Aphrodisiacs and Anti-aphrodisiacs: Three Essays on the Powers of Reproduction
With Some Account Of The Judicial "Congress" As Practised In France During The Seventeenth Century.
, an arrangement by which the symbol of Christian salvation was coupled with that of the male and female pudenda."
The deep and enthusiastic veneration felt by the Hindoos for this worship is naturally explained by their intense anxiety and desire for having children who might perform those ceremonies to their manes which they firmly and piously believe will have the effect of mitigating their punishment in the world to come. They worship the Lingham, therefore, for the sake of having progeny, and husbands, whose wives are barren, send them to adore that symbol, and, if report be true, the ladies take especial care not to disappoint the wish of their dear spouses.
It is probable that the introduction of this worship is due to the Indians who founded the sect of Siva, imagining, as they no doubt did, that the most effectual means of propagating it would be by presenting their deity under the form of that organ by which the reproduction of the human race is effected
