); or debility from
acute disease, as mumps. Masturbation, and early and excessive sexual
indulgence, are also causes. The mental causes include--passion,
timidity, apprehension, aversion, and disgust. The case will be
remembered of the man who was impotent unless the lady were attired in a
black silk dress and high-heeled French kid boots.
If a man is impotent when he marries, the marriage may be set aside on
the ground that it had never been consummated. The law requires that the
impotency should have existed _ab initio_--that is, before
marriage--and should be of a permanent or incurable nature; marriage,
as far as the law goes, being regarded as a contract in which it is
presupposed that both the contracting parties are capable of fulfilling
all the objects of marriage. In the case of the Earl of Essex the
defendant admitted the charge as regards the Countess, but pleaded that
he was not impotent with others, as many of her waiting-maids could
testify. When a man becomes impotent _after_ marriage, his wife must
accept the situation, and has no redress. A man may be _sterile_ without
being impotent, but the law will not take cognizance of that.
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