We have seen what the object of detumescence is, and we have briefly
considered the organs and structures which are chiefly concerned in the
process. We have now to inquire what are the actual phenomena which take
place during the act of detumescence.
Detumescence is normally linked closely to tumescence. Tumescence is the
piling on of the fuel; detumescence is the leaping out of the devouring
flame whence is lighted the torch of life to be handed on from generation
to generation. The whole process is double and yet single; it is exactly
analogous to that by which a pile is driven into the earth by the raising
and then the letting go of a heavy weight which falls on to the head of
the pile. In tumescence the organism is slowly wound up and force
accumulated; in the act of detumescence the accumulated force is let go
and by its liberation the sperm-bearing instrument is driven home.
Courtship, as we commonly term the process of tumescence which takes place
when a woman is first sexually approached by a man, is usually a highly
prolonged process. But it is always necessary to remember that every
repetition of the act of coitus, to be normally and effectively carried
out on both sides, demands a similar double process; detumescence must be
preceded by an abbreviated courtship.
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