The Sexual Life Of The Child Part 6

CASE 12.--Y., twenty-five years of age, h.o.m.os.e.xual, with a special preference for soldiers. In early childhood he noticed in himself a great fondness for handsome men. When walking in the streets of the town as a small boy, it was the soldiers, in especial, from among the men he met, who made a strong impression upon him. He remembers that when he was seven years of age, he allowed a soldier to take him on his knees, and that it gave him great pleasure to stroke the man's cheeks. The roughness of the cheeks gave him an extremely agreeable sensation, and he sought every opportunity of renewing this sensation. He found cavalry soldiers especially stimulating. From the age of eleven dates his peculiar delight in the well-rounded nates of a cavalry soldier. As he himself puts it, with the lapse of time, this has become to him a genuine fetich. Subsequently, young men-servants also aroused his interest, but never to the same degree as cavalry soldiers. The h.o.m.os.e.xual tendency has persisted into adult life.

CASE 13.--Z., twenty-seven years of age, has several times been prosecuted, on account of his attempts to spy upon women in public lavatories. It is his custom, when in such a place he can observe the genital organs of a woman in the act of defaecation, to m.a.s.t.u.r.b.a.t.e. He states that this tendency was well marked in him at the age of thirteen years. He believes, indeed, that at this time he was inspired mainly by curiosity--by a desire to see what the genital organs of a female were like. But he recalls that when a child, at about the age of eight or nine years, he experienced s.e.xual stimulation when a girl cousin of six sat on his face; and he thinks that when only five or six years old he crawled under the petticoats of a servant girl, in order to lay his face against her nates. Even as early as this he experienced great pleasure in the act.

CASE 14.--X., is now twenty years of age. He always experiences s.e.xual excitement when he thinks of the act of whipping. It is unnecessary for him to play any active part in this himself; and it is a matter of indifference to him whether a man beats a woman, a woman beats a man, or an adult of either s.e.x beats a child. In all cases alike the sight induces s.e.xual excitement; and the imaginative reproduction of such a scene is his customary stimulus during masturbation--this being a fairly frequent occurrence. He traces back to childhood the stimulus exercised on him by a whipping seen or imagined. When from seven to nine years of age, he began to find such experiences s.e.xually stimulating; by the age of ten, he was quite clear as to the existence of this peculiarity in himself. At this early age he struck himself with a stick, under the influence of an obscure impulse to arouse voluptuous sensations by means of the blows; he did this fairly frequently.

As regards his s.e.xual sensibilities in general, he is by no means indifferent to members of the opposite s.e.x. He gladly seeks social intercourse with females, and likes to kiss them; but he does not experience any definite s.e.xual impulse towards them, such as might culminate in s.e.xual intercourse. Three times he has had actual intercourse, but on each occasion he has been able to effect erection and e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n only by means of all kinds of artificial stimulation. It is a noteworthy fact that when he was fifteen or sixteen years of age he became intimate with the members of a h.o.m.os.e.xual circle, and only by considerable effort was he able to free himself from these a.s.sociations.

In autobiographical literature we from time to time come across accounts of such perverse modes of s.e.xual sensibility. Ulrich von Lichtenstein, in whom m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.tic inclinations were unmistakably present, relates that when he was barely twelve years of age he became the devoted slave of a grown woman; and he describes his sentiments, at this early age and subsequently, towards this woman, who was well born, good and beautiful, chaste in mind and body, and in every respect virtuous. Well known, too, is the case of Rousseau, of which I shall have to speak again later; this writer traces his m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.tic perversion back to the seventh year of his life. I may allude also to Retif de la Bretonne, who was born in 1734, and certainly experienced s.e.xual sentiments in very early childhood. In his _Monsieur Nicolas_,[58] which must be regarded as an autobiographical work, Retif relates the beginnings, in the years 1743-44, of his fetichistic fondness (which endured throughout his life) for women's feet and women's shoes. In purely fictional works, a.n.a.logous cases are also described. Thus, in his _Pour une Nuit d'Amour_, Zola depicts a s.a.d.i.s.tic-m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.tic relations.h.i.+p between two children:--

"From earliest childhood Therese von Morsanne used Colombel as the scapegoat and the sport of her caprices. He was about six months older than she. Therese was a dreadful child. Not that she was wild and uncontrolled, like the ordinary unruly child; on the contrary, she was extraordinarily serious, with the outward aspect of a well-brought-up young lady. But she had most remarkable whims and caprices, When she was alone, she would from time to time utter inarticulate cries or angry howls.

"From the age of six she began to torment little Colombel. He was small and weakly. She would lead him to the back of the park, to a place where the chestnut-trees formed an arbour; here she would spring on his back and make him carry her about, riding sometimes round and round for hours. She compressed his neck, and thrust her heels into his sides, so that he could hardly breathe. He was the horse, she was the lady on horseback. When he was tired out, and ready to drop from exhaustion, she would bite him till the blood flowed, and would cling to her seat so tightly that her nails sank into his flesh. And the ride would thus start once more. The cruel queen of six years old, borne on the back of the little boy who served her as beast of burden, hunted thus on horseback with her hair streaming in the wind. Afterwards, when they were with their parents, she would pinch him secretly, and by repeated threats would prevent him from crying or complaining. Thus in secret they led a life of their own, very different from that which was apparent to the eyes of others. When they were alone, she treated him as a toy, to be broken to fragments at her pleasure, simply to see what might be inside. Was she not the Marquise? Were not people on their knees before her? And when she was tired of tyrannising over Colombel in private, she would take a peculiar pleasure, when a number of others were present, in tripping him up, or in running a pin into his arm or leg, whilst at the same time she forbade him with a fierce glance of her black eyes to show even by the movement of an eyelid that she was to blame.

"Colombel bore his martyrdom with a dull resentment. Trembling, he kept his eyes on the ground, to escape the temptation to strangle his young mistress. And yet he did not dislike being beaten; it gave him a bitter delight. Sometimes, even, he actually sought for a blow, awaiting the pain with a peculiar thrill, and feeling a certain satisfaction in the smart when she p.r.i.c.ked him with a pin."

I have now recounted a number of cases in which the perversions observed in adults can be traced back to early childhood. I have shown that it remains doubtful, when the specific perversion first makes its appearance, whether it results from a congenital predisposition which is merely aroused to activity by an outward stimulus, or whether the outward stimulus is also the true determinant. A further point has now to be considered, and it is one which, as far as I know, has. .h.i.therto been completely ignored in the literature of the subject. The majority of s.e.xual perverts trace back the origin of their perversion to a time at which the detumescence impulse had not yet been awakened. Thus, the h.o.m.os.e.xual tells us of a peculiar impulse he felt in childhood to kiss his tutor; we learn from the hair-fetichist that when still a child he loved to play with girls' hair; and so on. And we are told that these impulses, voluptuously tinged, occurred at a time when erection and e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n had not yet taken place, and that there was not as yet any of that peripheral voluptuous sensation which can be clearly differentiated from the purely psychical voluptuous sensation. The question then arises, was this voluptuous sensation excited during childhood of a truly s.e.xual nature at this early age? Was the boy's impulsive desire to kiss his tutor a s.e.xual impulse? From the fact that later in life such an impulse is unmistakably s.e.xual, the conclusion is often drawn that the earlier inclinations, and the pleasurable sensations a.s.sociated with the corresponding mental processes, were also s.e.xual. The inference is an obvious one, and is doubtless justified in many instances. But the following point must be taken into consideration. It is a fact that the psychos.e.xual processes of the child are less sharply differentiated from other psychical processes than is the case in the adult; and it is therefore possible that the specific s.e.xual perversions, and the specific s.e.xual sensibility, develop out of a corresponding sensibility in the child which is not yet of a s.e.xual character. The observation of Stanley Hall[59] that children display a peculiar interest, not only in their own feet, but also in the feet of other persons, would appear to confirm this view. He writes: "Quite small children often display a marked fondness for stroking the feet of others, especially when these feet are well formed; and many adults testify to the persistence of such an impulse, whose gratification gives them a peculiar pleasure." It may readily be supposed, in many cases of foot-fetichism, that this unmistakably s.e.xual phenomenon has originally developed out of such a non-s.e.xual fondness for feet.

Unquestionably, many of the processes of childhood are not to be regarded as s.e.xual, although they are closely related to the s.e.xual life. This statement applies to many of the friends.h.i.+ps between boys or between girls, such as are formed during the period in which the s.e.xual impulse is still undifferentiated, or after its differentiation has occurred--and such friends.h.i.+ps must not be identified with s.e.xual feelings. At this period of life, we occasionally observe a desire in boys to form romantic friends.h.i.+ps with others of their own s.e.x; and the same is true also of girls. In many cases of this kind, there is no question of the presence of any s.e.xual element, and we have no right, therefore, to regard as manifestations of the s.e.xual impulse such instances of enthusiastic friends.h.i.+p during the period of undifferentiated s.e.xual impulse. Each case must be separately a.n.a.lysed, in order to determine its nature. On the other hand, the s.e.xual character of an inclination may sometimes be recognised in the early years of childhood, even in cases in which the boy's own genital organs are in no way involved. It may happen that a boy of eight will display a marked interest in the genital organs of youths or of men, and will seize every opportunity of peeping at them; and in such a case we are as a rule justified in a.s.suming the existence of a h.o.m.os.e.xual tendency, even when there is no reflection of s.e.xual disturbance to the boys own genital organs. But we must guard against the mistake of seeing a s.e.xual element in every friends.h.i.+p between boys.

As with human beings, so also with the lower animals, it is not always possible to differentiate friends.h.i.+p from the s.e.xual impulse. Robert Muller has collected a number of interesting observations bearing on this matter.[60] He states that the so-called animal friends.h.i.+ps, friends.h.i.+ps between animals of different species, are in many cases determined by s.e.xual feelings. He mentions the case of a dog ten months old, which made s.e.xual attacks on hens, and thereby killed them; in another instance, a thorough-bred dog, two years old, exhibited a similar perversion, and had a lasting s.e.xual relations.h.i.+p with a hen. He also quotes a case of which a man named P. Momsen was the witness, in which a gander attempted to pair with a b.i.t.c.h. These examples show that in the cases of animal friends.h.i.+p so often reported in the newspapers, the existence of an element of perverse s.e.xuality is at least possible.

But it does not, of course, follow that every strange animal friends.h.i.+p is of a s.e.xual nature.

This is true, also, of other perversions--of sadism, for instance. The tendency to cruelty appears in early childhood, and it is only subsequently that this tendency becomes definitely a.s.sociated with the s.e.xual life. But even though this a.s.sociation (of cruelty with the s.e.xual life) is demonstrable in so many instances, we are not for this reason justified in regarding every brutal act, all deliberate cruelty, as manifestations of sadism; and this reservation applies no less to adults than to children. Thus, delight in the sufferings of others, though it may be regarded as a.n.a.logous with sadism, has no necessary connexion with the s.e.xual impulse. Just as little can we a.s.sume that the deliberate ill-treatment of animals, whether on the part of children or on that of adults, is necessarily the outcome of sadism.

Felix Platter relates in his autobiography that when as a boy verging on maturity he had already chosen his future profession as a medical man, he came to the conclusion that he ought to accustom himself to the sight of disagreeable things; with this end in view, to habituate himself to see without emotion the heart and other viscera, he frequented the slaughter-house. Subsequently he experimented on a little bird, to ascertain if it had blood-vessels, and if it could be "bled"; he opened a vein with a penknife, and the little bird died. He did the same thing with various insects--stag-beetles, c.o.c.k-chafers, and the like. Actions of this kind performed by children have, of course, no connexion with the s.e.xual life. When a child tears off the feet of an insect, or mutilates any other animal, the motive is often simply that with which the same child will pull a watch to pieces. The same act may result from various motives; and for this reason we must guard against the misconception which might lead us, from every cruel act performed by a child, to diagnose the existence of sadism, or the certainty of a subsequent s.a.d.i.s.tic development.

In a case of rose-fetichism, which I have published elsewhere, the subject was a philologist, thirty years of age, who had never m.a.s.t.u.r.b.a.t.ed during his school days, and until he was nineteen or twenty had remained s.e.xually neutral, experiencing s.e.xual inclination neither towards females nor towards members of his own s.e.x. But he had from an early age exhibited a very great interest in flowers, and while still a child used to kiss them. He is unable, however, to recall the existence in this connexion of any s.e.xual excitement. When about twenty-one years old he was introduced to a young lady who at the time was wearing a large rose fastened into the front of her jacket. Henceforward, in his s.e.xual sensibility, the rose a.s.sumed extraordinary importance. Whenever he was able, he bought roses, kissed them, and took them to bed with him. The act of kissing a rose induced an erection of the p.e.n.i.s. In his seminal dreams, the image of the rose always played a leading part.

This case is extremely instructive. A great love for flowers, leading to the act of kissing, occurs in many children without any subsequent a.s.sociation, when these children have grown up, of s.e.xual sentiments with flowers. Such persons will lay little stress on their memories of such occurrences in childhood--indeed, in adult life these incidents are for the most part forgotten. But to X., who when grown-up became affected with rose-fetichism as a sequel of a specific experience, it seems that his s.e.xual fetichism is causally dependent upon his childish love of flowers--and probably he is right in so thinking. But we must not for this reason a.s.sume that his childish preference had any s.e.xual character. It is more likely that the abnormally great fondness for flowers, beginning in childhood, was a favouring factor of the subsequent development of the rose-fetichism. What applies here to a pathological instance, may also be a.s.sumed to be true of the normal s.e.xual life. _That is to say, the experiences of childhood, which have not as yet any relations.h.i.+p with s.e.xual life, are nevertheless of great significance in relation to the subsequent upbuilding of the s.e.xual life, and above all in relation to the development of the psychos.e.xual sentiments._

For the sake of completeness I must allude here to two additional processes which are also related to the s.e.xual life of the child, viz., exhibitionism and skatophilia. As regards exhibitionism, Lasegue[61]

describes as exhibitionists those persons who display their genital organs to others from a certain distance, without attempting any other improper manipulations, and above all without making any endeavour to effect s.e.xual intercourse. Kovalevsky[62] contends that the tendency to exhibitionism is observed in the male s.e.x especially during childhood at the approach of p.u.b.erty, and in old age. He records the following case: "The headmistress of a boarding-school one day brought to see me a boy fourteen years of age, very well behaved and intelligent, who experienced from time to time an irresistible impulse, when he met one of the little girls of the school, to expose his p.e.n.i.s. As a rule he was able to withstand this terrible impulse, but occasionally he yielded to it. He then experienced a sense of confusion in his head and his vision, and his whole body seemed to become tense, whilst at the same time he experienced a voluptuous sensation in the p.e.n.i.s and in the body generally. This state lasted for one or two minutes, and was succeeded by a moderate sense of weakness and a very distressing sense of shame.

The acts of exhibition were never accompanied with seminal emission, although he sometimes had such emissions during the night." I have myself hardly ever observed this form of exhibitionism in children.

Somewhat commoner, however, is the mutual and perfectly voluntary exhibition of their genital organs by children, generally boys and girls together; in these cases, as previously explained (p. 71), the acts are determined rather by curiosity than by the s.e.xual impulse. It is necessary to insist upon this fact, as distinguis.h.i.+ng exhibitionism in children from exhibitionism in adults. A like question arises regarding the skatological inclinations and interests of children, which are a.s.sumed by Havelock Ellis[63] to be intimately connected with the s.e.xual life. It is an undoubted fact that many children before p.u.b.erty are greatly interested in the excretions from the bladder and the intestine.

Stanley Hall,[64] to whom Havelock Ellis refers, is of opinion that "micturitional obscenities, which our returns show to be so common before adolescence, culminate at ten or twelve, and seem to retreat into the background as s.e.x-phenomena appear." He distinguishes between two cla.s.ses of cases: "fouling persons or things, secretly from adults, but openly with each other," and, less often, "ceremonial acts, connected with the act or the product, that almost suggest the skatological rites of savages." I can myself, as a result of numerous inquiries, confirm the existence of skatophilia in children. But I have not yet been able to satisfy myself that these processes always, or even usually, have any connexion with the s.e.xual life. Such a connexion unquestionably exists in some cases, but no less certainly it is not an invariable one.

Skatological acts--those, that is to say, in which the more disgusting excreta play a part--arise in some instances out of a m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.tic mode of sensibility. In cases in which adult m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.ts have such inclinations, it is often impossible to trace their existence back into childhood. It rather appears, in most of the instances of skatological inclinations which have come under my own observation, that these inclinations have been superimposed upon other m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.tic tendencies, and these latter may sometimes be traced back to the days of childhood.

But in a few cases I have found skatological perversions to have originated very early in life. A man with a university education, with an inclination to the practice of cunnilinctus, a.s.sured me that this inclination began in childhood. Another man, whose interest in the female nates and a.n.u.s was unquestionably not the result of any excesses, stated positively that he was able to refer the origin of this inclination to a definite experience of his childhood. When only seven years of age, he experienced the impulse to look at the nates of a servant-maid; and he believes that this inclination, which in his case was certainly generalised at a very early age, arose from a still earlier experience, viz., the chance sight of his mother's nates, when she urinated in his presence. His whole account of the matter suggests the existence of a fetichism directed to the nates, impelling him to the most disgusting acts, which he has several times performed. A similar case, but on a h.o.m.os.e.xual basis, will be found recorded as Case 20 in my work on s.e.xual Inversion.[65]

No detailed account of other pathological manifestations of the s.e.xual life will now be attempted, since this work professes to deal only with subjects of a wide and general significance. We cannot consider those cases, for instance, in which there is developmental defect of the reproductive organs; those, for example, in which there is no discoverable development of the reproductive glands. But some reference may be made to hermaphroditism. In the human species true hermaphroditism is a very rare occurrence, whereas apparent hermaphroditism, the so-called pseudo-hermaphroditism, is comparatively frequent. The s.e.xual life of pseudo-hermaphrodites has in some instances been very carefully studied, more especially with reference to the relations.h.i.+p of pseudo-hermaphroditism to the direction of the s.e.xual impulse. It appears that in a number of cases of pseudo-hermaphroditism, not only did the secondary s.e.xual characters exhibit an inverted or contrary s.e.xual development, but the s.e.xual impulse was also inverted--was directed, that is to say, towards individuals of the same s.e.x as that to which the pseudo-hermaphrodite really belonged. Beyond question, cases have been observed in which pseudo-hermaphrodites with t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es have had s.e.xual inclination towards males; and pseudo-hermaphrodites with ovaries, s.e.xual inclination towards females.

In many of these cases, such contrary s.e.xual tendencies could be traced back into childhood. We have, of course, to reckon with the fact that in the case of pseudo-hermaphrodites the diagnosis of the s.e.x is usually based upon the formation of the external genital organs, and without any expert examination of the reproductive glands; thus they are often brought up as members of a s.e.x to which they do not really belong, and in consequence of this their education is s.e.xually inverted. In such cases it may reasonably be suggested that the h.o.m.os.e.xuality is the result, not so much of a congenital inversion of the s.e.xual impulse, as of the contrary s.e.xual education.

For a detailed treatment of the subject of hermaphroditism, reference should be made to the special literature of the subject, and above all to the exhaustive and laborious work of Neugebauer.[66]

Chapter VI

ETIOLOGY AND DIAGNOSIS

The last chapter dealt with pathological phenomena in the s.e.xual life of the child. From the considerations urged in this and in earlier chapters, it will have become apparent that s.e.xual manifestations in childhood are not necessarily to be regarded as pathological. This conclusion does not conflict with the a.s.sumption that certain factors influence the s.e.xual life of the child. The numerous individual differences suffice to indicate the existence of such factors. Many of these are of a pathological character, but others have no connexion with the domain of pathology. Among the factors thus influencing the s.e.xual life of the child, we can distinguish those affecting the germinal rudiments from those which exercise their influence later. Those of the former group first demand our attention.

In certain families, the early awakening of s.e.xuality is observed with remarkable frequency. These are often neuropathic or psychopathic families, and moreover the early awakening of the s.e.xual life is frequently a.s.sociated with neuropathic or psychopathic symptoms. But this is by no means always the case, and often enough such persons belong to healthy families and are themselves healthy. We are therefore not ent.i.tled to regard the occurrence of s.e.xual manifestations in childhood as a proof of degeneration or of a morbid inheritance. But equally erroneous is the opposite view, that the early awakening of s.e.xuality is an indication of exceptional endowments. It is true that in many persons of genius premature s.e.xual pa.s.sion has been observed, and such manifestations are by no means always confined to the contrectation impulse. We learn, too, in our consulting rooms, that not infrequently the most diligent schoolboys exhibit at a comparatively early age the phenomena alike of contrectation and of detumescence. But the fallacy of drawing general conclusions from this fact is shown by the additional fact that in idiots and imbeciles premature awakening of the s.e.xual life is also of common occurrence. In cases such as were formerly described as moral insanity, but which in Germany to-day are cla.s.sed with imbecility, s.e.xual a.s.saults on others are very common at an early age.

This is true also of other forms of idiocy and imbecility. In asylums for such patients, feeble-minded children not infrequently make s.e.xual attempts on nurses and on other inmates. In this connexion, we have to consider both components of the s.e.xual impulse, the phenomena of contrectation as well as those of detumescence. In the case of low-grade idiots, we often see the phenomena of pure detumescence, without the accompaniment of any s.e.xual inclination directed towards another person; this is simply physical masturbation, performed under the promptings of an organic impulse. But not only in imbeciles and idiots, and in persons of genius, but also in those with perfectly normal mental endowments, the s.e.xual impulse, and more especially the phenomena of contrectation, may appear at a very early age. Persons with artistic tendencies develop in this way with comparative frequency. We must, for these reasons, guard against the misconception that the early awakening of s.e.xuality is _per se_ pathological. The fact that the study of the s.e.xual life has been undertaken chiefly by medical men, and above all by neurologists and alienists, has inevitably introduced a certain bias into the results of the investigation. Opportunities for the study of the s.e.xual life of normal persons have been comparatively rare; for those in whom the early awakening of s.e.xuality has been recorded have for the most part sought medical advice and treatment for some other reason, and the physician has taken the opportunity to make inquiries into the patient's s.e.xual history. The boundary-line between what is pathological and what is normal can be determined only by an extended study of the s.e.xual life in normal persons. By very numerous inquiries I have done my best to effect this; and a careful examination of the acc.u.mulated material leads to the above-mentioned conclusion, that an early awakening of the s.e.xual life is commoner in those with an abnormal nervous system than it is in healthy persons: but it also appears that an abnormal sensitiveness of a non-pathological character, such as is exhibited by persons with the artistic temperament, and likewise a disposition excitable to a degree which cannot yet be called morbid, predispose the subjects to an early awakening of s.e.xuality.

To attain to clear views on this question, it is necessary to bear certain distinctions in mind: first, as regards the different periods of childhood; and, secondly, as regards the two components of the s.e.xual impulse (detumescence and contrectation). My own investigations have led me to draw the following conclusions. _During the first period of childhood, that is to say, up to the end of the seventh year of life, the occurrence of manifestations of the s.e.xual impulse must arouse suspicions of the existence of a congenital morbid predisposition._ But as regards the phenomena of detumescence, which are confined to the peripheral genital organs, we must make an exception to this rule if they do not appear spontaneously, but result either from local inflammatory or other morbid changes, or from deliberate seduction of the child to the performance of s.e.xual manipulations; at any rate, in such cases, the probability of the existence of _congenital morbid predisposition_ is greatly diminished. _I am also forced to regard as suspicious the occurrence of phenomena of contrectation during the first period of childhood, although not to the same extent as are the peripheral manifestation of the s.e.xual impulse--and I hold this view notwithstanding the numerous cases recorded by Sanford Bell. Pa.s.sing to the second period of childhood, the phenomena of contrectation may appear at the very beginning of this period, that is, during the eighth year of life, without justifying the inference that any morbid predisposition exists. Regarding the phenomena of detumescence, we must not hold them to be necessarily morbid when they make their appearance during the last years of the second period of childhood; but when this occurs earlier, during the tenth or eleventh year of life for instance, some suspicion may reasonably be aroused._ In this general survey of the material, it did not appear that any important difference existed between the two s.e.xes in the matters under consideration; but I believe that in girls the phenomena of contrectation often make their appearance somewhat earlier than in boys, whereas, on the other hand, the occurrence of the phenomena of detumescence at an early age is more likely to indicate the existence of congenital morbid predisposition in girls than it is in boys.

In the delimitation of the pathological from the healthy, I have endeavoured to lay down broad general lines. It must not be supposed that precisely at the close of the first period of childhood, that is to say, at the end of the seventh year of life, the s.e.xual life, and our opinions as to the significance of its manifestations, undergo sudden alterations. Our estimates as to the significance of phenomena occurring during the early months of the eighth year of life, will not differ materially from our estimates as to the significance of the same phenomena when they occur during the last months of the seventh year. My conclusions have no more than a general application, based as they are on the recorded experiences and on my own personal observations of numerous persons, healthy and diseased.

Let us consider further what are the factors favouring an early awakening of the s.e.xual life. I have previously mentioned the fact that in certain families a remarkably early s.e.xual development is quite common. This is true also of certain races. But the data bearing on this question are not quite so trustworthy as might be wished. The fact that among certain nations marriage sometimes takes place at a remarkably early age, is no certain proof of the early awakening of s.e.xuality in persons of this nationality; for the marriage may be a purely ceremonial affair, and may be effected long before the individual is ripe for s.e.xual intercourse or for procreation; and the first act of intercourse may not take place until several years after the ceremony of marriage.

Among ourselves, marriage, especially in the case of men, does not as a rule take place until long after the age of p.u.b.erty, and it therefore seems to us very remarkable when, in another race, men marry ten years earlier; but this must not be taken as a proof that s.e.xual development occurs at an earlier age. We can gain some knowledge of the subject from the statistical inquiries which have been made regarding the appearance of that manifestation of p.u.b.erty which is most readily available for such inquiries, namely, the first occurrence of menstruation.

Ribbing[67] has made a study of this question, and gives the following figures regarding the commencement of menstruation in women of different nationalities in various places: Swedish Lapland, 18 years; Christiania, 16 years, 9 months, 25 days; Berlin, 15 years, 7 months, 6 days; Paris 15 years, 7 months, 18 days, and 14 years, 5 months, and 17 days; Madeira, 14 years, 3 months; Sierra Leone and Egypt, 10 years. From these data we should naturally he led to infer that there would be great variations in the age at which other manifestations of the s.e.xual life first make their appearance, and experience justifies this inference.

Some writers attribute to climate a great influence in this respect; whilst others regard this view as erroneous, and believe that the differences observed depend rather on racial peculiarities. By advocates of the former view it is a.s.sumed that a hot climate leads to the early appearance of menstruation, whilst a cold climate r.e.t.a.r.ds the development of this function. Those who dispute the influence of climate bring forward instances of a contrary kind. Thus, among the Samoyede Eskimos, menstruation begins at the age of twelve or thirteen, notwithstanding the fact that they dwell within the Arctic circle; whereas, among the Danes and the Swedes, menstruation begins at about the age of sixteen or seventeen years. Again, we are told that among the Creoles of the Antilles, as in France, menstruation rarely begins before the fourteenth year, whilst in the same islands, girls of African race begin to menstruate, as in Africa, at ten or eleven years of age.[68]

These objections to the climatic theory are certainly serious ones. But when we are considering the possible influence of climate upon menstruation, we have to remember that it is possible that climate may exert its influence c.u.mulatively in successive generations, and may not produce its full effect upon the age at which menstruation begins, until after the lapse of several generations. We certainly lack evidence to show that in isolated individuals a change of climate affects the first appearance of menstruation. But it is not impossible that climate may exert such an influence in the course of several generations. Such a view would appear to receive support from our observations on animals, for the s.e.xual life of the latter is notably influenced by the seasons, and change of season resembles in many respects change of climate. In most animals, and more especially in those living in a state of nature, the s.e.xual impulse becomes active at stated intervals only, and these intervals are related to the duration of pregnancy in such a way that the birth of the young occurs always at a season in which the nutritive conditions are favourable. It is widely a.s.sumed that even in the human species there remain vestiges of such a periodicity in the s.e.xual impulse. I have discussed this matter very fully elsewhere,[69] and will here do no more than draw attention to the fact that the poetry of spring, which sings partly of love alone, and partly of the relations between love and the annual awakening of nature, bears upon the influence of this season of the year upon the s.e.xual impulse. It seems that the spring also exerts an influence upon the love-sentiments of the child. It is possible that suggestion here plays a certain part, inasmuch as from childhood onwards poetry and many observations teach that there is a connexion between love and the season of spring. Sanford Bell considers that the importance of spring in this connexion depends on the fact that at this season children begin to meet one another in the open, subject to less restraint, and perhaps more frequently. But he does not exclude the possible existence of an inherited vestige of periodicity in the s.e.xual impulse.

It is widely a.s.sumed that among the higher social cla.s.ses the awakening of the s.e.xual life occurs earlier than among the lower. But it can hardly be said that trustworthy statistics exist to ill.u.s.trate this point; and the most we can admit is that it may be true of the commencement of menstruation--though even here the data available hardly suffice to afford proof of the thesis. It is said that in girls of the upper cla.s.ses menstruation begins on the average at an earlier age than in girls of the lower cla.s.ses; and also that menstruation begins earlier in towns than in the country. Rousseau[70] a.s.serted this long ago, taking his facts from Buffon, who attributed the fact to the sparer and poorer fare of the country folk. Rousseau, while admitting that menstruation began later in the country districts, considered that diet had nothing to do with the matter, since even where (as in Valais) the peasants enjoyed a liberal fare, p.u.b.erty, in both s.e.xes, occurred later than in the majority of towns, in which an excessively rich diet was often customary. He believed that the difference between town and country in this respect depended rather upon the more enduring repose of the imagination in the country, this latter itself arising from the greater fixity of customs in the rural districts. Speaking generally, however, the question whether in the country the s.e.xual life awakens later than it does in the towns, cannot be said to have been decisively answered.

Closely connected with the question of the alleged later awakening of the s.e.xual life in the country is the belief that in the country children are also more moral and remain longer uncorrupted.

I myself do not believe that children are more moral in the country, or that they here remain longer uncorrupted than in towns, whether large or small. Nor is it proved that in former times the country possessed any advantage in these respects, as compared with our own days and with the modern town. The entire fable of rural innocence appears to rest, not upon an actual comparison between town and country, but rather upon the more lively interest felt in town life, and especially in the life of the great towns: in towns, immorality has been more carefully studied and more often _described_; and on account of the greater concentration of town life, it is also more readily apparent. But any one who studies erotic literature and descriptions of manners and customs, at any rate, anyone who studies these without prejudice, will find ample ground for the opinion that even in earlier times morality stood in the country on no higher level than in the towns. The opinion that country life was more moral has existed from very early times, and it is interesting to observe the way in which in erotic literature we at times encounter a satirical use of this fact, describing the painful disillusionment of a man who has hoped to find perfect innocence in his loved one from the country, and has been bitterly disappointed.

I do not propose to give numerous examples of rural immorality in earlier times; two will suffice, both dating from the eighteenth century, and both bearing on the seduction of children. Laukhard,[71]

born in the year 1758, at Wendelsheim, in the Lower Palatinate, tells us how, when six years of age, he was introduced by a manservant into the secrets of the s.e.xual life, so that he was speedily in a position "to take part, with consummate ability and to the admiration of all, in the most shameless lewd sports and conversations of the menials of the household." And Laukhard adds in a note that, in the Palatinate, obscenity was so universal, and among the common people the general conversation was so utterly shameless, that a Prussian grenadier would have blushed on hearing the foul talk of the Jacks and Gills of the Palatinate. He also relates that he soon found an opportunity of practising with one of the servant-girls what the manservant who had been his instructor had extolled to him as the _non plus ultra_ of the higher knowledge. If we compare with this the descriptions given by Retif de la Bretonne, who was born in the year 1734 in the village of Sacy in Lower Burgundy, and was the son of a well-to-do peasant, and if we study a number of similar accounts of country life, we shall hardly be inclined to take a very roseate view regarding rural morals in former days. We learn from Retif,[72] that while still quite a little boy, only four years of age, he had the most diverse s.e.xual experiences with a grown-up girl, Marie Piot, after she had induced an erection of his p.e.n.i.s by tickling his genital organs. These and numerous similar accounts, which we find in the works of writers of previous centuries, are not likely to sustain the conviction that rural morals were formerly distinguished by exceptional purity.

But if this claim must be disputed as regards rural life in former times, it is still more certain that we must deny that to-day a higher moral level obtains in the country than in the towns, and this is true above all as regards children. It is certain that s.e.xual activity in children does not begin later in the country. My views as to present conditions in the country are derived mainly from information directly communicated to myself. From a number of grown-up persons, now residing in the metropolis, but born and bred in the country, I have received details of their own early s.e.xual experiences. I have in addition had opportunities for direct personal inquiries in rural districts and in the smaller country towns. Lastly, I have received reports voluntarily furnished to me by persons still residing in the country. Combining all these sources of information, I am justified in a.s.serting that in the country s.e.xual practices among children are of exceedingly common occurrence.

Just as the recent increasing development of large towns has been regarded as responsible for immorality and for premature s.e.xual activities in children, so also has modern civilisation in general been blamed for the same results. There has always existed a tendency to depreciate the morals of contemporary periods, and to exalt in comparison the morals of an earlier day. In books of earlier generations, in those, for instance, which appeared between the middle of the eighteenth century and the middle of the nineteenth century, we find, just as we find in the writings of our own day, lamentations upon existing corruption, especially as regards the morals of children, and panegyrics upon the morality of an earlier time. But when we examine the doc.u.ments of the past, we find adequate proof of the fact that morals stood at no higher level in former times than to-day, and, more particularly, we learn that the s.e.xual morals of children were no better then than now. If this were otherwise, how could we explain the fact that, in the year 1527, for instance, the Town Council of Ulm issued an order to the brothel-keepers of that town that they were no longer to admit to the brothels boys of from twelve to fourteen years of age, but rather were to drive them away with birch-rods. This fact, with many others, is recorded by Hans Boesch;[73] and collectively they suffice to prove, not merely that the children of former times were no whit more moral than those of our own day, but also that the awakening of s.e.xual activity occurred just as early then as now.

But although I contest the alleged general influence of the life of large towns and of modern civilisation upon the morality and the s.e.xual activities of children, I admit at once that peculiar conditions of place and time may exert a great influence in these respects.

Frequently, no detailed a.n.a.lysis of these conditions is possible; but sometimes such an a.n.a.lysis can be effected. Only by the a.s.sumption that these special influences exist can we understand how it is that such marked differences exist at different times in the same place. I know certain schools in Berlin in which masturbation, and even mutual masturbation, are widely diffused; and I know others regarding which in this respect no unfavourable reports can be made. I know, indeed, of schools about which I have received from former pupils, persons whose trustworthiness I have absolutely no reason to doubt, reports which prove that a remarkably high level of s.e.xual morality must have existed in these schools. On the other hand, ex-pupils of other schools, attended by boys of very various cla.s.ses of the population, have informed me that at these schools there was hardly a boy who did not m.a.s.t.u.r.b.a.t.e. It is not always possible to ascertain the causes of such differences. One child, perhaps, may corrupt an entire cla.s.s. But I believe also that the influence of the schoolmasters, and especially that of the headmaster, may be of enormous importance in this respect.

Similar differences exist in the country. It is even believed by some that there are differences between the Catholic and Protestant inhabitants of the rural districts. How extensive may be the differences even within a comparatively small area, is shown by an example, which I will quote, from C. Wagner.[74] One of the districts studied by him was the Province of Jagst in Wurtemberg, and he reports that there is a striking difference between the Alt-Wurtemberg and the Franconian districts. The report states that in the former district the greater number of parents appear to recognise it as their sacred duty to bring up their children properly and to watch over their development. Moral depravity could not be said to be general among the children of this region. Very different was it in the Franconian districts, in which not only were the children cared for much less perfectly, but in which also "the children saw and heard much too early things which impair or destroy the innocence and purity of the heart." We are told that shamelessness in the satisfaction of natural needs was general; some cases of self-abuse were reported; and obscene and lascivious conversation was common. The causes a.s.signed for this in the report are: overcrowding in the dwellings, there being in some cases but a single bed for children of school age of different s.e.xes; also that children had been present when cattle were performing the s.e.xual act. Often in the country we are told that children have been corrupted by grown persons, through sleeping in the same bed with the latter.

What has just been said bears upon the influences which at the opening of this chapter I cla.s.sed with the second group of the influences affecting the s.e.xual life of the child, namely, those that come into play only after birth. But whatever degree of importance we may attribute to these, it cannot be doubted that congenital predisposition plays a very important part in inducing an early awakening of the s.e.xual life. What we see in this case is similar to what happens in respect of other qualities than the s.e.xual. Some persons are congenitally predisposed to a one-sided development; and in some persons there occurs a phenomenally early development of certain particular talents. It will suffice to remind the reader of children who while still quite young can perform extraordinary arithmetical operations, and of those who at six or seven years of age can play beautifully on the piano or some other instrument. In these latter cases the most important feature is the congenital predisposition, but this predisposition has, of course, to be aroused to activity; and the same is true in the case of the s.e.xual impulse. This explains why it is that the most careful education often fails to prevent the premature commencement of the amatory life; and it explains also, on the other hand, why it is that even in the most unfavourable circ.u.mstances, s.e.xual phenomena do not always make their appearance during childhood. I know of persons who have pa.s.sed the years of childhood in a brothel, amid surroundings obviously calculated to turn their attention to s.e.xuality, but in whom nevertheless during childhood no development of the s.e.xual life appeared to have occurred.

The popular saying, "What is bred in the bone will not out of the flesh," may be to some degree an overstatement, but nevertheless corresponds to the actual facts. But we must not go to the other extreme, and refuse to recognise the importance of the influences surrounding the developing child. We must bear in mind that congenital predispositions vary in strength; and a little reflection will convince us that the awakening of the s.e.xual life will be hindered by a favourable environment, but facilitated and accelerated by an unfavourable one. In cases of seduction, the congenital predisposition often plays no more than a secondary part. s.e.xual acts in childhood resulting from seduction often exhibit a merely imitative character, and do not appear to proceed from an organically conditioned impulse; in such cases the s.e.xual malpractices are often discontinued when the seducing influence is withdrawn; but if this influence is exercised persistently and systematically, it may have a permanent effect even in cases in which the congenital predisposition is slight.

This is all I have to say about the relations.h.i.+p between the congenital predisposition and the external influences of life. Turning now to consider these influences by themselves, we have to distinguish between those that are somatic or physical and those that are psychical in nature. Influences of these two cla.s.ses may co-operate simultaneously, or may pa.s.s one into the other; and, speaking generally, it is by no means always easy to maintain a sharp distinction between them.

Seduction may in some instances arise largely by way of physical stimulation, as, for example, when another person deliberately handles the genital organs of a child. Nurses sometimes stroke or tickle a child's genitals in order to put an end to a screaming fit. But in some cases--and these are more numerous than is commonly supposed--nursemaids do this under the impulse of their own l.u.s.tful feelings. Such actions are not necessarily the outcome of a perverse s.e.xual impulse, although they may be due to such an impulse in the form of paedophilia, as I shall have to explain in detail when I come to describe that perversion.

Frequently the offenders are not in the least aware of the danger of what they are doing, and do it merely in sport. In many instances the seduction is effected by other children, and often at a very early age.

Recently a case was reported to me in which a boy only five years of age led older children astray. In schools, a closet used by both boys and girls is by many considered extremely dangerous. In the country, the fact that children have a long way to go to school often gives opportunity for improper conduct; and this is especially likely to occur if there are copses near the road in which the children can conceal themselves from observation. When children in the country traverse long distances on the way to preparatory confirmation cla.s.ses, misconduct is exceptionally likely, for such children are now at an age at which the activity of the s.e.xual life is becoming more manifest. Whether the seduction be the work of other children or of adults, the child thus led astray is likely subsequently to induce artificially as often as possible the agreeable sensations with which it has now been made acquainted, more especially in view of the fact that in children the imitative impulse is far more strongly developed than it is in adults, in whom imitative inclinations are counteracted by numerous inhibitions.

What is true of seduction is true also of the various affections of the genital organs which induce an impulse to scratch, such as eczema, prurigo, urticaria, &c. Affections of regions adjoining the genital organs may also lead to similar troubles--for instance, threadworms in the r.e.c.t.u.m or the v.a.g.i.n.a.

Clothing, also, especially in boys the breeches, may give rise during childhood to unwholesome stimulation. Hufeland, in his _Makrobiotik_, long ago advised against the wearing of breeches by little boys. The Schaumburg-Lippe body-physician, Faust,[75] in a work published in the year 1791, strongly recommended that boys should not wear breeches.

Frequently the climbing of the pole in the gymnasium is regarded as being the etiological factor in the induction of premature masturbation.

Experience shows that occasionally the first voluptuous sensations do actually arise during the act of climbing the pole. A similar report is made also in regard to the climbing of trees and of gymnastic exercises on the parallel and horizontal bars. It is obvious that pressure on the genital organs will very readily arise in these ways. But cases are reported in which the child experiences s.e.xual excitement from exercising on the horizontal bar, not when he is straddling the bar, but when he is hanging to it by the hands. It must in these cases remain doubtful whether the s.e.xual excitement results from the pressure of the breeches, or is a direct result of the hanging posture. Where pressure is exerted on the genital organs, it is not always the _strength_ of the stimulus which is most significant. A nursemaid may do much more harm by gently tickling a child's genital organs than by pressing them forcibly.

Nor have we to think only of the quality of the stimulus, but also of its newness; for an unfamiliar stimulus may cause s.e.xual excitement simply because it is unfamiliar. Various stimuli have to be considered, in addition to those previously enumerated. I may refer here to flagellation. It is well known that in many children the first experience of s.e.xual excitement results from a whipping; indeed, a perverse mode of s.e.xual sensibility lasting throughout the whole of life may thus originate. I shall return to this matter in the chapter on s.e.xual Education. I will merely refer here to certain other stimuli which have in many cases aroused s.e.xual excitement for the first time.