Hippocrates, not believing in supernatural diseases, recognized that impotence was here a causative factor, and explained it, though incorrectly, as due to the custom of the Scythians, by attributing it to disease of the jugular veins induced by excessive riding. He thought that these veins were of great importance in the preservation of the sexual powers, and that when they were severed, impotence was induced. Since the Scythians considered their impotence due to divine punishment, and incurable, they put on the clothing of females, and lived as women among women.
It is worthy of note that, according to Klaproth (“Reise in den Kaukasus,” Berlin, 1812, v, p. 285) and Chotomski, even at the present time impotence is very frequent among the Tartars, as a result of riding unsaddled horses. The same is observed among the Apaches and Navajos of the Western Continent, who ride excessively, scarcely ever going on foot, and are remarkable for small genitals and mild libido and virility. Sprengel, Lallemand, and Nysten recognized the fact that excessive riding may be injurious to the sexual organs.
Hammond reports analogous observations of great interest concerning the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. These descendants of the Aztecs cultivate so-called “mujerados,” of which every Pueblo tribe requires one in the religious ceremonies (actual orgies in the spring), in which pederasty plays an important part. In order to cultivate a “mujerado,” a very powerful man is chosen, and he is made to masturbate excessively and ride constantly. Gradually such irritable weakness of the genital organs is engendered that, in riding, great loss of semen is induced. This condition of irritability passes into paralytic impotence. Then the testicles and penis atrophy, the hair of the beard falls out, the voice loses its depth and compass, and physical strength and energy decrease. Inclinations and disposition become feminine. The “mujerado” loses his position in society as a man. He takes on feminine manners and customs, and associates with women. Yet, for religious reasons, he is held in honor. It is probable that, at other times than during the festivals, he is used by the chiefs for pederasty. Hammond had an opportunity to examine two “mujerados.” One had become such seven years before, and was thirty-five years old at the time. Seven years before, he was entirely masculine and potent. He had noticed gradual atrophy of the testicles and penis. At the same time he lost libido and the power of erection. He differed in nowise, in dress and manner, from the women among whom Hammond found him. The genital hair was wanting, the penis was shrunken, the scrotum lax and pendulous, and the testicles were very much atrophied and no longer sensitive to pressure. The “mujerado” had large mammæ like a pregnant woman, and asserted that he had nursed several children whose mothers had died. A second “mujerado,” aged thirty-six, after he had been ten years in the condition, presented the same peculiarities, though with less de-