William acton's antipodean disciples: A colonial perspective on his theories of male sexual (Dys)function

Journal of the History of Sexuality

Volumn 13, Issue 2, 2004, Pages 157-182

  Darby, Robert ^a  

^a AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 10044297352     PISSN: 10434070     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/sex.2004.0061     Document Type: Review

References (156)

1. Robert Darby, "'A Source of Serious Mischief: The Demonisation of the Foreskin and the Rise of Preventive Circumcision in Australia," in George C. Denniston, Frederick Hodges, and Marilyn Milos, eds., Understanding Circumcision: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to a Multi-Dimensional Problem (London, 2001). For Britain see also W. D. Dunsmuir and E. M. Gordon, "The History of Circumcision," BJU International 83, suppl. 1 (1999): 1-12; Ronald Hyam, Empire and Sexuality: The British Experience (Manchester, 1990), chap. 3; David L. Gollaher, Circumcision: A History of the World's Most Controversial Surgery (New York, 2001), esp. chap. 4; Geoffrey Miller, "Circumcision: Cultural-Legal Analysis," Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law 9 (2002): 497-585.
2. Robert Darby, "'A Source of Serious Mischief: The Demonisation of the Foreskin and the Rise of Preventive Circumcision in Australia," in George C. Denniston, Frederick Hodges, and Marilyn Milos, eds., Understanding Circumcision: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to a Multi-Dimensional Problem (London, 2001). For Britain see also W. D. Dunsmuir and E. M. Gordon, "The History of Circumcision," BJU International 83, suppl. 1 (1999): 1-12; Ronald Hyam, Empire and Sexuality: The British Experience (Manchester, 1990), chap. 3; David L. Gollaher, Circumcision: A History of the World's Most Controversial Surgery (New York, 2001), esp. chap. 4; Geoffrey Miller, "Circumcision: Cultural-Legal Analysis," Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law 9 (2002): 497-585.
3. Robert Darby, "'A Source of Serious Mischief: The Demonisation of the Foreskin and the Rise of Preventive Circumcision in Australia," in George C. Denniston, Frederick Hodges, and Marilyn Milos, eds., Understanding Circumcision: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to a Multi-Dimensional Problem (London, 2001). For Britain see also W. D. Dunsmuir and E. M. Gordon, "The History of Circumcision," BJU International 83, suppl. 1 (1999): 1-12; Ronald Hyam, Empire and Sexuality: The British Experience (Manchester, 1990), chap. 3; David L. Gollaher, Circumcision: A History of the World's Most Controversial Surgery (New York, 2001), esp. chap. 4; Geoffrey Miller, "Circumcision: Cultural-Legal Analysis," Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law 9 (2002): 497-585.
4. Robert Darby, "'A Source of Serious Mischief: The Demonisation of the Foreskin and the Rise of Preventive Circumcision in Australia," in George C. Denniston, Frederick Hodges, and Marilyn Milos, eds., Understanding Circumcision: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to a Multi-Dimensional Problem (London, 2001). For Britain see also W. D. Dunsmuir and E. M. Gordon, "The History of Circumcision," BJU International 83, suppl. 1 (1999): 1-12; Ronald Hyam, Empire and Sexuality: The British Experience (Manchester, 1990), chap. 3; David L. Gollaher, Circumcision: A History of the World's Most Controversial Surgery (New York, 2001), esp. chap. 4; Geoffrey Miller, "Circumcision: Cultural-Legal Analysis," Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law 9 (2002): 497-585.
5. Robert Darby, "'A Source of Serious Mischief: The Demonisation of the Foreskin and the Rise of Preventive Circumcision in Australia," in George C. Denniston, Frederick Hodges, and Marilyn Milos, eds., Understanding Circumcision: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to a Multi-Dimensional Problem (London, 2001). For Britain see also W. D. Dunsmuir and E. M. Gordon, "The History of Circumcision," BJU International 83, suppl. 1 (1999): 1-12; Ronald Hyam, Empire and Sexuality: The British Experience (Manchester, 1990), chap. 3; David L. Gollaher, Circumcision: A History of the World's Most Controversial Surgery (New York, 2001), esp. chap. 4; Geoffrey Miller, "Circumcision: Cultural-Legal Analysis," Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law 9 (2002): 497-585.
6. Claude-Francois Lallemand, A Practical Treatise on the Causes, Symptoms and Treatment of Spermatorrhoea, trans. and ed. Henry J. McDougall, 3rd American ed. (Philadelphia, 1858), 213-44; Frederick Hodges, "A Short History of Involuntary Sexual Mutilation in the United States," in George C. Denniston and Marilyn Milos, eds., Sexual Mutilations: A Human Tragedy (New York, 1997).
7. Claude-Francois Lallemand, A Practical Treatise on the Causes, Symptoms and Treatment of Spermatorrhoea, trans. and ed. Henry J. McDougall, 3rd American ed. (Philadelphia, 1858), 213-44; Frederick Hodges, "A Short History of Involuntary Sexual Mutilation in the United States," in George C. Denniston and Marilyn Milos, eds., Sexual Mutilations: A Human Tragedy (New York, 1997).
8. Michael Mason, The Making of Victorian Sexuality (Oxford, 1994), 211, 214.
9. E. B. Smith, "Sexuality in Britain 1800-1900: Some Suggested Revisions," in Martha Vicinus, ed., A Widening Sphere: Changing Roles of Victorian Women (Bloomington, 1977), 185-87; M. Jeanne Peterson, "Dr. Acton's Enemy: Medicine, Sex, and Society in Victorian England," Victorian Studies 29 (1986): 569-90.
10. E. B. Smith, "Sexuality in Britain 1800-1900: Some Suggested Revisions," in Martha Vicinus, ed., A Widening Sphere: Changing Roles of Victorian Women (Bloomington, 1977), 185-87; M. Jeanne Peterson, "Dr. Acton's Enemy: Medicine, Sex, and Society in Victorian England," Victorian Studies 29 (1986): 569-90.
11. Alan Hunt, "The Great Masturbation Panic and the Discourse of Moral Regulation in Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Britain," Journal of the History of Sexuality 8 (1998): 575-615; Sylvanus Stall, What a Young Man Ought to Know (Philadelphia, 1904), 81, 93-96; Edward Lyttelton, The Causes and Prevention of Immorality in Schools (London, 1887), 9.
12. Alan Hunt, "The Great Masturbation Panic and the Discourse of Moral Regulation in Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Britain," Journal of the History of Sexuality 8 (1998): 575-615; Sylvanus Stall, What a Young Man Ought to Know (Philadelphia, 1904), 81, 93-96; Edward Lyttelton, The Causes and Prevention of Immorality in Schools (London, 1887), 9.
13. Alan Hunt, "The Great Masturbation Panic and the Discourse of Moral Regulation in Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Britain," Journal of the History of Sexuality 8 (1998): 575-615; Sylvanus Stall, What a Young Man Ought to Know (Philadelphia, 1904), 81, 93-96; Edward Lyttelton, The Causes and Prevention of Immorality in Schools (London, 1887), 9.
14. Quoted in Lesley Hall, "'The English Have Hot Water Bottles': The Morganatic Marriage between Sexology and Medicine in Britain since William Acton," in Roy Porter and Mikulas Teich, eds., Sexual Knowledge, Sexual Science: The History of Attitudes to Sexuality (Cambridge, 1994), 351.
15. Roy Porter and Lesley Hall, The Facts of Life: Sexual Knowledge in Britain, 1650-1950 (New Haven, 1995), 141-45.
16. Ivan Crozier, "William Acton and the History of Sexuality: The Medical and Professional Context," Journal of Victorian Cultured (2000): 1-27.
17. Steven Marcus, The Other Victorians (London, 1966), 2, 28, 17, 18.
18. William Acton, The Functions and Disorders of the Reproductive Organs in Childhood, Youth, Adult Age and Advanced Life, 3rd ed. (Philadelphia, 1865), 24.
19. William Acton, The Functions and Disorders of the Reproductive Organs in Childhood, Youth, Adult Age and Advanced Life, 6th ed. (London, 1903), 38.
20. William Acton, A Practical Treatise on the Diseases of the Urinary and Generative Organs (in Both Sexes), 2nd ed. (London, 1851), 236.
21. Acton, Functions and Disorders, 3rd ed., 26.
22. Acton, Functions and Disorders, 6th ed., 3.
23. Acton, Functions and Disorders, 3rd ed., 90.
24. Ibid., 48-49.
25. Ibid., 170-71.
26. Lawrence I. Conrad et al., The Western Medical Tradition, 800 BC-AD 1800 (Cambridge, 1995), 393-95; Edward Shorter, From Paralysis to Fatigue: A History of Psychosomatic Illness in the Modern Era (New York, 1992), 25-39.
27. Lawrence I. Conrad et al., The Western Medical Tradition, 800 BC-AD 1800 (Cambridge, 1995), 393-95; Edward Shorter, From Paralysis to Fatigue: A History of Psychosomatic Illness in the Modern Era (New York, 1992), 25-39.
28. Bruce Haley, The Healthy Body in Victorian Culture (Cambridge, Mass., 1978), 37.
29. Acton, Practical Treatise, 249.
30. W. B. Carpenter, Principles of Human Physiology, with Their Chief Applications to Psychology, Pathology, Therapeutics, Hygiene and Forensic Medicine, 5th American ed., reprinted from the 4th London ed. (Philadelphia, 1853), 956-57, quoted in Acton, Practical Treatise, 237.
31. W. B. Carpenter, Principles of Human Physiology, with Their Chief Applications to Psychology, Pathology, Therapeutics, Hygiene and Forensic Medicine, 5th American ed., reprinted from the 4th London ed. (Philadelphia, 1853), 956-57, quoted in Acton, Practical Treatise, 237.
32. Carpenter, Principles, 944 n. 2.
33. George Drysdale, Elements of Social Science, or Physical, Sexual and Natural Religion (London, 1855). See also J. Miriam Benn, Predicaments of Love (London, 1992). She comments that Acton and others were "at pains to deny any arguments found in the Elements without mentioning the book by name'" (41).
34. George Drysdale, Elements of Social Science, or Physical, Sexual and Natural Religion (London, 1855). See also J. Miriam Benn, Predicaments of Love (London, 1992). She comments that Acton and others were "at pains to deny any arguments found in the Elements without mentioning the book by name'" (41).
35. Carpenter, Principles, 943-44 n. 2.
36. As part of a broader explanation of why masturbation was more harmful than intercourse. See S.-A. Tissot, Onanism: A Treatise on the Diseases Produced by Masturbation (1758), trans. by a physician (New York, 1832); facsimile reprint in The Secret Vice Exposed: Some Arguments against Masturbation (New York, 1974), 46-52.
37. As part of a broader explanation of why masturbation was more harmful than intercourse. See S.-A. Tissot, Onanism: A Treatise on the Diseases Produced by Masturbation (1758), trans. by a physician (New York, 1832); facsimile reprint in The Secret Vice Exposed: Some Arguments against Masturbation (New York, 1974), 46-52.
38. W. B. Carpenter, Elements of Physiology, Including Physiological Anatomy for the Use of the Medical Student (Philadelphia, 1846), 448-49.
39. Acton, Functions and Disorders, 3rd ed., 116-17.
40. Ibid., 160-61.
41. Ibid., 138.
42. Ibid., 21.
43. Ibid., 22 and footnote.
44. Acton, Functions and Disorders, 6th ed., 7.
45. Acton, Functions and Disorders, 3rd ed., 22.
46. Gollaher, chap. 4; Hodges; Ornella Moscucci, "Clitoridectomy, Circumcision, and the Politics of Sexual Pleasure in Mid-Victorian Britain," in Andrew H. Miller and James Eli Adams, eds., Sexualities in Victorian Britain (Bloomington, 1996), 65; Miller.
47. Gollaher, chap. 4; Hodges; Ornella Moscucci, "Clitoridectomy, Circumcision, and the Politics of Sexual Pleasure in Mid-Victorian Britain," in Andrew H. Miller and James Eli Adams, eds., Sexualities in Victorian Britain (Bloomington, 1996), 65; Miller.
48. Australian Dictionary of Biography, 3:124-26.
49. George Beaney, Spermatorrhoea in Its Physiological, Medical and Legal Aspects (Melbourne, 1870); George Beaney, The Generative System and Its functions in Health and Disease (Melbourne, 1872).
50. George Beaney, Spermatorrhoea in Its Physiological, Medical and Legal Aspects (Melbourne, 1870); George Beaney, The Generative System and Its functions in Health and Disease (Melbourne, 1872).
51. Courtenay sits rather oddly in this company, as he was a moderate on spermatorrhea and even a skeptic in comparison with true believers like Lallemand and Acton. His own text, On Spermatorrhoea, was first published in 1857, went through many editions until the 1880s, and tended to be cited by those who thought that Acton went too far. Courtenay did not doubt that there was such a thing as spermatorrhea but distinguished between "false spermatorrhea" and the real McCoy, the first showing no sperm in a urine sample, the latter coming up positive. He was critical of the cauterization treatment and quoted many examples of postprocedural complications, including bleeding, cramps, and persistent pain. His attitudes were fairly relaxed about occasional nocturnal emissions, but he expressed the usual views on masturbation. The main burden of the book, however, was an attack on quackery and a critique of the medical profession proper for allowing quacks to prosper by refusing to take spermatorrhea seriously, thus driving men into their clutches. Reviewing the book in 1871, the Medical Press and Circular praised it as "the soundest treatise on the subject of involuntary seminal emissions we have had to peruse for some time" but regretted that the author had little to say about impotence ("On Spermatorrhoea," Medical Press and Circular, 21 June 1871, 541). Quote from Beaney, Spermatorrhoea, x.
52. Courtenay sits rather oddly in this company, as he was a moderate on spermatorrhea and even a skeptic in comparison with true believers like Lallemand and Acton. His own text, On Spermatorrhoea, was first published in 1857, went through many editions until the 1880s, and tended to be cited by those who thought that Acton went too far. Courtenay did not doubt that there was such a thing as spermatorrhea but distinguished between "false spermatorrhea" and the real McCoy, the first showing no sperm in a urine sample, the latter coming up positive. He was critical of the cauterization treatment and quoted many examples of postprocedural complications, including bleeding, cramps, and persistent pain. His attitudes were fairly relaxed about occasional nocturnal emissions, but he expressed the usual views on masturbation. The main burden of the book, however, was an attack on quackery and a critique of the medical profession proper for allowing quacks to prosper by refusing to take spermatorrhea seriously, thus driving men into their clutches. Reviewing the book in 1871, the Medical Press and Circular praised it as "the soundest treatise on the subject of involuntary seminal emissions we have had to peruse for some time" but regretted that the author had little to say about impotence ("On Spermatorrhoea," Medical Press and Circular, 21 June 1871, 541). Quote from Beaney, Spermatorrhoea, x.
53. Beaney, Generative System, 12; Beaney, Spermatorrhoea, 45.
54. Beaney, Generative System, 12; Beaney, Spermatorrhoea, 45.
55. Beaney, Spermatorrhoea, 45.
56. Beaney, Generative System, 183.
57. Ibid., 17.
58. Beaney, Spermatorrhoea, 10; Beaney, Generative System, 27. This much repeated claim probably derived from Tissot, who wrote that "physicians or every age have unanimously admitted that the loss of one ounce of it enfeebles more than forty ounces of blood" (v). The idea that excessive loss of semen was tiring and could cause illness was ancient, but the statistical precision seems to be a distorted reference to Avicenna's dictum that a single ejaculation was more tiring than forty bloodlettings. See Lawrence Stone, The Family, Sex, and Marriage in England, 1500-1800 (New York, 1977), 495.
59. Beaney, Spermatorrhoea, 10; Beaney, Generative System, 27. This much repeated claim probably derived from Tissot, who wrote that "physicians or every age have unanimously admitted that the loss of one ounce of it enfeebles more than forty ounces of blood" (v). The idea that excessive loss of semen was tiring and could cause illness was ancient, but the statistical precision seems to be a distorted reference to Avicenna's dictum that a single ejaculation was more tiring than forty bloodlettings. See Lawrence Stone, The Family, Sex, and Marriage in England, 1500-1800 (New York, 1977), 495.
60. Beaney, Spermatorrhoea, 10; Beaney, Generative System, 27. This much repeated claim probably derived from Tissot, who wrote that "physicians or every age have unanimously admitted that the loss of one ounce of it enfeebles more than forty ounces of blood" (v). The idea that excessive loss of semen was tiring and could cause illness was ancient, but the statistical precision seems to be a distorted reference to Avicenna's dictum that a single ejaculation was more tiring than forty bloodlettings. See Lawrence Stone, The Family, Sex, and Marriage in England, 1500-1800 (New York, 1977), 495.
61. Beaney, Spermatorrhoea, 56.
62. Beaney, Generative System, 182.
63. Beaney, Spermatorrhoea, 61-63, 78, 63-65; Beaney, Generative System, 201.
64. Beaney, Spermatorrhoea, 61-63, 78, 63-65; Beaney, Generative System, 201.
65. Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland (1762-1836) was professor of medicine at the University of Jena and author of Die Kunst das menschliche Leben zu verlangen (The art of prolonging human life, 1797). A mixture of lifestyle advice and moral exhortation, it was typical of its time, frequently reprinted, translated into French and English, and widely read during the first three quarters of the nineteenth century. Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland, The Art of Prolonging Human Life, new ed., with notes by an English physician (London, 1828), 231; Beaney, Generative System, 222-26.
66. Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland (1762-1836) was professor of medicine at the University of Jena and author of Die Kunst das menschliche Leben zu verlangen (The art of prolonging human life, 1797). A mixture of lifestyle advice and moral exhortation, it was typical of its time, frequently reprinted, translated into French and English, and widely read during the first three quarters of the nineteenth century. Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland, The Art of Prolonging Human Life, new ed., with notes by an English physician (London, 1828), 231; Beaney, Generative System, 222-26.
67. Beaney, Generative System, 233, 192.
68. Augustine, The City of God against the Pagans, ed. and trans. R. W. Dyson (Cambridge, 1998), bk. xiv, chaps. 16-20, 23-26, 614-30. See also the discussion in Leo Steinberg, The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion, 2nd ed. (Chicago, 1996), 318-23.
69. Augustine, The City of God against the Pagans, ed. and trans. R. W. Dyson (Cambridge, 1998), bk. xiv, chaps. 16-20, 23-26, 614-30. See also the discussion in Leo Steinberg, The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion, 2nd ed. (Chicago, 1996), 318-23.
70. Beaney, Spermatorrhoea, 30.
71. Beaney, Generative System, 32.
72. Ibid., 187.
73. Beaney, Spermatorrhoea, preface, 41.
74. Ibid., 38; Beaney, Generative System, 102-3.
75. Ibid., 38; Beaney, Generative System, 102-3.
76. Beaney, Generative System, 5-6, 106-7.
77. Ibid., 5-6.
78. Ibid., 119.
79. Beaney, Spermatorrhoea, 57.
80. Beaney, Generative System, 104-5, 6, 114-23.
81. Ibid., 160, 164-65, 202-5, 237.
82. "Cases of Epilepsy with Complications," Lancet, 16 February 1867, 208-9; Beaney, Generative System, 113.
83. "Cases of Epilepsy with Complications," Lancet, 16 February 1867, 208-9; Beaney, Generative System, 113.
84. For discussions of this theory see Shorter, 40-45; Gollaher, chap. 4.
85. Beaney, Generative System, 107, 109.
86. Ibid., 111.
87. Ibid., 110.
88. Ibid., 113.
89. Such as J. W. Springthorpe. See his article "On the Psychological Aspect of the Sexual Appetite," Australasian Medical Gazette 4 (October 1884): 8-13.
90. Australian Dictionary of Biography, 7:103.
91. Michael Roe, Nine Australian Progressives: Vitalism in Bourgeois Social Thought, 1890-1960 (St. Lucia, Australia, 1984), 155-84.
92. And, farther afield, he supported denser settlement patterns and rural development at the expense of urban growth, and he opposed construction of the Harbour Bridge.
93. For sexual moralism among doctors sec Brian Egan, "Nobler than Missionaries: Australian Medical Culture c. 1880-1930" (Ph.D. diss., Monash University, Australia, 1988), 139-52.
94. Roe, 157.
95. Hyam, 65-71; Richard Davenport-Hines, Sex, Death, and Punishment: Attitudes to Sex and Sexuality in Britain since the Renaissance (London, 1990), chap. 5; Lucy Bland, Banishing the Beast: English Feminism and Sexual Morality, 1885-1914 (Harmondsworth, 1994); Alan Hunt, Governing Morals: A Social History of Moral Regulation (Cambridge, 1999), chaps. 3 and 5.
96. Hyam, 65-71; Richard Davenport-Hines, Sex, Death, and Punishment: Attitudes to Sex and Sexuality in Britain since the Renaissance (London, 1990), chap. 5; Lucy Bland, Banishing the Beast: English Feminism and Sexual Morality, 1885-1914 (Harmondsworth, 1994); Alan Hunt, Governing Morals: A Social History of Moral Regulation (Cambridge, 1999), chaps. 3 and 5.
97. Hyam, 65-71; Richard Davenport-Hines, Sex, Death, and Punishment: Attitudes to Sex and Sexuality in Britain since the Renaissance (London, 1990), chap. 5; Lucy Bland, Banishing the Beast: English Feminism and Sexual Morality, 1885-1914 (Harmondsworth, 1994); Alan Hunt, Governing Morals: A Social History of Moral Regulation (Cambridge, 1999), chaps. 3 and 5.
98. Hyam, 65-71; Richard Davenport-Hines, Sex, Death, and Punishment: Attitudes to Sex and Sexuality in Britain since the Renaissance (London, 1990), chap. 5; Lucy Bland, Banishing the Beast: English Feminism and Sexual Morality, 1885-1914 (Harmondsworth, 1994); Alan Hunt, Governing Morals: A Social History of Moral Regulation (Cambridge, 1999), chaps. 3 and 5.
99. Richard Arthur, Purity and Impurity (Sydney, n.d. [c. 1900]), 8.
100. Richard Arthur, The Training of Children in Purity: A Booklet for Parents (Sydney, n.d. [c. 1900]), 15.
101. Arthur, Purity and Impurity, 10-11.
102. Acton, Functions and Disorders, 6th ed., 105.
103. Arthur seems to have had a pretty low estimate of the average adolescent sex drive. The more hot-blooded Philip Muskett was willing to allow boys as many as two wet dreams a week before apprehension need be felt. See his The Illustrated Australian Medical Guide (Sydney, 1903), 2:203.
104. Mark Finnane, "Sexuality and the Social Order: The State versus Chidley," in What Rough Beast? The State and Social Order in Australian History (Sydney, 1982), 192-219; Mark Finnane, "The Popular Defence of Chidley," Labour History 41 (1981): 57-73; S. McInerney, introduction to William James Chidley, The Confessions of William James Chidley (St. Lucia, Australia, 1977); G. A. Edwards and Wayne Hall, "The Case of William Chidley: A Study in Psychiatry, Morality, and Lunacy Law," Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 14 (1980): 133-39.
105. Mark Finnane, "Sexuality and the Social Order: The State versus Chidley," in What Rough Beast? The State and Social Order in Australian History (Sydney, 1982), 192-219; Mark Finnane, "The Popular Defence of Chidley," Labour History 41 (1981): 57-73; S. McInerney, introduction to William James Chidley, The Confessions of William James Chidley (St. Lucia, Australia, 1977); G. A. Edwards and Wayne Hall, "The Case of William Chidley: A Study in Psychiatry, Morality, and Lunacy Law," Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 14 (1980): 133-39.
106. Mark Finnane, "Sexuality and the Social Order: The State versus Chidley," in What Rough Beast? The State and Social Order in Australian History (Sydney, 1982), 192-219; Mark Finnane, "The Popular Defence of Chidley," Labour History 41 (1981): 57-73; S. McInerney, introduction to William James Chidley, The Confessions of William James Chidley (St. Lucia, Australia, 1977); G. A. Edwards and Wayne Hall, "The Case of William Chidley: A Study in Psychiatry, Morality, and Lunacy Law," Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 14 (1980): 133-39.
107. Mark Finnane, "Sexuality and the Social Order: The State versus Chidley," in What Rough Beast? The State and Social Order in Australian History (Sydney, 1982), 192-219; Mark Finnane, "The Popular Defence of Chidley," Labour History 41 (1981): 57-73; S. McInerney, introduction to William James Chidley, The Confessions of William James Chidley (St. Lucia, Australia, 1977); G. A. Edwards and Wayne Hall, "The Case of William Chidley: A Study in Psychiatry, Morality, and Lunacy Law," Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 14 (1980): 133-39.
108. Although he was not persuaded by Chidley's theories, Havelock Ellis listened to them without ridicule and sought to encourage his gift for poetic expression. He deplored Chidley's persecution by the authorities, admired his courageous persistence in the face of police harassment, and described him later as "the most original and remarkable figure that has ever appeared in Australia," with the moral potential to be another Socrates. That was certainly going too far: although he called Chidley an ascetic in the mold of Augustine and Bunyan, Ellis seems to have appreciated neither the derivative character nor the coercive content of Chidley's doctrines. See Havelock Ellis, The Dance of Life (London, 1923), 72-73.
109. Chidley, The Confessions, 40. Chidley left a very full account of his life in a revealing autobiography that he wrote during the 1890s. He sent a copy to Havelock Ellis, who printed extracts from it in two volumes of his Studies in the Psychology of Sex, preserved the manuscript, and later gave it to the Mitchell Library, Sydney. Apart from its frank account of the author's sexual experiences and fears, it offers a remarkable window into working-class life in Australia during the late nineteenth century. The autobiography was published in 1977 as The Confessions of William James Chidley, with an introduction by Sally McInerney. Extracts from the autobiography were printed in Ellis's Studies in the Psychology of Sex, 2 vols. (New York, 1936).
110. Chidley, The Confessions, 40. Chidley left a very full account of his life in a revealing autobiography that he wrote during the 1890s. He sent a copy to Havelock Ellis, who printed extracts from it in two volumes of his Studies in the Psychology of Sex, preserved the manuscript, and later gave it to the Mitchell Library, Sydney. Apart from its frank account of the author's sexual experiences and fears, it offers a remarkable window into working-class life in Australia during the late nineteenth century. The autobiography was published in 1977 as The Confessions of William James Chidley, with an introduction by Sally McInerney. Extracts from the autobiography were printed in Ellis's Studies in the Psychology of Sex, 2 vols. (New York, 1936).
111. Chidley, The Confessions, 137.
112. Chidley published several editions of a pamphlet setting forth his theories. These are The Answer: A Philosophical Essay (Sydney, 1912); The Answer: An Essay in Philosophy (Sydney, 1914); The Answer: or the World as Joy: An Essay in Philosophy, complete edition, with an introduction by Francis Anderson (Sydney, 1915). There is also a typescript version in his papers in the Mitchell Library, Sydney: ML MSS143/6. In addition, Chidley prepared an article called "Erection," which he hoped to get published in the British Medical Journal but eventually printed as a pamphlet (now very rare): The Phenomena of Erection (Sydney, n.d. [1916]), copy in Mitchell Library; the typescript is in the Chidley papers: ML MSS143/6. The long quote is from The Answer (1912), 27.
113. Chidley published several editions of a pamphlet setting forth his theories. These are The Answer: A Philosophical Essay (Sydney, 1912); The Answer: An Essay in Philosophy (Sydney, 1914); The Answer: or the World as Joy: An Essay in Philosophy, complete edition, with an introduction by Francis Anderson (Sydney, 1915). There is also a typescript version in his papers in the Mitchell Library, Sydney: ML MSS143/6. In addition, Chidley prepared an article called "Erection," which he hoped to get published in the British Medical Journal but eventually printed as a pamphlet (now very rare): The Phenomena of Erection (Sydney, n.d. [1916]), copy in Mitchell Library; the typescript is in the Chidley papers: ML MSS143/6. The long quote is from The Answer (1912), 27.
114. Chidley published several editions of a pamphlet setting forth his theories. These are The Answer: A Philosophical Essay (Sydney, 1912); The Answer: An Essay in Philosophy (Sydney, 1914); The Answer: or the World as Joy: An Essay in Philosophy, complete edition, with an introduction by Francis Anderson (Sydney, 1915). There is also a typescript version in his papers in the Mitchell Library, Sydney: ML MSS143/6. In addition, Chidley prepared an article called "Erection," which he hoped to get published in the British Medical Journal but eventually printed as a pamphlet (now very rare): The Phenomena of Erection (Sydney, n.d. [1916]), copy in Mitchell Library; the typescript is in the Chidley papers: ML MSS143/6. The long quote is from The Answer (1912), 27.
115. Chidley published several editions of a pamphlet setting forth his theories. These are The Answer: A Philosophical Essay (Sydney, 1912); The Answer: An Essay in Philosophy (Sydney, 1914); The Answer: or the World as Joy: An Essay in Philosophy, complete edition, with an introduction by Francis Anderson (Sydney, 1915). There is also a typescript version in his papers in the Mitchell Library, Sydney: ML MSS143/6. In addition, Chidley prepared an article called "Erection," which he hoped to get published in the British Medical Journal but eventually printed as a pamphlet (now very rare): The Phenomena of Erection (Sydney, n.d. [1916]), copy in Mitchell Library; the typescript is in the Chidley papers: ML MSS143/6. The long quote is from The Answer (1912), 27.
116. Chidley published several editions of a pamphlet setting forth his theories. These are The Answer: A Philosophical Essay (Sydney, 1912); The Answer: An Essay in Philosophy (Sydney, 1914); The Answer: or the World as Joy: An Essay in Philosophy, complete edition, with an introduction by Francis Anderson (Sydney, 1915). There is also a typescript version in his papers in the Mitchell Library, Sydney: ML MSS143/6. In addition, Chidley prepared an article called "Erection," which he hoped to get published in the British Medical Journal but eventually printed as a pamphlet (now very rare): The Phenomena of Erection (Sydney, n.d. [1916]), copy in Mitchell Library; the typescript is in the Chidley papers: ML MSS143/6. The long quote is from The Answer (1912), 27.
117. Chidley could have read all these books at the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne, where he lived before moving to Sydney. The SLV still holds numerous works by Carpenter, including his Principles of Human Physiology (1881); several editions of Beaney's books; three texts by E. A. Schafer (Textbook of Physiology [1900], Essentials of Histology [1907], and Experimental Physiology [1912]); and Michael Foster's Textbook of Physiology (1888 and 1893). The library does not now hold a copy of Acton's Functions and Disorders, but it used to hold a copy of the first edition, now missing. (Information from SLV, 24 April 2003.) (Sir) Michael Foster (1836-1907) was the first professor of physiology at Cambridge and successor to Carpenter as Britain's leading authority on the subject. His Textbook of Physiology was first published in 1876. See Oxford Companion to Medicine (New York, 1986), 1:403.
118. Chidley could have read all these books at the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne, where he lived before moving to Sydney. The SLV still holds numerous works by Carpenter, including his Principles of Human Physiology (1881); several editions of Beaney's books; three texts by E. A. Schafer (Textbook of Physiology [1900], Essentials of Histology [1907], and Experimental Physiology [1912]); and Michael Foster's Textbook of Physiology (1888 and 1893). The library does not now hold a copy of Acton's Functions and Disorders, but it used to hold a copy of the first edition, now missing. (Information from SLV, 24 April 2003.) (Sir) Michael Foster (1836-1907) was the first professor of physiology at Cambridge and successor to Carpenter as Britain's leading authority on the subject. His Textbook of Physiology was first published in 1876. See Oxford Companion to Medicine (New York, 1986), 1:403.
119. Chidley could have read all these books at the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne, where he lived before moving to Sydney. The SLV still holds numerous works by Carpenter, including his Principles of Human Physiology (1881); several editions of Beaney's books; three texts by E. A. Schafer (Textbook of Physiology [1900], Essentials of Histology [1907], and Experimental Physiology [1912]); and Michael Foster's Textbook of Physiology (1888 and 1893). The library does not now hold a copy of Acton's Functions and Disorders, but it used to hold a copy of the first edition, now missing. (Information from SLV, 24 April 2003.) (Sir) Michael Foster (1836-1907) was the first professor of physiology at Cambridge and successor to Carpenter as Britain's leading authority on the subject. His Textbook of Physiology was first published in 1876. See Oxford Companion to Medicine (New York, 1986), 1:403.
120. Chidley could have read all these books at the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne, where he lived before moving to Sydney. The SLV still holds numerous works by Carpenter, including his Principles of Human Physiology (1881); several editions of Beaney's books; three texts by E. A. Schafer (Textbook of Physiology [1900], Essentials of Histology [1907], and Experimental Physiology [1912]); and Michael Foster's Textbook of Physiology (1888 and 1893). The library does not now hold a copy of Acton's Functions and Disorders, but it used to hold a copy of the first edition, now missing. (Information from SLV, 24 April 2003.) (Sir) Michael Foster (1836-1907) was the first professor of physiology at Cambridge and successor to Carpenter as Britain's leading authority on the subject. His Textbook of Physiology was first published in 1876. See Oxford Companion to Medicine (New York, 1986), 1:403.
121. Chidley could have read all these books at the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne, where he lived before moving to Sydney. The SLV still holds numerous works by Carpenter, including his Principles of Human Physiology (1881); several editions of Beaney's books; three texts by E. A. Schafer (Textbook of Physiology [1900], Essentials of Histology [1907], and Experimental Physiology [1912]); and Michael Foster's Textbook of Physiology (1888 and 1893). The library does not now hold a copy of Acton's Functions and Disorders, but it used to hold a copy of the first edition, now missing. (Information from SLV, 24 April 2003.) (Sir) Michael Foster (1836-1907) was the first professor of physiology at Cambridge and successor to Carpenter as Britain's leading authority on the subject. His Textbook of Physiology was first published in 1876. See Oxford Companion to Medicine (New York, 1986), 1:403.
122. Chidley could have read all these books at the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne, where he lived before moving to Sydney. The SLV still holds numerous works by Carpenter, including his Principles of Human Physiology (1881); several editions of Beaney's books; three texts by E. A. Schafer (Textbook of Physiology [1900], Essentials of Histology [1907], and Experimental Physiology [1912]); and Michael Foster's Textbook of Physiology (1888 and 1893). The library does not now hold a copy of Acton's Functions and Disorders, but it used to hold a copy of the first edition, now missing. (Information from SLV, 24 April 2003.) (Sir) Michael Foster (1836-1907) was the first professor of physiology at Cambridge and successor to Carpenter as Britain's leading authority on the subject. His Textbook of Physiology was first published in 1876. See Oxford Companion to Medicine (New York, 1986), 1:403.
123. Chidley's testimony at the hearing of his appeal against committal for insanity, Supreme Court of New South Wales, May-June 1916. State Records of NSW, Court Reporting Office, Transcripts of Evidence, 1899-1960, 6/1041: 218 (hereafter Transcript). The text by Marshall was F. H. A. Marshall, The Physiology of Reproduction (London, 1910).
124. Chidley, The Answer (1912), 12. Although Chidley attributes this statement to Schafer, it is actually a quote from Carpenter.
125. Chidley, The Answer (1915), 165, 166-67; see also Chidley, Confessions, 169, where Chidley cites Foster's texts on physiology.
126. Chidley, The Answer (1915), 165, 166-67; see also Chidley, Confessions, 169, where Chidley cites Foster's texts on physiology.
127. Chidley, The Phenomena of Erection, 3-4; Chidley, "The Phenomena of Erection," typescript, 9.
128. Chidley, The Phenomena of Erection, 3-4; Chidley, "The Phenomena of Erection," typescript, 9.
129. Chidley, The Answer (1915), 163.
130. Ibid., 196-97, misquoting Acton, Functions and Disorders, 3rd ed., 125, 170.
131. Ibid., 196-97, misquoting Acton, Functions and Disorders, 3rd ed., 125, 170.
132. Acton, Functions and Disorders, 171.
133. Chidley, "The Answer," typescript, 83-84.
134. Chidley, The Answer (1912), 48, 40.
135. Chidley, The Answer (1915), 158.
136. Lallemand, 135.
137. Chidley, The Phenomena of Erection, 3-4; Acton, Functions and Disorders, 153.
138. Chidley, The Phenomena of Erection, 3-4; Acton, Functions and Disorders, 153.
139. Finnane, "The Popular Defence," 68, 72.
140. Acton, Functions and Disorders, 115, 117-18.
141. Chidley, The Phenomena of Erection, 2; Chidley, "The Phenomena of Erection," typescript, 4.
142. Chidley, The Phenomena of Erection, 2; Chidley, "The Phenomena of Erection," typescript, 4.
143. Chidley, The Answer (1915), 196; Chidley, The Answer (1912), 50.
144. Chidley, The Answer (1915), 196; Chidley, The Answer (1912), 50.
145. Transcript, 619, 386.
146. Ibid., 519, 99, 102-3.
147. The Hospital for the Insane, Kenmore, was a mental hospital in the country to which Chidley had been transferred to put him beyond the reach of his friends in Sydney. Transcript, 583, 594, 598-99.
148. Ibid., 104, 162, 175, 126-27.
149. Chidley, The Confessions, 158.
150. Chidley, The Answer (1912), 44.
151. Transcript, 341.
152. Augustine, City of God, bk. xiv, chap. 26, 629.
153. Chidley, The Confessions, 169, 197.
154. Hunt, Governing Morals.
155. Chidley, The Confessions, 249-50, 254.
156. Chidley's last message to the public, quoted in ibid., xiv.