Medical Article from
From the "Annals of Surgery" in 1899, by Orville Horwitz: "Two Cases of Hypertrophy of the Penis; One due to Traumatism; the other, to Elephantiasis1"
FUll PDF of the Article scanned, at NIH.gov:
http://www.ncbi .nlm.nih.gov/pm … g01067-0032.pdf
Note: The article deals with a second case of megalophallus which gets more detail, more pictures, and is disgusting on account of parasitic infection. Just thought you should be warned before clicking the link. On the other hand, I’m also being lazy and not pulling the one picture out of the article, or the references to earlier articles on the topic, so there’s more stuff there for intrepid link-clickers.
Transcript of the relevant sections:
"
In the case of the person who came under my charge enlargement seemed to follow traumatism; its history is briefly as follows:
He is an acrobat, thirty-eight years old. Has always enjoyed good health; his family history is negative so far as abnormalities, tumors, or malignant diseases are concerned. Has never had any venereal disease. At the age of twenty-five the organ was of normal size. He is married and his wife has borne him two children.
Shortly after his marriage he observed that when he donned his tights, in which he appeared during his exhibitions, that his appearance was quite unseemly. In order to rectify this condition, he devised a harness so adjusted that he could strap the penis to the scrotum between his testicles. For several years he utilized this apparatus when he appeared in the ring; but frequently when performing his gyrations the organ would become twisted, causing pain, tenderness, and swelling, lasting for several days, followed by a subsidence to his normal condition.
After using the apparatus for the space of two years he observed that the organ was increasing greatly in size. This condition was unaccompanied by pain. Finally sexual congress became impossible. Some three weeks before he presenting himself at the hospital while attempting to turn professional somersaults with the organ strapped between his legs the foreskin was wrenched, bruised, and slightly chafed; this condition was followed by inflammation and oedema of the prepuce, with suppurating periadenitis of both groins. He begged to have amputation of the penis performed, as the size and weight of the organ had become so great that it was impossible for him to carry on his business.
The penis was of gigantic size; it was of normal shape; the enlargement was uniform; the skin perfectly smooth and healthy, moving freely over the subcutaneous connective tissue. There was no tenderness or pressure. There was an acquired phimosis, with enlarged suppurating glands of both groins. The length of the organ from the pubis to the end of the prepuce was ten and one-half inches; the circumference at the middle of the body was nine and three-quarters inches. (See Fig. 1.)
"
…after this the doctor discusses the case a bit more, but only in terms of what was done surgically, and how examination of removed tissues showed no signs of parasitic elephantiasis.
Lots of details are unclear here: Was the apparatus in use for the entire age 25 to 38 span, or just the two mentioned years? How did this harness work? Was only the penis traumatized, or were the scrotum/testis also impacted? And what does "both groins" mean?
Now I don’t plan in imitating this methodology anytime soon: A harness worn frequently, causing periodic trauma leading to days of swelling. And I’d throw a bit more caution than usual at this forum’s members regarding attempts to imitate this method. I mean, seriously. But given the results, it seemed only right to share the data.
