[317]
That many of these manifestations do occur in connection with masturbation
is unquestionable; there is also good reason to believe that some of them
may be the results of masturbation acting on an imperfectly healthy
organism. But in all such cases we must speak with great caution, for
there appears to be little reliable evidence to show that simple
masturbation, in a well-born and healthy individual, can produce any evil
results beyond slight functional disturbances, and these only when it is
practiced in excess. To illustrate the real pathological relationships of
masturbation, a few typical and important disorders may be briefly
considered.
The delicate mechanism of the eye is one of the first portions of the
nervous apparatus to be disturbed by any undue strain on the system; it is
not surprising that masturbation should be widely incriminated as a cause
of eye troubles. If, however, we inquire into the results obtained by the
most cautious and experienced ophthalmological observers, it grows evident
that masturbation, as a cause of disease of the eye, becomes merged into
wider causes. In Germany, Hermann Cohn, the distinguished ophthalmic
surgeon of Breslau, has dealt fully with the question.[318] Cohn, who
believes that all young men and women masturbate to some extent, finds
that masturbation must be excessive for eye trouble to become apparent. In
most of his cases there was masturbation several times daily during from
five to seven years, in many during ten years, and in one during
twenty-three years.
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