THE VIRILITY SOLUTION: THE BEGINNING OF MEDICAL SCIENCE

Tuesday, March 24, 2009 6:14

Posted in category Men's Health-Erectile Dysfunction

By the sixteenth century, a degree of science had been introduced into the study of male sexual function. Varolio, an Italian physician, was the first to note that blood flowed through the penis. Unfortunately, this keen insight was followed by a gap in medical research that can be aittributed to prudish societal attitudes about anything remotely sexual. In Fact, it wasn’t until two hundred years later that physicians made the next significant observation about ED: it had at least one physical cause. Even more importantly, they figured out how to treat it successfully.

This stunning event was centered around King Louis XVI of Franance. In 1770, when he was sixteen, Louis was unable to achieve intercourse with his wife, Marie Antoinette. It is said that he suffered from total erectile dysfunction. Where royalty was concerned, ED was .in especially thorny problem. Dynasties needed heirs. So Louis con-.ulied with the medical experts of his day and a diagnosis was made. It reined that the main cause of his problem was an excessively tight l(iicskin. Following a successful circumcision—several years after his arranged marriage—he was finally able to perform sexually. Eventually, he fathered two children.

In this country, however, treatments for ED—such as they were— still I ended to be based on folk medicine. One old American recipe for a sexual salve combined thorn apple, black pepper, and honey. This mix was applied to the penis before intercourse. The thorn apple is now known to contain atropine and hyoscine, two strong alkaloids. Absorbed through the mucous membrane of the penis, they may have helped to trigger an erection. The pepper, which produces a burning sensation, would have helped to maintain it. The honey, however, acted solely as a lubricant.

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