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| Dr Kellogg's prescription, 1888 |
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If cereal won't cool the libido, try surgery1. CircumcisionThe fold of integument called the prepuce, which has been previously described, has upon its inner surface a large number of glands which produce a peculiar secretion. [1] Under certain circumstances, and from inattention to personal cleanliness, this secretion may accumulate, and then often becomes the cause of irritation and serious disease. To prevent such disorders, and to insure cleanliness, the Jewish law required the removal of the prepuce, which constituted the rite of circumcision. The same practice is followed by several modern nations dwelling in tropical climates; and it can scarcely be doubted that it is a very salutary one, and has contributed very materially to the maintenance of that proverbial national health for which the Jews are celebrated. Eminent physicians have expressed the opinion that the practice would be a salutary one for all men.It is doubtful, however, whether as much harm as good does not result from circumcision, since it has been shown by extensive observation among the Jews that very great contraction of the meatus, or external orifice of the urethra, is exceedingly common among them, being undoubtedly the result of the prolonged irritation and subsequent cicatricial contraction resulting from circumcision in infancy. [2] The maintenance of scrupulous personal cleanliness, by daily cleansing, is an imperative duty. In some countries females are also circumcised by removal of the nymphae [i.e. the labia]. The object is the same as that of circumcision in the male. The same evils result from inattention to personal cleanliness, and the same measure of prevention, daily cleansing, is necessitated by a similar secretion. Local cleanliness is neglected by both sexes. Daily washing should begin with infancy, and continue through life, and will prevent much disease. Plain facts for young and old, pp. 106-7 2. MasturbationIn younger children, with whom moral considerations will have no particular weight, other devices may be used. Bandaging the parts has been practised with success. Tying the hands is also successful in some cases; but this will not always succeed, for they will often contrive to continue the habit in other ways, as by working the limbs, or lying upon the abdomen. Covering the organs with a cage has been practised with entire success. A remedy which is almost always successful in small boys is circumcision, especially when there is any degree of phimosis. The operation should be performed without administering an anaesthetic, as the brief pain attending the operation will have a salutary effect upon the mind, especially if it be connected with the idea of punishment, as it may well be in some cases. The soreness which continues for several weeks interrupts the practice, and if it had not previously become too firmly fixed, it may be forgotten and not resumed. …[Infibulation] Through the courtesy of Dr Archibald, Superintendent of the Iowa Asylum for Feeble-Minded Children, we have become acquainted with a method of treatment of this disorder which is applicable in refractory cases, and we have employed it with entire satisfaction. It consists in the application of one or more silver sutures in such a away as to prevent erection. The prepuce, or foreskin, is drawn forward over the glans, and the needle to which the wire is attached is passed through from one side to the other. After drawing the wire through, the ends are twisted together, and cut off close. It is now impossible for an erection to occur, and the slight irritation thus produced acts as a most powerful means of overcoming the disposition to resort to the practice. [2] [Treatment of females] In females, the author has found the application of pure carbolic acid to the clitoris an excellent means of allaying the abnormal excitement, and preventing the recurrence of the practice in those whose will power has become so weakened that the patient is unable to exercise entire self-control. The worst cases among young women are those in which the disease has advanced so far that erotic thoughts are attended by the same voluptuous sensations which accompany the practice. The author has met many cases of this sort in young women, who acknowledged that the sexual orgasm was thus produced, often several times daily. The application of carbolic acid in the manner described is also useful in these cases in allaying the abnormal excitement, which is a frequent provocation of the practice of this form of mental masturbation. Plain facts, pp. 294-6 J.H. Kellogg, Plain facts for young and old: Embracing the natural history of hygiene and organic life, 2nd edition, Burlington (Iowa), 1888, facsimile reprint (New York: Arno, 1974) NOTES1. This is an instance of the myth of Tyson’s glands, and a distortion of even that, since Edward Tyson claimed to have discovered the glands of the rim, or corona, of the glans, not on the foreskin at all. As Arthur Keith found in 1904, there are no glands on or under the foreskin or on any part of the penis normally covered by the foreskin; and if there are no glands, there cannot be any secretions. What Tyson called glands have since been identified as “pearly papules”, a common and perfectly harmless anatomical variant. See Arthur Keith and Arthur Shillitoe, “The preputial or odoriferous glands of man”, Lancet, 16 January 1904, pp. 146-8; and Arthur Hyman et al, “Tyson’s ‘Glands’: Ectopic sebaceous glands and papillomatosis penis”, Archives of Dermatology, Vol. 99, January 1969, pp. 31-6; and the letter from P.-H. Nexmand in Vol. 100, August 1969, p. 260, pointing out that the papules are harmless and should not be confused with genital warts.See also my notes to the 1935 circumcision controversy in Britain. None of these facts, known since 1904, has prevented ignorant enthusiasts for genital surgeries from claiming that the mere existence of these glands proved the necessity for circumcision. For a summary of the long career of the myth, see Cold and Taylor, The prepuce 2. It is interesting to note that, although Kellogg acknowledges that circumcision probably did as much harm as good, the evils of masturbation were judged so great that it was always justified as a treatment in these cases. 3. It is not at all clear that infibulation was commonly employed in either Britain or the USA, and it was probably rare outside mental hospitals and other institutions. Its great champion in Britain was Dr D. Yellowlees, medical superintendent at the Glasgow Royal Asylum, who published two articles on the virtues of his treatment: “Masturbation”, Journal of Mental Science, Vol. XXII, 1876, pp. 336-7; and “Masturbation”, in A dictionary of psychological medicine, ed. D. Hack Tuke (London: Churchill, 1892), pp. 784-6 |
