The wedding ritual has been accompanied, from one society to another, by a wide range of coital activities.

In various countries feudal lords were apparently entitled to deflower the young bride before releasing her to her husband. This "right of the first night" (jus primae noctis), known also in France as jus cunni and in England as marchette, appears to have been established on the historical evidence. Monks sometimes held the right: thus the monks of St. Thiodard enjoyed this right over the inhabitants of Mount Auriol.

We have noted that unusual boys may ejaculate as early as eight years of age. As we may expect, there are surprisingly late upper extremes as well.

There are of course sad cases of life-long ejaculatory impotence. But assuming that most men start ejaculating at some time in their lives what is the latest age for such a commencement? According to Kinsey the latest ages of first ejaculation reliably recorded "are 21 for two apparently healthy males, 24 for a religiously inhibited individual, and 22 and 24 for two males with hormonal deficiencies."

In their book "Nymphomania", Albert Ellis and Edward Sagarin represent the failure in a woman - through physiological rather than psychological reasons - to achieve orgasm as the "most frequent physiological cause of nymphomania" (p. 95). This is a highly contentious subject. Not much work has been done on it, and it is extremely difficult to say what is a physiological, and what a psychological, block to experience of orgasm.

Human sperm were first discovered by a student of Antonij van Leeuwenhoek in 1677 in the city of Delft. The name of the student is not known for certain: he is variously written up as Ludwig Hamm, van Hamm or von Hammen. According to some writers he is a Dutchman, to others a German. One day he brought to the acknowledged master of microscopy, Leeuwenhoek, a bottle containing semen and pointed out that small animals could be seen moving about in the ejaculate.

Valeria Messalina of ancient Rome almost certainly wins this one; indeed her name (the "Messalina complex") has been used as a synonym for nymphomania. With her insatiable sexual appetites she acted as prostitute and seducer.

The earliest ejaculation remembered by any of the "apparently normal males" surveyed by Kinsey was at the age of eight: this age was noted by three males.

According to Ellis and Sargarin, one outstanding reason why a woman becomes a nymphomaniac in our society is through "an overwhelming need to be loved, a hunger that generally seems to be greater in women, than in men." Thus - in her efforts to seek out affection, security, and acceptance - she comes to have many sexual experiences that she might otherwise not welcome. There is a clear sense in which this is a patriarchal interpretation of female sexuality.

Medical men have been called upon to extract a wide variety of objects from the vagina and urethra following masturbation or accident. Usually the woman knew that the object was inside her and requested medical assistance.

The lovers are having sexual intercourse, an episode that illustrates the kind of steady nerve on which the 18th century Rajput military castes prided themselves.

The majority of men manage one ejaculation when called upon. Some- mostly the younger ones - manage a second within a short space of time. A fewer number manage a third or a fourth. In a tiny minority of cases a man may achieve an even greater number of orgasms and accompanying ejaculations.