I really wonder about what people thought of that then. Did people really think it was a medical thing, or was this just a socialy respectable way for a man who couldn't get his wife off to pass the task on to someone who could perform the task with an air of medical respectability?

Or Hell, maybe it was a 19th century kink or swinger thing. People have always been freaky. At times in history they just had to hide it better.