The pathology and treatment of sexual impotence

Preface To The Third Edition

The reading part of the medical profession in the English-speaking countries has pronounced judgment upon this monograph. The verdict is highly gratifying to the author. The first American edition was exhausted in less than two years. The comments of the medical press were almost without exception favorable. True, one anonymous critic was rather harsh, but the sting from his pen has been removed by the queer coincidence that the publishers of the paper which gave room to his assault offered in 1898 to publish my work. The critic himself is naive enough to admit that the handling of some phases of the question will be misunderstood, and we agree with him, as evidently he is a fair example of those few who misunderstood the book altogether.

May this new edition meet with the same success as the previous ones, and without a murmur we shall endure if it meets with the same enemies.

The Author.

36 Geary Street, San Francisco, Cal. June, 1 go 1.

Preface

TO THE FIRST AMERICAN EDITION.

When the first German edition of this work was published, in 1889, there was some commotion in the ranks of old and young medical fogies, who were indignant that any one dared to resist their intellectual tendencies, refused to worship their superannuated gods.

The second German edition found the ranks of the same kind of professional formula-riders and bigots solid, though somewhat thinned.

I have taken the liberty of preserving the independence of my altruistic opinions, and shall continue to fight against false and hypocritical quasi-scientific pretensions. The circumstance that my work has been given earnest consideration by authorities like Casper, Eulenburg, Furbringer, Krafft-Ebing, and others makes it easy to bear all the acrimonious aggressions dictated by the bilious nature of some of the "Dii minorum gentium."

I wish to thank Professor A. A. D'Ancona, who kindly revised the manuscript and helped me in many other ways.

The Author.

San Francisco, Cal., 1800.

PREFACE

TO THE SECOND GERMAN EDITION.

In the lapse of seven years passed since the publication of the first edition of this work, we can record but very little progress in the theoretic as well as the practical development of our subject. We know to-day just as much — or, better, just as little — about the physiology of the sexual act as we did seven years ago.

Quite new, indeed, is an abundance of newlyforged names for old pathologic conditions. Some authors try to perpetuate themselves in this way. We can only hope that most of these new names will be short-lived.

The therapeutics of sexual impotence has received some valuable additions, and we have in the method of suspensions a frequently efficacious, and in hypnotic suggestion an occasionally efficacious, remedy.

It affords me special satisfaction that my monograph has not proved to be an ephemera, in spite of the many adversaries the liberal interpretation of some pertinent questions has encountered.

The Author.

San Francisco, Cal., 1896.

I. — Introduction 17

II. — Anatomy 31

III. — Physiology of the Sexual Act 48

Sexual Maturity 49

Sexual Orgasm 50

Seat of the Sexual Instinct 54

Erection 55

Ejaculation 64

The Semen 66

IV. — Etiology of Impotence 86

V. — Forms of Impotence 94

Congenital Malformations and Defects of the

Sexual Ogans 94

Absence of Penis 95

Diminutive Size of Penis 95

Excessive Size of Penis 96

Defective Erectile Tissue 96

Narrowness of the Orificium Externum Urethras 97

Absence of Prepuce 97

Superfluity of Prepuce 98

Hypospadiasis 99

Epispadiasis 99

Monorchis 100

Cryptorchis 100

Hermaphrodites 10 1

1 1

12 CONTENTS.

Acquired Defects in the Organs of Generation 101

Absence of Penis and Testicles 101

Absence of Testicles 102

Absence of One Testicle 106

Hydrocele and Inguinal Hernia 106

Changes in the Corpora Cavernosa 107

Consecutive Impotence 108

Acute Diseases 109

Phthisis no

Chronic Diseases no

Diabetes in

Obesity 111

Anemia 112

Severe Cold 112

Disease of the Nerve Apparatus 113

Diseases of Brain and Spinal Cord 114

Neurasthenia 115

Diseases of the Genitalia 121

Gonorrhea 122

Alcohol 128

Coffee, etc 130

Tobacco 131

Digitalis 132

Morphin, etc 132

Arsenic 134

Lead 135

Iodin 135

Mercury 135

Salicylic Acid, Antipyrin, etc 135

Thyroidin 137

Inherited Predisposition to Impotence 137

Sexual Weakness 138

Incontinence of Urine 140

Frigidity [42

CONTENTS. 13

Nervousness 142

Perverse Sexual Feeling 144

Neurasthenic Impotence 153

Excess in Venery 154

After-Effects of Copulation 166

Sexual Excesses, Consequences of 170

Frigidity 172

Satiety of Ordinary Sexual Gratification 172

Paralytic Impotence 174

Onanism / 180

Causes of Onanism 184

Consequences of Onanism 191

Nervous Diseases 192

Pollutions and Spermatorrhea 195

Endoscopic Examination, Results of 206

Continence 209

Irritable Weakness 215

Psychical Impotence 218

Temporary Impotence 222

Relative Impotence 223

Professional Impotence 226

Senile Impotence 230

VI. — Diagnosis 234

VII. — Prognosis 239

VIII. — Prophylaxis 241

IX. — Treatment 250

Psychical Treatment 253

Removal of Morbid Influences 255

Treatment of Spermatorrhea 255

Hygiene of Living 262

Nourishment 262

Sleep 266

14 CONTENTS.

Medicaments 266

Cantharides, etc 267

Phosphorus 268

Nux Vomica 268

Brucin 269

Secale Cornutum 269

Ergotin 269

Quinin : . . 269

Iron 270

Opiates 270

Valerian 270

Stimulants 271

Cocain 271

Scincus Marinus 271

Damiana 271

Yohimbin 271

Hydrotherapeutics 274

Ablutions 276

Friction and Similar Proceedings 277

Sponge-Baths 277

Douches 277

Sitz-Baths 277

Half-Baths 27S

Vapor-Baths 279

" River- and Sea-Baths 279

Balneological Treatment 279

Psychrophor 280

Injections 280

Carbon Douche and Carbonic-acid Baths 281

Electro-Therapeutics 282

Galvanic Current 283

Faradic Current 2S4

Static Electricity 285

Hydro-Electric Hath 285

CONTENTS. 15

Local Treatment 286

Cauterization 286

Astringents 290

Intravesical Irrigations 291

Bougies and Sounds 291

External Applications 292

Echinacea Angustifolia 293

Sinapisms 293

Acupuncture and Electropuncture 293

Surgical Operations 294

Massage and Gymnastics 294

Travelling 295

Flagellation 295

Apparatus and Instruments 296

Regulation of the Sexual Life 303

Matrimony 305

Inhalation of Oxygen 308

Suspensions 308

Hypnotic Suggestion 312

Organotherapy 313

X. — Special Therapeutics 3 14

Index • 321

SEXUAL IMPOTENCE.

Introduction

To write on the much-scouted subject of sexual impotence is a venturesome undertaking under all circumstances; but to write without the customary affectation and hypocritical rolling of the eyes, to speak the bare truth, surely requires even greater courage. Many an eminent medical man may have felt a secret desire to take the risk, but refrained from carrying out the resolution through fear of endangering his professional reputation. Some one not counted among the magnates of the medical realm may feel licensed to plunge to the very bottom, ''to see what the gods have covered with darkness and horror," and may dare to relate to his colleagues what he sees and hears, without alteration or retouching.

"No physical or moral suffering, no wound, however putrid it may be, should frighten him who devotes his life to the science of man ; and the sacred ministry which obliges the physician to see everything, to know everything, gives him also the right to relate everything. ' ' *

2 17

[' It must be admitted that the subject has never received the attention its preeminent importance deserves. Everywhere in the world it seems to be considered the proper thing to treat the affair with supercilious nonchalance. Few medical men in Germany can boast of ever having had an opportunity to hear a clinical lecture on sexual impotence ; and the complaints and criticisms of authors prove that elsewhere the question receives no greater attention. "The subject is thus not yet emancipated from the tenacious grasp of the most rampant charlatanism."*

"Let us be frank from the first steps of our researches, because hypocrisy is the worm which in modern society attacks and corrodes the highest and most powerful plant of this life's garden." f

This somewhat serious neglect is no doubt to be attributed to the circumstances that those suffering from impotence can hardly be subjects for treatment in hospitals, and that the observation of the details and symptoms of the disease is attended with unusual difficulties ; nay, is hardly possible at all.

Recent indications seem, however, to point to a better future. Men of prominence in the learned world, with Eulenburg, Krafft-Ebing, Furbringer, Edw. Martin, and some others at the head, do not think it beneath their dignity to busy themselves with the solution of the perplexing problems of the sexual life, and it is to be hoped that before long the conventional medical lies with which every book,

*Campbell Black, On the Functional Diseases of the Urinary and Reproductive Organs. London, 1875, p. 6.

INTRODUCTION. IQ-

every pamphlet on the subject is swarming, will disappear, and Mantegazza's satire* become obsolete.

"Difficult problems cannot be solved if we run away from them or if we avoid them ; and still many a physician, many a philosopher, tries to solve the most burning questions of modern society in the manner of the baby who believes that he can escape the threatening dog by closing his eyes."

No one denies that the sexual function is of very great consequence to the individual as well as to society in general, although one does not care to make this a subject of conversation.

"At any rate, the sexual function forms the most powerful factor in individual and in social life. It is a mighty impulse for bringing into action our most effective energies, for acquiring property, for the foundation of a home, for rousing altruistic feelings for a person of the other sex first, and, later, for one's children, and, in a wider sense, for the whole human family, "f The civil code of Austria correctly estimates the importance of sexual virility, Article 60 declaring that "the continued inability to fulfil the conjugal duty is a bar to marriage." The criminal code (Section 156) declares, "But if the crime has caused the loss of the procreative power of the injured man, then the punishment of imprisonment with hard labor is to be meted out for from five to ten years."

Without virility there can be no procreation. That the semen of impotent men frequently contains sperf Krafft-Ebing, Psychopathia sexualis. Stuttgart, 1886, p. 2.

matozoa need not be taken into account in considering the propagation of the race, and, generally speaking, there are certainly but very few men who owe their lives to impotent fathers.

He who has become prematurely impotent is one of the most unfortunate creatures, his misfortune being the greater as he has to be ashamed of it, must conceal it, is pitied by no one, but scorned, and, alas, not always can he hope for recovery. I venture to assert that in many cases it is a better deed to restore to an impotent man the power, so precious to every individual, than to preserve a dangerously sick person from death, for in many cases death is preferable to impotence.

The energy of man, his courage, his enjoyment of work and life, all, with hardly any exception, depend on his sexual power. Here I leave out of sight the sundry vows of chastity made by persons who expect to be rewarded in the hereafter for their voluntary martyrdom here below. These people hardly seem to be enjoying their lives, and they call this world a vale of tears. Now, this world is not exactly a vale of tears or of grief; but let a man who has to labor and produce from early morning till evening, who must day after day begin ever anew the struggle for existence, lose that little bit of love and his pathway will lead through a vale of tears indeed. The difference between the view of things in general formed by old people and that formed by the young has its only explanation in the virility extinguished in the former and vigorous in the latter. Prematurely impotent people very often appear aged physically, and always mentally. Moreover, we must not forget that the sexual nervous system is closely related to all the rest of the nervous mechanism, including those parts essential to its physiological operations. "The feeling of sexual impotence is the most humiliating which can ever afflict a man; because it degrades him in his own eyes, and does not leave a single possible illusion, not a solitary moment of mercy."* Eunuchs and the sexually impotent differ from their fellow-men who are in full possession of virile power in appearance and in conduct. Even though executed with talent and spirit, the work of an impotent man bears the stamp of impotence.

In the year 1878 I happened to be in the Paris Salon with one of the most famous French painters. While contemplating some paintings, the great master, to whose words a crowd of artists were eagerly listening, said, "That painter must be impotent." To a question of mine the master replied that he was able to tell by a picture, not only whether it was painted by a young man or an old one, but also the condition of the artist's sexual power. To-day I give full credit to this assertion, as I am convinced that with some experience one can distinguish an impotent man from a virile one merely by his looks, demeanor, ideas, words, and works.

The exterior of an incurably impotent man, whether his impotence be real or imaginary, does not always suggest physical weakness ; on the contrary, many present a very healthy appearance, and are stout. The keen-eyed public have baptized this

*Lallemand, Pertes seminales, tome ii., ire partie, p. 132.

corpulency " capon-obesity . " In spite of the apparent healthiness, the impotent man is generally melancholy, discontented, and peevish. The prematurely impotent are, without exception, ill-humored, cheered up with difficulty, and even then for but a short time. Most of them are grudging, cowardly, envious, and wicked. They are all very jealous, as may easily be understood. The younger they are, the handsomer their bodies, the higher their social rank, the more pronounced is their bad character.

The character of a man must, as a matter of course, be considerably affected by the consciousness of impotence. No one is more severe than the impotent in passing judgment on his neighbor. No one so ruthlessly or mercilessly condemns a misdeed, caused by passion, against the very wise prescripts of Ethics. Since he cannot join the virile in their enjoyments of life, he makes a merit of his incapacity.

The striving of a man to found for himself a home, a family, is a stimulus to work and to the accomplishment of great deeds in his sphere of life. Such a stimulus does not stir the impotent. Although they do not care for life, yet they are cowards. It is very seldom that an impotent man turns dare-devil and shows a contempt for death, due to despair.

The impotent are incapable of love; for, as Krafft- Ebing says, " With all the morality which love needs to rise to its true and pure character, its most vigorous root is nevertheless sexual passion. Platonic love is a nonentity, a self-deception, a wrong designation for cognate feelings."* Similarly, ambition is closely dependent upon the sexual power, as it seldom makes its appearance before puberty.

Finally, it must not be forgotten how wretched a part is played in matrimony and in every other relation to a woman by the man who is completely or even partially impotent. He must renounce the affection and regard of a woman. Galopinf is quite right in saying, "Without this good friend (the woman) the dawn and evening of life would be helpless, and its mid-day without pleasure." With all the capacity for self-sacrifice which is inborn with the entire sex, women will nevertheless seldom soar to so high a degree of self-abnegation as to love an impotent man. It is the aim of every husband to hold a dominant position in his family ; the more so as the weight of his voice is less elsewhere. My object is not to examine whether such a position is in the interest of the man himself and of his family, but I wish merely to call attention to the fact that the influence of an impotent man must be very insignificant with a woman living with him, whether she be wife or mistress.

I further wish to point out that many fallen women would have continued good and faithful had their husbands not been more or less impotent. The greater share of sexual appetite roused inconsiderately or ignorantly remains unsatisfied, and much matrimonial happiness is ruined by the husband's impotence. "Tutavia la compagnia fra moglie e

*Krafft-Ebing, Psychopathia sexualis. Stuttgart, 1886, p. 9.

fLe parfum de la femme. Paris, 1886, p. 101.

Now and then impotence leads to suicide. Marcf tells, for instance, of a young man who, before committing suicide, had written down the words, " I am impotent, consequently I am good for nothing in this life."

If impotence declares itself slowly and gradually, refuge is not so often taken in this safe though extreme remedy for all diseases; but is applied more frequently when the calamity shows itself at once and without a state of transition, so that the patient understands plainly that there is no help for his ailment, and he has therefore not the time to accustom himself to his misfortune. RicherandJ made the observation that after penis amputation the patient becomes melancholy, and is consequently more subject to malignant wound fever (?), which often causes death, whilst other mutilations by surgical operations are borne with fortitude. Lallemand|| tells of a man forty-five years old who, after penis amputation, when on the point of leaving the hospital, received a visit from his wife, after which he grew gloomy, mournful, taciturn, and died sud-

*Mantegazza, Igiene dell'amore. Milano, i88i, p. 95. fMantegazza, op. cit., p. 143.

JRoubaud, Traits de l'impuissance. Paris, 1876, p. 66. IIOp. cit., p. 38.

denly. The most careful autopsy failed to reveal any cause of death; Lallemand ascribes the fatal result to despair. In this case the patient had so much the more reason for despair, as the sexual appetite had not vanished with the loss of the penis. The Russian Skopzi after having been maimed suffer a complete change of character: they grow egotistic, malicious, hypocritical, and covetous.* It is to be observed, however, that surgical operations performed on the genitals can cause genital reflex neuroses in the form of melancholia. f

Even very old people are not exempt in this respect. In February, 1900, I amputated the penis of a man seventy- three years old. Two days after the operation he grew violent and almost unmanageable, though the temperature remained normal at all times. The formerly jovial gentleman became dismal, irritable, and taciturn. At present, over a year since the mutilation, he is in good health, but always in bad humor.

The fate of being impotent is borne with more stoicism when along with the loss of virility goes that of every desire for intercourse with the other sex. Here again we find in Lallemand { a typical example : A man about thirty years of age, who, in consequence of an injury of the occiput, was left without sexual appetite, and whose testicles were atrophied, used to talk in a joking way and quite

*Mantegazza, Gli amori degli nomini. Milano, 1886, p. 182. f Kurz, Zwei innere Urethrotomien, gefolgt von Melancholie. Ref. der med.-chir. Rundschau. Wien, 1887, Heft xviii, p. 683. JOp. cit., p. 41.

merrily about his injury and its sad consequences. No doubt the personal character is of great importance here, as each individual shows different characteristics in the reaction following injury.

The impotent are misanthropic and distrustful. They are ever afraid that the defect of which they feel ashamed may be discovered. All this is aggravated by self-reproaches of the worst kind, for almost every one believes he has himself caused his misfortune. A reason for self-reproach is soon found, for who has not indulged in real or imaginary sexual excesses or self-abuse?

These people are so much ashamed of their deficiency that they will not acknowledge it, even to the physician, except in a most reluctant manner. It is, therefore, advisable to meet the communications of an impotent person with the required scepticism from the very beginning. This sense of shame is more intense with people of humble condition than with those of a higher social rank, who will not infrequently speak of their impotence in a joking tone, even where it might not be expected, in order thus to make you believe the contrary. I had an opportunity to observe a case where a member of the nobility was by every one considered as impotent. Under the cover of this reputation the nobleman was following up several intrigues, until at last it was discovered that this impotence was not to be relied upon.

So far we have had under consideration the influence of impotence upon the mind, and have seen that it is of no slight degree. The influence of this disease upon the body is no less important. We shall at present neither consider circumstances which are the cause, but not the consequence, of impotence, nor circumstances which may be the consequence of spermatorrhea.

The cessation of so important a process as the sexual function cannot occur without producing in and by itself an essential change in the individual. According to Arndt,* there is no disturbance of any function of a man without change in the man him-, self. Real impotence has a powerful influence, primarily over the mind, and secondarily over the state of health of the entire body. It is conceivable that a person who is dull or mournful and always illhumored, who is plagued by a bad thought, must by degrees lose his appetite, suffer from indigestion, and consequently must become physically ruined; though, no doubt, one often meets, as previously said, impotent persons looking thoroughly well and healthy.

Impotence besides being a very serious disease is also of frequent occurrence. "Experience proves that the large towns especially harbor crowds of persons suffering from a diseased nervous system, who, in the different stages of life, are afflicted with sexual infirmities which throw a gloom over their existence. Youths who have scarcely stepped beyond the threshold of puberty, adults who are at the entrance or perhaps at the zenith of manhood, no less than individuals who have already reached the autumn of their lives, make up elements of these numerous

*Die Neurasthenie. Wien und Leipzig, 1885, p. 3.

groups of the sexually discontented who are suffering from diseases of the nervous system, as burdensome as they are unyielding. Victims of an unequal fate, some more, some less severely wounded in the combat against untoward circumstances, — unequally furnished with chances for improvement, — all these pitiable persons are nevertheless animated with the same desire, that of being once more admitted to the full enjoyment of life and being able to found a family."* "It is quite incomprehensible that there should still be physicians who almost absolutely deny the existence of impotence.' 'f

Every being instinctively longs for enjoyment. The desire for enjoyment is certainly justified, and only hypocrites or people with limited views of things in general can demand that man shall work and fulfil duties without the moments of gladness and gratification that are so scarce in comparison to the bitterness of life. " La nature veut que nous jouissions. "t

Sensual love and the so-called ideal love, which grows out of it, but which is quite an impossibility where there is no sexual vigor, are foremost among the few joys and gratifications.

Those who are seeking help for their impotence are surely very pitiable subjects; they feel themselves unutterably unhappy, and, in most cases, entertain thoughts of suicide, though they seldom have the

*Roscnthal, Ueber den Einrlnss von Nervenkrankheiten auf Zeugung mid Sterilitat. Wiener Klinik, 1880, p. 136. t Lionel S. Beale, Our Morality. London, [887, p. 34. JRenan, L'abbesse de Jouarre. Paris, 1886, p. 29.

necessary courage to carry them out. A good man cannot refuse his assistance to them. It cannot be the physician 's task to question whether one or another of them owes his infirmity to his own or somebody else's fault. Nor can it be expected from the medical man that he should investigate what may be the object or aim of any patient who is endeavoring to recover his virility. The physician has to keep in view this one object, that he is in the presence of an unfortunate person whom he must help if he can.

So much for the determining of my standpoint and to justify the total separation of impotence and sterility.

And now the question suggests itself, What is impotence f It is well-nigh impossible to give a precise answer. Maximilian v. Zeissl, for instance, gives the following definition: "Impotency is a collective idea of the various pathological details which hinder a man in the carrying out of coitus, so that the ultimate purpose, viz., that of begetting a child, is not attained in spite of sexual intercourse with a fertile woman."* This definition is far-reaching, because, though we may include both the impotentia cceundi and the impotentia generandi, it should yet be said that, in spite of sexual intercourse with a fertile woman, the begetting of a child "must' ' remain unattained.

It is much easier to give a definition of sexual virility. Sexual virility is that condition of the body, of the nerves connected with the generative organs,

*Dr. M. v. Zeissl, Ueber die Impotenz des Mannes imd ihre Behandlung. Wiener med. Blatter, 1885, Nr. 15.

of the centers of these nerves, and of the genital organs themselves, which enables an individual to accomplish the sexual act with an acceptable woman always, under all circumstances, and within the limits set by nature.

This ideal condition of virility is somewhat rare with men following the customary manner of life of our days, and in any given case it will generally last for but a short time. Every deviation from this ideal condition must, indeed, be reckoned as a starting-point of impotence. The lesser deviations are not taken into account, and are generally considered as in the nature of things.

When virility is in full vigor the sight, the slightest touch, the first embrace of the desired woman must cause sexual desire and the erection necessary to the performance of the act. The individual is in the same degree approaching impotence when he requires longer preparations and longer and more intense excitation to produce the necessary sexual rousing. Of course, we do not consider here the repetition of coitus after short intervals. The reverse of the aforementioned ideal condition is that state which we call total impotence, in which condition the individual can never have an erection or experience excitement, and can, therefore, never, under any circumstances, perform the act of coition. As nature never progresses by leaps and bounds, so these two forms of sexual capacity do not pass abruptly from one into the other, but between them are numberless transitory forms of impotence.

Although this essay is written for medical men only, who are conversant with the anatomy of the genitals and with the physiology of procreation, we shall devote a few pages to both Anatomy and Physiology. In the course of years and the throng of professional occupations small matters escape the memory of the practitioner, and occasionally we may read again, with profit, that with which we are well acquainted.

Chapter II. Anatomy

We shall now give a rough sketch of the male organs of reproduction. For more minute study we refer the reader to the great number of excellent anatomical works.

The male genitalia have been divided into different sections ; but as this separation contributes in nothing to the clearness of the subject, we shall simply discuss the different organs in their turn.

The testicles (testes, testiculi, orchides, didymi) are a pair of oviform, glandular organs. We shall first consider the coverings which protect and support them. Proceeding from the outside inward, we find first the outer skin starting from the perineum, from the inner surface of the upper thighs, from the root of the penis, and from the pubis, and forming the scrotum or purse. The whole of the scrotum appears asymmetrical, hanging a little lower on the left side. The slight enlargement of the cutis forming the median raphe, which runs from the perineum forward to the inner surface of the prepuce (praeputium) , separating externally the whole genital apparatus into two halves, and indicating the inner division on the scrotum, is not exactly in the median line, but draws somewhat to the left.

At the scrotum we find the epidermis, cutis, and tunica dartos. The epidermis is distinguished by the amount of pigment it contains ; the cutis, by a strong growth of hair, sudoriparous glands, and a rich rete of lymphatics. The tunica dartos is a fibrous, fleshy membrane, consisting of rather strong, smooth, muscular fibers, elastic, without fat, and ligamentous in character. Still proceeding inward, we next come to the tunica vaginalis communis, which envelops the testicle and spermatic cord. That part which surrounds the spermatic cord is loose and spongy, containing here and there adipose tissue, and is intimately connected with the spermatic cord and the scrotum. This part of the tunica vaginalis communis consists of three layers — an inner, an outer, and a median muscular layer. These layers or membranes are not in all parts distinctly separated from one another, because the musculus cremaster which separates them runs in isolated flat bundles down the spermatic cord ; between the bundles the two layers run into each other. These isolated flat fascia? of the cremaster pass in a fan-like manner downward, twining around the testicle. These muscular bundles have the power to draw the testicle upward and outward. Contraction of this muscle ensues reflexly from violent movements of the abdomen ; also as the result of independent action. The testicle may, besides, be raised through the contraction of the muscular fibers in the tunica dartos.