Paradoxically, while female patients were being massaged to paroxysm week after week, men prone to excessive onanism and unwholesome nocturnal secretions were diagnosed with "spermatorrhea." Torturelike contraptions were contrived to strap and zap them back to normal.

Men fortunate enough to be diagnosed with more amorphous ailments were sometimes treated with vibrator massage. The legendary naturalist John Muir patented his own vibrator for men in 1899.