An inquiry into the influence of libidinous excess on the causation of locomotor ataxy or tabes dorsalis / by Thomas Laycock, M.D.

  • Laycock, Thomas, 1812-1876.
Date:
1869
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An inquiry into the influence of libidinous excess on the causation of locomotor ataxy or tabes dorsalis / by Thomas Laycock, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    bichloride of mercury was subsequently conjoined, and the occipital region shaved and blistered. Under this treatment he rapidly improved for a while, so that he became able to stand and walk alone. On 17th March, being satisfied with his improved health, he left the Infirmary. In this case there were such conditions operative on the sensory nerves of the glans penis which, by centripetal action, would induce morbid changes in the ganglia on the posterior roots, and in the posterior sensory columns. Such was the long strain on the nervi erigentes that induced the chordee; such also the long continued irritation of the large sensitive glans by the broad ulcer on it, and doubtless, the venereal gluttony might be rightly added. But all these are apt to be forgotten in the obvious and immediate exciting cause, viz., constant exposure of the legs to cold and damp. This exciting cause is so common that it is often noticed. Mr. Lockhart Clarke, in his able monograph on the disease in Vol. i. of St. George s Hospital Reports, observes that in persons who are predisposed, almost anything that depresses the nervous power, especially of the spinal cord, may prove an exciting cause Of all these a prolonged exposure to the combined operation of cold and damp is by far the most common, as it is probably the most certain in its eflfects. This fact being admitted it still remains to determine the special predisposing cause or causes, for precisely the same general exciting causes induce true paraplegia and other forms of spinal disease, and the question is left unsolved—what is that special condition of the nerve-centres (both cerebral and spinal) which so specially predisposes as to render cold available to the production of this special form of disease of the cord and brain ? The same remark applies to the alleged influence of age, sex, and heredity, which latter Trousseau dwells upon. All observers concur in stating that the disease specially aflfects males aged from twenty to fifty. Now this is the period of life during which the virile organs are most active; nor do the three cases mentioned by Friedreich, aged fifteen, sixteen, and eighteen respectively, invalidate the general fact. Yet none attempt to show why males of this age are so highly predisposed, nor why females are comparatively exempt. The facts would lead to the conclusion that the disease is in some relation to male sexual function; yet the majority of observers repudiate the notion. Mr. L. Clarke, it is true, speaks of onanism as an exciting cause; and Trousseau says, without going further, In nearly half the cases which have come under my