phantom penis

Regular readers will be familiar with the Gimcrack’s foray into Gould and Pyle territory. Today’s extract is a little on the gruesome side….

Amputation of the penis is not always followed by loss of the sexual power, but sometimes has the mental effect of temporarily increasing the desire. Haslam reports the case of a man who slipped on the greasy deck of a whaler, and falling forward upon a large knife, completely severed his penis. After recovery there was a distinct increase of sexual desire and frequent nocturnal emissions. In the same report there is recorded the history of a man who had entirely lost his penis, but had supplied himself with an ivory succedaneum. This fellow finally became so libidinous that it was necessary to exclude him from the workhouse, of which he was an inmate.

Art by Gene Bilbrew

Norris gives an account of a private who received a gunshot wound of the penis while it was partly erect. The wound was acquired at the second battle of Fredericksburg. The ball entered near the center of the glans, and taking a slightly oblique direction, it passed out of the right side then entered the scrotum, and after striking the pelvis near the symphysis, glanced off around the innominate bone, and finally made its exit two inches above the anus. The after-effects of this injury were incontinence of urine, and inability to assume the erect position.

Raven mentions a case of spontaneous retraction of the penis in a man of twenty-seven. While in bed he felt a sensation of coldness in the penis, and on examination he found the organ rapidly retracting or shrinking. He hastily summoned a physician, who found that the penis had, in fact, almost disappeared, the glans being just perceptible under the pubic arch, and the skin alone visible. The next day the normal condition was restored, but the patient was weak and nervous for several days after his fright.

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