The case is recorded of a mentally deranged girl, with no nymphomania
though she masturbated, who on taking small doses of opium at once
showed signs of nymphomania, following men about, etc. {American
Journal Ohstetrics, May, 1901, p 74.) It may well be believed that opium
acts beneficially in men when the ejaculatory centers are weak but
irritable; but its actions are too widespread over the organism to make
it in any degree a valuable aphrodisiac. Various other drugs have more
or less reputation as aphrodisiacs; thus bromide of gold, a nervous and
glandular stimulant, is said to have as one of its eflFects a heightening
of sexual feeling. Yohimbin, an alkaloid derived from the West African
Yohimbehe tree, has obtained considerable repute during recent years
in the treatment of impotence; in some cases (see, e.g, Toff's results,
summarized in British Medical Journal, February 18, 1905) it has pro-
duced good results, apparently by increasing the blood supply to the
sexual organs, but has not been successful in all cases or in all hands.
It must always be remembered that in cases of psychical impotence
suggestion necessarily exerts a beneficial influence, and this may work
through any drug or merely with the aid of bread pills. All exercise,
often even walking, may be a sexual stimulant, and it is scarcely neces-
sary to add that powerful stimulation of the skin in the sexual sphere.
