{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_69311/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_69311","id":"gutenberg_69311","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69311","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Health & Medicine","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Sexuality & Erotica","Masturbation -- Early works to 1800","Medicine -- Religious aspects"],"text":"ONANISM\nDISPLAY\u2019D:\nBEING,\nI. An Enquiry into the true Nature of ONAN\u2019S SIN.\nII. Of the Modern _Onanists_.\nIII. Of _Self-Pollution_, its Causes, and Consequences; with three\nextraordinary Cases, of two Young Gentlemen and a Lady, who were very\nmuch Addicted to this Crime.\nIV. Of _Nocturnal-Pollutions_ Natural and Forc\u2019d.\nV. The Great Sin of _Self-Pollution_, with the Judgment of the most\nEminent Divines upon this Subject.\nVI. A Dissertation concerning _Generation_, with a curious Description\nof the Parts, and of their proper Functions, _&c._ according to the\nlatest, and most approv\u2019d Anatomical Discoveries.\n\n\n                Made _English_ from the _Paris_ Edition.\n\n                          THE SECOND EDITION.\n\n                              __LONDON__:\n\n  Printed for E. CURLL, over against St. _Dunstan_\u2019s Church in\n    _Fleet-street_. MDCCXIX. (Price 1 _s._ 6 _d._)\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n                                PREFACE.\n\n\n_The Reader will immediately be sensible, that I have been led into the\nfirst part of this Treatise upon tracing the Impositions and\nInconsistencies of the Author of a Pamphlet Entitled _Onania_; and for\nthe latter part it may be easily concluded to proceed from no other\nMotive, but the Dictates of Nature._\n\n_It was impossible for an Author of any Spirit, after a particular\ndescription of the unnatural use of the Parts, that he could finish his\nLabours without thoroughly examining their admiral Structure: They being\nno less curious than delightful to a Youthful Swain, that\u2019s fir\u2019d with\nImagination._\n\n_The infinite number of fine Vessels are pleasing in Representation, as\nwell as otherways Ravishing, and the Nerves and Arteries are equally\nbeautiful, as they are transporting. The great and exquisite sense of\nthe Parts of _Generation_, give an Enjoyment transcending all others;\nand the Wisdom of our Creator, for the support of the World, cannot be\ntoo sufficiently admir\u2019d, in that Man is propagated by an excess of\nPleasure._\n\n_The following Treatise, I have by no means compos\u2019d to give a loose to\nDebauchery. I have only persu\u2019d the common Rules of Anatomy in this way\nof Writing, and interspers\u2019d a great variety of curious Observations and\nnatural Consequences as yet unobserv\u2019d, and I was naturally induc\u2019d to\nit more for the Information of Mankind in general, than for the Sons of\n_\u00c6sculapius_ in particular. The Gentleman of all Ranks not\nsuperannuated, may find some Pleasure in perusing it, and the fair Sex\nwill meet with such ample Instructions, as not to fail in the choice of\nan agreeable Person, for the amorous Combat._\n\n_For my _Dissertation_ upon the _Generation_ of _Man_, I am chiefly\noblig\u2019d to _Messieurs Lamy_, and _Dionis_,[1] those two excellent\nAnatomists; and if, in some parts of my Performance, I seem more\nLudicrous than any Author that has hitherto writ on the Subject; you\u2019ll\nfind on due consideration, \u2019tis owing to a more exact Enquiry; and\nCuriosity is not easily satisfied in the depth of the secrets of Nature.\nAnd I hope what I have mention\u2019d from a Learned _Casuist_,[2] will be a\nsufficient Antidote against the unlawful use of those curious Parts I\nhave so particularly described; as an Addition to which I farther\nrecommend a small Treatise (not long since publish\u2019d,) Entitled,\n__ESSAYS__ relating to the _Conduct of Life_, which contain sufficient\nand easy Instructions for a regular _OEconomy_, not only where the\nPassions are prevalent, but in all the Vicissitudes incident to Human\nNature._\n\nFootnote 1:\n\n  Dissertation sur la Generation de L\u2019Homme. Par _Monsieur Dionis, Paris\n  1697_.\n\nFootnote 2:\n\n  Traite de l\u2019Impuritie, par _Monsieur Ostervald_.\n\n_In the Writing of this small Work I carelesly omitted a material\nscrutiny of a Paragraph in _Onania; Page 16_. says this Author, \u2018some\nWomen are with held from being Prostitutes by their covetousness only:\nOthers for nothing else, but the fear of Diseases, or the having of\nChildren. Lascivious Widows, who understand the World have reason to\nscruple second Marriages on many accounts; some love their Liberty;\nothers their Money; and if they value their Reputation, they\u2019ll not dare\nto venture on unlawful Embraces; whereas in Self-pollution, neither the\nCautious, nor the Covetous imagine that they have any thing to fear.\u201d I\ntake it that this very plainly encourages the Sin of Self-pollution, if\nI may be allow\u2019d to deduce the Consequences of the latter from the\nformer; for he first says rightly, that unlawful Embraces are injurious\nto Reputations; but then insinuates that Self-pollution may be practis\u2019d\nwithout any Apprehensions. This and many other parts of his Treatise,\ndemonstrate his View to be the sale of his Medicines, though with a\ngreat deal of Cant he pretends the contrary, besides the very tacking of\nhis Apothecary\u2019s-shop, to his stupid Performance, without any farther\nconsiderations sufficiently shews his real Intentions. And I am so far\nfrom imitating this ignorant _Empirick_, that the only Remedy I\nprescribe, is that Infallible _Specifick_, in every ones power,\n__CHASTITY__._\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n                                ONANISM\n                               DISPLAY\u2019D.\n\n\n\n\n                            _INTRODUCTION._\n\n\nThe Author of a late Pamphlet entitled _ONANIA_ has by a Bundle of\nTheological Phrases, Scripture Quotations, and an affected Simplicity,\nattempted to possess the World with an Opinion, that his Designs in\npublishing that Treatise, were meerly with spiritual Views, and out of a\ntender regard to the preservation of the Healths and Constitutions of\nthe degenerate part of Mankind, without any the least Mercenary\nExpectations; and since it may possibly bear this Construction with\nPersons carelesly perusing his Performance, and the ignorant Multitude:\nI shall make it my Business to set forth the Absurdity, inconsistency,\nand imposture of this supercilious Scribler in every part; to prove that\nhis Treatise tends to the encouragement of Lewdness and Debauchery; that\nhis own Medicines promote the very Sin, he, for Interest sake, takes\nupon him to Discountenance; and to demonstrate, that he is really\nignorant of what was the Crime of _ONAN_. But I shall premise that my\nScheme is no ways calculated to propagate any manner of Uncleanness, but\non the contrary to discourage the practice of self-pollution, by\nillustrating the Sin more particularly; and enumerating more\nextraordinary Instances than hitherto any Author has done on the\nSubject.\n\nI agree with this Author in the Opinion of the Divine he has quoted,\nthat Self-pollution is a Crime in it self, monstrous and unnatural; its\nPractice filthy and odious, its Guilt crying, and its Consequences\nruinous: It destroys conjugal Affection, perverts natural Inclination,\nand tends to extinguish the hopes of Posterity; but I take leave to\nobserve that the Author of _ONANIA_ is egregiously mistaken in fixing\nthis Crime upon _ONAN_, as I shall incontestably prove when I have gone\nthro\u2019 my Examination of his trifling Performance, which I purpose to do\nwith all the exactness imaginable.\n\nAnd first, in Page 14. After setting forth Ignorance to be the first\ncause of Self-pollution, this Author goes on and tells you, that the\nsecond is the secrecy with which Self-pollution may be committed: All\nother Actions of uncleanness (says he) must have a Witness, this needs\nnone. Some lustful Women of sense, have made all the outward shew of\nVirtue and Morality that can be requir\u2019d; they have had prudence enough,\nin the midst of strong Desires, to refuse disadvantageous Matches, and\nyet have abandon\u2019d themselves to this Vice, when at the same time they\nwould rather have died than betray\u2019d a weakness to any Man living, as\nafterwards, becoming Penitents, they have confessed themselves. And\nagain some young Men of vicious Inclinations, have either naturally, or\nfor want of a liberal Education been shame-fac\u2019d to excess; they have\nnot dar\u2019d to look upon a Woman, and their Bashfulness has secur\u2019d them\nfrom every act of Impurity but this. From all which it is evident that\nthe secrecy of this Sin, has betray\u2019d many into it, whom hardly any\nthing else would have tempted.\n\nIn answer to this, tho\u2019 it must be confess\u2019d that secrecy in some\nmeasure promotes this Vice, yet Ignorance and the want of a liberal\nEducation can in no respect be constru\u2019d to have an equal Effect: An\nignorant Person may be rationally presum\u2019d to be less influenc\u2019d by\nimpure Imaginations, than a Person of a tolerable share of Sense; his\nIgnorance may be so extensive, as to cloud all manner of Enjoyments, and\nallow him no Thoughts of pursuing imaginary pleasures; whilst the Man of\nsense is perpetually devising new Diversions, and proportions his\nEnjoyment to the extent of his Capacity; he vigorously pursues the\nTracts of Lewdness and Debauchery, and is restless and uneasy, until he\nhas acted in all Scenes, and gone thro\u2019 the utmost variety of brutal\nEnjoyments; this I take to be highly conspicuous in the Rakes of the\nTown, who are frequently Persons of sprightly Wit, and endu\u2019d with no\nsmall share of substantial Sense.\n\nAnd as for the want of a liberal Education, I cannot easily guess at the\nmeaning of the Author, unless it be the want of being train\u2019d up in the\nHundreds of _Drury_, it being very certain that in a Scholastick\nEducation, the perusal of ludicrous Authors, which all Youths of Spirit\nare fond of making choice of for their Studies, excites them to\nuncleanness infinitely beyond Ignorance; and that the want of Education\nshould occasion such an invincible Bashfulness, as to deter a Person\nfrom looking on a Woman, is such an imposition upon the illiterate part\nof Mankind, which make up at least three Parts in four of the Creation,\nthat nothing can be like it, when we consider that the Enjoyment of a\nWoman is so natural, that no bounds of Shame will confine it, and that\nPersons in all other Respects modest, have a strong propensity to\ncopulation, and cannot conquer this passion, like others more visible to\nthe World, by Shame or any other means.\n\nShame I take to be more a defect in Nature, and want of Resolution to\nact in Publick, than to discourage the private Amours of Youth, which by\na due management may be easily carried on with sufficient secrecy: And\nwe oftentimes find a bashful Person more inclinable to Vice than the Man\nof assurance, tho\u2019 he supports the Character with more Hipocrisy; his\nIntrigues are carried on with an entire secrecy, and he can enter upon\nhis Lewdness with an air of Gravity and Innocence, when the Sinner of\nResolution as frankly owns his Experience, as he commits the Crime. But\nto go on with this Author, in page 17. He says, it is the general\nOpinion, that the shameless are the worst of People, yet shame when ill\nplac\u2019d, has often wrought worse Effects, than the reverse alone has been\nable to produce. When a Bastard Infant is found Dead, and the Mother,\nlately deliver\u2019d without Witness, is not able to prove either that she\nhad made Provision for it, or during her pregnancy imparted the secret\nto another, besides the Father, our _English_ Law, without any other\nEvidence, presumes the Woman to have murder\u2019d the Child. From whence it\nis evident the Legislators must have suppos\u2019d that some Women may have\ncruelty enough to commit the most unnatural Murder of all, and at the\nsame time want Courage to bear shame.\n\nThis penetrating Author does not consider, that \u2019tis not so much the\nwant of Courage to bear a present shame, as to prevent a future expence\nin the maintaining and breeding up a Child, which most commonly\noccasions these unnatural Murders; and where a Crime of this Nature can\nbe perpetrated with secrecy, so that the guilty Persons may come off\nwith impunity, I take it that in all Cases the incumbrance is more\nconsider\u2019d than the shame.\n\nI am not of his Opinion in Page 18. that Women are equally immodest with\nMen, and that Custom and Education only prevents their shewing it. For\nin the Infancy of Children, before the force of Education can possibly\ntake place, or sense prevail, as a Guide to their Actions, we frequently\nfind an abounding Modesty in the Female, and a large share of Boldness\nin the Male, produc\u2019d from the same Loins, and this I have observ\u2019d is\ngenerally the Case, which can proceed from nothing but Nature.\n\nAnd in Page 19. says this Author, if Children were strictly forbid never\nto touch their Eyes or Nose, but with their Handkerchiefs, and that only\nupon very urgent Necessities; if likewise they saw every Body comply\nwith this Custom, and it was counted abominable to touch them with their\nnaked Hands, I can\u2019t see why this might not be as shocking to them when\ngrown up, as now the most guilty Denudations are to well bred People.\nNow this curious Observation upon the efficacy of Custom being\nintroduc\u2019d in a Paragraph treating of Modesty and Chastity, I appeal to\nall Persons of any sense or discernment, whether it does not imply, that\nall Modesty and Virtue is establish\u2019d only by Custom, and whether it\ndoes not entirely destroy the notion of an innate Principle. This\nconcludes his first Chapter, and I take it to be very evident, that\nunder a Cloak of Divinity, this Author slily propagates Doctrines fatal\nto Religion, and highly reflecting on the Reputations of the Virtuous.\n\nChap. II. Page 25. In Women, he says, Self-pollution, if frequently\npractis\u2019d, relaxes and spoils the retentive Faculty, occasions the\n_Fluor Albus_, an obnoxious, as well as perplexing illness attending\nthat Sex, which upon account of the Womb, may draw on a whole Legion of\nDiseases; among other disorders, it makes them look pale, and those who\nare not of a good Complexion, swarthy and hagged. It frequently is the\ncause of Hysterick Fits, and sometimes by draining away all the radical\nMoisture causes Consumptions. But what it more often produces than\neither, is Barrenness, a misfortune very afflictive to them, because\nseldom to be redress\u2019d; He seems to make very little difference between\nthe fatal Consequences of Self-pollution in either of the Sexes, when it\nmust be allow\u2019d to be great, on duly considering the situation of the\nparts; the Male can with abundantly more ease effect a titillation on\nhis external Testicles, than the Female facilitate the least pleasure in\nher Womb; and as the difficulty is greater, it must deter a constant\npractice, and consequently not be attended with Symptoms, equally\ndireful. And I doubt not, but this Author would much rather see a Legion\nof Gallants waiting upon a Female, than one single act of\nSelf-pollution, his Interest being more nearly concern\u2019d in the vending\nof his Venereal Medicines.\n\nAgreeable to this, in Page 46. Treating of Repentance, he goes on, it is\nnot enough for Youth to renounce their Crime, without renouncing\nlikewise all the approaches to it. All the several species of Impurity,\nand the defilements of either Body or Mind, all lewd Actions, wanton\nGlances, impure Thoughts and Desires, together with such familiarities\nas expose to Temptations, all obscene Discourse or Expressions, and\nwhich are contrary to Chastity. It is true this Renunciation may appear\ndifficult at first, and will occasion no small trouble to those that\nhave contracted a vicious Habit, of giving themselves up to all sorts of\nPassions: But People must couragiously resolve to overcome themselves,\nit being far better to deny themselves in those Things, and to cross\ntheir own Inclinations for a time, than by pursuing them to perish\neternally. _It is profitable that one of _their_ Members should perish,\nand not that _their_ whole Body should be cast into Hell._ The tacking\nof this Quotation from Scripture, by a dispenser of Medicines,\npretending only to cure Venereal Maladies, seems very plain and\ndemonstrable to be done with a design of increasing Whoredom and\nFornication, at the same time he pretends to lash the Crime of\nSelf-pollution; what he can otherwise mean by the perishing of one\n_Member_, is to me a mystery; and in many other parts of his Treatise he\nslily insinuates Notions and Comparisons no way coherent, to promote his\nProfession of Quackism.\n\nIn Page 54. After he has inserted a pretended Letter from a Young\nGentleman in the Country, setting forth the dreadful Miseries he\nlabour\u2019d under thro\u2019 a frequent practice of Self-pollution, _viz._\nrepeating it eight Times an hour; our Author solemnly declares, that he\nconcluded this Letter with requesting his Advice, and informing him that\nhe never carnally knew any Person (I suppose meaning neither Man nor\nWoman) or defil\u2019d himself otherwise, than by Self-pollution. Setting\naside the very great suspicion of this, and the rest of the Letters in\nthis Treatise being forg\u2019d, there being no Names of the Writers, to whom\ndirected, or any Dates to them, the Author Acts very inconsistently, in\nnot setting forth the conclusion of the Letter relating to carnal\nknowledge in the Letter it self, but instead thereof, he imposes upon\nthe World, his own Affirmation, as the only Authority. If he be himself\nthe Author of those Letters, as I suppose he may, indeed it has equal\nsanction from his own Mouth deliver\u2019d at another time, but if he be not\nthe Inventer of those Bundles of Nonsense, certainly the Genuine Letter\nought to be inserted verbatim to the end. And why he mentions that part\nof the Letter at all, unless it be with a secret Design of propagating\nother uncleanness more detestable as it brings a double Guilt, I cannot\nwell understand, since he no where takes notice of the calamities\nattending Whoredom and Fornication, tho\u2019 the Crimes are often repeated.\n\nTowards the Conclusion of this Treatise, in Page 74. The more easily to\nimpose upon the publick, a solemn Declaration is made, that he neither,\nhas, or ever design\u2019d to have the least Interest or share in the\nProfits, that now are, or hereafter may accrue from the sale of the\nMedicines; this seems to be an Evasion equally contriv\u2019d to any of the\nforegoing; is it not easy to imagine, that, (tho\u2019 his Performance is\ncompos\u2019d of stupidity) he is not himself the Author, even of that? And\nthat this is not his Declaration, but that of the Writer of his insipid\nTreatise; and whether this be not a natural Construction, I submit to\nthe Determination of all impartial Readers. There are several other\nFallacies and Impostures, which might be trac\u2019d through his trifling\nPerformance, but I shall content my self with the particulars I have\nalready examin\u2019d: And as in Page 63. He mentions the Advice of\n_Boccalini_, given as an Antidote against Whoredom, _viz._ that Persons\nthat way inclin\u2019d should carry about with them, a well drawn Picture, of\nthe most perfect and faultless Beauty that ever appear\u2019d in Flesh and\nBlood, pencil\u2019d over again with rotten Teeth, blear Eyes, and Noseless;\nand that whenever Desires of the Flesh stir, they would take a sober\nView of it, and seriously consider what they are about to do, and the\nConsequences, which no doubt would damp their Inclinations. I shall\ninsert some particulars of this nature, which will give a more lively\nIdea of the Folly and Madness, and more effectually deter a pursuit of\ncarnal Pleasures from Sir _Roger L\u2019Estrange_\u2019s Translation of\n_QUEVEDO_\u2019s Visions.\n\n\nIn the fifth Vision of the World, a Dialogue is begun between a Young\nLibertine, and a grave Old Gentleman; \u2018says the Libertine, there past by\na Lady of Pleasure, of so excellent a Shape, and Garb, that it was\nimpossible to see her without a Passion for her, and no less impossible\nto look upon any Thing else so long as she was to be seen: They that had\nseen her once, were to see her no more: for she turn\u2019d her Face still to\nnew Comers: Her Motion was graceful and free, one while she\u2019d stare ye\nfull in the Eyes, under colour of opening her Hood, to set it in better\norder: By and by she\u2019d steal a look at ye with one Eye, and a side Face,\nfrom the corner of her Vizor; like a Witch that\u2019s afraid to be known\nwhen she comes from a Catterwal; and then out comes the delicate Hand,\nand discovers the more delicious Neck and Breasts, to adjust the\nHandkerchief or the Scarf; or to remove some other grievance that made\nher Ladyship uneasy. Her Hair was most artificially dispos\u2019d into\ncareless Rings; and the best Red and White in Nature was in her Cheeks;\nif that of her Lips and Teeth did not exceed it. In a word, all she\nlook\u2019d upon were her own; the Old Man opposing this Romance; says the\nYoung Gentleman, he must be either Blind or Barbarous that\u2019s proof\nagainst the Charms of so divine a Beauty; nor would any but a Sot let\nslip the blessed opportunity, of so fair an Encounter; that he that has\nher, has all that\u2019s lovely or desirable in Nature: What lightning does\nshe carry in her Eyes! What Charms and Chains in her Looks and Motions,\nfor the very Souls of her Beholders! Was ever any Thing so clear, as her\nForehead? Or so black as her Eye-brows? One would swear that her\nComplection had taken a Tincture of Vermillion and Milk: And that Nature\nhad brought her into the World with Pearl and Rubies in her Mouth, to\nspeak all in little, she\u2019s the Master-piece of the Creation, worthy of\ninfinite praise, and equal to our largest Desires and Imaginations.\n\n\u2018Here the Old Gentleman interrupted the Young Libertine, and told him he\nwas a Man of much Wonder and small Experience, and deliver\u2019d over to the\nSpirit of Folly and Blindness. The Truth of it is, said he, that this\nprodigious Beauty of yours, hires all by the day; and if you did but see\nthis Puppet taken to pieces, you would find her little else but Paint\nand Plaister. To begin her Anatomy at the head; you must know that the\nHair she wears, is borrow\u2019d of a Tire-Woman, for her own was blown off\nby an unlucky Wind from the coast of _Naples_; or if she has any left,\nshe keeps it private, as a Memorial of her Antiquity; she is beholden to\nthe Pencil for her Eye-brows and Complection: And upon the whole matter\nshe\u2019s but an old Picture refresht; all that you see of her that\u2019s good,\ncomes from distill\u2019d Waters, Essences, Powders, and the like; and to see\nthe washing of her Face would fright the Devil: She abounds in\nPomanders, sweet Waters, Spanish Pockets, perfum\u2019d Drawers; and all\nlittle enough to qualifie the poisonous Whiffs she sends from her Toes\nand Armpits, which would otherwise out stink Ten Thousand Pole-Cats: She\ncannot chuse but kiss well, for her Lips are perpetually bath\u2019d in Oil\nand Grease; and he that embraces her, shall find the better half of her\nthe Taylors, and only a stuffing of Cotton, and Canvas to supply the\ndefects of her Body. What do you think of your ador\u2019d Beauty now?\u2019\n\nAnd in another place of the same Author, the following account is given\nof a Visit to ill-favour\u2019d Women; \u2018some had their Faces so pounc\u2019d and\nspeckled, as if they had been scarified, and newly past the cupping\nGlass; with a World of little Plaisters, long, round, square; and\nbriefly cut out into such variety, that it would have posed a good\nMathematician to have found out another Figure; and you would have\nsworn, that they had been either at Cats-play or Cuffs: Others were\nscraping their Faces with pieces of Glass; tearing up their Eye-brows by\nthe Roots like mad; and some that had none to tear, were fetching out of\ntheir black Boxes, such as they could get or make: Others were powdering\nand curling the false Locks, or fastning their new Ivory Teeth in the\nplace of their old Ebony ones: Some were chewing Limmon-peal or\nCinnamon, to countenance a foul Breath; and raising themselves upon\ntheir Ciopines, that their View might be the fairer, and their fall the\ndeeper: Others were quarrelling with their Looking-glasses, for shewing\nthem such Hags countenances; and cursing the _State_ of _Venice_, for\nentertaining no better Workmen; some with their Hogs-grease and Pomatum,\nwere sleeking and polishing their Faces; and indeed, their Fore-heads\nwere bright and shining, though there were neither Suns nor Stars in\nthat Firmament: And others were daubing one another, to take away the\nHeats and Buboes; so far does a Woman\u2019s Wit and Invention carry her, to\nher own Destruction.\u2019 And in another Vision lewd Women are justly\ncall\u2019d, _the Devil\u2019s Factresses_.\n\nThis is a small Digression from my Subject, but as I was naturally lead\ninto it, by the Treatise I have been examining, and it may tend to the\ndiscouragement of unlawful Pleasures, I hope it is excuseable. I now\nproceed to shew that the Author is mistaken in the Sin of _ONAN_, and to\ndemonstrate what was really his Crime.\n\n\n\n\n                               _CHAP._ I.\n         _Of_ _ONAN_\u2019s _Crime; and the Sin of_ SELF-POLLUTION.\n\n\nThe Text of Scripture runs thus. _And _Judah_ said unto __ONAN__, Go in\nunto thy Brother\u2019s Wife, and Marry her, and raise up Seed to thy\nBrother. And __ONAN__ knew that the Seed should not be his; and it came\nto pass, when he went in unto his Brother\u2019s Wife, that he spilled it on\nthe Ground, lest that he should give Seed to his Brother._ 38. Chap.\nGenesis, Verses 8, 9, 10.\n\nThough some Authors seem to make _ONAN_\u2019s chief Crime to be\nSelf-pollution, yet the learned Bishop _Patrick_, in his Commentary upon\nthe _38th Chapter _of_ Genesis_, is of a contrary Opinion, _viz._\n\n  \u2018Verse 8. _Go in unto thy Brother\u2019s Wife._ This was an ancient Custom\n  in force by the Law of _Moses_, which only exacted what had been\n  formerly practis\u2019d, _viz._ that when a Man died without issue, his\n  next Brother should Marry his Wife. _Deut. 25. 5._\n\n  \u2018_And raise up Seed to thy Brother_; is meant preserve thy Brother\u2019s\n  Name and Family, by begetting a Child, which may be accounted his, and\n  inherit his Estate. For so the Law was, that the first Born of such a\n  Match, was not to be look\u2019d upon, as a Child of him that begot him;\n  but as his Brother\u2019s, who was the Mother\u2019s first Husband; though all\n  the following Children were to be his own.\n\n  \u2018Verse 9. _ONAN_ _knew that the Seed should not be accounted his in\n  the first Born, but his Brothers._ And least the Child should be born\n  in the Name of his Brother; v. 10. _The Thing which he did displeased\n  the Lord._ This made the Sin the more heinous, that he acted against\n  the divine Promise made to _Abraham_, concerning the multiplying of\n  his Seed.\n\n  \u2018The contract of Marriage was so understood in those Days, that if the\n  Husband died without Issue, the Woman was oblig\u2019d to Marry his next\n  Brother, and as long as any of his Brethren remain\u2019d, they were bound\n  to Marry his Wife, and preserve their Brother\u2019s Memory, or solemnly\n  renounce, to their very great Infamy. This was so well known, that no\n  new contract was enjoyn\u2019d in such a Case; for the first Husband being\n  dead, she and the next Brother were Man and Wife, without any farther\n  Agreement or Ceremony, by Virtue of the Original Law.\u2019\n\nThe learned Prelate in this Comment, omits mentioning the spilling of\nthe Seed, but it may be rationally presum\u2019d he did it not so much out of\na regard to Modesty, as its being a trifling part of the Charge against\n_ONAN_; since he determines _ONAN_\u2019s great Crime to be his not complying\nwith the Law of _Moses_, in the Marriage of his Brothers Wife; tho\u2019 he\nadds, that his Sin was the more heinous for his acting contrary to the\npromise made to _Abraham_, in relation to the multiplying of his Seed.\n\nWhat provok\u2019d _ONAN_ to the Breach of this Law, I take to be evident,\nwas his not being allow\u2019d the Reputation of begetting the first Child on\nhis Brothers Wife, which in all Marriages is attended with more\nsatisfaction, than any of the future Progeny.\n\nThere might be other probable Reasons given for _ONAN_\u2019s breaking this\nLaw of _Moses_; as envy to the Memory of his deceas\u2019d Brother, dislike\nor prejudice to his Wife, _&c._ But to Comment a little farther upon the\n38 _Chapter_ of _Genesis_, in respect to _ONAN_\u2019s Crime, it may not be\namiss to examine some preceding Verses.\n\nVerse. 2. _And_ Judah _saw there, a Daughter of a certain_ Cananite,\n_whose Name was_ Shuah; _and he took her, and went in unto her. And she\nconceiv\u2019d, and bare a Son, and he call\u2019d his Name_ Er. By this, and many\nother parts of the Scripture it is apparent, that the Words _going in_\nunto a Woman, were meant in those times actual Copulation, so that when\n_ONAN_ _went in_ unto his Brother\u2019s Wife, it must be constru\u2019d, that he\nbegan the pleasure of Matrimony, though, he did not perfect it by reason\nhe spilt his Seed on the Ground; that is, he withdrew from his Brothers\nWife, and did not consummate the Marriage; which displeas\u2019d the Lord,\nwherefore he slew him.\n\nAgreeable to this in some measure, is the modern Custom amongst Persons\nof distinction in their amorous Intrigues; who after they are actually\ningag\u2019d in the pleasures of _Venus_, by a sudden ereption of the\nPrivities, separate from the Female the instant they feel the\nTitillation in the extreme Parts, and before the _Emissio Seminis_; to\nprevent the effects of a teeming Womb, which would not only occasion a\nconsiderable expence, but expose the Female, and very much impair the\nBeauty of her Form. And of this nature, I take the Sin of _ONAN_ to be,\nin relation to his spilling his Seed on the Ground, though not committed\nwith the same design.\n\nThese particulars fully shew, that _ONAN_\u2019s Sin was not Self-pollution,\nas laid down by the Author of _ONANIA_, and for that he had the\nAssistance of his Brother\u2019s Wife. I come now to the Sin of\nSelf-pollution, and begin with the Causes.\n\nI am by no means of the Author\u2019s Opinion, that Self-pollution is\nentirely occasion\u2019d by Ignorance, Secrecy, Shame, or other particular\nCauses mention\u2019d in his Treatise, as I have already observ\u2019d, with my\nReasons confuting the same; to which I may add, this farther, that few,\nor no Persons can be ignorant, that Self-pollution is a Sin. I look upon\nit to be more a natural Distemper occasion\u2019d by a vicious ferment of the\nBlood, than to proceed from any of the Causes set forth by the Author of\nSelf-pollution, and that this may be agitated by lewd Company, Obscene\nPictures, _&c._ It is impossible, that ignorance can increase this\nCrime, when it is esteem\u2019d the Mother of Devotion, and in my Opinion,\nthe firmest limits to Chastity. Without some experience, no considerable\nprogress can be made, and \u2019tis the highest inconsistency to call an\nexperienc\u2019d Person ignorant.\n\nOther Causes of Self-pollution, I take it may be justly attributed to\nthe very great hazards Young Gentlemen are constantly expos\u2019d to with\nWomen of the Town (not that I allow any unlawful desires) for tho\u2019 the\nCrime of Self-pollution be in its nature heinous, and the Consequences\nare to be fear\u2019d by all considerate Persons, yet the Sin doth not in any\nrespect seem so dreadful to vigorous Youth, as that of Whoredom, and the\nCalamities attending, are generally more remote in prospect. A Clap or a\nPox will immediately ensue in the most terrible manner (the Beauty of\nthe Front, and the most valuable parts of the Body, being particularly\nin danger) in the case of Copulation with an unsound Woman, when the\nconsequences of Self-pollution only steal on you by degrees, and will be\na considerable space before the direful Effects shall be visible. This I\ntake to be a principal Cause of Self-pollution, especially where Persons\nhave suffer\u2019d in their Intrigues with lewd Women; and what encreases it\nin this case, is the pernicious Salt of a transmissive Nature,\noftentimes remaining in the center of the Blood, upon taking unbounded\nquantities of Mercurial Preparations; some Young Gentlemen have\nconfess\u2019d to me, that after the cure of the secret Disease by\nQuack-physicians, their Inclinations have encreas\u2019d, with the number of\ntheir venerial Maladies, which can proceed from no other cause than a\npollution of the Blood occasion\u2019d by the Dregs of ill prepar\u2019d\nMedicines.\n\nI have known two very remarkable Cases of this kind in the Country. One\nwas a half witted young Fellow, being with artifice entic\u2019d to the act\nof Fornication with an unclean Woman, who after a cure of the Disease he\nreceiv\u2019d by her, was so strangely addicted to Self-pollution, that at\nlength there was far greater difficulty to preserve his impair\u2019d\nCarcass, than in curing of his nauseous Distemper, notwithstanding, he\nhad it with severity: He would sit down upon the Floor, and with Eyes\nlift up violate Nature in a seeming Transport, and oftentimes repeat\nthis unnatural Sin, with an uncommon pleasure: At last he confess\u2019d it,\nand on a private Examination declar\u2019d, that he never had any inclination\nto Self-pollution, before he had receiv\u2019d his venerial Injury, and\nlargely taken of the Surgeons Preparations, tho\u2019 this Woman was not the\nfirst that he had carnally known. The other Case within my knowledge,\nwas, that of a rakish Young Gentleman, who having run through his\nFortune in Extravagancies, particularly on the fair Sex, when he could\nno longer splendidly subsist, or afford the expence of unlawful\nPleasures, being perpetually tormented with a violent inclination to\nWomen; at last after a long continuance of Self-pollution, he\ncouragiously Castrated himself, as the only cure of his vicious\nAppetite. But the next News I heard, as indeed I expected, was, that he\nhad with equal resolution shot himself through the Head.\n\n\u2019Tis very certain, that Persons in mean Circumstances, are thereby in\nmany Respects render\u2019d unable to pursue their darling Vices; but where\nthe Principles are vitiated, or the Passions prevalent, there is no\nShield of Self-defence against ill Actions: The Person wholly void of\nHonesty, will commit Thefts and Robberies upon the Persons of others to\nenrich himself; and the lustful Person will satisfy his Brutal\ninclinations by Friction, or other abominable Enjoyments, for want of\nability, to purchase more acceptable Crimes: And as the want of\nCircumstances is many times a cause of Self-pollution, so the Person in\npossession of a large Fortune, is frequently guilty of the Sin of\nWhoredom, accompanied with more dreadful Consequences, and Nature only,\nunder the severest Discipline, must in all Cases regulate the lustful\nAppetite.\n\nThe design of providence, for the preservation of Mankind in a State of\nInnocence, is visible throughout all the works of the Creation; there is\nno condition of Life, but a Person may go thro\u2019 free from Guilt and\nInfamy; and particularly in Uncleanness, Nocturnal-pollution proceeding\nmeerly from Nature without force, is certainly intended to correct\nlustful Inclinations; but when it arises from vicious contemplations,\nand impure Ideas conceiv\u2019d in the Mind, it is a sinful Act, though not\nequally criminal to Self-pollution.\n\nPollution by the hand of a Woman, is always attended with more fatal\nconsequences to the Man than any other; the impure Thoughts are more\nstrongly impress\u2019d by the presence of the Female, than its possible in\nher absence, and the imaginations so heighten\u2019d by her Touch, as to\ncommit the greater violence on Nature. By this, the parts are more\nconsiderably strain\u2019d, and their natural Strength and Vigour abated.\nThis naturally leads me to the various ways of Self-pollution in wanton\nFemales, which are so intolerable, that Modesty forbids a particular\nDescription. I shall only mention, that a Lascivious Woman, by the use\nof a pleasurable Toy, and an injection of Milk, or other Moisture, may\npossibly continue Self-pollution for a longer space than copulation with\na Man, no Spirits being drain\u2019d or Strength exhausted by the means\nherein applied; and \u2019tis reported that some lewd Females will commence\nthis vile practice, before their Privities are fledg\u2019d with Maturity.\n\nTo demonstrate the consequences of a lewd Conversation in regard to the\nCrime of Self-pollution, I shall here present you with an ample account\nof a Club of Young Gentlemen, I have been inform\u2019d, was not many Years\nago establish\u2019d in, or near _Long-Acre_; the most abominable Nursery of\nLewdness and Debauchery, perhaps, that ever was heard of in any Country,\nunless it be in the remote parts of _Europe_ amongst the vile Sects of\nincestuous _Adamites_, whom Histories mention, when the Words _increase\nand multiply_, were repeated in their religious Service (which was very\ncommon) they immediately extinguish\u2019d their Candles, and promiscuously\nmix\u2019d in carnal Enjoyments. This Club \u2019tis said, was held thrice a Week\nat the House of a noted Victualler, who was a Stranger to the Actions of\nhis Guests for a considerable time; they had a Supper and plenty of\nstrong Liquors constantly provided to their no small Expence; they were\ngovern\u2019d by a President of the Night, who was commonly elected after\nSupper, and the whole Assembly struggled for this Honour: The method of\nElection was thus; every one according to his Seniority advanc\u2019d himself\nin turn upon a high Joint-stool plac\u2019d against a Wall, and with a sort\nof Emulation, there practis\u2019d Self-pollution as long, as his strength\nwould permit, and he that repeated the Sin the greatest number of times,\nwas immediately declar\u2019d their Chief for the next time of meeting: And\nto facilitate their unnatural Pleasures; their Eatings generally\nconsisted of strong Soops, Gravies, Fish, Jellies, and other\nprovocatives to Lust; and their whole Conversation turn\u2019d on their\nExcellency and Perfection in this most detestable Crime. This Account I\nhave had of this Club, with this Addition, that a Member of it might be\nknown by his spindle Shanks, fallen Jaws, and pale wither\u2019d Countenance,\nbut as it is not within my own knowledge, I cannot aver it to be fact,\nand to me it seems so monstrous as not to be credited in the whole, what\never it may in part; however I thought fit to insert it, to render the\nCrime the more odious and hateful to all.\n\nAnd to this I may add other pernicious Consequences proceeding from this\nCrime, as an irrecoverable Impotency, which renders a Man inanimate,\nintoxicates his reason, and debases Nature, so as to occasion the\n_Diabetis_ and other fatal lingering Diseases; for the aliment of the\nBlood is so far vitiated and impair\u2019d by a frequent repetition of this\nSin, that it is wholly unable to perform its office of Circulation with\nany regularity.\n\nThus I have detected the several Fallacies, Inconsistencies, and\nImpositions of the Author of _ONANIA_; prov\u2019d that he is mistaken in the\nCrime of _ONAN_; that the design, of his Book was to encourage Lewdness,\nand thereby promote the sale of destructive Medicines, which many times\noccasion a conflux of Humours, and incurable Diseases; shewn that Quack\nPreparations promote the very Sin he with views of Interest pretends to\ndiscountenance, set forth the real Crime of _ONAN_, and the Causes and\nfatal Consequences of Self-pollution: I now proceed to the heinousness\nof the _SIN_.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n                              _CHAP._ II.\n   _The_ _SIN_ _of_ _SELF-POLLUTION_, _the means to avoid it, and to\n                          attain_ _CHASTITY_.\n\n\nThe Learned _Ostervald_ treating of the several Species of Uncleanness,\nsays it is easy to discern \u2018that impure Actions are forbidden for two\nReasons. First, because they are likely means of carrying Men to the\ngrosser Crime: People don\u2019t ordinarily arrive at the height of\nWickedness all at once, but by certain Steps and Degrees. They begin\nwith what they think lawful; they accustom themselves to violate the\nrules of Chastity in such Instances, as they perswade themselves, can\nhave no great hurt in them: But then from these lesser Offences, they\nproceed to others, whose Wickedness they cannot but be sensible of; and\nso at length they fall into the more horrid Crime. But in the second\nplace, though we should never come thus far, and our unchaste Actions\nshould never push us on to the utmost Licentiousness, they however\ndefile the Soul; they increase the inclination to Uncleanness, and\nwithdraw from God; as a very little Observation will inform those, who\nallow themselves in these sort of Liberties.\n\n\u2018To impure Actions, may be subjoin\u2019d such Looks, as are contrary to\nChastity, inasmuch, as a Man may be guilty also of Sin in this respect,\nwhether in beholding such Objects, or in reading such Books, as may be\napt to beget unlawful Desires. It is an undoubted Truth, that impure\nPassions are chiefly rais\u2019d and inflam\u2019d by the sight, and that it is\nimpossible to continue Chast without a diligent care to govern the Eyes,\nand to turn them away from whatsoever might seduce the Heart. Let but\nany one enquire into the Objects I am speaking of, and the Impressions\nthey are apt to make upon the Mind, and this will presently convince him\nof the Evil and Danger of suffering his Eyes to dwell upon them: These\nObjects pollute the Imagination, filling it with lustful Thoughts; and\nit is only through the Temptation of sensuality, that any can fix their\nEyes upon them, or take any manner of pleasure in them. The holy\nScriptures sufficiently caution against these undue Liberties; it was by\nthe sight that _David_ was entic\u2019d to commit Iniquity: And _Job_, who\nliv\u2019d at a time when moral Chastity was less known, than it has been\nsince, had yet learn\u2019d, that the principal Duty of Chastity was to\nregulate the Sight.\u2019\n\n\nThere are many Things conducive to Chastity, as the pious example of\nSuperiours, a Godly Conversation, Books of Devotion, a firm Resolution,\nTemperance, _&c._ And at all Seasons, Persons ought to use their utmost\nEndeavours for overcoming their inclinations to Impurity; but there are\nsome times, and opportunities, wherein it is done far more easily than\nat others. In matters of Salvation, as well, as in all others, a great\ndeal depends upon a choice of proper Seasons: No-body, but must have\nfound, that he is not always equally well disposed: Upon some occasions\na thing will appear almost insuperable, which yet will not be so at\nanother time: Take a Man given to any particular passion, and in the\ninstant, when he is seiz\u2019d and transported with it: All you can say to\nthe contrary, will make no Impression upon him; yet take the same Person\nout of his passion, when his Blood is cold, and you will see him very\ndifferent. The Impure have their intervals, and these longer or shorter,\nand more or less frequent, according as the Habit they have contracted\nis stronger or weaker; there are some, over whom this passion has so\ngreat an Ascendency, that they are almost perpetually employ\u2019d by it;\nyet such as these have some more favourable Moments, wherein they are\ncapable of reflection, and wherein their Passion allows them some\nrespite without opposition.\n\nBut there is nothing to be done without Resolution and Confidence; and\nwe may be assur\u2019d, that God\u2019s enjoining of Chastity, is an incontestable\nproof, that People may attain it: It is by no means to be presum\u2019d, that\nour great Creator, who is all Justice, would under pain of Damnation\ncommand the observance of such Duties, as he knows to be entirely out of\nour power: No, there are means of performing what he injoins, not\nattended with unconquerable difficulties: And as it is he, who has\nordered these means; so has he engaged himself to second them with his\nblessing, whenever we commence a sincere obedience to his Laws.\n\nIt would be strange to find any make a Question of this; but it must be\ngranted, that as this Duty is not to be acquir\u2019d with equal ease at all\ntimes, so it is not alike easy to all sorts of Persons; and some find\nconsiderable trouble in it; and so it is in all the other Duties of\nMorality: There are some, who whether from their natural Tempers and\nConstitutions, or from the bad Habits they have contracted, are\nviolently press\u2019d on to certain Passions, and must encounter\nSelf-difficulties before they can make the least conquest over them: An\neagerness of Temper, and fullness of Heat, with an ill Habit too long\nindulg\u2019d, will render Persons so prone to anger, that they must be very\ndiligent and watchful, and always upon their guard, or they will not be\nable to avoid it; but it will very ill become these to offer this for\ntheir excuse; for by this means, there is no Person but would be able to\nvindicate himself: So in a temporal Sense, were Criminals allow\u2019d to\nplead a strong inclination and proneness of Nature, to the committing of\nCrimes, there would be no such thing as Justice or Government in the\nWorld.\n\nTho\u2019 many Persons are strongly press\u2019d to Impurity, yet it cannot be\nconcluded, from hence, that there are no methods of Preservation from\nthis Passion: If they brought themselves into this State by their own\nfault, and for want of using the means proper in order to Chastity, this\nis no Evidence that these means are not sufficient for their purpose:\nThe Case is the same here, as if a Man had fallen into a dangerous\nIndisposition for not using certain Preservatives or Remedies, which\ndoes not shew that he had no means of preventing his Sickness, but only\nthat he did not make a right use of them: Those who are entangled in\nthis dangerous Passion, and whose return to Chastity appears very\ndifficult, may yet be assur\u2019d, that they may recover themselves: It is\ntrue, they may find it troublesome at first, but then they ought to\nremember, that it is but reasonable for them to cross their own\nInclinations, and bear with some inconvenience to preserve themselves\nfrom fatal ruin: The trouble will daily lessen, and what at first seem\u2019d\ninsuperable, will become at length pleasant in the performance. There\nare certainly means of being Chast, and whosoever makes the Trial, will\nquickly find the benefit of them: As for those that will not use them,\nwho will do nothing to fortify themselves, will not keep out of the way\nof Temptations, nor cross their vicious Inclinations in any thing; I\nconfess it is my Opinion, that they will never attain any degree of\nChastity, but then they have none but themselves to blame for it; it is\ntheir own fault, and not any defect in Religion, that they are in this\nCondition: And to such the Almighty has ordain\u2019d a proper Remedy,\nwhereby to avoid the excesses of the Flesh, which is _Marriage_.\n\nMeditation is an excellent means to Purity, it excites and recalls into\nthe Mind, divers good Reflections, and abates the force of Temptations:\nThere is no matter of Religion and Piety, which may not be revolv\u2019d in\nour Minds to advantage; and there are many particular Meditations, that\nhave a peculiar Virtue for dissuading from pollution; such as the\npresence of our Creator, Death, Resurrection, Judgment, _&c._ The\nthoughts of Death, which puts an end to all our Enjoyments here, must\nnecessarily abate the allurements of sensual Pleasures. The thoughts of\nour Resurrection will force us to have a regard to Purity: And the\nthoughts of our Saviour\u2019s Sufferings, are a powerful Motive, not to seek\nour own ease, and the satisfaction of our Senses in this World.\n\nOne of the chief means of defence against Temptations to Impurity, is a\ndistrust of our selves. This distrust proceeds from an Opinion and Sense\nof our own Weakness, and thereby a fear of being surpriz\u2019d and ensnar\u2019d\nby Temptations; distrust will produce Vigilance, which is a second means\nof defence against impure Thoughts. Persons ought to be very exact and\nscrupulous, as to every thing that leads to Impurity, and not to take\ntoo great liberty under any vain pretences. Mortification and Exercise\nare very good guards against Pollution; Idleness makes People wanton and\nvicious, and High-feeding very much heightens unlawful Desires.\nCuriosity is frequently a cause of the wanderings of the Mind and Heart;\nand a desire of satisfying it, proceeding from a secret Passion, being a\ngreat occasion of Pollution, this also is to be guarded against: And\nlastly, when Persons are under any manner of Temptations, the instant\nthey are sensible of impure Thoughts in the Soul, they should be\nstrenuously resisted. The first reception of impure Thoughts into the\nSoul, shews them to be pleasing to it; and the longer they are\nentertain\u2019d there, the more this Pleasure encreases; and when this\nPleasure once prevails, the Man is no longer in a capacity to defend\nhimself: And there is no surer way to prevent a Conflagration, than by\nthoroughly extinguishing the first spark of Fire, on its immediate\nappearance.\n\n\nThus much for the means to avoid Impurity, and to attain Chastity, I\nshall conclude this part of my Treatise, with what Mr. _Ostervald_\nobserves of the Sin of Uncleanness in general, and with a few\nReflections of my own, which may be of service to those, who make\nChastity a difficulty. \u2018All Uncleanness is a palpable Violation of our\nBaptismal Covenant, wherein we have solemnly oblig\u2019d our selves to\nrenounce the Flesh (that is to say, all sensuality and voluptuousness)\nas well as the World and the Devil. For there is no living up to this\nProfession and Obligation, without being continually upon our guard\nagainst all those sinful Lusts, which we have thus renounc\u2019d. And\nindeed, what an affront is it to God, and what vile Treachery and breach\nof Covenant, when Persons have thus given up their Names to Christ, and\npromis\u2019d to obey his holy Laws; and in particular, to abstain from all\nImpurity, if they shall yet draw back, and professing to know the\nAlmighty shall in works deny him, living in wantonness and unlawful\nPleasures, like the Gentiles, who knew him not, or rather in such\ndetestable Lewdnesses, as the Wiser amongst these would have abominated?\nWe cannot doubt, but that we are all strictly engag\u2019d to cleanse our\nselves from Filthiness, both of Flesh and Spirit, and to perfect\nHoliness. And what a monstrous Incongruity must it be, for such to\nindulge themselves in any carnal and sensual Immoralities, in direct\nopposition to the Vow, so solemnly made against them! This must\nnecessarily argue a great Stupidity, and regardlessness of their Duty,\nwhich is sufficiently blameable in any, but in Christians, who pretend\nto tread in their Saviour\u2019s Steps, and to obey all his Commandments, is\nmost exceedingly provoking.\u2019\n\n\nThough the Sin of Uncleanness be heinous in it self, as appears by what\nhas been said, and is oftentimes attended with a train of Crimes, as\nLying, Quarrelling, and others of a flagitious Nature, yet are many\nPersons so estrang\u2019d to Religion, and even to rational Ethicks, as to be\nentirely supine and negligent in the suppressing of Impure Cogitations;\nand on the contrary entertain them with indulgence; so that by degrees,\nillimitable Passions are establish\u2019d, and the tide of Impurity, at last\ngrows so strong and rapid, that it is not to be repell\u2019d; whence all\nmanner of Evils succeed.\n\nHaving Theologically discuss\u2019d the several particulars relating to\nSelf-pollution, and other Uncleanness: I come now to my last head,\ntreating of _Generation_, and the sensitive Parts effecting it; but I\nwould by no means have my Reader think, that I examine these particulars\nwith a design to excite Persons to Lewdness, when my Intentions are only\nto shew the fineness and Beauty of the Parts, whereby will appear how\neasily they may be violated and impair\u2019d by an unnatural use.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n                              _CHAP._ III.\n _A __DISSERTATION__ upon _Generation_; and of the _Parts_ administring\n                              thereunto._\n\n\nI shall begin with the instruments of _Generation_ in Men. All the parts\nof _Generation_ merit the Title of noble Parts, as well as the Brain and\nthe Heart; and some Authors give them the preference before the other\nParts of the Body, upon this consideration, that they preserve the\nSpecies, and the others only keep up the Individuum.\n\nThe Yard is call\u2019d by Physicians the _Membrum Virile_, because it\ndistinguishes a Man from a Woman: It is plac\u2019d at the lower and external\npart of the _Abdomen_, and is fasten\u2019d to the _Os Pubis_. This Situation\nis the more commodious, for that it does not annoy any other part in the\ntime of enjoyment.\n\nIt has a very peculiar Substance, containing several Vessels, Muscles,\nNerves, Arteries, _&c._ Its Skin is finer than that of any other part,\nto give it a more exquisite sense. It has no Fat; for if it encreas\u2019d in\nFlesh in proportion with the rest of the Body; it would not only be of\ntoo large a size, but become soft, unactive, and insensible; and would\ncloud the Sense necessary to excite the Passion.\n\nThe Yard performs its motions by virtue of four Muscles; two for\nErection, and two for Ejaculation. These last squeeze the seminal\nVesicles, and convey the Seed into the _Urethra_, from whence it sallies\nout with great force: It is divided into its Body, and two Ends; as for\nits two extremities one of them is call\u2019d the Glans, or head of the\nYard; the other which is fastened to the Belly, is call\u2019d the Root, and\nis surrounded with Hair, especially upon its upper part, which is call\u2019d\nthe _Pubis_.\n\nThe Glans, or head of the _Membrum Virile_, is the only fleshy part in\nthe Yard; being soft and smooth, to prevent its hurting the Matrix of\nthe Woman, and running in some measure to a point to facilitate its\nEntry: It is cover\u2019d with a thin Membrane, which renders it sensible of\nthe Titillation occasion\u2019d by rubbing upon the Matrix; and in the time\nof Erection, the Spirits and Blood repair to it vigorously, when it\nswells and starts out of an uncommon length, assuming a lively red\nColour; but upon the retreat of the Blood, it flaggs and becomes pale\nand shrivell\u2019d.\n\nThe _prepuce_ is the loose Skin at the utmost end of the Yard, which\nstretches out and covers the Nut, or draws down, to uncover it, as there\nis occasion: In time of Erection, it will draw down the Yard a\nconsiderable way, the easier to enter in Copulation: \u2019Tis tied under the\nNut, with a fine Ligament call\u2019d the Bridle, which must be cut when it\nis to short, and draws the orifice of the Nut downwards, by reason it\nhinders the Ejaculation of the Seed in a straight Line. The Prepuce\nenlarges the pleasure in Copulation, especially of the Women.\n\nThe Yard has two Cavernous Bodies, one on each side, taking their rise\nfrom the lower part of the _Os Pubis_, and the Hip-bone, and these\ncavernous Bodies, or Nerves have two Substances, external and internal,\nthe external one is thick, hard, and nervous, and the internal one, is\nspungy, thin, and fungous.\n\nThe Erection of the Yard is owing to these cavernous Bodies, which being\nfill\u2019d with Spirits, swell and extend themselves: And the arterious\nBlood being poured into the cavernous Bodies effects the distension of\nthe Yard, as its lankness is occasion\u2019d by sending of that Blood through\nthe Hypogastrick Veins. The spungy Substance of the cavernous Bodies,\nstops the Blood for some time, whereby an erection is forc\u2019d.\n\nIn all Enjoyments, the animal Spirits are rouz\u2019d by fancy, which strikes\nthe _Idea_ of Pleasure, and when the Spirits are thus rais\u2019d, they\ninstantly repair to the Nerves of the Organs of _Generation_, and puff\nthem up on mixing with the Blood, convey\u2019d thither by the Arteries; and\nupon the mixture of these two, a Fermentation succeeds, whereby an\nErection is effected.\n\nThe _Urethra_ is a nervous Passage, extending from the neck of the\nBladder, to the end of the Yard. It is a common passage for the Seed and\nUrine.\n\nThe Testicles are so call\u2019d from the Latin Word _Testes_, as they\nwitness the vigour of a Man. They are seated without the Abdomen, at the\nroot of the Yard; and enclos\u2019d in the Scrotum, which is a Purse\nconsisting of two Membranes; these Vessels do not prepare or form the\nSeed; but their office is to import the Blood from which \u2019tis separated.\n\nThe Testicles are of an oval Figure, about the size of a Pigeons Egg,\nand in some larger: They are wrapt up in five Coats or fine Skins,\n_viz._ The _Scrotum_, _Dartos_, _Eritroides_, _Elitroides_, and the\n_Albuginea_; the two first are call\u2019d common, and the three last are\ncall\u2019d proper. The outer Coat is shrivell\u2019d and encompass\u2019d with thin\nHair. The Substance of the Testicle, is white, soft, and loose, compos\u2019d\nof several small Seminals Vessels, and Capillaries, which are the\nBranches of the Arteries, Veins, Nerves, and Lymphatick Vessels.\n\nThere are two Muscles call\u2019d _Cremasters_, which keep the Stones\nsuspended; and if these happen to be stronger than ordinary, they\u2019ll\nmove the Testicles of themselves.\n\nThe most volatile part of the Blood is strain\u2019d out from the rest by the\nGlandulous Pith of the Testicle, which gives passage only to the finest\nParticles, and obliges the rest to return to the Veins. This part of the\nBlood thus filtrated, is rais\u2019d to a just degree of perfection by the\nlength of the Pipes, through which it passes; and what adds to its\nrefinement is the windings of these Pipes, which procure a mutual\ndisunion, by whirling about. When the Seed is prepar\u2019d, it is lodg\u2019d in\nthe expansion of the _Vasa Deferentia_; being first put in motion by the\nHeat of the Vein call\u2019d the _Spermatick Artery_; and when the\nImagination is enflam\u2019d by amorous Thoughts, it suddenly breaks forth.\n\nThe _Vasa Deferentia_ are Vessels seated partly in the _Scrotum_, and\npartly in the _Abdomen_; they convey the Seed by drops to the seminal\nVesicles; the two extremities of the _Vasa Deferentia_ are compar\u2019d to a\nBunch of Grapes, and Guts of Birds.\n\nTwo small Ducts of about an Inch in length, spring from these Vesicles;\nthey are broad near the Vesicles, but dwindle as they approach to the\n_Urethra_, which they perforate. These Ducts are call\u2019d Ejaculatory\nVessels, because in the heat of Action, they throw the Seed of the\nVesicles into the _Urethra_, and they are the chief Subjects of the\npleasure attending Ejaculation.\n\nThese small Ducts have ten or twelve Orifices, opening to the _Urethra_,\neach of them being shut by a small Caruncle to prevent the continual\nefflux of Humour, which has the precedency of the Seed. This is alledg\u2019d\nto be the seat of a Clap, by reason volatile Salts fastning near,\noccasion Ulcers that corrode the Caruncles, and thereupon the Orifices\nof the Ducts discharge their slimy Liquor.\n\nThe _Prostat\u00e6_ are two Glandulous spungy Bodies, seated at the root of\nthe Yard, by the head of the _Urethra_, and furnish\u2019d with Arteries from\nthe _Pudend\u00e6_; their use is to make a secretion of slimy oily Liquor out\nof the Blood, to reserve it for some time in its Vesicles, and to\nsqueeze it out by degrees, thro\u2019 the Pipes of the small Ducts, to the\n_Urethra_.\n\n\u2019Tis reported, that some Persons have three Testicles, and that others\nare so slenderly provided, as to have but one; tho\u2019 either of the cases\nhappens very rarely. And Animals which have their Testicles situated\nwithin, are always accounted more lascivious than others.\n\nThere are four _spermatick Vessels_ belonging to the Privy Parts of a\nMan, two whereof are Arteries, and the other two Veins. The two\nspermatick Arteries spring from the Trunk of the _Aorta_; and run\nobliquely upon the _Ureters_, and along the _Muscle Posas_, \u2019till they\narrive at the _Groin_, where they are receiv\u2019d by a production of the\n_Periton\u00e6um_, and so conducted to the Testicles.\n\nThe two spermatick Veins branch out from the Testicles towards the _Vena\nCava_. The Right extends it self straight to the Trunk of the _Cava_;\nbut the Left terminates in the emulgent Vein. In their progress, they\nare join\u2019d by small Veins from the _Periton\u00e6um_, and the neighbouring\nMuscles, which are loaded with the superfluous Blood of those parts, in\norder to lodge it in the _Cava_.\n\nThe spermatick Vessels are larger in Men than Women; and in both Sexes\nthe Arteries are always stronger than the Veins. For the use of these\nVessels, the Blood runs in the two Arteries straight to the Testicles,\neach of them dividing into two small Branches, the better to penetrate\nits Substance, by entring at several places, and to procure an exact\nseparation of the seminal Particles, that accompany the Arterious Blood.\nAnd when this is perfected, the remainder of the Blood enters the\nBranches of the Veins, in order to return to the _Cava_.\n\nThe _Valves_ in the Cavity of the Veins are plac\u2019d at certain Intervals,\nin order to prevent the Arterious Blood from falling down. They are\nserviceable in promoting the ascent of the Blood, and their natural\nDisposition conducts it to the _Vena Cava_.\n\n\n                 _Of the _Privy Parts_ of a __WOMAN__._\n\nTo pursue the method I have hitherto observ\u2019d, I shall begin my\nDescription of the Privities of a Woman, with the external Parts.\n\nThe external Orifice is commonly call\u2019d the _Pudendum_; \u2019tis compos\u2019d of\nseveral parts, as the _Pubes_, the _Mons Veneris_, the Lips, and the\ngreat Slit.\n\nThe _Pubes_ is seated on the forepart of the Share-bone, just above the\n_Pudendum_; and to keep off the annoyance that might arise from the\nhardness of the Bones in the amorous Adventure, it is rais\u2019d and\nconsists of Fat, which serves as a Cushion.\n\n_Mons Veneris_, rises like a little Hill about the great Lips, and is\ncover\u2019d, as well as the _Pubes_, with a pretty good quantity of rough\ncurling Hair, which begins to spring when the Female enters her\nThirteenth or Fourteenth Year: It is seated a little lower than the\n_Pubes_.\n\nThe great _Labia_, or great Lips, descend from the _Mons Veneris_, and\nmeet in the _Perin\u00e6um_; they consist of doubled Skin, Fat and spungy\nFlesh; they are cover\u2019d with Hair, but it is not so strong, as that of\nthe _Pubes_ and _Mons Veneris_. In Girls they are firm, but in those who\nhave been enjoy\u2019d, they are flaggy.\n\nThe great Slit is the space between the two Lips; it is call\u2019d the great\nSlit, as being much larger than the entry of the Neck of the Womb.\n\nUpon separating the Thighs, and drawing aside the two Lips, are\ndiscover\u2019d two soft and spungy Excrescences call\u2019d _Nymph\u00e6_; they\nresemble the Thrills, that hang under a Cock\u2019s Throat; and their Colour\nis red, like that of a Cock\u2019s Comb; their Substance is partly fleshy,\nand partly membranous, consisting of the doubled, and the inner Skin of\nthe _Great Labia_. The _Nymph\u00e6_ conduct forth the Urine; and of Virgins\nare so vigorous, that they discharge their Water with a Noise like\nhissing.\n\nAbove the _Nymph\u00e6_ within the great Cleft is situated the _Clitoris_, a\nlong round and glandulous Body. This is said to be the principal seat of\nPleasure, being endow\u2019d with an exquisite Sense. In the heat of\nEnjoyment, it swells like unto a Mans Yard on an Erection, by virtue of\nthe Blood and Spirits, that croud into it. For this reason it is call\u2019d\nthe Female Yard, and indeed, it appears like unto that of a Man in many\nparticulars. This is the part for Friction.\n\nThere are two Cavernous Nerves coming from the Hip-bone, call\u2019d the Legs\nof the _Clitoris_; and there are four Muscles in the _Clitoris_, two for\nErection, and two for Ejaculation; the two first run from the Hip-bone\nunder the Cavernous Nerves; and the two others call\u2019d _Pudendi_, take\ntheir rise from the Sphincter of the _Anus_. These Muscles serve to\nstraighten the Orifice of the _Vagina_. The _Arteri\u00e6 Pudend\u00e6_ furnish\nthe _Clitoris_ with Blood, and the Veins of that Name carry off the same\nBlood into the _Cava_.\n\nUnder the _Clitoris_ is the urinary Passage, larger and shorter than\nthat of a Man, whereby Women send forth their Urine with the greatest\nviolence and dispatch. This Passage is surrounded with a Sphincter,\nwhich is a Muscle that serves to confine, or give passage for the Urine\nat pleasure.\n\nBetween the fleshy Fibres of the _Urethra_, and the Membrane of the\n_Vagina_, lie the _Prostates_, having several Channels which terminate\nin the lower part of the _Vulva_, and thereby discharge a slimy matter,\nwhich mixes with the seed of the Male, in the time of Enjoyment.\n\nAnd between the two great _Labia_, appear the four Caruncles call\u2019d\n_Myrtiformes_ from the resemblance they bear to _Mirtle-berries_. They\nare small fleshy Eminences surrounding the small Slit, made of the\nfleshy Wrinkles of the _Vagina_, which render the Passage so much the\nstraighter. Their use is to heighten the mutual pleasure of Enjoyment,\nby clinging round and locking up the Yard; and to facilitate the egress\nof the Child by extension. They are reddish firm and high in Virgins,\nand join\u2019d sideways to one another by small Membranes, which tie them\ntogether, and make them resemble a Rose-bud half blown: But in other\nWomen they are separated by the entry of the Yard.\n\nThe uniting of the Membranes of the _Caruncul\u00e6 Myrtiformes_, straighten\nthe Passage, and afford the true mark of _Virginity_, (if there be any\nsuch.) The pain of the first Adventure is owing to the forcing of the\nPassage through, and tearing off those small Membranes; and a Mans\nInclinations being always heighten\u2019d in the first Nights Enjoyment, the\npain to the Female is encreas\u2019d by his ardent struggles; her Virgin\nSufferings augmenting with his affection: But in some Females the\n_Caruncles_ are rang\u2019d in such a manner, that the Yard may enter without\nviolence, so that there is no certain Evidence of a Maiden-head.\n\nSome _Anatomists_ mention a Membrane call\u2019d _Hymen_, seated near the\n_Caruncles_ in the _Vagina_, which continues stretched over the Passage,\n\u2018till the approach of a Man rends it; and that this _Hymen_ is a mark of\n_Virginity_; but this is more imaginary than proceeding from any\nDemonstration.\n\nThe _Vagina_ is the neck of the Womb, a round Passage between the outer\nand inner Orifice, which receives the Yard like a Sheath. In Women that\nnever bore Children, this Neck is about four Inches long, and an Inch\nand a half broad, but after Child-bearing, its capacity cannot be\nlimited. It is nervous, and somewhat spungy, consisting of two\nMembranes; the Wrinkles of its inner Membrane empower it to prolong,\ndilate or contract, in order to fit the Yard, of any length or size, and\nto afford a Passage to the _F\u0153tus_. The Body and Neck of the Womb, make\nthe Figure of a Bottle turn\u2019d upside down, or rather a proud Flask.\n\nThe inner Orifice of the Womb, is a perforation like the Head of a Man\u2019s\nYard; \u2019tis the beginning of a narrow Passage, which enlarges to afford a\nway for whatever enters or comes from the Womb; it opens to receive the\nSeed in the moment of Ejaculation; and upon Conception shuts close, and\nso continues till towards the last Month of the Woman\u2019s Reckoning: It is\ncompos\u2019d of Membranes wrinkled and furl\u2019d up, capable of dilating\nthemselves to a great extent. This is the part which gives the Woman\npain in Child Birth, the Orifice being small, and opening but gradually,\npursuant to the Efforts of the _F\u0153tus_, which retards the Birth. After\nthe Child is past; this Orifice is lost, and the whole Womb is only one\nlarge Cavity reaching from the entry of its Neck to the bottom; but this\nis of very short duration, for these parts very soon contract themselves\nlike an empty Purse, and resume their natural posture. The Action of\nthis inner Orifice is purely natural.\n\nThe Substance of the bottom of the Womb is Membranous, and about a\nFingers breadth thick, so that it dilates its self very commodiously:\nThe inner Surface is interlac\u2019d with a great many small Pores, and\nlittle Vessels which distil the menstrual Blood in Monthly Quantities.\n\nThe Womb has Nerves, Arteries, and Veins, dispers\u2019d. The Nerves give it\na sense of Pleasure and Pain, and a sympathy with all parts of the Body:\nThe Arteries and Veins are call\u2019d the _Spermatick_ and _Hypogastrick_,\nand consist of an infinite number of Branches springing from all parts\nof the Womb, exporting the Blood to the Trunk of the _Vena Cava_: The\nWomb is sprinkled on all sides with Blood imported by the Arteries.\nThese Arteries not only furnish the Womb with a proper Nourishment, but\nalso pour in Blood upon the _Placenta_, in order to be sent through the\nNavel String to the _F\u0153tus_. When a Woman is not with Child, this Blood\nslips away thro\u2019 the several Vessels into the Cavity of the Womb, and\nfrom thence it passes the _Vagina_ every Month. In teeming Women these\nBranches sometimes discharge Blood, when there is a greater quantity\nthan is necessary for the Nourishment of the Child.\n\nThe spermatick _Artery_ divides it self into two Branches, one repairing\nto the Testicle, and the other to the Womb. It carries Blood in one of\nits Branches to the Testicle, in order to the secretion of Seed, and by\nthe other Branch it furnishes the Womb with Blood for its Nourishment,\nand the superfluous Blood is carried back by two Branches of Veins, one\nfrom the Testicle, and the others from the Womb.\n\nThe Testicles of a Woman are call\u2019d _Ovaria_; and they differ in\nSituation, Figure and Substance from those of Men. They are seated\nwithin the _Abdomen_ upon the sides of the bottom of the Womb. Some\nWriters are of opinion, that Nature plac\u2019d the Testicles of Women within\nto heat the Seed and work it up to a degree of perfection: Others tell\nus, that the design of this Situation was to excite Women to Generation.\nThe use of the Testicles is to filtrate the Seed and reserve it; and to\nperform at once the office of a Man\u2019s Testicles.\n\nTheir Figure is broad and flat, (seldom exceeding the Substance of a\nsmall Pigeons Egg) they are tied and held fast by some part of the Flag\nof the Trumpet; and they are knit to the spermatick Vessels, which grow\nlarger after the Egg has taken Root in the Womb. For their Substance,\nthey are a collection of Vesicles, commonly took for Eggs. In the\n_Ovarium_ of a Woman are a Million of fine small Blood Vessels dispers\u2019d\nupon the Tunicles; and small imperceivable _Glandules_, that strain out\na white milky Liquor, which attains perfection in the cavity of these\nVesicles, and then composes the matter of the Egg, which includes the\nSperm that contains the _F\u0153tus_.\n\nThe more volatile part of the Seed of a Man passes through the _Tub\u00e6_ to\nthe _Ovarium_, in order to fecundate the Eggs. The _Tub\u00e6_ are of the\nform of a Trumpet, which gives them their Name: They take rise from the\nbottom of the Womb, and their Orifice, which is continually open, is\nlac\u2019d round with small Membranes like a Fringe, and is call\u2019d the\n_Devil\u2019s-bit_, or the Flag of the Trumpet. The office of the _Tub\u00e6_, is\nto facilitate the descent of the Egg into the Womb. The seminal Spirit\nputs the _Tub\u00e6_ in motion, whereby the jagged part embraces the\n_Ovarium_, and the Egg fermented by the Spirits of the Seed, insensibly,\ndisengages it self from the _Ovarium_, and breaking its Membrane, enters\nthe _Tub\u00e6_, in order to descend into the Cavity of the Womb: And in case\nof Twins, or where two or three Children are Born; they always spring\nfrom the like number of Eggs, disengag\u2019d from the _Ovarium_ at the same\ntime. The extremities of the _Tub\u00e6_ inserted into the bottom of the Womb\nare call\u2019d the _Horns_.\n\nThe Womb is cover\u2019d with the _Periton\u00e6um_; and a peculiar Membrane which\nlines the whole inside; and the bottom is generally smooth and even, but\nthe Neck is always furl\u2019d. The Ligaments are nothing else but\nProductions of the _Periton\u00e6um_, which come from the Loins, and are\ninserted in the bottom of the Womb to prevent its falling down upon the\nNeck: They likewise keep the Womb from mounting too high: When these\nLigaments are unbent, they resemble Bats Wings.\n\nThere are several _Lymphatick Vessels_ belonging to the Womb, which\ncreep along its outer part, and after a reuniting into large parts,\nempty themselves into the Cistern of the Chyle.\n\nThe Womb has a short Neck, distinguish\u2019d by that Name from the _Vagina_;\nit is the Passage which reaches from the inner Orifice to the principal\nCavity of the Womb: It is about an Inch long.\n\nIn the Cavity of the Womb, the two _Horns_ dilate themselves, and form\nparticular Bags, each of which contains a _F\u0153tus_. This Cavity enlarges\nitself more or less in proportion to the bigness of the _F\u0153tus_, or the\nnumber of Children, as in case of Twins.\n\nThe Womb is seated in the lower part of the _Hypogastrium_, between the\nstraight Gut and the Bladder. The Cavity where \u2019tis lodg\u2019d, is call\u2019d\nthe _Pelvis_ or _Basin_, and is larger in Women than in Men, so as to\ngive the Womb liberty to distend it self upon Impregnation; it is tied\nfast at the bottom, and at the Neck. The Neck is knit before to the\nBladder, and the Share-bone, and behind to the straight Gut and the _Os\nSacrum_. The bottom is not tied so fast as the Neck, it requiring more\nliberty to move and dilate it self; but to prevent the shifting of its\nSeat, the Ligaments are equipp\u2019d, being four in Number, two above, and\ntwo below.\n\nHaving describ\u2019d the Privities of Man and Woman: I come now to my\ndissertation upon the _Generation_ of Man, and the more particular use\nand dimensions of the Parts employ\u2019d therein.\n\n\n                   _Of the _Generation_ of __MAN__._\n\nAn Animal cannot be produc\u2019d without a Couple, _viz._ a Male and a\nFemale, each of which performs its part in the work of _Generation_.\n\nTheir entring on this work is call\u2019d Copulation, which is the joining of\nthe Male to the Female: And both of them are equally transported with a\nfurious and restless Passion, occasion\u2019d by a mix\u2019d motion of pleasure\nand pain in the _Genitals_, which strongly excites a desire for each\nother.\n\nAs this Enjoyment is natural, there needs no Instruction; Instinct in\nall Animals directs the way of acting, that is most convenient for\npropagating their Species: And a Man, though brought up in never so\ngreat Ignorance, at his Age of Maturity naturally enclines to it, and\nneeds no other Guide but the dictates of Nature to find out the center\nof Enjoyment.\n\nBut if Nature had not planted in the _Genitals_ a sense of extraordinary\npleasure in the amorous Engagement, Man would seldom give himself the\ntrouble of Copulation: The cause of this pleasure some impute to the\nmixing of Spirits with the Seed, which give a pleasing tickling; and\nthat this is encreas\u2019d by the fineness and bending of the _Nervous\nFibres_ of the parts: Others are of opinion, that the Salt in the Seed,\nand the Spirits accompanying, prick the parts through which they pass\nand occasion such an agreeable Titillation: And some give this reason\nfor the pleasure, that as in Eating we have an Enjoyment, which no part\nbut the Tongue and Palate partake of; so in Copulation a peculiar\npleasure arises, of which the _Generation_ Organs are only sensible; and\nthat Animals are mov\u2019d to the Act of _Generation_, as they are to\nEating.\n\nThe tickling Pleasure which affects Women, proceeds from the Emotion,\nthat is excited when the Seed disengages it self from the Testicle, and\npasses through the Cavities of the ejaculatory Vessels, in order to be\ndarted into the Womb. When a Woman is not with Child, the Seed is thrown\ninto the Womb by the shortest Vessel, and when she is pregnant, the Seed\nis thrown into the Neck of the Womb by the longest Branch: And for this\nreason, big-belly\u2019d Women are more passionately fond of Embraces than\nothers; for the Seed spending more time in its intricate Passage, raises\na more transporting and lasting Titillation.\n\nIn respect to the Parts of a Man employ\u2019d in the work of _Generation_,\nthe Yard when lank cannot go about it; and it may be so stiff, as not to\nbe proper: And sometimes the erection of the Yard is so strong, that it\nis always bent: A large Yard does not stand so readily, as a small one;\nand when it does it cannot subsist so long, by reason it requires more\nBlood to fill it; and when full, it is heavier, and consequently apt to\nfall in a very little time: And the business of _Generation_ suffers no\nalteration from the shortness or length of the Yard within the Neck of\nthe Womb; for the office of the two round Ligaments, is to enforce the\nbottom of the Womb to approach the head of the Yard, in order to receive\nthe Seed in time of Ejaculation: But \u2019tis as difficult a matter to\nperswade some Lascivious Females, that a Yard of small Dimensions is\nequally useful and pleasurable to one of a considerable Longitude and\nCircumference, as it is to perswade a Club of Ravenous Stomachs, that a\nthin shrivell\u2019d Shoulder of Mutton is of equal Goodness with a Haunch of\nwell-fed Venison.\n\nThe parts of Women frequently differ in their Extent and Furniture; a\ngreat many Husbands are such Fools, as to covet difficulty in their\nfirst Approaches; and to measure the Virtue of their Wives, by the\nlabour of their consummating Attack; not considering Nature has so\norder\u2019d, that the Privy Parts are in the same Condition with the Mouth\nand the Eyes; some are little, and others are large; so that those who\nhave naturally the larger size, may be unjustly charg\u2019d with Lewdness;\nand on the other hand, those, who by the natural disposition of the\nParts are straighter, may after Copulation be reputed Virgins. A Little\nWoman may have a large Mouth, _&c._ and a large Woman a little one,\nwhereby the lesser Person may have the more capacious Privities: And the\nsame rule may be observ\u2019d in Men, in respect to the Nose, which seems to\nhave equal Authority in determining the Dimensions nature has provided\nin the Male, as the Mouth or Eyes in the Female.\n\nNature does not always observe an exact rule of _Symmetry_, the visible\nLimbs and Parts are oftentimes disproportion\u2019d; we frequently see a\nlarge personable Man, supported with slender Legs, and a Dwarf equip\u2019d\nwith large nervous Calves; and the same want of proportion is certainly\nto be found in the Privities.\n\nI have known a wanton Female marry a Person of an extraordinary Stature,\nin expectation of a large Pleasure, with Sorrow confess she was greatly\nmistaken. And as a strong Soil does not constantly afford the most\nplentiful Crop of productive Grain; so the Privy Parts of a robust\nPerson, are not always stock\u2019d with the greatest quantity of surrounding\nOrnaments.\n\nBut to return to the Privy Parts of Women; in some extraordinary cases,\nthe Lips of the _Matrix_, may be so closely join\u2019d, that a Yard of the\nsmallest Size, cannot possibly enter (when they are to be artfully\nseparated by a Surgeon:) And in other Females the Passage is so wide,\nthat the largest Member will make its way without the least difficulty:\nAnd I at this time know a Gentleman very well provided in the parts of\n_Generation_ (beyond what is common) that has had three Wives, all of\nthem of unspotted Reputations, and the oldest not above Nineteen; who\naffirms that the Nights of consummation with each of his Spouses; he was\nin quite to the Testicles in his first penetrating attempt.\n\nThe same Gentleman has declar\u2019d, that in his Youth, when his Curiosity\nled him to the utmost variety; he has sometimes met with a Lady of\nPleasure, whose Parts must be suppos\u2019d to be extended to the utmost\nlatitude of Nature, and to which upon Examination, no binding\nPreparations had been applied; that he could not possibly enter in the\nmost encountering Embrace, which sufficiently shews the incertainty of\nNature, and the difficulty attending the proof of Virginity. And this\nGentleman is of the same Opinion with many others, that a narrow\nentrance to the Privy Parts of a Female, very much impedes a mutual\nEnjoyment.\n\nThus much for the Dimensions of the Privities: I now proceed to\n_Generation_. When the Fancy warm\u2019d with an _Idea_ of Pleasure,\noccasions a diffusion of the Animal Juice, of Consequence ensues\nErection: An Erection being effected, and the Yard lodg\u2019d in the Neck of\nthe Womb; the Seed taking leave of the seminal Vesicles, passes through\nthe Ejaculatory Vessels, and enters the _Urethra_; from whence \u2019tis\nsquirted out with a Jirk, by vertue of the Convulsions that then seize\nthe Yard: And as Ejaculation the last point of the Man\u2019s Action, is the\ncritical moment of pleasure, so \u2019tis the principal aim, he has in View,\nand all the Circumstances that usher it in, have an eye upon that\nInstant: The sanguine Person is the most amorous, and produces the\ngreatest quantity of laudable Seed.\n\n\nThe Seed of a Man being syring\u2019d into the Privy Parts of a Woman by the\nYard, it repairs to the bottom of the Womb, and its inner Orifice shuts\nit self close: \u2018After which the Seed being embrac\u2019d and press\u2019d by the\nWomb, all its Particles begin to take their respective Posts; the\nsubtilest continue in the Center, and consequently the grosser and\nsuperfluous Parts are thrust towards the Surface, where they produce the\nAfter-birth, the Navel-string, and the Membranes, in which the _F\u0153tus_\nis wrapt. In the mean time all the Particles calculated for forming the\ndifferent parts of the Body, disengage themselves by the force of their\nmotion, and either part or join according to their mutual Disparity or\nConformity; so that those design\u2019d for the head Assemble in the place\nwhere they ought to be; and those for the rest of the Body do the like:\nAnd at the same time among those calculated for the Head, the Particles\nqualify\u2019d for forming the Eyes, Ears, _&c._ rendezvous in their proper\nplaces: The same may be said of the Particles of which the Breast,\nBelly, and Limbs are compos\u2019d. The Form, Structure, Order and Connection\nof all these parts, depends chiefly upon the Spirit enclos\u2019d within the\nSeed; which by the meer necessity of its Motions, and without any\nKnowledge or Understanding, unravels the _Chaos_ where the Particles lay\nconfus\u2019d, and ranks them in the same Order, that they had when lodg\u2019d in\nthe Body of the Animals, from which they sprung. The parts of the\n_F\u0153tus_ being thus form\u2019d, the subtilest part of the Spirit continues in\nthe Center of the new-form\u2019d Body, _i. e._ the Heart; and there makes a\nsort of Fire without Light (being the natural Heat that gives Life)\nwhich is fed by the circular motion of the Blood that passes there\nincessantly.\u2019 This is the most probable _Idea_ of forming the _F\u0153tus_,\nand what passes in the Womb, that is given by any Ancient or Modern\nWriters.\n\nSome are of Opinion, that the _F\u0153tus_ is form\u2019d of a mixture of the Male\nand Female Seed; and that these two Seeds impregnated with the Spirit of\nLife, are the agent and matter of _Generation_. Some alledge that the\nMale Seed is sufficient of it self to form a _F\u0153tus_; and that the Woman\nonly gives it a lodging, and furnishes the necessary Blood for its\nnourishment in the Womb: The Male being in this sense, look\u2019d upon as an\naccomplish\u2019d and perfect piece of Work, and the Female only a fertile\nGround, which produces good Seed where the Labourer sows it well: And\nothers are of opinion, that the Woman\u2019s Seed contains the first, and the\ntrue Model of the _F\u0153tus_; there being small seminal Vesicles in the\nTesticles of a Woman, call\u2019d the Eggs; which contain within themselves,\nall that is necessary to give the _F\u0153tus_ a Being.\n\nBut the most common and rational Opinion is, that of the _F\u0153tus_ being\nform\u2019d by the mixing of the two Seeds in the Womb; that Man and Woman\nare equally perfect; and that both of them being furnish\u2019d with\nTesticles, which make a secretion of Seed, both of them must supply; and\na Woman cannot be got with Child, unless she and the Man ejaculate their\nSeed at the same time.\n\nThose enclining to believe, that the Male Seed is sufficient of it self\nto form a _F\u0153tus_, plead that the Seed of a Man differs vastly from that\nof a Woman: That the former is white, and of a thick consistence,\ncompos\u2019d of all the parts that are capable to form a Body; and that the\nlatter is only a sharp and yellowish serosity, which cannot contribute\nany thing towards the form of the _F\u0153tus_. But this is esteem\u2019d by other\nPersons a groundless fancy; for the Structure of a Woman\u2019s Testicle is\nmore admirable than that of a Man, which shews that the Seed separated\nby it, is of considerable use: And several Children have their Mothers\nFeatures and Humour, which demonstrates that the Father, to whom they\noftentimes bear no resemblance, does not furnish all himself.\n\nThose Persons who pretend that the Woman\u2019s Seed contains the first, and\nthe true Model of the _F\u0153tus_, compare the Female Testicles to a bunch\nof Grapes, or a Bee-hive; consisting of Vesicles, each of which contains\na little Animal, almost compleated in all its Parts, after the same\nmanner as the Egg of a Fowl: And that Man\u2019s Seed contributes to\n_Generation_, no otherwise than as it animates the Egg: But the Opinion\nwhich is generally receiv\u2019d, is that both the Male and the Female Seed\ncontain such Particles, as are qualify\u2019d to form a Body and a Spirit\ncapable of all the Motions perform\u2019d by the Animal, from which they have\nBeing; and that _Generation_ depends upon an exact mixture of the two\nSeeds.\n\nThe Opinions relating to the matter whereof the Seed is compos\u2019d, are no\nless various than those of the forming of the _F\u0153tus_; some Anatomists\nsay, \u2019tis prepar\u2019d by the concoction and conversion of Blood, effected\nin this manner. The Blood imported to the Testicles by four spermatick\nVessels, two Arteries and two Veins: The Vein and Artery of the same\nside, having a mutual Communication, blend the arterious and venous\nBlood together; and this mixture of arterious and venous Blood boyl and\nconvert into Seed by the peculiar faculty and virtue of the Organs of\nthe Testicles: This was the Opinion of the Antients.\n\nOthers say, that the Seed is a Juice imported by the Nerves to the\nOrgans of _Generation_; and that it distills from the Brain to the\nPrivities; that in the time of Ejaculation one may feel it trickling\nalong the _Spina_ of the Back; that when the Adventure is over, the\nAnimal is feeble and dejected through the great Dissipation of the\nSpirits that are hurry\u2019d along with the Seed; and that the Seed is of\nthe same colour with the animal juice of the Nerves.\n\nOther Anatomists tell ye the Seed is compos\u2019d of an infinity of little\nAnimals, which they call seminary; that these swim and flutter about in\nthe Liquor, and may be easily discover\u2019d with a Microscope; that these\nseminal Animals are so many Seeds of Men, which being convey\u2019d to the\n_Ovarium_, strike at the first Egg they meet with; upon which one of\nthem perforates the Membrane, or gets into the Egg by a suppos\u2019d\nOrifice, and presently shuts it self up, leaving the rest to perish\nwithout Doors, unless some of them have the good Fortune to slip into\nanother Egg. The Animal that enters the Egg, serves for _Sperm_, which\nby swelling it up, prompts it to disengage it self from the _Ovarium_,\nand tumble into the _Tuba_, which conducts it to the Womb.\n\nBut the most substantial reasons given for the composure of the Seed are\ngrounded upon Circulation, that the seminal Particles are separated and\nfiltrated from the Blood by the Testicles; and Anatomists acquainted\nwith the Structure of the Testicles, say, that the Seed is produc\u2019d by a\ncontinual Filtration of several Particles, which being gather\u2019d into a\nBody, make a Liquor that is qualify\u2019d for the forming of a Man.\n\nMr. _Lamy_ in his Anatomical Discourses, says, that the same necessity\nwhich obliges Plants after a set period of time to put forth the Seeds\nwhich give being to others, does likewise influence Animals at a certain\nAge to produce prolifick Seed, which he explains thus: The moisture of\nInfancy being consum\u2019d by the overpowering Heat, the Blood is crouded\nwith a greater number of Corpusculums qualified to nourish the Parts and\nrepair their Losses, than there is occasion for; so that a great number\nof these nutritious Particles meeting with no reception in the\nrespective Parts, return along with the Blood. The Head sends back such\nParticles as are proper for recomposing all the different Parts it is\nmade of; and so do the other parts. Now all these various sorts of\nParticles being mix\u2019d with the Blood, are strain\u2019d through the\nTesticles; after which they rally and compose a Humour which is the\nsensible and corporeal part of the Seed of Man.\n\nSeed is a very sweet Liquor when \u2019tis in a regular State, but when \u2019tis\nlong under confinement, it turns perfectly sower, and causes very\npernicious effects in both Male and Female. Men are harsher in their\nTempers, and frequently attack\u2019d with Vapours to a degree; and Women are\nthrown into a deplorable Condition, which will find no absolute Cure,\ntill the stagnating Seed is evacuated by Marriage: The Seed mixing with\nthe Blood breaks its Texture and changes its Consistence; so that by\nrendring it more serous, liquid and cold, and by flattening the Redness\nof the Blood, it makes the colour of the Skin less lively; and at length\noccasions the _Virgins_ Distemper.\n\n_Monsieur_ _DIONIS_ is of opinion, that most of the Nuns and other Girls\nthat are taken to be possess\u2019d with Devils, were subject to Vapours only\nwhen they acted the awkward extravagancies that History is full of. And\nI have been inform\u2019d by the learned Dr. _C\u2014\u2014n_, and other eminent\nPhysicians, that Vapours will so powerfully prevail in some Young\nFemales, by a stagnation of the Seed, that they are oblig\u2019d to prescribe\nextraordinary Remedies, and sometimes Friction to procure relief; and to\nprevent Convulsions, irregular Imaginations, _&c._ which would otherwise\nensue, if not a perfect Lunacy for a time.\n\nAn early Marriage is the most effectual Preservative against the\nnumerous Disorders proceeding from quantities of Seed unnaturally\nconfin\u2019d; and will render a perfect Health and Tranquility; unless it be\nin the case of Impotency; or in some Countries where a Man by tying a\nKnot upon his Codpiece, when the Priest pronounces such and such Words\non the day of Marriage; lays claim to a right of preventing its\nConsummation: But if a Man cannot consummate his Marriage, you\u2019ll always\nfind it proceed from a natural Cause; and that the Devil has no hand in\nit.\n\nTo conclude my Subject of _Generation_, and the Parts employ\u2019d therein:\nI shall here insert an Observation of St. _Augustin. The Instruments of\nGeneration (_says he_) are a call\u2019d _Pudenda_, because they speak our\nShame in this, that he who commands all the other Parts, cannot reduce\nthese to Obedience._\n\n\n                                _FINIS._\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                          TRANSCRIBER\u2019S NOTES\n\n\n 1. Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in\n      spelling.\n 2. Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed.\n 3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.","title":"Onanism display'd: being, I. an enquiry into the true nature of Onan's sin. II. of the modern Onanists. III. of self-pollution, its causes, and consequences; with three extraordinary cases, of two young gentlemen and a lady, who were very much addicted to this crime. IV. of nocturnal-pollutions natural and forc'd. V. the great sin of self-pollution, with the judgment of the most eminent divines upon this subject. VI. a dissertation concerning generation, with a curious description of the parts, and of their proper functions, &c. according to the latest, and most approv'd anatomical discoveries","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":15416}