Manustrapatio, Onanismus, the sin of Onan, from a perverted passage in the Pentateuch. The discharge of semen from a preternatural stimulus; the vice, it is said, of the solitary monk, and, perhaps, of other recluses, to whom more natural enjoyments are denied. It is a habit of the most destructive tendency, enervating, in the highest degree, both the body and mind. Nature seems to have fixed a strong mark on those disposed to every unnatural enjoyment, and however secret their practices may be, so indelible is this mark, that they cannot escape detection from that tact which has been peculiarly distinguished by the term of sensus medicus. In general, the countenance is sallow, with a peculiar dejection in the look. The voice is hurried and unsteady; the face often covered with dark coloured pustules, hard in the skin, and the whole frame displaying peculiar debility. The dejection, at times, almost amounts to insanity, and every complaint appears to threaten instant death. The tremor and apprehension prevent the natural enjoyments, by which they might be otherwise weaned from this destructive habit; and the whole life is alternated with doubts, apprehensions, and despair. Unfortunately, the practice is never forsaken, at least, notwithstanding every assurance, we have reason to think so.

The apprehensions of discovery and the despair render those unfortunate persons the dupes of quacks, and it may be remarked, that every quack bill holds out delusive hopes to those who experience the bad effects of such indulgences. Regular practice exhausts the whole tribe of tonics and stimulants with little effect. The warm balsams, of which the quack medicines consist, are either rejected from the hands of the physician, or not continued a sufficient time; and even cold bathing, the best remedy, does not fix the imagination so strongly as the solar tincture, or the balm of Gilead. If not too long continued, a prudent marriage may recover the patient; but it would be unjust, cruel, and impolitic, to condemn a healthy young woman to the shadow of a man. This remedy, however, we have often found effectual in cases where the constitution was not wholly exhausted.

Tissot on Onanism, and the Appendix to his Dissertation on Bilious Diseases; Gruner and Husche Disserta-tiones de Masturbatione.