the action of secretion too readily for the penis, which has not a corresponding erection. The first is called priapism; and the second is what ought to be called seminal weakness.

"The mind has considerable effect on the correspondence of the actions of these two parts: but it would appear in many instances, that erections of the penis depend more on the state of the mind than the secretion of the semen does; for many have the secretion, but not the erection; but in such, the want of erection appears to be owing to the mind only.

"Priapism often arises spontaneously; and often from visible irritation of the penis, as in the venereal gonorrhea, especially when violent. The sensation of such erections is rather uneasy than pleasant; nor is the sensation of the glans at the time similar to that arising from the erections of desire, but more like to the sensation of the parts immediately after coition. Such as arise spontaneously are of more serious consequence than those from inflammation, as they proceed probably from causes not curable in themselves or by any known methods. The priapism arising from inflammation of the parts, as in a gonorrhea, is attended with nearly the same symptoms; but generally the sensation is that of pain, proceeding from the inflammation of the parts.

"It may be observed, that what is said of priapism is only applicable to it when a disease in itself, and not when a symptom of other diseases, which is frequently the case.

"The common practice in the cure of this complaint is to order all the nervous and strengthening medicines; such as bark, valerian, mule, camphor, and also the cold bath. I have seen good effects from the cold bath; but sometimes it does not agree with the constitution, in which case I have found the warm bath of service. Opium appears to be a specific in many cases; from which circumstance I should be apt, upon the whole, to try a soothing plan.

"Seminal weakness, or a secretion and emission of the semen without erections, is the reverse of a priapism, and is by much the worse disease of the two. There is great variety in the degrees of this disease, there being all the gradations from the exact correspondence of the actions of all the parts to the testicles acting alone; in every case of the disease, there is too quick a secretion and evacuation of the semen. Like to the priapism, it does not arise from desires and abilities; although when mild it is attended with both, but not in a due proportion; a very slight desire often producing the full effect. The secretion of the semen shall be so quick, that simple thought, or even toying, shall make it flow.

"Dreams have produced this evacuation repeatedly in the same night; and even when the dreams have been so slight, that there has been no consciousness of them when the sleep has been broken by the act of emission. I have known cases where the testicles have been so ready to secrete, that the least friction on the glans has produced an emission: I have known the simple action of walking or riding produce this effect, and that repeatedly, in a very short space of time.

"A young man, about four or five and twenty years of age, not so much given to venery as most young men, had these last mentioned complaints upon him. Three or four times in the night he would emit; and if he walked fast, or rode on horseback, the same thing would happen. He could scarcely have connection with a woman before he emitted, and in the emission there was hardly any spasm. He tried every supposed strengthening medicine, as also the cold bath and bathing, but with no effect. By taking 20 drops of laudanum on going to bed, he prevented the night emissions; and by taking the same quantity in the morning, he could walk or ride without the before-mentioned inconvenience. I directed this practice to be continued for some time, although the disease did not return, that the parts might be accustomed to this healthy state of action; and I have reason to believe the gentleman is now well. It was found necessary, as the constitution became more habituated to the opiate, to increase the dose of it.

"The spasms, upon the evacuation of the semen in such cases, are extremely slight, and a repetition of them soon takes place; the first emission not preventing a second; the constitution being all the time but little affected (A). When the testicles act alone, without the accessory parts taking up the necessary and natural consequent action, it is still a more melancholy disease; for the secretion arises from no visible or sensible cause, and does not give any visible or sensible effect, but runs off similar to involuntary stools or urine. It has been observed that the semen is more fluid than natural in some of these cases.

"There is great variety in the diseased actions of these parts; of which the following case may be considered as an example. A gentleman has had a stricture in the urethra for many years, for which he has frequently used a bougie, but of late has neglected it. He has had no connection with women for a considerable time, being afraid of the consequences. He has often in his sleep involuntary emissions, which generally awake him at the paroxysm; but what surprizes him most is, that often he has such without any semen passing forwards through the penis, which makes him think that at those times it goes backwards into the bladder. This is not always the case, for at other times the semen passes forwards. At the time the semen seems to pass into the bladder, he has the erection, the dream; and is awakened with the same mode of action, the same sensation, and the same pleasure, as when it passes through the urethra, whether dreaming or waking. My opinion is, that the same irritation takes place in the bulb of the urethra without the semen that takes place there when the semen enters, in consequence of all the natural preparatory steps, whereby the very same actions are excited as if it came into

(A) "It is to be considered, that the constitution is commonly affected by the spasms only, and in proportion to their violence, independent of the secretion and evacuation of the semen. But in some cases even the erection going off without the spasms on the emission, shall produce the same debility as if they had taken place." Impotency the pungency: from which one would suppose, that either semen is not fecrated; or if it be, that a retrograde motion takes place in the actions of the accelerates urine. But if the first be the case, then we may suppose, that in the natural state the actions of those muscles do not arise simply from the stimulus of the semen in the part, but from their action being a termination of a preceding one making part of a series of actions. Thus they may depend upon the friction, or the imagination of a friction, on the penis; the testicles not doing their part, and the sperm in such cases arising from the friction and not from the fecration. In many of those cases of irregularity, when the erection is not strong, it shall go off without the emission; and at other times an emission shall happen almost without an erection; but these arise not from debility, but affections of the mind.

"In many of the preceding cases, washing the penis, scrotum, and perineum, with cold water, is often of service; and to render it colder than it is in some seasons of the year, common salt may be added to it, and the parts washed when the salt is almost dissolved."

**Impotency** is a canonical disability, to avoid marriage in the spiritual court. The marriage is not void *ab initio*, but voidable only by sentence of separation during the life of the parties.

**Imprecation**, (derived from *in*, and *precor*, "I pray?") a curse or wish that some evil may befall any one.

The ancients had their goddesses called **imprecatrices**, in Latin *Dire*, i.e. *Deorum irae*, who were supposed to be the executioners of evil consciences. They were called *Dire* in heaven, *Furies* on earth, and *Eumenides* in hell. The Romans owned but three of these **imprecatrices**, and the Greeks only two. They invoked them with prayers and pieces of verses to destroy their enemies.

**Impregnation**, the getting a female with child. See Conception.

The term **impregnation** is also used, in pharmacy, for communicating the virtues of one medicine to another, whether by mixture, coction, digestion, &c.

**Impressing seamen**. The power of impressing sea-faring men for the sea-service by the king's commission, has been a matter of some dispute, and submitted to with great reluctance; though it hath very clearly and learnedly been shown by Sir Michael Forster, that the practice of impressing, and granting powers to the admiralty for that purpose, is of very ancient date, and hath been uniformly continued by a regular series of precedents to the present time: whence he concludes it to be part of the common law. The difficulty arises from hence, that no statute has expressly declared this power to be in the crown, though many of them very strongly imply it. The statute 2 Rich. II. c. 4, speaks of mariners being arrested and retained for the king's service, as of a thing well known, and practised without dispute; and provides a remedy against their running away. By a later statute, if any waterman, who uses the river Thames, shall hide himself during the execution of any commission of pressing for the king's service, he is liable to heavy penalties. By another (5 Eliz. c. 5.) no fisherman shall be taken by the queen's commission to serve as a mariner; but the commission shall be first brought to two justices of the peace, inhabiting near the sea coast where the mariners are to be taken, to the intent that the justices may choose out and return such a number of able-bodied men, as in the commission are contained, to serve her majesty. And by others, especially protections are allowed to seamen in particular circumstances, to prevent them from being impressed. Ferrymen are also said to be privileged from being impressed, at common law. All which do most evidently imply a power of impressing to reside somewhere; and if anywhere, it must, from the spirit of our constitution, as well as from the frequent mention of the king's commission, reside in the crown alone.

—After all, however, this method of manning the navy is to be considered as only defensible from public necessity, to which all private considerations must give way.

The following persons are exempted from being impressed: Apprentices for three years; the master, mate, and carpenter, and one man for every 100 tons, of vessels employed in the coal trade; all under 18 years of age, and above 55; foreigners in merchant-ships and privateers; landmen betaking themselves to sea for two years; seamen in the Greenland fishery, and harpooners, employed, during the interval of the fishing season, in the coal-trade, and giving security to go to the fishing next season.

**Impression** is applied to the species of objects which are supposed to make some mark or impression on the senses, the mind, and the memory. The Peripatetics assert, that bodies emit species resembling them, which are conveyed to the common *sensorium*, and they are rendered intelligible by the active intellect; and, when thus spiritualized, are called *expressions*, or *express species*, as being expressed from the others.

**Impression** also denotes the edition of a book, regarding the mechanical part only; whereas *edition*, besides this, takes in the care of the editor, who corrected or augmented the copy, adding notes, &c., to render the work more useful.

**Imprisonment**, the state of a person restrained of his liberty, and detained under the custody of another.

No person is to be imprisoned but as the law directs, either by the command or order of a court of record, or by lawful warrant; or the king's procefs, on which one may be lawfully detained. And at common law, a person could not be imprisoned unless he were guilty of some force and violence, for which his body was subject to imprisonment, as one of the highest executions. Where the law gives power to imprison, in such case it is justifiable, provided he that does it in pursuance of a statute exactly pursues the statute in the manner of doing it; for otherwise it will be deemed false imprisonment, and of consequence it is unjustifiable. Every warrant of commitment for imprisoning a person, ought to run, "till delivered by due course of law," and "not until farther order;" which has been held ill; and thus it also is, where one is imprisoned on a warrant not mentioning any cause for which he is committed. See Arrest and Commitment.

**False Imprisonment**. Every confinement of the person is an imprisonment, whether it be in a common prison, or in a private house, or in the stocks, or even by by forcibly detaining one in the public streets. Unlawful or false imprisonment consists in such confinement or detention without sufficient authority; which authority may arise either from some process from the courts of justice; or from some warrant from a legal power to commit, under his hand and seal, and expelling the cause of such commitment; or from some other special cause warranted, for the necessity of the thing, either by common law or act of parliament; such as the arresting of a felon by a private person without warrant, the impressing of mariners for the public service, or the apprehending of waggoners for misbehaviour in the public highways. False imprisonment also may arise by executing a lawful warrant or process at an unlawful time, as on a Sunday; or in a place privileged from arrest, as in the verge of the king's court. This is the injury. The remedy is of two sorts; the one removing the injury, the other making satisfaction for it.

The means of removing the actual injury of false imprisonment are fourfold: 1. By writ of MAINPRIZE. 2. By writ De ODIO et ATIA. 3. By writ De HOMINE REPUGNANDO. 4. By writ of HABEAS CORPUS. See those articles.

The satisfactory remedy for this injury of false imprisonment, is by an action of trespass vi et armis, usually called an action of false imprisonment; which is generally, and almost unavoidably, accompanied with a charge of assault and battery also; and therein the party shall recover damages for the injuries he has received; and also the defendant is, as for all other injuries committed with force, or vi et armis, liable to pay a fine to the king for the violation of the public peace.

IMPROPTU, or IMPROMPTU, a Latin word frequently used among the French, and sometimes in English, to signify a piece made off-hand, or extemporaneous, without any previous meditation, by mere force and vivacity of imagination.