Part 76

Occasionally, phimosis offers an obstacle to impregnation, and only after relief of the condition by operation, is the wish for offspring fulfilled. A case of this nature is recorded by Amussat.

In cases of severe stricture of the urethra, sterility may result, although the constitution of the semen is perfectly normal. During erection of the penis, the stricture is completely closed, and the semen accumulates in the urethra above it; when the penis becomes flaccid, the semen flows away, outside the vagina. In some such cases, the semen regurgitates into the bladder, and is not discharged until the patient makes water. Although the supposition is not one in which strict proof is obtainable, it is probable that the man is at fault in cases in which the wives of two or more brothers fail to conceive. I have seen several instances of the kind. Three brothers, all quite healthy, and of virile aspect, were married to women in whom on gynecological examination no significant abnormality could be detected; they had been married respectively for 14, 9, and 8 years; all were childless. Three brothers, two of whom were practising physicians, had lived a number of years (20, 4, and 14, respectively) in sterile wedlock; one of them (a physician) informed me that he ejaculated always a very small quantity of semen, and thought it possible that this was the cause of the sterility. Of four brothers, two had lived long in barren wedlock; the third had no child for 14 years after marriage, when at last his wife became pregnant after a visit to a spa; the fourth brother is a misogynist and a confirmed bachelor.

Sexual Sensibility in Women.

In our consideration of the various influences by which the contact of ovum and spermatozoon may be prevented, the degree of sexual excitement experienced by the woman during the sexual act must not be overlooked, for this plays a part not to be underestimated, even though it is a matter on which it is difficult to obtain accurate information.

It is extremely probable that an active participation on the part of the woman in coitus has an important influence upon the attainment of fertilization, i. e., that sexual excitement in the woman is a link in the chain of conditions leading to conception. This excitement has a reflex influence, but the influence may be exercised in either (or both) of two ways: first, it may cause certain reflex changes in the cervical secretion, whereby the passage of the spermatozoa is facilitated; or, secondly, it may give rise to reflex changes in the vaginal portion of the cervix, to a rounding of the os uteri externum and a hardening of the consistency of the cervix (changes of an erectile nature) coupled with a slight descent of the uterus—changes which likewise favour the entrance of the semen into the uterine cavity. Theopold goes so far as to say that it is only women who experience erotic excitement who are capable of being impregnated.

My own opinion is that considerable importance is to be attached to voluptuous excitement of the woman during coitus, for the former of the two reasons mentioned above, namely, because such excitement leads to the occurrence of reflex secretion of the cervical glands, the secretion thus produced maintaining or enhancing the activity of the spermatozoa; and contrariwise, in the absence of voluptuous excitement on the woman’s part there is a failure of the reflex secretion, and the passage of the spermatozoa into the uterine cavity is consequently less easily effected. That sexual excitement has great influence upon the production of the first appearance of menstruation, has frequently been shown; and an analogy between such an influence and the suggested effect of sexual excitement in favouring the occurrence of conception, must not lightly be rejected. It is well known that the first menstruation occurs at an earlier age in girls living in towns than in those living in the country; not solely (if at all) in consequence of the better nutriment and easier life of the former, but also, unquestionably, owing to nervous influences. It is, moreover, a familiar experience that factory girls, who from early youth are exposed to sexual stimulation, attain sexual maturity at an extremely early age. Again, from early times it has been the prevailing opinion of the common people that for the impregnation of a woman it was necessary for her to experience voluptuous excitement, or at least, that in the absence of such excitement, conception was rendered difficult. Riedel relates of the indigens of the Island of Buru, that they often have sexual intercourse with foreigners, “but during such intercourse they remain quite passive, in order to avoid impregnation.” It is not an unusual experience in gynecological practice for a sterile woman, in the absence of any prompting, to complain that during coitus she has no “feeling” whatever, and to attribute to this lack of feeling her failure to conceive.

A cultured lady, the mother of several children, assured me, not only that she was always aware, whether an act of intercourse would or would not lead to impregnation, but further, that it was within her power to determine whether the intercourse should or should not be fruitful. If she was passive during intercourse, or if, to use her own expression, her attitude was one of “laisser faire, laisser aller,” conception would not occur; but if, on the other hand, she took an active part in the coitus, so that she experienced a powerful voluptuous sensation, pregnancy would result from the intercourse.

In some cases, the previously described condition of dyspareunia is the cause of the sterility. In fact, the combination of dyspareunia with sterility is so strikingly common, that my own observations have led me to infer that there is a casual connexion between the two states, at least in a considerable proportion of cases.

I append a short note of a few instances of this kind: Mrs. G., aged 27, married 6 years, sterile; an anæmic, delicate lady, who has never experienced the sense of ejaculation. The semen flows away from the vagina immediately after the completion of coitus. No abnormality to be detected on gynecological examination. Mrs. S., aged 24, married 5 years, sterile; during intercourse remains completely cold, and has experienced the sense of ejaculation in dreams only. Gynecological examination disclosed the existence of slight cervical catarrh, but no other abnormality. Mrs. E., aged 30, married 10 years, had a child 9 years previously, a difficult delivery followed by puerperal disease, since then sterile; she states that since her delivery she has not experienced the sense of ejaculation, with which she was formerly familiar; further, since that time she has suffered from profluvium seminis. On gynecological examination the uterus was found to be enlarged and retroflexed. Mrs. K., aged 28, married 6 years, sterile; amenorrhoeic, has never experienced the sense of ejaculation, and finds sexual intercourse so unpleasant that, “in order to be left in peace,” she has herself begged her husband to keep a mistress. Examination showed the uterus to be in an infantile condition.

Whilst I have notes of numerous cases similar to those just quoted, I must also insist upon the fact that I have sometimes had complaints of dyspareunia from wives whose fertility has been proved by the birth of numerous children. And, again, anyone whose position permits him frequent glimpses of what passes behind the scenes of married life, will from time to time have noticed as signs of relative dyspareunia instances in which the faithless wife is far more readily impregnated by her lover than by the husband to whom she is indifferent or whom she actually dislikes.

To relative dyspareunia dependent upon sexual disharmony we must refer also those instances in which a man and a woman prove sterile while living together for a considerable period as man and wife, but after separation both prove fertile in fresh unions. Several such cases have come within my own experience, and similar instances attracted the attention of the observers of antiquity—Aristotle, for example. Haller, for this reason, lays stress on the lack of mutual affection as a cause of sterility; and Virey, also, believes that sterility may often depend upon the absence of the “harmonie d’amour.”

It is possible that the custom, which in certain rural districts has persisted into quite recent times, of a temporary experimental cohabitation of candidates for matrimony, was based on an attempt to discover the existence of such a sexual harmony. Ploss, for instance, reports that in East Prussia, in 1864, he was informed that among the Mazurs this custom of an experimental year of cohabitation was in force. If during this year the woman became pregnant, the young couple were married; but if pregnancy failed to occur, they separated, considering they were not formed for one another.

A well-known historical example of relative sterility is furnished by the two marriages of Napoleon I. His first marriage to Josephine remained sterile, though Josephine had children by Beauharnais; and Napoleon, remarried to Marie Louise, had a son by the latter.

Von Gutceit, a physician of wide experience, points out that “sensitive women, who have a mental or physical antipathy to cohabitation, or who have a secret but ardent affection for some other man, often fail to conceive as a result of intercourse with their husbands; but when, in illicit intercourse, they experience the voluptuous sensations to which they have hitherto been strangers, pregnancy often speedily ensues.” He maintains, further, “that such women, in consequence of the stimulation of the genital organs in the absence of sexual gratification, become affected with all kinds of menstrual irregularities, with fluor albus, prolapse of the uterus, and chronic metritis; they suffer from digestive disturbances and constipation, leading to emaciation; and they are prone to hysterical manifestations.”

Analogous phenomena have been noted, and with much greater distinctness, in the animal world. Darwin, writing on this subject, remarks: “It is by no means a rare occurrence, that certain males and females will not be fruitful in intercourse together, whilst the same individuals prove perfectly fertile in intercourse with other members of their species—and this in cases in which there is no evidence that the subsequent fertility is due to any change in the conditions of life. The cause is probably to be found in an innate sexual disharmony between the infertile pair. A very large number of instances of this kind have been reported to me by well-known breeders of horses, cattle, pigs, dogs, and pigeons. Sometimes a breeder will fail to obtain offspring from a male and a female of known fertility whom he wishes to couple for some special reasons. The most celebrated living horse-breeder informed me that frequently a mare, which in other seasons with other stallions has proved fertile, may be coupled with a stallion likewise of proved reproductive potency, and will fail to be impregnated; yet this same mare will shortly afterwards be impregnated by another stallion.”

Pflüger reports that he has often seen a thoroughbred stallion, which was fully prepared, at a moment’s notice, to serve a thoroughbred mare, prove extremely unwilling to serve a common mare on heat, and only induced to do so with the greatest difficulty, and indeed by a trick. The stallion is placed in the central one of three stalls, on one side of him is the thoroughbred mare, whilst in the third stall is the common mare, covered with a cloth. The stallion’s head is turned to show him the thoroughbred mare; immediately his appearance undergoes a change. Every muscle of his body appears to quiver, and never does a fine animal appear more beautiful than at such a moment, full of pride, fire, and vitality. As soon as the stallion makes ready to serve the mare, he is rapidly led to the other stall, and suitably assisted to the actual commencement of intercourse with the substituted mare. But it sometimes happens, as Pflüger himself has seen, that the stallion becoming aware of the deception, refuses to complete the coitus, withdraws his penis, and immediately turns to the mare of his choice.

Matthews Duncan, among 191 sterile women, found that 39 had no sexual appetite, and 62 had no voluptuous sensations during coitus. He regards abnormal sexual appetite as one of the principal causes of sterility.

Notwithstanding these facts, it must not be forgotten that many cases are recorded in medical literature of women conceiving after intercourse effected against their wishes, as by rape, or when they were in a state of intoxication, or asleep, or in the entire absence of all voluptuous sensation. Moreover, the erection of the vaginal portion of the cervix, and the reflex movements and secretory changes in the uterus, may also occur independently of sexual desire and voluptuous sensation; but such cases are certainly exceptional, and their credibility is frequently open to suspicion. In numerous instances in which conception is stated to have followed intercourse in a state of unconsciousness, judicial proceedings have elicited the fact that the intercourse was not entirely involuntary on the woman’s part, and that the alleged force was no more than a vis grata. Von Maschka reports a case in which a girl asserted that she had been violated whilst in a condition of epileptic unconsciousness, but she remembered every detail of the act with precision. Casper, again, in a case in which it was asserted that defloration had been forcibly effected whilst the girl was in a state of alcoholic coma, showed that there had been no more than moderate intoxication combined with great sexual excitement. Assertions that pregnancy has resulted from intercourse effected during sleep, in a state of unconsciousness, or in the “magnetic” or “hypnotic” state, should always be accepted with reserve.

It is interesting to note in this connexion that the Chinese physicians enumerates among the causes of sterility the practice of “congfou” by the man, this name being given to a manipulation analogous to hypnotism, whereby the voluptuous sensation during intercourse is diminished or abolished by distracting the attention elsewhere.

A proof of the importance of specific sexual sensation for the attainment of conception is afforded by the fact that in the majority of women voluptuous excitement is absent at the first act of intercourse, and only gradually develops thereafter; in correspondence with this, we find that the first conception does not usually occur until some time after marriage, and that the period of its occurrence frequently coincides with the full development of voluptuous sensation during intercourse. Thus, even in the woman fully fitted for conception, the actual capacity for impregnation is only developed gradually, and after a sufficient experience of intercourse.

This transient incapacity for conception may, indeed, also depend upon the fact that at first coitus is apt to be incompletely effected, and for this both husband and wife are to blame; but unquestionably in many cases the reason is the one first mentioned.

In some cases, certain psychical influences which affect the intensity of the voluptuous sensation, manifest its significance. Thus, in some instances, the influence of stimulation of the clitoris in leading to conception has been clearly shown; in others, the performance of coitus in some unusual position, varying with the woman concerned, is alone competent to arouse sexual sensibility to its full extent, and to bring about the orgasm. One occasionally receives confidential information from a husband that his wife experiences a voluptuous sensation only when coitus is performed in the lateral posture, or more bestiarum, or in the situs inversus, etc., etc.

Excessive frequency of intercourse, prolonged and repeated sexual excitement, on the other hand, induce sterility, as is well seen in prostitutes, who rarely become pregnant.

Finally, perverse sexual impulse must be mentioned as a possible cause of sterility. This may be an acquired perversion, due to the fact that at the epoch of the menarche, the commencement of puberty, owing to the strength of sexual desire whilst intercourse is an impossibility, or simply from evil example, the girl has become a confirmed onanist, and continues the habit even after marriage. In other cases we have to do with a psychopathic state, a form of mental degeneration due to very various causes, or in some cases inverted sexual sensibility exists in a person whose mind is in other respects normal. In women with sexual inversion, ordinary copulation with the male is insufficient to arouse the sexual orgasm, and for this reason, as well as because persons thus affected avoid coitus as much as possible, sterility commonly ensues.

In sterile homosexual women, and equally so in women addicted to masturbation, gynecological examination may disclose no abnormality whatever; but in other cases of the kind we may find a contributory cause of sterility in the fact that the internal genital organs are imperfectly developed, or even completely absent. In sterile women, if on gynecological examination we find certain characteristic changes in the reproductive organs, a strong suspicion will be aroused that the sterility is due to abnormal modes of sexual gratification. The changes in question are: hypertrophy of the clitoris, enlargement and a bluish colouration of the labia minora, retroversion of the uterus, neuralgia and displacement of the ovaries, leucorrhoea, and menorrhagia.

The question has been mooted by Cohnstein, whether, as is commonly assumed, a woman is capable of becoming pregnant at any time during the year, or whether, as in the lower animals, the reproductive capacity can be exercised only at certain seasons, or again, whether there may not be individual moments of predilection for the occurrence of conception. He found that in the great majority of women there were such seasons of predilection, and only in a minority could conception be effected indifferently at any time of the year. As a proof of this assertion, he appends the following case: A married woman, 33 years of age, had several years before been delivered prematurely of a still-born child, and since then had not again been pregnant. Her reproductive organs were normal. The husband’s semen was examined, and also found to be quite free from abnormality. In the course of the three following years an attempt was made to cure the sterility by dilatation of the cervical canal, suggestions for the proper regulation of sexual intercourse, etc., but all without effect. Cohnstein now calculated the date at which the full term of the previous pregnancy would have fallen, and found that this was the middle of February; he therefore inferred that intercourse effected at the beginning of May would result in impregnation. As a fact, the woman conceived at this time, and at full term gave birth to a healthy girl. The assumption that such a time of predilection for the occurrence of conception exists is, however, contradicted by the well known fact that in the case of large families the children’s birthdays are irregularly distributed throughout the year.

Baker-Brown describes a special form of sterility due to “sympathetic or reflex action.” It depends upon diseases of the organs adjoining the uterus, such as vascular tumours of the urethra, bleeding piles, fistula, fissure, and prolapse of the anus, schirrus of the rectum, ascarides. “These diseases produce sterility in consequence of the loss of blood, the menstrual disturbances, the morbid congestion of the uterine system, and the reflex neuroses, to which they give rise.” Courty reports a case belonging to this category in which in a young married lady sterility was due to fissure of the anus, which had long existed without recognition; after the fissure had healed, conception occurred. Palmay recently reported a case in which “taenia solium was the cause of sterility. In a woman 20 years of age, who had lived in sterile wedlock for three years, the presence in the intestine of a tapeworm, which she had harboured for many years, gave rise to dysmenorrhœal troubles. The complete expulsion of the worm relieved the dysmenorrhœa, the woman became pregnant, and gave birth to a child at full term; since then menstruation has been painless.” The presence of the tapeworm may have had an unfavourable influence upon the blood-supply and the innervation of the uterus. But cases of this nature do not constitute a special form of sterility; they must be classed, either with cases due to interference with ovulation, or with those due to prevention of the contact of ovum and spermatozoon.

Incapacity for Incubation of the Ovum.