"La forme duquel Congrez est, qui le iour et heure prins, et les Expers connenus ou nommez (qui sont ordinairement ceux mêmes qui ont fait la visitation lesquels partant n'ont garde de se contrarier ny de rapporte que l'homme y a fait l'intromission ayant desia (déjà) rapporté sa partie vierge et non corrompüe) le juge prend le serment des parties, qu'elles tascheront de bonne foy et sans dissimulation d'accōplir l'œuvre de mariage sans y apporter empeschement de part ny d'autre: des Expers qu'ils ferōt fidelle rapport de ce qui se passera au Congrez; cela faitles parties et les expers se retirent en une chābre pour ce préparée, où l'homme et la femme sont de rechef visités, l'homme, afin de sçavoir s'il a point de mal, s'en estans trouué à aucuns l'ayans gaigné depuis avoir esté visité qui n'ont laissé d'estre séparés encore, qu'il parust assez par là qu'ils n'estoient impuissans, la femme pour considérer l'estat de se partie honteuse et, par ce moyen cognoistre la difference de son ouverture et dilatation, auant et après le Congrez, et si l'intromission y aura esté faicte, ou non: sans, toutefois, parler en leur rapport de la virginité ou corruption de la femme, reputée vierge, ayant vne fois esté rapportée telle, sans qu'on la visite plus pour cela. En quelques procès (comme en celuy de Bray, 1578) les parties sont visités nues depuis le sommet de la teste iusques à la plante des pieds, en toutes les parties des leurs corps,etiam in podice, pour sçavior s'il n y a rien sur elles qui puissent auancer ou empescher le congrez, les parties honteuses de l'homme lavées d'eau tiéde (c'est a sçavoir à quelle fin) et la femme mise en demy bain, où elle demeure quelque temps. Cela fait, l'homme et la femme se couchent en plein iour en un lict, Expers présens, qui demeurent en la chambre, ou se retirent (si les parties le requièrent on l'vne d'elles, en quelque garde-robe ou gallerie prochaine, l'huis (la porte) entreouvert toutefois, et quand aux matrones se tiennent proche du lict, et les rideaux estant tirez, c'est à l'homme à se mettre en devoir de faire preuve de sa puissance habitant charnellement avec sa partie et faisant intromission: ou souvent aduiennent des altercations honteuses et ridicules, l'homme se plaignant que sa partie ne le veut laisser faire et empesche l'intromission; elle le niant et disant qu'il veut mettre le doigt et la dilater, et ouvrir par ce moyen; de sorte qu'il faudroit qu'un homme fust sans appréhension et pire qu'aucunes bêstes, ou quementula velut digito uteretur, s'il ne desbandsit cependant au cas qu'il fust en estat, et si nō obstant ces indignitez il passait autre iusques à faire intromission; encore ne sçauroit il, quelque érection qu'il face (fasse), si la partie veut l'empescher si on ne lui tenoit les mains et les genoux ce qui ne se fait pas. En fin, les parties ayās esté quelque tēps au lict, comme une heure ou deux, les Espers appellex, ou de leur propre mouvement, quand ils s'ennuyent en ayant de subject,si sint viri, s'approchent, et ouvrans les rideaux, s'informent de ce qui s'est passé entre elles, et visitent la femme derechef, pour sçavoir si elle est plus ouverte et dilatée que lorsqu' elle s'est mise au lict, et si intromission a été faicte aussi,an facta sit emission, ubi, quid et quale emissio. Ce qui ne se fait pas sans bougie et lunettes à gens qui s'en seruent pour leur vieil age, ni sans des recherches fort sales et odieuses: et font leur procès verbal de ce qui s'est passé au Congrez (ou pour mieux dire) de ce qu'ils veulent, qu'ils baillent au juge, estant au mesme logis vne salle, ou chambre à part, avec les procureurs et patriciens, en cour d'Eglise, attendant la fin de cet acte lequel rapporte est tousiours (toujours) au desaduantage des hommes à faute d'auoir fait intromission, sans laquelle, l'érectionetiam sufficiens ad coeundem, ny l'émission n'empeschent la séparation, comme il se voit par les procès verbaux des Congrez de De Bray des onziesme et vingt unsiesme d'Apuril, 1578. Auxquels Congrez, principalement au premier, il fit érection rapportée suffisantead copulem carnalem, et emisit extra vas, sed non intromisit, et pour cela fut séparé; laquelle intromission ne peust aussi estre faite au Congrez par quelque homme que ce fut, si la femme n'y preste consentement, et empesche, comme il est tout notaire.
The first judicial sentence which ordered a Congress is said to have been caused by the shameless effrontery of a young man who, being accused of impotency, demanded permission to exhibit proof of his powers before witnesses, which demand being complied with, the practice was introduced into the jurisprudence of the country. But, as we have already shown, thecustom of the Judicial Congress may be referred to a far earlier period, in fact, to the remotest times of the middle ages, and that it originated with the Church, when the public morals were far from being well ascertained, as is proved by many well-known privileges belonging to the Seigneur or Lord of the Manor. Pope Gregory the Great, who was raised to the Pontificate in 590, appears to have been the first who conferred upon bishops the right of deciding this description of questions. It was, doubtless, from considerations of tender regard for female modesty that the Church took upon itself the painful duty of investigating and deciding upon questions of this nature. Numerous instances prove this, especially the dissolution of the marriage of Alphonso VI. of Portugal and his Consort, pronounced in 1688, and mentioned by Bayle.70The great antiquity of this custom is proved by the 17th Art. of the Capitulars of Pepin, in the year 752, which bears a direct allusion to it: inasmuch as that article established as a principle that the impotency of a husband should be considered as a lawful cause for divorce, and that the proof of such impotency should be given, and the fact verified at the foot of the Cross—exeant ad crucem, et si verum fuerit, separantur.
That the Congress originated with the Church, who considered it as an efficacious means for deciding questions of impotency, is still further proved by the President Boutrier and by other writers, who assert that the ecclesiastical judges of other times were alone empowered (to the exclusion of all secular ones) to take cognizance of cases of impotency.
It is well attested that during the 16th and 17th centuries all the courts of law in France held the opinion that a marriage be anulled on the demand of a wife who claimed the Congress.
The fatal blow to this disgusting custom was given by a decree of the Parliament of Paris, under the presidency of the celebrated Lamoignon, dated Feb. 18, 1677, which decree forbids the practice by any other court whatsoever, ecclesiastical or civil. It is supposed that the ridicule cast upon it by the following lines of Boileau had no small share in causing its suppression.
"Jamais la biche en rut, n'a pour fait d'impuissanceTrainé du fond des bois, un cerf à l'audience;Et jamais juge, entre eux ordonnant le congrès,De ce burlesque mot n'a sali ses arrêts."71
"Jamais la biche en rut, n'a pour fait d'impuissanceTrainé du fond des bois, un cerf à l'audience;Et jamais juge, entre eux ordonnant le congrès,De ce burlesque mot n'a sali ses arrêts."71
Three causes were alleged for the abolition of the Congress—its obscenity, its inutility, and its inconveniences. Its obscenity; for what could be more infamous, more contrary to public decency and to the reverence due to an oath than the impurity of the proof, both in its preparation and execution? Its inutility; for what could be less certain and more defective? Can it be, for one moment, imagined that a conjunction ordered by judges between two persons embittered by a law-suit, agitated with hate and fury against each other, can operate in them? Experience has shown that, of ten men the most vigorous and powerful, hardly one was found that came out of this shameful combat with success; it is equally certain that he who had unjustly suffered dissolution of his marriage, for not having given a proof of his capacity in the infamous Congress, had given real and authentic evidences of it in a subsequent marriage. This degrading mode of proof, in short, far from discovering the truth, was but the cause and foundation for impotence and falsehood. Its inconveniences; these are—the declared nullity of a legitimate marriage—the dishonour cast upon the husband, and the unjust damages, oftentimes exorbitant, which he is condemned to pay—two marriages contracted upon the dissolution of the first—both of which, according to purity and strictness, are equally unlawful—the error or the malice discovered,ex post facto, and, nevertheless, by the authority of the law, became irreparable.
It was in the power of the magistrate, upon a complaint of impotency being alleged by a wife against her husband, to order examiners to make an inspection of the husband's parts of generation, and upon their report to decide whether there was just cause for a divorce; and this without proceeding to order the congress. The following are a few cases of this description, and are extracted from the reports and judgments of the Officialty at Paris in cases of impotency.
Case I. Jean de But, master fringe maker, was, in 1675, charged with impotency by Genevieve Helena Marcault, his wife; he being inspected by Renauolot, a physician, and Le Bel, a surgeon, by order of the official; they declared that, after a due and thorough examination of all the members and parts of the said De But, as well genital, as others which might throw a light upon the case and likewise his condition of body, his age, the just conformation and proportion of his limbs, but especially his penis, which was found to be of as proper a thickness, length and colour as could be wished: and likewise his testicles, which exhibited no perceptible viciousness or malformation, they are of opinion that from all these outward marks, which are the only ones they consider themselves justified in judging from, the said De But is capacitated to perform the matrimonial act. Signed by them at Paris, July 18, 1675, and attested by the Sieur de Combes. And on August 23, 1675, by the sentence of M. Benjamin, official, the said Marcault was non-suited and ordered to return to her husband and cohabit with him.
Case II. Inspection having been ordered by the official of Paris of the body of Joseph Le Page, who is taxed with impotency by Nicola de Loris, his wife, the said inspection was made by Deuxivoi and De Farci, physicians, and Paris and Du Fertre, surgeons; their report is as follows:—
"We have found the exterior of his person to be like that of other men's, the penis of a good conformation and naturally situated, with the nut or glans bare, its adjoining parts fringed with soft, fine hair, the scrotum of an unexceptional thickness and extent, and in it vessels of good conformation and size, but terminating unequally; on the right side, they end in a small, flabby substance instead of a true testicle; and on the left side we observed a testicle fixed to the extremity of one of the vessels, as usual, invested in its tunicle, which left testicle we do not find to be at all flabby, but of a middling size: upon the whole, we are of opinion that the said Le Page is capable of the conjugal act but in a feeble manner. Signed and dated March 5, 1684. By the sentence of M. Cheron, the official, the said De Loris's petition is rejected, and she is enjoined to return to her husband.
Case III. Peter Damour being accused of impotency by his wife Louisa Tillot an inspection was ordered to be made by Rainset and Afforti, physicians, and Franchet and Colignon, surgeons. They report as follows:—"We have proceeded to inspect Peter Damour, master saddler at Paris, and having attententively examined his parts of generation, we have found them well constituted and in good condition as to their size, conformation and situation for the conjugal act; according, however to the statement of the said Damour himself, the erection is imperfect, the penis not being sufficiently rigid for perforating the vagina; admitting this, however, to be the case, we are of opinion that the imperfection may be remedied, repaired, andrectified, in time, by proper remedies. Signed January 16, 1703. In consequence the official, M. Vivant, refused Villot's demand, and ordered her to go home to her husband and cohabit with him as her lawful spouse.
Case IV. In the suit of Demoiselle Maris Louise Buchères accusing of impotence Antoine de Bret, an inspection was ordered and performed by Venage and Lita, physicians, Lombard and Delon, surgeons. They reported as follows: "We find the string of the foreskin shorter than it should be for giving the nut free scope to extend itself when turgid:—that the body of the left testicle is very diminutive and decayed, its tunicle separated, the spermatic vessels very much disordered by crooked swollen veins—that the right testicle is not of a due thickness, though thicker than the other: that it is somewhat withered and the spermatic vessels disordered by crooked swollen veins. On all which accounts we do not think that the natural parts of the said Sieur de Bret have all the disposition requisite for the well performing the functions they were designed for; yet we cannot say that he is impotent until we have inspected the wife. Paris July 11, 1703, Signed. On the 22d of July, 1703, the wife was inspected by the said physicians and surgeons and by two matrons; the result of which was that they observed no visciousness of conformation in her womb: the valvula were circular and the carunclæ myrtiformes, placed in the neck of the vagina, were soft, supple, flexible, entire, and did not seem to have suffered any violence or displacing, and the cavity of the womb-pipe was free and without any obstacle. Therefore they are of opinion that she is not capable of the conjugal act, and that there has been no intromission, consequently that she is a virgin, and that if the marriage had not been consummated, it is her husband's fault, because of his great debility and defective conformation of his parts of generation. Another inspectionof the same parties was ordered Aug. 1, 1703. Bourges and Thuillier being the physicians, and Tranchet and Meri the surgeons, who declared that after due and careful examination they had found no defect which could hinder generation. Their report is dated Paris, Aug. 13, 1703. M. Chapelier ordered, in consequence, both parties,—viz., the Sieur De Bret and the said Buchères to acknowledge each other for man and wife.
Case V. On the 2nd April, 1653, the Chevalier René de Cordovan, Marquis de Langey, aged 25 years, married Maria de Saint Simon de Courtomer between 13 and 14 years of age. The parties lived very happily for the first four years, that is to say, up to 1657, when the lady accused her husband of impotency. The complaint was heard before theLieutenant Civilof theChatelet, who appointed a jury to examine the parties. The examination was made, and the report declared that both parties were duly and fully qualified for performing the conjugal act. In order to invalidate this report the lady affirmed that if she was not a virgin it was in consequence of the brutal efforts of one whose impotency rendered him callous as to the means he employed to satisfy himself. The Chevalier de Langey, much incensed at this imputation, demanded theCongress; the judge granted the petition, the wife appealed from the sentence, but it was confirmed by the superior courts.
For carrying the sentence into effect, the house of a person named Turpin, who kept baths, was chosen. Four physicians, five surgeons and five matrons were present. It is impossible to enter into the details of this disgusting prequisition; they are given in full detail in theprocès verbal. Suffice it to say that the event being unfavourable to the chevalier, his marriage was declared void by a decree of the 8th of February, 1659.
By this decree the chevalier was not only condemned to pay back the dowry which he had had with his wife, but was prohibited from contracting another marriage—the lady, on the contrary, was allowed to enter into any other engagement she might think fit, as being considered entirely freed from her former bonds.
The next day after this decree the chevalier made his protest against it before two notaries, declaring that he did not acknowledge himself to be impotent, and that he would, in defiance of the prohibition imposed upon him, enter into wedlock again whenever he pleased.
The lady St. Simon contracted a marriage with Peter de Caumont, Marquis de Boèsle, and from this marriage were born three daughters. At the same time the Chevalier de Langley married Diana de Montault de Navaille, and their marriage was followed by the birth of seven children.
In 1670 the Marchioness de Boèsle, the ci-devant Countess de Langey, died.
It was in consequence of the ulterior proceedings in the law courts respecting the real paternity of the children of the marchioness that the government availed itself of the opportunity of abolishing, as we have seen, the useless and obscene ordeal of the congress.
We shall conclude the present Essay by transcribing Dr. Willick's judicious observations upon the sexual intercourse.
Of theSexual Intercoursein particular; its physical consequences with respect to the Constitution of the Individual; under what circumstances it may be either conducive or detrimental to Health.
"A subject of such extensive importance, both to our physicaland moral welfare, as the consequences resulting from either a too limited or extravagant intercourse between the sexes deserves the strictest enquiry, and the most serious attention of the philosopher.
The inclination to this intercourse, and the evacuation connected with it, are no less inherent in human nature than other bodily functions. Yet, as the semen is the most subtle and spirituous part of the human frame, and as it contributes to the support of the nerves, this evacuation is by no means absolutely necessary; and it is besides attended with circumstances not common to any other. The emission of semen enfeebles the body more than the loss of twenty times the same quantity of blood; more than violent cathartics, emetics, &c.; hence excesses of this nature produce a debilitating effect on the whole nervous system, on both body and mind.
It is founded on the observations of the ablest physiologists, that the greatest part of this refined fluid is re-absorbed and mixed with the blood, of which it constitutes the most rarified and volatile part; and that it imparts to the body singular sprightliness, vivacity, and vigour. These beneficial effects cannot be expected if the semen be wantonly and improvidently wasted. Besides the emission of it is accompanied with a peculiar species of tension and convulsion of the whole frame, which is always succeeded by relaxation. For the same reason, even libidinous thoughts, without any loss of semen, are debilitating, though in a less degree, by occasioning a propulsion of blood to the genitals.
If this evacuation, however, took place only in a state of superfluity, and within proper bounds, it is not detrimental to health. Nature, indeed, spontaneously effects it in the most healthy individuals during sleep; and as long as we observe no differencein bodily and mental energy after such losses, there is no danger to be apprehended from them. It is well established and attested by the experience of eminent physicians, that certain indispositions, especially those of hypochondriasis and complete melancholy and incurable by any other means, have been happily removed in persons of both sexes, by exchanging a single state for wedlock.
There are a variety of circumstances by which the physical propriety of the sexual intercourse is in general to be determined. It is conductive to the well being of the individual, if the laws of nature and society (not an extravagant or disordered imagination) induce man to satisfy this inclination, especially under the following conditions:
1. In young persons, that is, adults, or those of a middle age; as from the flexibility of their vessels, the strength of their muscles, and the abundance of their vital spirits, they can more easily sustain the loss thence occasioned.
2. In robust persons, who lose no more than is speedily replaced.
3. In sprightly individuals, and such as are particularly addicted to pleasure; for the stronger the natural and legal desire, the less hurtful is its gratification.
4. In married persons who are accustomed to it; for nature pursues a different path, according as she is habituated to the reabsorption or the evacuation of this fluid.
5. With a beloved object; as the power animating the nerves and muscular fibres is in proportion to the pleasure received.
6. After a sound sleep, because then the body is more energetic; it is provided with a new stock of vital spirit, and the fluids are duly prepared;—hence the early morning appears to be61designed by nature for the exercise of this function; as the body is then most vigorous, and being unemployed in any other pursuit, its natural propensity to this is the greater; besides, at this time a few hours sleep will, in a considerable degree restore the expended powers.
7. With an empty stomach; for the office of digestion, so material to the attainment of bodily vigour, is then uninterrupted. Lastly.
8. In the vernal months; as nature at this season in particular, incites all the lower animals to sexual intercourse, as we are then most energetic and sprightly; and as the spring is not only the safest, but likewise the most proper time with respect to the consequences resulting from that intercourse. It is well ascertained by experience that children begotten in spring are of more solid fibres, and consequently more vigorous and robust, than those generated in the heat of summer or cold of winter.
It may be collected from the following circumstances, whether or not the gratification of the sexual intercourse has been conducive to the well-being of the body; namely, if it be not succeeded by a peculiar lassitude; if the body do not feel heavy, and the mind averse to reflection, these are favourable symptoms, indicating that the various powers have sustained no essential loss, and that superfluous matter only has been evacuated.
Farther, the healthy appearance of the urine in this case, as well as cheerfulness and vivacity of mind, also prove a proper action of the fluids, and sufficiently evince an unimpaired state of the animal functions, a due perspiration, and a free circulation of the blood.
There are times, however, in which the gratification is themore pernicious to health, when it has been immoderate, and without the impulse of nature, but particularly in the following situations.
1. In all debilitated persons; as they do not possess sufficient vital spirits, and their strength after this venerating emission is consequently much exhausted. Their digestion necessarily suffers, perspiration is checked, and the body becomes languid and heavy.
2. In the aged; whose vital heat is diminished, whose frame is enfeebled by the most moderate enjoyment, and whose vigour, already reduced, suffers a still greater diminution from every loss that is accompanied with a violent convulsion of the whole body.
3. In persons not arrived at the age of maturity; by an easy intercourse with the other sex, they become enervated and emaciated, and inevitably shorten their lives.
4. In dry, choleric and thin persons; these, even at a mature age, should seldom indulge in this passion, as their bodies are already in want of moisture and pliability, both of which are much diminished by the sexual intercourse, while the bile is violently agitated, to the great injury of the whole animal frame. Lean persons generally are of a hot temperament; and the more heat there is in the body the greater will be the subsequent dryness. Hence, likewise, to persons in a state of intoxication, this intercourse is extremely pernicious; because in such a state the increased circulation of the blood towards the head may be attended with dangerous consequences, such as bursting of blood-vessels, apoplexy, etc. The plethoric are particularly exposed to these dangers.
635. Immediately after meals; as the powers requisite to the digestion of food are thus diverted, consequently the aliment remains too long unassimilated, and becomes burdensome to the stomach.
6. After violent exercise; in which case it is still more hurtful than in the preceding, where muscular strength was not consumed, but only required to the aid of another function. After bodily fatigue, on the contrary, the necessary energy is in a manner exhausted, so that every additional exertion of the body must be peculiarly injurious.
7. In the best of summer it is less to be indulged in than in spring and autumn; because the process of concoction and assimilation is effected less vigorously in summer than in the other seasons, and consequently the losses sustained are not so easily recovered. For a similar reason the sexual commerce is more debilitating, and the capacity for it sooner extinguished in hot than in temperate climates. The same remark is applicable to very warm temperature combined with moisture, which is extremely apt to debilitate the solid part. Hence hatters, dyers, bakers, brewers, and all those exposed to steam, generally have relaxed fibres.
It is an unfavourable symptom if the rest after this intercourse be uneasy, which plainly indicates that more has been lost than could be repaired by sleep; but if, at the same time, it be productive of relaxation, so as to affect the insensible perspiration, it is a still stronger proof that it has been detrimental to the constitution.72
WWhen it is considered how strongly the sexual desire is implanted in man, and how much his self-love is interested in preserving or in recovering the power of gratifying it, his endeavours to infuse fresh vigour into his organs when they are temporarily exhausted by over-indulgence, or debilitated by age cannot appear surprising.
This remark particularly applied to natives of southern and eastern climes, with whom the erotic ardour makes itself more intensely felt; since it is there that man's imagination, as burning as the sky beneath which he first drew breath, re-awakens desires his organs may have long lost the power of satisfying, and consequently it is there more especially that, notwithstanding the continual disappointment of his hopes, he still pertinaciously persists in searching for means whereby to stimulate his appetite for sexual delights. Accordingly it will be found that inthe remotest ages, even the vegetable, animal, and mineral kingdoms have been ransacked for the purpose of discovering remedies capable of strengthening the genital apparatus, and exciting it to action.
But however eager men might be in the above enquiry, their helpmates were equally desirous of finding a means whereby they might escape the reproach of barrenness,—a reproach than which none was more dreaded by eastern women. Such means was at last discovered, or supposed to be so, in the mandrake,73a plant which thenceforth became, as the following quotation proves, of inestimable value in female eyes.
"And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother, Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes.
"And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to-night for thy son's mandrakes.
"And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me, for surely I have hired thee with my son's mandrakes. And he lay with her that night.
"And God harkened unto Leah, and she conceived and bare Jacob the fifth son."74
There is only one other passage in the Bible in which this plant is alluded to, and that is in Solomon's song:
"The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved."75
All that can be gathered from the former of the above quotations is that these plants were found in the fields during the wheat harvests and that, either for their rarity, flavour, or, more probably, for their supposed quality of removing barrenness in women, as well as for the stimulating powers attributed to them, were greatly valued by the female sex. In the quotation from Solomon's Song, the Hebrew wordDudaimexpresses some fruit or flowers exhaling a sweet and agreeable odour, and which were in great request among the male sex.76
According to Calmet, the wordDudaimmay be properly deduced fromDudim(pleasures of love); and the translators of the Septuagint and the Vulgate render it by words equivalent to the English one—mandrake. The wordDudaimis rendered in our authorized version by the wordmandrake—a translation sanctioned by the Septuagint, which, in this place, translatesDudaimby μῆλα μανδραγορῶν,mandrake—apples, and in Solomon's Song by οἱ μανδραγὸραι (mandrakes). With this, Onkelos77and the Syrian version agree; and this concurrence of authorities, with the fact that the mandrake (atropa mandragora) combines in itself all the circumstances and traditions required for the Dudaim, has given to the current interpretation, its present prevalence.
Pythagoras was the first (followed by Plutarch) who gave to this plant the name of ἀνθρωπομορφος (man-likeness), an appellation which became very generally used; but why he gave it is not precisely known: Calmet, however, suggests as a reason the partial resemblance it bears to the human form, from the circumstance of its root being parted from the middle, downwards.
The opinion respecting the peculiar property of the mandrake was not confined to the Jews, but was also entertained by the Greeks and Romans, the former of whom called its fruit—love-apples, and bestowed the name ofMandragorilisupon Venus. Dioscorides knew it by that of Μανδραγορας, and remarks that the root is supposed to be used in philters or love-potions;78and another writer lauds it as exciting the amorous propensity, remedying female sterility, facilitating conception and prolificness, adding the singular fact that female elephants, after eating its leaves, are seized with so irresistible a desire for copulation, as to run eagerly, in every direction, in quest of the male.79
Speaking of the plant Eryngium, the elder Pliny says: "The whole variety of the Eryngium known in our (the Latin) language as thecentum capitahas some marvellous facts recorded of it. It is said to bear a striking likeness to the organs of generation of either sex; it is rarely met with, but if a root resembling the male organ of the human species be found by a man, it will ensure him woman's love; hence it is that Phaon, the Lesbian, was so passionately beloved ofSappho."80If it be true, as is asserted by medical writers, that the above root contains an essential oil of peculiarly stimulating qualities, the fact would account, not only for Sappho's passion for Phaon, but also for the high value set upon it by the rival wives of Jacob.
For the same reason as that suggested by Calmet, Columella calls the mandrakesemihomo:
"Quamvissemihominisvesano gramine fœtaMandragoræ pariat flores."81
"Quamvissemihominisvesano gramine fœtaMandragoræ pariat flores."81
"Let it not vex thee if thy teeming fieldThe half-man Mandrake's madd'ning seed should yield;"
"Let it not vex thee if thy teeming fieldThe half-man Mandrake's madd'ning seed should yield;"
and qualifies its seed by the epithetvesanus, because in his time (the first century after Christ) it was still supposed to form one of the ingredients of philters or love-potions. The superstitious ideas attached to the mandrake were indeed so current throughout Europe during the middle ages, that one of the accusations brought against the Knights Templars was that of adoring, in Palestine, an idol to which was given the name of Mandragora.82Even, comparatively, not very long ago, there might be seen in many of the continental towns quacks and mountebanks exhibiting little rudely-carved figures, which they declared to be genuine mandrakes, assuring their gaping auditors, at the same time, that they were produced from the urine of a gibbeted thief, and seriously warning those who might have to pull any out of the ground to stop their ears first, for otherwise the piercing shrieks of these plants would infallibly strike them with deafness. Wier thus describes the manufacture of these interesting little gentlemen: "Impostors carveupon these plants while yet green the male and female forms, inserting millet or barley seeds in such parts as they desire the likeness of human hair to grow on; then, digging a hole in the ground, they place the said plants therein, covering them with sand till such time as the little seeds have stricken root, which, it is said, would be perfectly effected within twenty days at furthest. After this, disinterring the plants, these impostors, with a sharp cutting knife, so dexterously carve, pare, and slip the little filaments of the seeds as to make them resemble the hair which grows upon the various parts of the human body."83
"I have seen," says the Abbé Rosier, "mandrakes tolerably well representing the male and female parts of generation, a resemblance which they owe, almost entirely, to manual dexterity. For the intended object, a mandrake is chosen having a strong root, which, at the end of a few inches, bifurcates into two branches. As the root is soft, it easily takes the desired form, which it preserves on becoming dry."84The author then describes the process of producing the resemblance of human hair, and which is similar to that given above.
In the year 1429, a Cordelier by name Brother Richard, fulminated from the pulpit a vigorous sermon against the amulette then much in vogue, and called "Mandragora." He convinced his auditors, both male and female, of its impiety and inutility, and caused hundreds of those pretended charms which, upon that occasion, were voluntarily delivered up to him, to be publicly burnt. It is no doubt, to these mandragoras that an old chronicler alludes in the following strophe:
J'ai puis vu soudre en FrancePar grant dérision,La racine et la brancheDe toute abusion.Chef de l'orgueil du mondeEt de lubricité;Femme où tel mal habondeRend povre utilité.85
J'ai puis vu soudre en FrancePar grant dérision,La racine et la brancheDe toute abusion.Chef de l'orgueil du mondeEt de lubricité;Femme où tel mal habondeRend povre utilité.85
In the 15th century the mandrake enjoyed in Italy so great a reputation as an erotic stimulant, that the celebrated Macchiavelli wrote a much admired comedy upon it, called "La Mandragora." The subject of this piece, according to Voltaire, who asserts "qu'il vaut, peut être mieux que toutes les pièces d'Aristophane, est un jeune homme adroit qui veut coucher avec la femme de son voisin. Il engage, avec de l'argent, un moine, unFa tuttoou unFa molto, à séduire sa maitresse et à faire tomber son mari dans un piège ridicule. On se moque tout le long de la pièce, de la religion que toute l'Europe professe, dont Rome est le centre et dont le siège papal est le trone."86
Callimaco, one of the dramatis-personæ of this comedy, thus eulogizes the plant in question, "Voi avete a intendere che non è cosa più certa a ingravidare,d'una pozione fatta di Mandragola. Questa è una cosi sperimentata da me due para di volte, e se non era questa, la Reina di Francia sarebbe sterile, ed infinite altre principesse in quello Stato."87
"You must know that nothing is so sure to make women conceive, as a draught composed of Mandragola. That is a fact which I have verified upon four occasions, and had it not been for the virtues of this plant, the queen of France, as well as many noble ladies of that kingdom, would have proved barren."
By the Venetian law the administering of love-potions was accounted highly criminal. Thus the law "Dei maleficii et herbarie." Cap. XVI. of the code, entitled "Della Commissione del maleficio" says, Statuimo etiamdio che se alcun homo o femina harra fatto maleficii, iguali so dimandono volgarmenteamatorie, o veramente alcuni altri maleficii, che alcun homo o femina se havesson in odio, sia frusta et bollade, et che hara consigliato, patisca simile pena."88
The notion of the efficacy of love powders was also so prevalent in the 15th century in our own country that in the Parliament summoned by King Richard III., on his usurping the throne, it was publicly urged as a charge against Lady Grey, that she had bewitched King Edward IV. by strange potions and amorous charms.
"And here also we considered how that the said pretended marriage betwixt the abovenamed King Edward and Elizabeth Grey, was made of great presumption, without the knowing and assent of the Lords of this land, and also by sorcery and witchcraft committed by the said Elizabeth and her mother Jaquet Duchesse of Bedford, as the common opinion of the people and the public voice and fame is thorow all this land."(From the "Address of Parliament to the high and mightie Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester.")89
Modern writers, as might be expected, have taken a very wide range in their inquiries as to what kind of plant the Dudaïm really was, some regarding it as lilies, roses, violets, snowdrops, and jasmine; others, as melons, plantain fruits, whirtleberries, dwarf brambles, the berries of the physalis or winter cherry, grapes of some peculiar kinds, or even underground fungi, as truffles, &c. Many have supposed the word to mean the ingredients, whatever they might have been, of a charm or love potion, and hence have recurred to the mandrake, celebrated, as already said, throughout antiquity, for its supposed virtues, and whose history has been tricked out with all the traditionary nonsense that might be imagined to confirm that report of such qualities.
Liebentantz,90in 1660; the younger Rudbeck,91in 1733, and Celsius,92in 1745, have displayed much erudition and research in their inquiries; but the first of these writers arrived at the conclusion that nothing certain could be come to on the subject; while the second proposed raspberries as the Dudaïm; and the third maintained that they were the fruit of the Zizyphus, the Spina Christi of the disciples of Linnæus.
Maundrell, who travelled in the East in the 17th century, informs us that, having asked the chief priest of Aleppo what sort of a plant or fruit the Dudaïm, or (as we translate it) themandrakes, were which Leah gave to Rachel for the purchaseof her husband's embraces, the holy man replied "that they were plants of a large leaf bearing a certain sort of fruit, in shape resembling an apple, growing ripe in harvest, but of an ill savour, and not wholesome. But the virtue of them was tohelp conception, being laid under the genial bed. That the women were wont to apply it at this day, out of an opinion of its prolific virtue."93
Some writers have supposed the Dudaïm to be neither more nor less than the truffle. Virey asserts it to be a species of Orchïs; and, indeed, considering the remarkable conformation of the root of this plant,94the slightly spermatic odour of its farinaceous substance, as well as that of the flowers of another one belonging to the same family, an odour so similar to the emanations of an animal proverbial for its salaciousness, and to which its bearded spikes or ears give additional resemblance, the almost unbounded confidence which the ancients reposed in its aphrodisiacal virtues cannot appear surprising.
One of the most extraordinary aphrodisiacs upon record is that reported to have been employed by the Amazons. The "Amazons," says Eustathius,95"broke either a leg or an arm of the captives they took in battle, and this they did, not only to prevent their attempts at escape, or their plotting, but also, and this more especially, to render them more vigorous in the venereal conflict; for, as they themselves burnt away the right breast of their female children in order that the right arm mightbecome stronger from receiving additional nutriment, so they imagined that, similarly, the genital member would be strengthened by the deprivation of one of the extremities, whether a leg or an arm. Hence, when reproached by the Scythians with the limping gait of her slaves, Queen Antianara replied, "ἄριστα χωλὸς οιφεῖ," "the lame best perform the act of love."
Among the ancient Romans, it was impossible that philters, or love-potions, should not be introduced amid the general depravity so common in every class; and hence we meet with frequent allusions to them in their writers. Thus, the emperor Julian, surnamed the Apostate, writing to his friend Callixines, observes "At enim inquies, Penelopes etiam amor et fides erga virum tempore cognita est. Et quis, tandem, inquam, in muliere amorem conjugis sui religioni ac pietati anteponetquam continuò mandragoræ bibesse judicitur?"96
"But you, Callixines, observe that Penelope's love to her husband was always thus manifested. To this I answer, who but hethat has habitually drunk Mandragoracan prefer in a woman conjugal affection to piety?"
The over excitement caused in the nervous system by such potions frequently proved fatal. Such, according to Eusebius, was the fate of the poet Lucretius, who, having been driven to madness by an amatory potion, and having, during the intervals of his insanity, composed several books, which were afterwards corrected by Cicero, died by his own hand, in the 44th year of his age.97It should, however, be remembered that thisaccount has been questioned by the poet's translator and annotator, the late Mr. Mason Good, in these words:
"By whom the potion was administered is conjectured only from a passage in St. Jerome,98who says that a certain Lucilia killed her husband or her lover by giving him a philtre, which was intended to secure his love, but the effect of which was to make him insane. This Lucilia is supposed to have been the wife or the mistress of Lucretius, but by whom the supposition was first made, I am not able to discover."99Suetonius relates the same thing of Caius Caligula, who although, when he arrived at manhood, endured fatigue tolerably well, was still occasionally liable to faintness, owing to which he remained incapable of any effort. He was not insensible to this disorder of his mind, and sometimes had thoughts of retiring.100"Creditum," he continues, "potionatus a Cæsonia uxore, amatorio quodam medicamento, sed quod furorem verterit."101
"It is thought that his wife Cæsonia administered to him a love-potion, which threw him into a phrensy." It is in allusion to this that Juvenal writes