§ 3. Various Causes of Sexual Arousal

14. The first thing to be observed is that, in the normal excitation or action of sexual appetite, not only the genital parts but also the nervous centers of the spinal cord and brain have a part ¹. Hence, in order that this appetite may obtain its full act, these three things must be developed, intact, and joined by suitable communication: the sexual organs, the centers of the spinal cord, and the centers of the brain ².

¹ This was already being handed down in the age of St. John Chrysostom, who wrote: "Some say that orgasm arises from the brain, others from the loins." Homily 62, otherwise 63, on Matthew (M.P.G. 57, 600).

² Compare Havelock Ellis, in Moll, Handbuch, etc., p. 189 ff.

15. Love, even of a higher order, which someone cherishes toward another person, can bring about or assist carnal arousal through the general disposition which such affection is accustomed to induce. Compare what is to be said below, nos. 24-26.

Conversely, aversion of mind can close the way to every libidinous excitation, so that even a physical effort becomes fruitless.

16. How much the internal sense, or imagination, can do to excite, moderate, or allay venereal appetite is evident to everyone. According to the various manner in which the imagination is affected, the same exterior handling will be ineffective or most effective in arousing the venereal sense.

By the power which the brain possesses in these matters, they also explain how infants, the aged, and castrated persons experience libidinous affections, although they are more or less deprived of their proper organs.

17. I. The other senses also cooperate directly with sexual appetite, if one excepts the sense of taste. Taste, being assigned to its proper office of nourishing the body, does nothing immediately upon the venereal sense.

The quantity and quality of foods can nevertheless dispose the body physically toward venereal excitations. Thus it happens that certain libidinous persons procure for themselves certain drugs (for example, "Spanish fly," tamarind) in order to increase the abundance of generative excitation. The power of certain foods, such as cultivated celery and asparagus, is certainly less, but is not always to be disregarded.

And although no one today puts confidence in the so-called "liquor of the monks" and "syrup of chastity," it is useful to know that there are drugs suited to tempering libido, or which assist spontaneous emissions, such as are sometimes required by nature, to occur more easily. Thus pills made from "lupulin" can be bought and used without danger; thus, upon the indication of a physician, hyoscine and bromide are not to be thought ineffective. Nor is the prudent use of hypnotism to be condemned in this matter. Adalin has been recommended fairly recently for treating masturbators ³.

³ On this argument compare R. P. Gemelli, Non moechaberis, chapter 5, pp. 145-166. Although he does not deny the power of camphor, he nevertheless calls false the Salernitan proverb: "Camphor, by its odor through the nostrils, castrates males."

II. Come now, so that we may hand down a few things concerning each of the senses:

1. Touch and handling can do very much when they are exercised either upon the sexual organs or even upon neighboring parts which possess a nervous affinity (a connected innervation) ⁴, although touch alone cannot immediately bring about venereal arousal. Compare below, no. 22.

⁴ So too the anus itself. Compare Féré, L'instinct sexuel, p. 913 [printed page reference; the cited book has only 346 pages and the intended page has not been established].

Indeed, even in more distant parts, secondary centers are observed where touching the surface can induce or increase venereal arousal. Of this sort are the mucous openings of the body (for example, the lips), which are seats of very subtle touch. By the contact of these parts, whether mutual or with the genital parts, appetite is greatly sharpened. Hence kisses upon the lips are less modest than kisses impressed upon the cheeks.

In a woman, moreover, there are more secondary centers than in a man.

2. Sight is at once the principal and the more spiritual sense of man. A man is attracted and captivated much more than a woman by the sight of a beautiful person, especially if grace of movement, for example in dancing, is added. For a woman is attracted more by strength than by beauty.

Yet do not for that reason think that it can be said that the more absolutely beautiful a person is in himself or herself, the greater is that person's faculty of arousing sexual affection toward himself or herself. For particular enticements seem to reside in certain forms of the body; and the particular suitability of two persons must also be considered.

3. Upon hearing a male voice, a woman is more affected than a man is sexually pleased by her own feminine voice, which scarcely differs from a boyish one.

Song and melody, however, arouse nobler affections rather than sexual ones, although the body can also be disposed toward lasciviousness by a certain kind of music.

4. Finally, smell, by which not a few animals are especially governed, is usually effective enough for very few human beings, so that bodily odor rather repels affection. That some seductive power is nevertheless not absent from perfumes, and indeed from strong ones, women testify by their perpetual use of them.

Not being ignorant of this participation of the senses, an author of the fourth century, more probably Basil of Ancyra ⁵, treats at length of the manner in which each of the senses is to be guarded by a virgin.

⁵ De vera virginitatis integritate, no. 5 (M.P.G. 30, 669-809). Compare Cavallera, Rev. d'Hist. ecclés., 1905, pp. 5-14.

Many of the things which we have passed through by enumeration, such as kisses and embraces, are suited to signify or foster other affections of piety and spiritual love. These acts must therefore be called equivocal, and their signification and force must be determined from the intention and circumstances. In this matter a man must also guard very carefully against self-deception, lest under the appearance of piety or spiritual affection he cover demonstrations and acts which ought in truth to be attributed to sensuality or carnal libido. The less readily an honorable explanation presents itself, the more suspicious is the cause which the matter possesses.

18. A manner of life itself is not without its own power. Those who study anthropological matters observe that, in the cultivated life which we lead, sexual appetite is intensified much more than in the life of barbarians, because of less bodily labor together with richer food and the softness of luxury, so that it is almost always ready for act. At the same time, however, the more cultivated mind is distracted from libido by more numerous concerns and cares, and is taught by a stronger command to subdue the blind impulses of the senses.

19. At the beginning of the mild spring weather and of the autumnal cold, the venereal propensity is seen to increase. Accordingly, the time appointed by the Church for the Lenten fast has been aptly selected for restraining the insolence of the flesh.

Indeed, many suspect that there is a monthly cycle in which venereal appetite increases and decreases by varying degrees, so that it reaches its maximum twice ⁶.

⁶ Compare Ellis in Moll, pp. 183-184.