent of all antiquity, is
evident from the teftimony of the Scripture, wherein
the loins, and its adjacent parts, and the reins, are faid
to contribute to the work of generation. Now, a
general judgment or opinion of the learned, as your
civilians, my friend Caffius, exprefs themfelves, cannot
be totally falfe. And Ariftotle, in his Topicks, fays—
" Such things are probable, as appears fo to all, or
" moil, or, at leaft, to the wife, and them either all, or
" moft, or such whofe wifdom is moft acknowleged or
" experienced, and who have got fame and reputation
" on that account."

In the next place, it is worth our while to enquire
further into the reafons upon which this opinion is
founded; for by this means we shall, at the same

time,.

C "59 ]"

time, difcover the caufe why ftrokes and ftripes,
inflicted on the loins, are incentives to luft. Cagnatus,
for his part, and Montuus, who inclines to his opinion,
attribute the whole bufinefs to the loins, as confifling
of thofe parts we were juft now reciting—that is, the
vertebras, mufcles, reins, veins, arteries, and nerves.
However, he makes the feminal veins and arteries the
chief agents as being the part that affords the materials
for the feed, and contain in themfelves, and fend down
to the teflicles, that whitifh fluid, which either actually
is, or will foon be, worked into feed ; and he affirms,
that the defire of ejecting the feed is excited by the
fwelling of this fluid in the veins and arteries, and
from whence nocturnal pollutions are caufed, efpeoi-
ally in luch perfons whofe veffels are extraordinarily
heated by lying upon their backs. Bartholomaeus
Montagnana, and Nemefius, the philosopher, aflign
the whole operation to the reins, a part of the loins,
which is agreed to by Matthseus and Garyopontus, a
Latin phyfician among the moderns. And very lately
the famous Sennertius, once my preceptor (and who,
while he lived, my much refpected friend), Petrus
Laurenbergius, and Cafper Hoffman are of the fame
opinion, and yet they do not all explain the matter

after

I "6o "I

after the fame manner. Bartholomaeus Montagnana,
in his examination of the palTage of Avicenna, fays—
We mull diligently obferve why Avicenna declares,
That the imbecility of the reins may be faid to be the
caufe of the defect, of coition; and after he has
affirmed that the feminal matter has acquired an
adequate perfection from the difpofition and tempera-
ment of the tefticles, he subjoins—That 'tis neceffary
that the fame matter fhould be predifpofed in the
fuperior member, where the digeftive faculty is more
powerful, as in the liver and reins, in the one more
remotely, in the other more nearly; and from whence,
he concludes, it is impoffible that a genuine feed
fhould be formed, unlefs thofe parts, the liver and
the reins, are duly organized and complexioned in all
its properties. But Nerefius is of opinion that there
is only a kind of faltnefs tranfmitted from the reins to
the tefticles, which excites a defire, or rather a titilla-
tion, in the genitals, and fo in the fame manner con-
tributes to venery. His words are—The reins are the
purgers of the blood, and the caufe of the appetite to
coition: for the veins, which, defcending to the
tefticles, pafs through the reins, and there imbibe a

fait humour and an irritating faculty, after the fame

manner

61 "1"

manner as a fliarp puncture under the fkin makes an
itching, ana in the fame degree as the confiftence of
the tefticle is fofter than the (kin itfelf, they fo much
the more, when flimulated by that fait pungency,
raife a furious defire of emitting the feed. The words
of Ifidorus, before cited, make for the fame purpofe.
Matthaeus's opinion is much the fame, only he attri-
butes more to the left rein than to the right: for, fays
he, the left feminal vein, fituated in the emulgent,
near the left rein, furnifhes a blood diluted with a
good deal of ferous fait, to raife and flimulate the
parts to the act of generation. Laurenbergius affirms
that the reins in general contribute to generation:
but in the difputation, before cited, he explains him-
felf much after the fame manner as Garyopontus does,
when he fays, The reins are by nature mufcular, and
have nerves planted in their cavities, which contain
the generative feed. So that he attributes the forma-
tive power of the feed to the reins, and in fuch a
manner as to believe that it is elaborated and con-
tained in them. Sennertius is of the fame opinion,
though he founds it on other reafons, and explains
himfelf more clearly, and with better evidence from
anatomical infpection than Garyopontus, who does

not

[ 62

not feem to have been verv fkilful in that fcience.

"0"

Sennertius thinks that there is not only a ftimulus
communicated from the reins to the genitals, but that
the feed itfelf is worked in them, and tranfmitted from
them—which opinion Hoffman follows—and Sennertius
collected this principally from hence, becaufe the
reins have a peculiar parenchyma, as it appears not
much different from the fubflance of the heart, or, as
Aritseus will have it, refembling the liver. Now
Galen, in the feventh book of The Decrees of Hippo-
crates and Plato, attributes a great and peculiar force
to a peculiar parenchyma in the forming and working
the blood, which is evident of all the parenchymas of
the other vifcera, as Beverovicius has amply proved.
Again, fince the emulgent vein is the greateit of all
the veins that proceed from the vena cava, and carries
more blood into the veins than is requifite for their
nutriment, the artery, too, is larger than only to ferve
to depurate the ferous humour, and therefore he
thinks it probable that nature, which makes nothing
in vain, would not have formed thofe veffels fo very
large unlefs with a view to fome particular end ; and
this end he concludes to be no other than carrying
the arterial blood to the reins, fo that, it being there

mixed

"[ «3 j"

with, and altered by, the venous blood, it fliould fup-
ply materials for forming the feed, which is afterwards
to be tranfmitted to the tefticles. What confirms this
opinion of Sennertius, is, that according to the different
formation of the reins and renal veffels (in which
nature in other cafes often fports), fome men are more
prone to luft than others, and far more notable per-
formers. We have inftances of this in Albertus's ob-
fe vations, and in Riolanus's anatomy. Each of thefe
"differed "the body of a malefactor, and fay they found
Three Emulgents defcending into the right rein, and
the fpermatick veins on each fide proceeding from the
emulgent. Albertus rightly concludes from hence,
that the perfon muft have a more plentiful flood of
feed, and an inexhaufted and almoft infatiable falacity ;
and which, indeed, the fellow complained of a little
before he was executed. Riolanus fays, that his man
was wholly devoted to luft, and was hanged for having
three wives all living at the fame time. Befides thefe,
Salmuth fays that he diffected two men that were
famous for venery, the latter of which had reins of a
prodigious fize, fo as to equal three, nay, four of thofe
in common men. Sennertius goes on, and enquires,
unlefs this opinion be admitted, whence proceeds that

rank

"[ «♦ ]"

rank tafte and odour which is difrufed all over the
body » moft uncaftrated animals, but is moft per-
ceptible in the reins, especially ic adult bodies, but is
not perceived in the reins of young and tender perions
before they have converted with females ? He adds,
befides, from Oribafius, that the reins are difordered
by a retention of the feed, that the phyficians, in re-
counting the figns of warm reins, mention a propenfity
to venery, luftful dreams, and nocturnal pollutions in
the fleep ; and that the practitioners conftantly deduce
tke quality of the ieed from the conftitution oi the
reins: thus, as a ready falacity indicates warm reins,
fo a difappetite and want oJ inclination that way de-
notes cold reins. And laftly, cnat it x gonorrhoea, he
proves, from Aretaeus and Alexander Trallianus, that
remedies are applied for the diminution or alteration
of the feed to the loins near the region ot the reins.
To fupport this opinion oi Sennertius, we may add
what Pliny fays in his thirty-firft book, chap. 16, That
plates of lead tied to the loins and reins, by their cold
quality, obftructed the inclination to venery. And he
adds an inftance of Calvas the orator, who, upon the
fight of a woman, ufed to have a natural emhTion,
which grew upon him to a kind of diftemper, and was

cured

"t 65 1"

cured by thefe leaden plates. Galen, in his chapter
upon Health, and in many other places, fays, That he
ufed thefe leaden plates to tame the luftful fallies, and
reftrain the nocturnal pollutions of fome wreftlers;
and in a priapifm he applies a plaifter to the loins,
made of Rofe cakes and cold water. Ccelius Aure-
lianus, befides the leaden plates, advifes the ufe of
fponges dipped in cold water: befides thefe, ^Etius
not only applies the leaden plates to the loins,
and other coolers, but condemns the lying upon the
back, for fear the parts of the loins mould be over-
heated, and the diftemper by that means increafed.
To thefe we may add Oribafius and Paulus iEgineta,
both of whom agree in the fame point; the latter of
whom forbids even diureticks in a gonorrhoea, for fear
of prejudicing the reins, feated in the region of the
loins. Nor was Avicenna ignorant of it, who places
the defects of coition among the figns of extenuated
and worn-out reins; and, among other things, he
makes frequent copulation the caufe of imbecility of
the reins, and advifes abftinence from it as the means
of cure. Aaron, a famous phyfician, mentioned by
Rhafes, knew this, who fays—If the erectior* of the
penis be .languid, the caufe is in the liver and reins.

And

"e"

"t «" "I

And Ariftotle may be quoted to tnis purpole, who
thought that other animals were not affected with a
gonorrhoea as well as men, becaufe they did not lye
upon their backs—Prob. X. On the contrary, high-
mettled horfes, when their loins and reins are heated
by the motion of their riders, run with a furious heat
to venery. The Athenian matrons feem to have
known this, who, when in their famous feafts, they lay
from their hufbands—and, as Ovid fays in his Meta-
morphofis, book XL, Fab. "xi.—"

Pefq; novem Nocles Venerem taclufq ; virileis
In Vetitis mimerabant_y &c.

Held it a fin to follow Venus's rites,

Or touch a man the fpace of nine long nights—

made their beds of what the Latins call Vitrix or
Agnus Cajlus. This is a kind of fhrub appropriated
to extinguifh luft: for this purpofe they fhrewed
the leaves of it under their backs, with an intent of
reftraining the generative power of the feed, and the
appetite to venery in the reins and adjoining parts.
Of this there are frequent inftances in hiftory—in
Diofcorides, in Pliny, Galen, and ^Elian: nor is there

any

I "*7 ]"

any other reafon for recommending the reins of
animals, efpecially thofe of the he-goat, as provoca-
tives to copulation, or that ^Etius should prefcribe the
parts above the reins as a charm and incentive to luft,
"but becaufe they have fome analogy and fimilitude
with human reins, for which reafon they are fuppofed
to aflift them, and excite them to perform the office of
generation.* For this reafon warm unguents, among
other medicines, are ufually prefcribed to such perfons,
who are lefs ready in venereal affairs, and thofe to be
applied not only to the privities, but to the region of
the reins ; as alfo ftrong diureticks, as cantharides,
and the pofture of lying upon the back, that by thefe
methods the loins may be warmed, and the feed
quickened in its motion to the tefticles, and fo cold
conftitutions become fired and raifed to venery. From
whence Rhafes, in his twelfth book, fays—As often as
the loins are chafed with warm medicime', the penis
will fwell, and be extended in erection. And Mafib
the Arabian, in the fame author, fays—That the heat
of the back aflifts luxury (that it excites luft), and as

* This depends upon the old exploded maxim of the philofo-
phers and naturalifls, "Similis ft milt gaudet*"

he

"[ 68 "1

the cooling of the back and deeping upon cold leaves
diminifhes that appetite, fo heat and warmth wonder-
fully increafe it.

From all which I draw this confequence, that the
loins in general, and the parts they confift of, contri-
bute chiefly to venery, and principally their veins and
arteries, as being the canals of thofe fluid fpirits, which
is the opinion of Cagnatus. But that the grand inftru-
ment of all this is the parenchyma of the reins, by
which the feed firfl begins to be elaborated; and that
it is perfected, and acquires an equable confiflence, in
its defcent through the other feminal veffels; which,
as it was Sennertius's opinion, fo it is mine. And yet
what Nemifius, Ifidorus, Matthaeus, and Laurenbergius
have obferved, is to the purpofe, that there is a kind of
faltnefs and ferous matter communicated together
with the feed, from the reins to the tefticles, to pro-
voke the titillation, and fill up the dunghill (adim-
plauftrari), which very word Papius, the grammarian,
ufes in his vocabulary.

I further conclude, that ftripes upon the back and
loins, as parts appropriated for the generating of the

feed.

I "«9 ]"

feed, and carrying it to the genitals, warm and inflame
thofe parts, and contribute very much to the irritation
of lechery. From all which, it is no wonde*- that fuch
fhamelefs wretches, victims of a detefted appetite, fuch
-as we have mentioned, or others exhaufted by too fre-
quent a repetition, their loins and their veflels being
drained, have fought for a remedy by flogging. For
it is very probable that the refrigerated parts grow
warm by such ftripes, and excite a heat in the feminal
matter, and that more particularly from the pain of
the flogged parts, which is the reafon that the blood
and fpirits are attracted in a greater quantity, till the
heat is communicated to the organs of generation, and
the perverfe and frenzical appetite is fattened, and
nature, though unwilling, drawn beyond the ftretch
of her common power to the commimon.of fuch an
abominable crime.

This, dear Caflius, is my opinion. But you will
object, that the perfons I treat of are fuch as, being
exhaufted by a licentious venery, made ufe of this
remedy for the continuation of their ungovernable
luft, and a repetition of the fame filthy enjoyment.
But then you afk, fince the cafe is fo, whether a perfon

who

wno nas practifed lawful love, and yet perceives his
loins and fides languid (the fubjecl: of this treatife),
may not, without the imputation of any crime, make
ufe of the fame method, in order to difcharge a debt
which I won't fay is due, but to pleafe the creditor ?
More plainly, the perfon that I would defcribe is fuch
as Virgil does in the third book of his Georgicks :-

Frigidus in Venerem fertus frujlraque laborem,
Jucundum trabit, & Ji qnando adprcelia ventum_%
Ut quando in flipvlis vanus fine viribns ignis
Incajfum furit, &c.

Languid and cold, he moves to work with pain,
And dribbles at the lovely fport in vain;
When at the beft, 'tis like a Hubble hYd,
Flaflies in hade, and is in hafte expired.

Well, friend Caffius, why may not the remedy be
made ufe of in the circumflances fuppofed ? That you
have no occafion for it I am ready to take a thoufand
oaths. I, who am a phyfician, and from my own
profeffion either know or ought to know, and give
a lhrewd judgment that way, long fince prefumed I
was no falfe gueffer on your fide. Your young wife's

great

"[ 71 ]"

great belly is an evidence to be depended upon beyond
all exceptions, and to whom I wish a happy minute in
due feafon : however, I won't forbid you communicat-
ing this remedy to others who may have occafion for
a flogging.

Qui valide intorto verbere terga feces.

Who with a knotted whip may lafh their backs.

The gates of the Mufes, as the Greek proverb fays
(that is, of all profeffors of fcience), ought always to be
open, and efpecially of phyficians; for, as Scribonius
Largus, in his epiftle to Julius Califtus, fays—The
imputation of a niggardly envy ought to be abomi-
nated by all people, efpecially phyficians, who, if they
are not according to the intent of their profeffion, full
of pity and humanity, are objects of deteftation both
of "God "and man.

Thus, my dear friend, to fatisfy your curiofity, I
have explained my opinion to you with a little more
freedom than ordinary. Do you take it all, fuch as it
is, in good part: love me ftill as your friend, and

pardon

pardon as you do the innocent raillery, which yet has
its confequences of ferioufnefs, and fo farewell

j "i>heck, bept. 7," J. "H. Meibomius,"

"1659."

"HENRY"

HENRY MEIBOMIUS,

"the"

SO N,

To the Moll "Excellent"

THOMAS BARTHOLIN.

I"Understand", with a great deal of pleafure,
from Chriftianus Paullus, the excellent fon of
the great Simon Paullus, that my letter in anfwer to
yours came fafe to your hands. The fame perfon
fignified to me, in your name, that you defigned to
reprint my father, John Henry Meibomius's epiftle
concerning the ufe of Flogging in Venereal Affairs,
and the Office of the Reins and Loins. Nothing
could be more acceptable to me than this your inten-
tion. As to the epiftle itfelf, it was occafioned by a

free

"t 74 "1

free jocofe converfation at an entertainment; ana art:
edition of it was procured at Leyden by that great
perfon to whom it is infcribed. However, it pleafed
many excellent perfons all over Europe, and has been
quoted by fome in public prints. But there being at
firfl only a few copies printed, to be given to friends,
it began to be defired by the learned, and impatiently
enquired after by the curious—the fubjedl being, I
don't know how, very entertaining and alluring. I have
often been forry that I could not oblige my friends,
at their requefl, with the favour of a book ; however,
I was unwilling to put it to the prefs again, partly
becaufe I do not approve of everything in it, and
partly becaufe I am unwilling, on my firfl entrance on
the flage of Fame, to incur the cenfure of fuch to
whom thefe papers, tinc"lured with a tickling fait,
might feem too ludicrous and libertine. However, in
the meantime, it happened that it was reprinted a few
years fince, either at Leyden, or fomewhere elfe, tho^v
I know not who was the editor, which I was not dis-
pleafed with ; but had I been pre-informed of it, that
edition had come out much more corre6l. But now I
am very much fatisfied, and give myfelf joy that it
has pleafed you to fuch a degree (whom Europe

reckons.

C "75 1"

reckons among her firfl ornaments) as to think it
worthy of a new impreflion, enlarged by additions of
your own. You are now in no danger from the
affectedly four, nor need you fear

Rugato Cato tetricus labello
Nafum Thinoceroticum minetur.

Left rugged Cato fhould to you oppofe
His wrinkled lips, and beaftly length of nofe

But thefe myfleries cannot otherwife be preferved,
nor are we writing to Veftals, or uncultivated Sabines,
but to phyficians; however, the argument deferves to
be examined, nor do I queftion but you, who are a
perfon of great wit and infinite reading, have cited all
the paffages that can adorn that fubject; yet, fince
my father, after the lafl edition of his epiftle, has
added fome marginal notes to his copy, I tranfmit
them to you to be inferted in their proper place, for
the enriching your new edition. Laftly, there are
fome things in this letter which relifli of the Anti-
Harveian times, in which I would rather own the
error of my excellent father than defend it; efpecially
fince it is fuch a one, as was not only common to fome

learned

r 76 ]

learned men as well as himfelf, but even to fome ages
too. You know that faying of your Celfus—Light
wits, becaufe they have nothing, detract nothing from
themfelves; a ilngle confeflion of error agrees with a
great wit, who yet will retain, for ail that miftake,
many valuable things: and why fhould not an error
deferve pardon, which the perfon does not incur by
his own obftinacy, but by the infelicity of the age he
lives in ?

As for what he relates in the beginning of the
epiftle, of the cure of diftempers by flogging, that
depends upon the authority of others, and is beyond
all exceptions. The moderns, however, feem to ac-
count thefe remedies, if not worfe than the difeafe,
yet very ungrateful ones. Yet, as to the cure of
madnefs by ftrokes, which he quotes from Ccelius
Aurelius, Rhafes, and others, although phyficians have
not taken notice of it lately, yet I learn from Bodin
that it was pra6lifed but in this laft age in England.
The paffage ftands thus in the fifth book of his com-
monwealth :—Madnefs fometimes is heightened into
frenzy, which kind of frenzy grows milder by ftrokes
and whipping ; for a company of madmen in London,

confined

"t 77 ]"

confined in the fame houfe, are feverely chaflifed with
rods at the laft quarter of the moon, at which time
their frenzy is more powerful from the inflammation of
their brain. When I began to pity their cafe, I under-
ftood from thofe that looked after them, that it was
the raoft certain cure of this frenzy. The palms of
the Roman women were (truck, and that was thought
to facilitate parturition in the pregnant, and give
fecundity to the barren. That cuftom was fuper-
ftitious enough; and the Luperci were the only
operators in it, who were clad in the veft of Juno, or
a goat-fkin, as Feftus informs us; and the Romans
themfelves ridiculed it, as is plain from the fecond
fatire of Juvenal. Some think that fleep-walkers that
rife in the night ought to be foundly whipp'd; which
experiment I myfelf know fucceeded in a certain in-
ftance, the diflemper being happily carried off, without
a return, by a fevere flogging.

After thefe, my father cites the hiftories of flogging
for the inciting of venery, and begins to enquire into
the caufe of it. He firft rejects the ftars and cuftom,
and, if I am not miftaken, has made it plain, that the
caufe of it cannot be derived from thefe only. He

next

next remarks, that this flogging was only practifed
upon the back and loins, and thinks to deduce the-
caufe from thence. To this purpofe he fhews, that
the Scripture, as well as all antiquity, unanimoufly
attribute to the loins, reins, and fides their particular
offices in the generation of the feed and the effect of
venereal pleafure. And he has indeed quoted a great
many paffages from different writers, and many more
might be brought to the fame purpofe, efpecially from
the poets, unlefs the cafe was already evident. I do
for the fame reafon conclude, that the loins contribute
much to venereal pleafure: but what he afterwards
undertakes to prove, that the feed is firfl elaborated
by the reins, fituated in the loins, although he has a
great many famous men, both before and fince his
time, of the fame opinion; yet, in my judgment, he
has not proved that point. For it is granted at
prefent, by the fearchers into truth, that the blood is
carried by the emulgent arteries to the reins, and from
the reins, by the emulgent veins, into the vena cava,
and from thence returns to the heart; as alfo that the
fpermatick arteries received the blood from the great
artery, and that the fpermatick veins bring back the
fame from the feminal parts, partly into the vena

cava,

[ 79 )•

cava, and partly into the emulgent vein—which
motion of the blood is plainly proved by the con-
ftruclion of the valves in the veins. Now, from hence
it is evident that nothing defcends from the reins to
the tefticles through the vefTels. In the meantime it
remains true that warm loins contribute to the work
of Venus, and cold ones obftrudt. it; and that the
phyficians rightly apply warm things to the loins for
the exciting of luft, and cold things for the fupprefiing
it: for, as my father has rightly obferved from Cag-
natus and Montuus, there are larger veffels placed in
the loins/ in which, if the blood grows warm, it muft
neceffarily flow warmer down thro' the fpermatick
artery, and difpofe the feminal matter, eafily irritable,
into a ftate of heat and fervency. Next, as to the
reins, this is my opinion—If they are more than ordi-
narily heated, a greater degree of heat will be com-
municated to the blood in its return through the
emulgent veins; and fince the blood is continually
flowing to the reins, and back again, a greater heat
may be communicated from the reins to the whole
mafs of blood, from whence the blood will defcend
warmer through the fpermatick arteries. From hence
it may be explained why they who have hot veins are

inclinable

r 60 ]

inclinable to venery, as well as the other phenomena
which my father has brought to prove his opinion.
Perhaps, too, it may fometimes happen to thofe who
have a hot ftate of blood, and are confequently more
prone to luft, that the reins may grow warm by the
continual acceflion ot the blood, as is noted by
phyficians. When by an error in diet the blood is
inflamed, the reins generally fuffer for it, becaufe a
greater quantity of blood is continually flowing there
than to any other part: fo then, luft does not depend
fo much upon the heat of the reins as from the common
caufe, the heat of the blood, and from thence pro-
ceeds luft, and the heat of the reins. Farther, I ex-
plain the matter thus: By the ftrokes of rods, the
blood, as well in the great as fmall veffels in the loins,
grows warm, and then in the reins themfelves; and
laftly, from thence the whole mafs of blood—and
therefore it flows more hot and in a greater quantity
through the feminal arteries, till by the wicked
thoughts of thefe wretches, preparing themfelves for a.
venereal congrefs, it is turned with a greater degree
towards the fpermatick veffels, after the fame manner
a profluvium of the feed is accelerated by a foft bed,
or a fupine pofture. Tis well known that people who

ride

r st i

fide on horfe-back are prone to venery; and the fame
was long ago obferved in the Cento of problems that
are publii hed under the name of Ariftotle. The author
gives this reafon for it, problem X.—That they are
affected by the heat and agitation in the fame manner
as in coition: which is exactly to my meaning; for
the blood in the veffels of the loins grows warm by
thefe motions and jolting of the rider; and its motion
is quickened through the defcending trunk of the
aorta, and fo on to the feminal veffels. Hippocrates,
indeed, in his book of Air, Water, and Situation,
feems to teftify the contrary, where he fays—That
thofe who ride much are rendered too unapt for
venery: but that is to be underftood of the continual
riding of the Scythians, which proceeds even to weari-
nefs, and fo debilitates and relaxes the body, and of
confequence fupprefies the irritation to venery: but
that riding which we mention from Ariftotle, which
only gently heats the loins, is to be underftood mode-
rate. I have no inclination now to go on and ex-
amine diftinctly every point which my father has
produced upon the fubject, efpecially fince all that
Sennertius has, and what is related by him, Dr. High-
more has already happily difcuffed in his Anatomy.

In

[ 82 1

r,-

In the meantime, many of my father's propofitions.
ftand upon a good foundation, only rejecting that
generating power of the feed lodged in the reins. The
reft of his arguments are very evident Some of the
moderns may perhaps endeavour to explain thefe
phenomena otherwife from their own hypothefis, as a
certain ingenius perfon did, who was firmly perfuaded
that the matter of the feed was made of the chyle and
not of the blood ; and that by ftrokes upon the loins
the fwelling alveus was heated, and then that the
matter of the feed defcended with a fvvifter motion to
the genital parts. Reafons very different from thefe
might be brought by fuch who are pleafed with the
fanciful hypothefis Saccus Nervofus, or nervous juice,
which they think, too, affords matter for the feed ; but
it is not my bufinefs to enquire at prefent into the
truth of their hypothefis. I perceive now that the
obfervation is true in this inftance, which Grcecinus,
in Columella, formerly faid of all kinds of inventions,
That moft people began new works with more bold-
nefs than they could maintain thefe that were before
perfect. However, I think that the opinion I have
propofed of the heat of the blood in the loins does
not depend upon bare hypothefis but certain experi-
ment.

"I 83 "J

ment. If, excellent Sir, you are pleafed to approve
of it, I fhall be much more confirmed in my opinion
Farewell.

Written at Helm-
ftadt, Aug. 19,
1669.

"Hen. meibomius."